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No Primavera Sound Madrid In 2024
Primavera Sound premiered in Madrid, June 8-10. The location, the City of Rock in Arganda del Rey, posed so many challenges in the end, that promoters decided not to return in 2024.
A press release sent out today by Primavera Sound mentions “external difficulties that the festival had to face in the final stretch of the pre-production,” which “gave rise to one of the most complicated events that Primavera Sound has ever had to face.”
Primavera Sound Madrid director Almudena Heredero spoke of “several logistical aspects” that marred the festivalgoers’ experience.
Google maps out the journey from Madrid to Arganda del Rey as taking around 38 minutes, but that only holds true under perfect traffic conditions outside Madrid’s usually very busy times and congested roads. Local news reports state that this caused problems.
The other major factor for not returning to the same site, is its inability to handle intense rain showers, which had caused the festival to open a day late this year.
As of today, “the city does not have a site able to host an event of this magnitude and format in terms of audience demands, production requirements and musical show,” the press release states, which chimes with what festival boss Alfonso Lanza told Spanish daily El Pais.
“The venue has an obvious access problem, and it has also been shown that it cannot withstand persistent rains,” one of his answers translates.
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The team will continue to look at a future Madrid edition, he confirmed. In the press release, Lanza stated, “we will continue to study the possibility of holding a Primavera Sound in Madrid because we are maintaining a continuous and constructive dialogue with the institutions of the city. The determination to continue this relationship by all the parties involved exists, and the relationship with the city, which has existed for a long time, has only grown closer over the last few months. The thing is that, right now, there are no guarantees that it will be possible to organise a festival in 2024 that meets the quality standards that Primavera Sound is used to offering. It has been a first edition from which we have learned many lessons and we don’t want to ignore them for the future.”
Not all was bad, though, especially once inside the festival site. Emphasizing that “we are not oblivious to the annoyances,” Heredero said, “inside the Ciudad del Rock we experienced a festival full of great musical moments,” provided by a stellar lineup that included Rosalía, Depeche Mode, Kendrick Lamar, Maneskin, and many more.
Lanza confirmed in his El Pais interview, that “the experience inside was fantastic.”
And after thanking “the institutions, sponsors, suppliers, the Primavera Sound professionals and, above all, the audience for their support,” the press release concludes, “We say goodbye, temporarily, with a bittersweet taste, but with the satisfaction and the conviction that we have put all our efforts and resources into making the first edition go ahead in the best possible way.”
Pollstar has reached out to Primavera Sound for clarification on some of the issues it was facing during the Madrid premiere.