Primavera Sound 2011 : Day Five Recap

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/primavera11d5.jpg" alt="Primavera Sound 2011 : Day Five Recap" />Primavera Sound 2011 closed out back at Poble Espanyol. ...
Primavera Sound 2011 : Day Five Recap
Primavera Sound 2011 : Day Five Recap

After the 2010 edition, arguably not at the same level as preceding years – despite counting with bands such as Pavement, Pixies, Pet Shop Boys, and Florence & The Machine – that the Primavera Sound Festival (PS) has returned to form in 2011 has been utterly undeniable.  Once again, the festival has achieved the rich and exact mix of big solid names with smaller but also interesting new bands from all styles, letting the Spanish and the ever-increasing foreign audience know about new and exciting movements and sounds.  In addition to this, this year’s PS has had more square meters to build stages and its programme outside the Fòrum of Barcelona has been bigger than ever before with legs in Galicia (north-west of Spain), a string of bars in Barcelona and the recovery of its original venue of 2001-2004, the Pueblo Español of the Montjuic Park, that hosted the gigs of the day prior and after the festival.

Man doesn’t live by gigs alone, so as usual in the Parc del Fòrum, the core of the festival, gathered the traditional and classic music fair of the PS with tents of official merchandise, independent Spanish and foreign labels, art, posters, clothes, and even two radios, the local ScannerFM internet station and the legendary WFMU from New Jersey that, like previous years, recorded many of the gigs to be enjoyed later in streaming.  This is just the point of the iceberg of the festival offers to the people.  But after this intro, let’s talk about its soul: The Music.

 

 

SUNDAY 30TH MAY, POBLE ESPANYOL

The Primavera Sound returned to the venue that was used the first day, the Poble Espanyol, for the last round of gigs of the 2011 edition.

BMX Bandits My Teenage StrideMy Teenage Stride seemed a bit out of place at the Poble Espanyol.  Not that they played a bad gig, but they sounded tired and out of focus, and that bored the audience.  A pity, bearing in mind the base of their music is shiny and, at times, urgent pop.  Right after, veteran Scottish BMX Bandits decided to mix old catchy tunes – “Students of Life”, “The Day Before Tomorrow”, “Disco Girl”, “I Wanna Fall I Love” – with new tracks that will be found on their new record, BMX Bandits in Space.  Their leader, Douglas T. Stewart, introduced himself as a sort of half-musician, half-comedian, not taking himself seriously but doing so with his music and really connected with the audience.  As a Spanish friend of QRO commented at the end of the gig, “Now I see where Belle & Sebastian and some tunes by The Vaselines (QRO live review) and other bands of the time come from”.

Mercury Rev

And last but not least Mercury Rev played a retrospective set based on the record that saved them from their musical death, Deserter’s Songs, after they played the same set the previous day at the Fòrum.  Jonathan Donahue, Grasshopper and co. really were on fire, playing the set in an incredibly effortlessly way.  Confident, strong, blunt, the Americans reminded yours truly of Del Rey, the best gig of the festival at the Fòrum (see Day Three).  But whereas Del Rey were a fantastic discovery, Mercury Rev had it all to fail, as the whole of the audience knew by heart their songs.  Sometimes, a classic record is classic not only because of the emotions described in the studio, the acceptance of the audience, the influence over other musicians and many other factors, but also a record becomes a classic onstage, where the band must prove they believe in their work and they can communicate their emotions to the audience.  There have been so many cases where a band seems to lose the spark when it comes to play live but that was not the case with Mercury Rev.  There was no space for subtlety, no shades of grey, no gentleness… It was all electricity, euphoria, passion, optimism, awe.  Forget about the humble and dreamy images they usually project, about their mysticism and their refined craft.  That night, the Revs displayed anger and energy you will hardly ever see in any other of their gigs.

 

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Concert Reviews
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