The lineup for Primavera Sound 2024, which will take place from May 29th to June 2nd in Barcelona, has been revealed.
The twenty-second edition of the festival brings back the Barcelona-based weekend format, once again with an explosive musical offering.
Lana del Rey, SZA, Pulp, VAMPIRE WEEKEND, Mitski, Charli XCX, Justice, PJ Harvey, The National, FKA twigs, Bikini Kill, Deftones and Troye Sivan will be the protagonists of the Festival.
Every artist, every band is important, but so is the collective sum of them all. It is therefore as stimulating to closely examine every detail and particularity of this diverse and inclusive line-up as it is to take a step back to gain perspective. Zoom in, zoom out. Did we mention this lineup is a gift? Well, let’s unpack that and discover that, in essence, it’s about the love of music.
Girls to the front!
The fact that the exceptional has become normal at Primavera Sound does not mean that we should not continue to highlight something that is an anomaly on a global level. The lineup of the next edition of Primavera Sound once again puts us face to face with the commitment to equality (42.36% of women, 42.36% of men and 15.28% of mixed projects), a distinctive sign of festival since the historic 2019 edition, which balanced gender distribution for the first time. A precedent that leads us here: Lana del Rey and SZA will headline Primavera Sound 2024. The former, firmly established as the great chronicler of American music of this century; the second, a generational talent who has pushed the limits of R&B, will offer his first show in Spain. “Girls to the front!”, as Kathleen Hanna called for in the early 1990s during her concerts. Hanna and her band, Bikini Kill, will also be at Primavera Sound 2024 to continue showing us how it’s done.
Say Yes to Heaven
Are hashtags still used in 2023? Because #bestfestivalever is more relevant than ever. Pulp will return to Jarvis Cocker’s favorite festival with their collection of atypical anthems, VAMPIRE WEEKEND will reunite with the audience they grew up with sixteen years after their first and only performance at the Parc del Fòrum, The National will open the doors of that part of their discography that makes us feel totally at home, Mitski will prove that she is much more than a cult singer-songwriter, PJ Harvey will split into all the different PJ Harveys she hides inside, Justice will infuse their party with the unmistakable touch French, FKA twigs will show the world the steps of her new choreographies, Deftones will light their nu metal fuse, Charli XCX will present her new era and Troye Sivan will bring his pop explosion to transform Barcelona into the world capital of music for a few days. Long-awaited returns, wishes that come true, public favorites and unfinished business: in short, as we have already said, a treat for the fans.
You Can Have It All
At Primavera Sound 2024, sounds of every type and nature, coming from every direction, will coexist as if they were the same thing. From the vintage pop of The Lemon Twigs or the extreme black metal of Wiegedood to the versatile jazz of BADBADNOTGOOD. And again the reggaeton of DJ Playero’s origins, passing through the tireless post-hardcore of Lisabö, the counter-current hip-hop of Billy Woods and the Jamaican dance of Channel One. A festival that this year too will be like a matryoshka: inside there are other festivals waiting to be discovered. Thus, each revision of the line-up reveals new impossible contrasts that are only imaginable here. The nostalgia for the future of AG Cook and the look at the past of Ángeles, Víctor, Gloria & Javier, the primordial instinct of La Zowi and the cerebral precision of Monolake, the conscientious and chirping fun of FRAC and the solemnity of American Football, the excesses of Arca and the austerity of Jessica Pratt, the din of The Armed and the immobility of Nala Sinephro, the bizarreness of YOVNGCHIMI and the uniqueness of Peggy Gou, the sparkle of Hannah Diamond and the nuances of Chelsea Wolfe. You can’t have everything in this life, but maybe you can after all when you read this lineup.
Do You Remember the First Time?
