Features
Primavera Sound: Porto & Barcelona Editions Shine
Primavera Sound celebrated two successful festivals both in Porto, Portugal, June 6-8, as well as in its original home of Barcelona, Spain, May 29-June 2.
Primavera Sound Porto, now in its 11th year, boasted a lineup that included Lana del Rey, SZA, PJ Harvey, Mitski, Amyl and the Sniffers, American Football, The Last Dinner Party, Pulp, The National, Arca, The Legendary Tigerman, and more, and welcomed more than 100,000 visitors, or 105,000 to be exact.
Visitor numbers for the Portuguese edition are in line with last year’s, when Primavera Sound Porto lasted four days instead of its usual three, and welcomed 140,000. Both years average 35,000 guests per day on the festival site, which is the Parque da Cidade in Porto.
Some fifty concerts took place across the weekend, including a particularly moving tribute in honor of the late Steve Albini, who performed at all ten previous editions of Primavera Sound Porto as the frontman of Shellac. The indie rockers were scheduled to perform again this year, so, at the time and place where Shellac were scheduled to perform, the festival hosted a listening session of Albini’s last album, To All Trains, released posthumously.
Primavera Sound Porto will return June 12-24, 2025.
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About 1,000 kilometers to the east lies Barcelona, where Primavera Sound was born in 2001. 268,000 festivalgoers gathered at the 22nd edition, May 29-June 2, eclipsing last year’s attendance of 246,000 by 20,000 guests.
Aside from the three main festival days at Barcelona’s Parc del Fórum, the number also includes guests at the shows of Primavera a la Ciutat, the week-long program taking place across the city, as well as the free opening day and the closing party.
The lineup included, many of the artists mentioned above as part of the Porto editions, culminating in a day of pure girl power headlined by SZA, PJ Harvey, Mitski, Charli XCX, Bikini Kill, Róisín Murphy, and Romy.
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Some highlights, taken from a press release, include Ezra Koenig joining Phoenix on stage one day before leading Vampire Weekend on their triumphant return to the festival sixteen years on; Beth Gibbons reviving the spirit of Portishead with the immortal song “Roads”; Lana del Rey leading a mass-karaoke set with “Video Games”; Stella Maris, the fictional Christian pop group from Spanish TV show “La Mesías”, giving its first real concert; The National delivering another intense set; Deftones covering The Smiths; Ethel Cain adding new followers to her cult; Evian Christ delivering the first Boiler Room of his career; The Last Dinner Party affirming that they’re here to stay; Keanu Reeves, the most famous bass player in the world, with Dogstar; and Jarvis Cocker dedicating “Something Changed” to Steve Albini.
The festival also placed a great emphasis on some of the most promising artists from the autonomous Spanish community of Catalonia, of which Barcelona is the capital, including Ferran Palau, Guillem Gisbert, Renaldo & Clara, Mushkaa, Ariox, Xebi SF, Mujeres, and Tiemei.
The 23. edition of Primavera Sound Barcelona will go down June 5-7 next year.