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International Festivals: 80,500 At Primavera Spain, 13,000 At Elbjazz Germany
Audiences are returning, tentatively in some cases, as two examples from last weekend showed.
Primavera Sound, which expanded to two weekends in 2022, published attendance figures for the first one, June 2-4. 66,000 attendees gathered on the Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona on Thursday, 74,000 on Friday, and 80,500 on Saturday.
They had a chance to see The National, Gorillaz, Tame Impala, Tyler, The Creator, Beck, Charli XCX, Little Simz, Low, Kim Gordon, Fred again.., Pabllo Vittar, and more across multiple stages, including the seafront main stage, the Auditori Rockdelux, or the new circular club that is the Boiler Room x Cupra stage.
Addressing queues, bottlenecks, lack of water stations reported on day one, the weekend-one press release states, “we have to thank [attendees] for their patience in overcoming the readjustments of a first day, but also for their contributions and comments to help us to enjoy the festival we want.”
The second weekend will go down June 9-11 featuring some of the same lineup, but also new additions, like Dua Lipa, M.I.A., Lorde, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Run The Jewels, and Antònia Font.
The party continues all week, and until June 12, with the Primavera a la Ciutat program: 14 venues and spaces in Barcelona will host performances by Megan Thee Stallion, Beck, Interpol, Phoenix, The Magnetic Fields, and many more. Some artists, like Megan Thee Stallion, will then also take the stage on weekend two. Jorja Smith, for example, will have performed across both weekends, as well as in the city.
See: Primavera Sound Expands To Chile, Argentina & Brazil
10th Elbjazz A Success
Meanwhile in Hamburg, Germany, Elbjazz Festival marked one of the first major events in Germany to go down at full capacity, June 3-4.
Lady Blackbird, Bobby Rausch, Jazzanova, Melody Gardot, Myles Sanko, Golden Dawn Arkestra, Silvan Strauss, Matthew Whitaker, John McLaughlin, Nils Landgren Funk Unit, and more took various stages spread across Hamburg’s harbor.
Planning and organizing the tenth edition of Elbjazz was no small feat under the current circumstances of the live music industry, according to a statement from the organizers, who counted 11,000 visitors on Friday (June 3), and 13,000 on Saturday (June 4).
They enjoyed the diverse musical program – from swing, funk and soul to hip-hop, vocal, piano and fusion jazz to pop and folk – and two days of sunshine, making the tenth Elbjazz a “remarkable success.”
To put this into perspective: in the record year of 2018, Elbjazz counted some 15,000 visitors on each day.
The schedule was complemented by a varied supporting program and an after-show party at the city’s Mojo Club on the Reeperbahn.
See: When Supply Exceeds Demand: Ticket Sales Are Slow In Europe
Elbjazz festival director Alexander Schulz said it was, “one of the most beautiful experiences to finally be able to experience and share live music with our audience and all the artists. The past months have shown us once again that all this cannot be taken for granted.”
Schulz also talked about the challenges in planning and organizating this year’s festival, which was “not always easy under the circumstances.” He mentioned “significantly increased production costs,” difficult routing to get the international lineup to Hamburg, as well as hesitant ticket buyers, which chimes with the experience of most promoters in Europe at the moment.
The dates for the next Elbjazz have already bee set, June 9-10, 2023. Early Bird tickets start at €115.00 (incl. fees) ($123) for the entire festival weekend.