It doesn’t matter how many editions of the festival you have already participated in or if you were present at the 1994 concerts at the KGB, because whatever the case may be, Primavera Sound 2024 will be full of firsts for you too. Here lies the strength of a lineup that has unique moments, by definition, hidden in every corner: rarities, return projects, things never seen before in Spain. Like Clipse, the beloved project of Pusha T and Malice, who chose Primavera Sound as their only European show for their return, to make their legend even greater. Or the elusive Jai Paul, mythological animal of the blogosphere, who joins the lineup with only ten concerts in his career and many puzzles still to be solved. Or the Italian Liberato, another friend of mystery who almost never reveals himself on stage. Or Dogstar, the rock band of a certain Keanu Reeves (yes, you read that right, that Keanu Reeves). Or “An Intimate Piano Performance” by LAMBCHOP, a unique approach to Kurt Wagner’s already unmistakable catalog. Or Duster, recently reborn as new slowcore heroes. Or Stella Maris, the Christian pop superband invented by Los Javis for the La Mesías series, which made the leap from TV to festival. Other special occasions? Freddie Gibbs & Madlib will commemorate the tenth anniversary of Piñata, Mica Levi will decipher his non-negotiable musical language in a DJ set where anything can happen, Beth Gibbons will part the waters to take us across with her to the other shore, Roc Marciano will emerge from the rap underground to declare himself the father of an entire generation of MCs and William Basinski will perform his Disintegration Loops, something that could be defined as the alphabet of modern ambient. There are many reasons to know that a one-of-a-kind Primavera Sound is just around the corner.
We Are Your Friends
Shellac and the other 149. The immortal Chicago trio, who don’t play at festivals, but who will make an exception at Primavera Sound next year, perfectly embodies Primavera’s DNA. Then Yo La Tengo and Arab Strap, two other bands closely linked to the history of the festival since the 2003 edition, when it was still held at Poble Espanyol. Both will perform at Primavera Sound 2024 almost as host bands, although this honor can also be claimed by the metaphysical explorer Ferran Palau, local idols Mujeres and El Mató a un Policía Motorizado, who will once again make all of Barcelona sing with an Argentine accent . Fortunately, year after year, festival after festival, the Primavera Sound club of friends expands and regenerates itself naturally: Shabaka, in her most introspective guise after having previously shown us all the faces of jazz with her other projects, Romy, who we have seen grow after his visits with The xx, the Disclosure brothers, experts in transforming the Parc del Fòrum into a club, and Guillem Gisbert, now a soloist after becoming the soundtrack of our lives with Manel, will help safeguard the spirit of a festival they know perfectly.
How I’m feeling now
The festival line-up is many things at the same time, but above all it is once again a photograph that captures this precise moment in contemporary music. A present that materializes in the emergence of young talents such as Omar Apollo, Ethel Cain, Milo j, Mushkaa, Dillom, MJ Nebreda, Depresión Sonora and The Last Dinner Party. A present that inevitably sounds like the songwriting of Julie Byrne, the sharp rock of Water From Your Eyes, the umpteenth pop sublimation of Róisín Murphy, the Celtic folk of Lankum, the more human face of Yeule, the global refrains of Amaarae, the the dogma-free hardcore of Militarie Gun, the rambling ballads of Joanna Sternberg and the club hip-hop of HiTech. All of them are in the frame because their albums have marked this 2023 which is already coming to an end: Primavera Sound will take place in six months, but in a certain sense it is already happening.
When a Fire Starts to Burn
With the parallel program of Primavera a la Ciutat (forthcoming), which will once again involve various venues in Barcelona in line with the traditional urban character of the festival, the welcome day of Wednesday 29 May is already marked on the calendar as the first contact with the Parc del Fòrum. Another treat for fans, literally: a day of free concerts led by the ever-present Phoenix, the pop band veni, vidi, vici. The French group, an ideal mix of celebration and sophistication for such a day, will be joined by Tropical Fuck Storm, Ratboys, Maria Jaume and Stella Maris (in the first of their two performances at Primavera Sound 2024) to complete an official opening of the festival very special. And since all’s well that ends well, the Brunch Electronik party will close Primavera Sound 2024 on Sunday 2 June with sets from ANOTR, The Blessed Madonna, Chloé Caillet and Mochakk.
WEB & SOCIAL
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