Primavera Sound 2011 : Day Two Recap

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/primavera11d2.jpg" alt="Primavera Sound 2011 : Day Two Recap" />On Day Two, Primavera Sound 2011 moved into the big confines of Parc Del Fórum with big acts going...
Primavera Sound 2011 : Day Two Recap
Primavera Sound 2011 : Day Two 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.

 

 

THURSDAY 27TH MAY, PARC DEL FÒRUM

EmeraldsThe U.S.’s Emeralds started the first day at the Fòrum at the Pitchfork stage with their unique mix of electronics, psychedelia, ambient, guitar hero antics and minimalism.  The PA didn’t favour them, as they sounded more confusing that it should be and that kind of music really seemed to be more adequate for a night gig, not a mid-afternoon concert.  Anyway, the band played an intense set based around their latest work, Doesn’t It Look Like I’m Here, which connected with the audience and invited them to follow the band’s trace.

Blank DogsYet another proof of the new life of the ‘80s synth-pop and post-punk was shown by Blank Dogs.  The trio, based around guitarist and singer Mike Sniper offered a set of tunes that seem to mix the records of Joy Division, New Order, The Cure and Depeche Mode of the period of 1980-1982.  Tracks like “Blurred Tonight”, a song that could be one of the early New Order singles, showed Sniper is not offering anything new or original but that it’s accessible, fun, it can fit in a festival and makes people dance.  SeefeelAnd that’s really more than enough.

From the Pitchfork stage we go to the ATP area.  Seefeel returned to action after 15 years with a homonym record that keeps investigating about dub and abstraction.  Their set was solid and clear sounding, and though they could’ve chosen more vigorous songs to play at the PS, they didn’t sound like anybody else in the festival.

The Walkmen

More

GlasserBack to the Pitchfork stage to watch two very different bands that kind of summed up the essence of this 2011 PS edition.  Glasser played an almost non-stop set of minimalism and electronica all tied up with the beautiful voice of their ideologist, Cameron Mesirow, which was very well received by the audience.  Right after, The Walkmen played a gig of their classic rock recipe: music that is epic, emotional and intense.  In a festival the audience wants to remember the bands they see and the New Yorkers gave them all that and more.  In between John Lydon resurrected for the Spanish audience his well-known project P.I.L. that according to Anika Sade bassist Fede Zarza, “Sounded very loyal to that legacy of mixing dub, reggae and dance music.  Not that they copied what you hear on record but being inspired on that, the music they played sounded varied and rich and you could really see where an awful lot of later bands come from.”

One of the top bands in the 2011 PS, Nick Cave’s Grinderman, honoured their reputation of being one of the most electric and sweaty bands one must see onstage.  Urgent, direct, noisy, hysterical, Cave and co. faced the audience again, after their visit to Barcelona in 2008, and won them over, again.

Interpol

“And you have now crossed over into… THE TWILIGHT ZONE.”  The Llevant (East) stage was a world away from the rest of the festival core, in the middle of a beach with the stage facing the sea.  Not that this fact matters at 2am but it made it a bit of an experience to wander into darkness and stroll beside a sewage treatment plant, to get to the stage where some of the bands of the 2011 PS had to play.  Interpol played the PS for the first time and the script was the usual in the band: a very professional attitude, impeccable playing and a set designed for the festival with a bit of everything, and lack of passion.

Suicide

Right back at the Ray-Ban stage, the veterans Suicide played their first eponymous record that established the sound that bands like Throbbing Gristle would also use in the late ‘70s.  Welcomed by a young audience that probably mistook them for the Bay City Rollers because of the way they jumped to songs like “Ghost Rider” or “Cheree”, Alan Vega and Martin Rev played a good set, despite most of the people, apart from jumping, were more focused on how two seniors looked like a B movie version of the Tron characters.  Back to the San Miguel stage, the main one this year, the Flaming Lips also displayed their usual freak carnival, with a set where classics such as “Yoshimi” or “Laser Hands” could be heard.  A good gig, as usual, but with nothing new to offer, bearing in mind they have constantly visited Spain in the last decade.

The Flaming Lips

Wayne in a bubble

 

 

More photo galleries from Day Two:

Cults

Cults

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of Montreal

of Montreal

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Big Boi

Big Boi

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Oneohtrix Point Never

Oneohtrix Point Never

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Glenn Branca Ensemble

Glenn Branca Ensemble

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Ty Segall

Ty Segall

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Baths

Baths

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Suuns

Suuns

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Girl Talk

Girl Talk

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Concert Reviews
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