After the second day on Saturday, marked by Lana de Rey’s walkabout, by the presence of Keanu Reeves or by the incredible concert of Brutus., Primavera Sound 2024 left the Parc del Forum on a rainy day, headlined by PJ Harvey and Roisin Murphy.
Photo of Atarashii Gakko! by Clara Orozco courtesy of the Primavera Sound 2024 organisation
Our first point of contact in a programme that was going to be 100 per cent female was the American 070 Shake. The good credentials of their second album You Can’t Kill Me (2022) were not reflected in a live performance that started late, with a lot of pre-recorded vocals and a noticeable lack of connection with the audience. Things got ugly as she went on and on until the organisers had to cut her off for using up his time seconds before PJ Harvey was due to start. It wasn’t the Dominican singer’s best show, who reportedly gave a better show later on the Etnia stage.
Photo of PJ Harvey by Gisela Jané courtesy of the Primavera Sound 2024 organisation
The highlight of the night was Britain’s PJ Harvey and I think that the PS24 show in the pouring rain will be the talk of the town for years to come. Even though there were only black clouds at the beginning of the concert, the songs of their magnificent last album were even more solemn I Inside the Old Year Dying (2023) as “Prayer at the gate”, “The Nether-Edge” or “I Inside the Old Year Dying”, the entrance to the songs from Let England Shake (2011) was accompanied by a rising waterspout, which caused the singer herself to be gradually delayed on stage for her own safety.. This bucolic and cold atmosphere was perfect for the first part of their concert, which was much more folk than the two albums mentioned above, only to become more electric and energetic as they gradually moved into the rest of their discography.
Photo of PJ Harvey by Gisela Jané courtesy of the Primavera Sound 2024 organisation
Accompanied by her loyal squire John Parish, “50ft Queenie” was the starting signal for a sublime second part of the concert, in which more rock songs like “Black Hearted Love” or “Angelene” with extremely sensitive songs such as “The Garden” or “The Desperate Kingdom Of Love”, dedicated to Steve Albini, producer of one of her best albums, Rid Of Me (1993), and accompanied only by an acoustic guitar. With the audience exhausted by both the genius of the concert and the amount of water on their clothes, there was still time to end the show with the concatenation of “Man-Size”, “Dress”, “Down by the WaterandTo Bring You My Love”, and this was the end of an excellent concert that will be one of the best in the festival’s history.
Photo of Dorian Electra by Eric Pamies courtesy of Primavera Sound 2024 organisation
Looking for a small roof to shelter us from the rain, we ‘bumped into’ Dorian Electra. The American was not in our original plans (the idea was to see Mitski) and it was a big surprise. As a friend commented during their concert, beyond a fantasy show that would delight the Eurovision producers of a Slavic country, her approach, which seems to be a combination of Lady Gaga and metal punk or 90s bakalao, proved to be effective on a stage drenched in water.. People dancing at the top of their lungs to the madness of the songs, a clown handing out T-shirts (who later turned out to be the artist’s father) or two dancers with paper bags on their heads… It is very difficult to write down all the input we had in 40 minutes.But we were eager to see what she had to offer in her concert the following day in Sala 2 of the Apolo.
Photo of Bikini Kill taken by Clara Orozco from the Primavera Sound 2024 Facebook profile.
With the rain coming down again, it was finally time to see some riot punk legends like Bikini Kill in Barcelona. Although at times their sound was not as punk as usual, the concert was a bacchanal of riffs, political proclamations and bad blood. In between the vocal exchanges between Kathleen Hanna and Tobi Vail, the concert seemed to be gaining momentum, making the final tracks with ‘Jigsaw Youth‘, ‘New Radio‘ and of course ‘Rebel Girl‘, were the best part of the concert. A special mention for the amount of women we could see in the front row enjoying the show without any problems or harassment, which shows how necessary bands like Bikini Kill were in the punk world, but also how necessary they still are….. Because although the Primavera line-up is perfectly balanced in terms of artists, we can’t kid ourselves that this is a rara avis on the national and international festival scene.
