Primavera Sound Barcelona 2023 – 2 June 2023 (Barcelona)

After a successful day on Thursday, marked by the excellent concert by Blur, Friday was the day to enjoy one of my favourite bands, Depeche Mode, together with Kendrick Lamar, the big stars of the day. Getting older is shown by the fact that decades ago I was one of the first to enter the venue to see one of the auditorium’s proposals or the sunshine concerts… Well, family commitments and, why not admit it, a lack of strength, meant that we arrived at the venue with just enough time to enjoy the beginning of Sparks’ gig, and so missed out on names that were on our list of must-sees, such as Bala, The Delgados or, most painfully, Japanese Breakfast.

Photo of Sparks by Christian Bertrand courtesy of Primavera Sound 2023 organisation.

The American Sparks are already a Guinness World Record in their own right. With a career spanning more than 50 years and 26 albums to their name, it would be hard to find one that has not been remarkable in the last ten years. The Mael brothers came to present their new album The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte (2023), but after playing just three songs from it in the first half of the concert, their show was a full-on greatest hits show like “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us”, “Angst in My Pants” or ”The Number One Song in Heaven”. In the hands of the magnificent Russell, who at 74 years of age is remarkable for his vitality and incessant dancing, we should not overlook his incredible vocal range, which many younger singers who love autotune would love to have.

Depeche Mode photo under Creative Commons licence from Wikimedia Commons

After them, it was time to head to the main stages to see perhaps the biggest name on this year’s line-up, British band Depeche Mode. In a long set by festival standards, lasting over an hour and a half, the Essex band started the show with one of their new songs. “My Cosmos is Mine”, to   move on later to the themes of the 90’s such as “Walking In My Shoes”, “It’s No Good” or “In Your Room”. From there, and with the robotic sounds of “Everything Counts” as a starting signal, their setlist was 90% of the first singles from each of their albums, such as “Precious”, “A Pain That I’m Used To” or the magnificient “Ghosts Again”, first song from their new album. For those of us who have seen them on tour over the last 20 years, we could see that Gaham and Gore, despite their age, still play the same roles (seducer and diva)., although we can’t deny that the counterpoint of sobriety and balance that Fletcher used to bring seems to have found its way into the rest of the band that accompanies them live. Just to Andrew they would dedicate “World in my Eyes” with a couple of projections in which he was seen in the early years of the band, which gave way to the final bang of the concert, where the quality and execution ohad everyone in the room floating with the concatenation between final tracks and encores of “Enjoy the Silence”, “Just Can’t Get Enough”, “Never Let Me Down Again” and “Personal Jesus”. Undoubtedly one of the greatest concerts in the festival’s recent history.

Photo of Bad Religion taken by Paco Amate, courtesy of the organisation of Primavera Sound 2023.

While most people were just taking a few steps to see Kendrick Lamar, the other big headliner of the day, on the next stage, we were heading to the Cupra stage to see some old friends, Bad Religion from Los Angeles. It’s only been a few months since they played Barcelona as part of their 40th anniversary tour, but any time is a good time to see Greg Graffin and his band. Start with “American Jesus” was a declaration of intent, because for almost an hour they did not stop playing punk hits one after the other, which was also proved by the presence of “No Control”, “End of History”, “The Streets of America”, “You”… The only downside to the performance was that the volume was so low that it was almost impossible to distinguish voices and guitars unless you were in the first 5 rows of the concert…. In an incredible finale, they would play one by one ”Punk Rock Song”, “Sorrow”, “I Want to Conquer the World” and “21st Century (Digital Boy)”, and gives us a pogo of almost 6 minutes, proving that these gentlemen from Los Angeles will be giving us records and live performances for many years to come.

Skrillex photo by Sergio Albert courtesy of Primavera Sound 2023 organisation.

As a counterpoint to the American punk rock, the French Christine and the Queens gave a dense, dark and theatrical concert on the Amazon stage. on the Amazon stage. The days of her all-white shows with several dancers are over, and the French singer is now interspersing her set with bits of poetry, performance and prose, mixing it with songs from his new album PARANOÏA, ANGELS, TRUE LOVE (2023) which goes on sale on Friday 9 June. It is true that in the first few minutes we were able to enjoy a different approach to some of the old songs, but always maintaining that intimate style, as we enjoyed in the delicate versions of “Saint Claude” or “La chanson du chevalier”. In a Primavera that is so urban and in tune with new trends, a little tears and self-flagellation in the form of an intimate (but not small) concert like that of Christine and the Queens is to be welcomed.

Photo of Mora by Paco Amate, courtesy of the Primavera Sound 2023 organisation.

The back-to-back EDM DJs on the main stages meant that we were only close enough to see Skrillex start. All we could see was one of the stage’s spotlights lit up by the pyrotechnics od the Los Angeles guy. As if it were a sign from a god, we decided that there was no need to waste any more time and that it would be a good time to do a pick up on the way home.with a final stop at the Amazon stage to see Bad Bunny’s regular collaborator and producer, Mora. The Puerto Rican gave the crowd a Latin trap and reggaeton bath, with the front rows full of people barely out of their teens. He sang five songs full of pounding rhythms, little voices (mostly out of tune) and hyper-sexualised lyrics that would make the hairs on the back of the neck of anyone responsible for co-education in a public institution to realise that this wasn’t even remotely our style. However, in a funny phrase, the kids couldn’t stop enjoying it…