Arctic Monkeys, Lorde, Nine Inch Nails Lead Inaugural Primavera Sound Los Angeles Lineup

Santiago Bluguermann / Getty Images – Sound Decision
Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys, which will headline Primavera Sound’s inaugural L.A. edition, performs at Lollapalooza Buenos Aires on March 30, 2019.

After being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Primavera Sound will land in Los Angeles for the first time ever on Sept. 16–18, 2022 at the L.A. Historic Park, with a lineup featuring Arctic Monkeys, Nine Inch Nails and Lorde.

Promising to be “coherent and daring at the same time,” the lineup for the three-day event also includes James Blake, Mitski, Arca, Khruangbin, BICEP, Clairo, Darkside, King Krule, Low, Kim Gordon, Cigarettes After Sex, Stereolab, Pinkpantheress, Shygirl, Tierra Whack, Fontaines D.C. and more.

Courtesy Primavera Sound – Primavera Sound Los Angeles
Arctic Monkeys, Lorde and Nine Inch Nails lead the bill for the first-ever Primavera Sound Los Angeles.

Primavera first announced plans to expand into the United States with a Los Angeles event in 2019. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival was postponed. In addition to expanding to Los Angeles for 2022, Primavera Sound will also be taking place in London. In 2022, the festival’s flagship Barcelona event will take place over the course of two weekends, with a lineup topped on both weekends by Gorillaz, Tame Impala, Massive Attack, The Strokes and Tyler, the Creator.

While Primavera Sound started off as a small event in Barcelona in the ’90s, the larger festival kicked off in 2001. That first year saw 8,000 people in attendance, which steadily grew to 24,000 people by 2003. By the festival’s most recent iteration in 2019, Primavera Sound had 220,000 people in attendance. Primavera Sound did not take place in 2020 or 2021 due to the pandemic.

“There are two premises that have marked Primavera Sound,” festival co-director Albert Guijarro told Pollstar in February 2020. “One is being an urban festival located in a friendly, attractive city, with good weather and with an attractive cultural and gastronomic offer that makes Barcelona the ideal place to combine hours of music at the festival and time to enjoy the city. The second and most important reason is its musical programming that has always been done rigorously and passionately, evermore committed to musical diversity, taking on board new trends without forgetting the long-standing cult artists who have been and are iconic.”

Arctic Monkeys are currently planing to tour Europe beginning in September 2022, with dates scheduled for Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, France, Spain, and Portugal. Nine Inch Nails will make several festival appearances in 2022, including Atlanta’s Shaky Knees Music Festival and Clisson, France’s Hellfest. Lorde, meanwhile, is preparing to go on tour starting Apr. 3 to promote her most recent album, Solar Power, released in August. The singer will also perform at Primavera Sound’s Barcelona festival in June.

Primavera Sound’s announcement follows news of another new L.A. festival, This Ain’t No Picnic, which takes place in late August 2022 and announced a lineup topped by The Strokes and LCD Soundsystem last week.

Those who previously purchased tickets for Primavera Sound Los Angeles will be able to use their tickets for the upcoming dates. Fans can register for the presale, which begins on Dec. 10 at 10 a.m. PT, via the event’s website. All remaining tickets for the festival will go on sale Dec. 10 at 2 p.m. PT. 3-day GA tickets begin at $3999 plus fees, with 3-day VIP tickets beginning at $925 plus fees.