Photo of Romy by Clara Orozco, courtesy of Primavera Sound 2024.
We only had to walk about 50 metres to get back to the Amazon stage to see one of the concerts we were most looking forward to this year, Romy‘s concert. The member of The XX gathered a large number of people who did not stop dancing in the nearly hour-long concert, in which the Englishwoman mainly presented her first solo album Mid Air (2023), and proved that, beyond the paraphernalia that seems to accompany the big pop concerts these days, it is still possible to conquer the public with the honesty and quality of a brilliant proposal. There were songs to suit all tastes; a more up-tempo start with ‘Weightless” or “Lifetime”, covers from The XX (“Angels”) or Ariadna Grande (“Into you”) and a rousing finale with the beautiful ‘Loveher‘, their collaboration with Fred Again on ‘Lights Out‘ and the empowering messages on the screens of ‘Stong‘. We are still eagerly awaiting the trio album, but we have to admit that the solo material the three of them have released so far has given us a lot of pleasure.
Photo of Romy by Clara Orozco, courtesy of Primavera Sound 2024.
While making time for our last concert of the year at Primavera Sound, we decided to approach the Cupra stage, curious to see what the Japanese quartet Atarashii Gakko would do! In a concert that kicked off their first world tour, the quartet of Mizyu, Rin, Suzuka and Kanon presented a hypnotic proposal that included typical J-pop choreography as well as headbanging and breakdancing.…Everyone who passed the stage on their way to other gigs ended up staying, so by the time they finished their short 50-minute set, the Cupra stage was packed. Let’s face it, these girls are capable of dancing to evetyhing, but they’re also capable of singing in the style of 70’s Motown, or delivering a more than powerful finale with “Tokyo Calling” or “NAINAINAI”, to show that the traditional and the modern are not mutually exclusive. Truly, a great success!.
Photo of Atarashii Gakko! by Clara Orozco courtesy of the Primavera Sound 2024 organisation
The weekend’s final energy went to one of our undisputed dance music queens, Roisin Murphy. Also starting later than planned, it was in his favour to close the big stages in order not to be cut off, as we mentioned at the beginning with 070 Shake… Has anyone ever seen a bad show from the Irish girl? We say this because, in addition to their historic concerts at Primavera Sound, Saturday’s concert was once again a lesson in sound quality, in making everyone dance, in the best audiovisuals, in almost one model of clothing per track.… All in all, a pleasure to enjoy from start to finish. Although we missed the first few minutes due to the logical marathon between stages, the first thing that surprised us was the presence of up to three percussion sections on stage, which gave the concert a live feel with incredible power, as demonstrated in the almost 10 minutes that resulted from the union of ‘The Universe” and “Crazy Ants”. By the time the first big Moloko hit on the setlist, ‘The Time Is Now’, came around, the crowd were up to their ankles in dancing, a testament to the standard of the gig.… Although there was still time for the icing on the cake, both for their concert and for the festival, with a final 20 minutes where we could enjoy the hit“Sing It Back””, the purest electronics from “Can’t Replicate” (The synthesiser sound at the beginning must have been heard even in the Cantabrian Sea, to the delight of the neighbours in the nearby blocks) or the bizarrism that still provokes the chorus of the now distant ‘Ramalama (Bang Bang)”, that even though we’ve heard it a thousand times, it still blows us away with those lines that remind us of the Soviet music that seems to accompany Tetris. As a small suggestion to the festival organisers, we need more Roisin Murphy late at night and not as many EDM DJs as in previous years!!!!
Photo of Lana del Rey by Sharon Lopez courtesy of Primavera Sound 2024
So, a great day to close a new edition of Primavera Sound in which Lana del Rey eclipsed everything in terms of names on the bill, but which left Pj Harvey, Romy and Roisin Murphy as the queens in pectore of the line-up. The same goes for the bands, with Vampire Weekend or The National putting on some remarkable shows, but undoubtedly surpassed by the Pulp cyclone or the powerful live performances of Mannequin Pussy, Brutus or Atarashii Gakko!
What do you think?
Show comments / Leave a comment