Festival Coverage - Primavera Sound
- Written by Kenneth McMurtrie
The Primavera Sound festival has been around for over a decade in Barcelona and is now in its second year in Porto. Offering a consistently high level of acts from around the world it is also an important platform for acts from Spain, Portugal and Latin American countries, proof of which is seen this year with such acts as Blur, Bob Mould, Dinosaur Jr., Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Woods rubbing shoulders with The Suicide Of Western Culture, Los Planetas and Guadalupe Plata and many others.
The Barcelona event runs over May 22 - 26 whilst Porto plays host May 30 - June 01 and we were lucky enough to have a few questions about the organisation of the shows answered by the promoters:-
MG) How far in advance of the event do you start planning/booking acts?
Some of the acts that play at the festival have more than a year's worth of work, so we start planning the next edition when the festival has finished normally. There's a lot of work to do to plan an event with more than 200 artists playing.
MG) How easy is it to keep each year’s line-up as fresh as you’d like (i.e. few acts playing the same set as the year before)?
We try not to repeat many bands, and normally if they play again they have a new record out or they are doing a special tour - i.e. playing one of their masterpieces in its entirety. Also, we try to have as many up and coming acts every year, and that keeps the festival fresh.
MG) What’s the strangest rider request any act has ever submitted and were you able to meet it?
Well, big artists are always asking for things that are sometimes strange, but we never get really, really strange things. There was a popular British band that asked for maybe 30 different good bottles of French wine, each of them from a specific year. And then there are the classic "rider jokes" about bowls of M&M's and stuff, but these are normally on the riders to know if the promoters have checked the whole document.
MG) Festivals seem to be more prevalent than ever in the UK – is that also the case in Spain & Portugal or does the fact you’ve been able to expand to include Porto highlight a lack of similar events?
No, there are a lot of festivals over here, but a lot of them are quite similar and book the same artists. So I think the secret of our success is the selection; we try to build a mix of artists covering a lot of styles - wide, but with sense - from different decades, as well as trying to combine those with long, established careers with the freshest and most upcoming.
MG) If things work out well this year would you consider franchising the festival to other places outside of the Iberian Peninsula?
We always try to build things step by step, we've been contacted to make festivals in Southern America, Europe, etc., but we want to see the Porto festival develop first and then think about other locations. It's only our second edition in Portugal.
MG) How much time do you get to see performances yourselves over the weekends?
I don't see any bands at the festival, I have no time at all. I try to see the bands playing in other festivals or when they play in the city - my office never lets me see a concert.
MG) Have you ever had to miss an important life event due to festival related business/promoting a show?
I can't remember anything really complicated, as I never compromise with things happening between April and June, but I'm sure I've missed weddings, birthdays and stuff like that in the last years.