Radiohead have announced their first festival appearance of 2016, with the band confirmed to headline this year’s NOS Alive festival in Portugal.
The festival is held in the centre of Lisbon between July 7th-9th and celebrates its 10th birthday in 2016.
Along with the likes of Pixies and Foals already announced, Thom Yorke and co have now been confirmed for this year’s festival. The band are currently thought to be working on a new album, what will be the follow-up to their 2011 album ‘The King of Limbs’.
Other new additions include The Chemical Brothers, Tame Impala, Hot Chip, John Grant, Courtney Barnett and The 1975.
Wolf Alice, Father John Misty, José González, M83 and Years & Years have already been confirmed for the fest.
NOS Alive was formerly known as Optimus Alive and has hosted Arctic Monkeys, The Libertines, Foals, Depeche Mode, Radiohead, The Cure, Pearl Jam, Beastie Boys, Smashing Pumpkins, Bob Dylan and Blondie alongside electronic acts and DJs such as The Chemical Brothers, Justice, Deadmau5 and SimianMobile Disco in previous years.
The 2015 line-up included Disclosure, Django Django, Sam Smith, Counting Crows, James Bay, Sleaford Mods and Azealia Banks.
Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem, PJ Harvey, Tame Impala, Sigur Rós, Last Shadow Puppets, Animal Collective, Brian Wilson, John Carpenter, more.
Primavera will return to Barcelona from June 2-4. Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem, and PJ Harvey are set to perform. Update (1/21 5:08 a.m.): Check out the official poster below.
The line-up includes Tame Impala, Sigur Rós, Animal Collective, Beach House, the Last Shadow Puppets, Brian Wilson (performing Pet Sounds), John Carpenter, Pusha T, Neon Indian, Ty Segall and the Muggers, Julia Holter, Savages, Air, Action Bronson, Vince Staples, Explosions in the Sky, Moderat, Drive Like Jehu, Dinosaur Jr., Deerhunter, Chairlift, Kamasi Washington, Battles, Thee Oh Sees, Holly Herndon, Protomartyr, Sheer Mag, DJ Koze, Empress Of, Beirut, Dâm-Funk, Parquet Courts, Shellac, Hudson Mohawke (DJ), Floating Points, Titus Andronicus, Nao, Freddie Gibbs, U.S. Girls, Black Lips, Evian Christ, Beak>, Jenny Hval, Royal Headache, Car Seat Headrest, Wild Nothing, Mudhoney, Cass McCombs, Tortoise, Suede, Downtown Boys, Alex G, Jay Rock, the Chills, Moses Sumney, Dungen, DJ Richard, White Fence, and many others.
Primavera featured Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem, Brian Wilson and many more in its heavyweight billing, Getintothis’ Peter Guy and Adam Lowerson reflect on a marathon of music in Barcelona.
Barcelona: from the ever-changing magnificence of Sagrada Família to the opulence of the Palau de la Música Catalana through to Camp Nou’s game-changing football stadium this is a city that doesn’t do things by halves.
Subtlety simply isn’t in the city’s makeup; it’s colourful, grandiose, vibrant, progressive and spectacular. And these features are reflected in its music festivals – most notably Primavera Sound. Now in its fifteenth year, and eleventh in its seafront-based Parc del Fòrum, the festival is monumentally colossal in every aspect – and for its 2016 edition, the organisers appeared to have aligned every single music fan’s wildest dreams in assembling a line-up which transformed fantasy into reality. A bill which when it appeared in poster format sent most people reaching for their mouse to check the official website in the glorious hope that it wasn’t a hoax. It wasn’t – Primavera 2016’s line up may just have been the greatest assembly of artists in contemporary popular music. Seriously, on paper, it looked that audacious.
But before we get to the music, let’s step back. This was Getintothis‘ first adventure to the Parc del Fòrum and it’s worth registering our awe at what’s on offer; for here is a festival site, and with it an experience, truly epic in scope and refined to every last detail. The forum itself, a multi-functional concrete playground, designed by Elías Torres and José Antonio Martínez Lapeña in 2004, boasts 140,000 square metres of space and in it 14 stages, a colossal lattice-styled concrete food court, an enclosed beach club accessible via an equally gigantic concrete foot bridge, an indigo blue triangular auditorium 25 feet high boasting fragmented glass panels evoking crisp falling water, a multitude of bars, toilets, walkways, stalls, a corridor of record shops and Flatstock screen-printed posters – and towering above it all a preposterous solar panel so vast it recalls the moment in Star Wars when the Imperial Star Destroyer passes through the cinema screen and just keeps on going and going and going. In the context of a music festival it is one of the greatest sights we’ve ever seen.
The Parc del Fòrum alone would make for a truly wondrous setting, yet it’s monumental size and brutal architecture never feels a chore to traverse, instead it feels delightfully contained; everything is within easy reach and the way in which you can navigate Primavera makes for an easy and fun-filled week of exploration.
Best of all, despite the 200,000 in attendance, the Fòrum rarely, if ever, feels overcrowded – sure for the big-hitting live drawers, the numbers are vast – but it’s not an uncomfortable experience. You never feel anxious. Better yet, and quite the opposite to much of its UK festival counterparts, the notion of queuing at Primavera is not on the menu. In the course of five full days at the main site we barely had to wait more than three minutes for food or drink. We didn’t queue once for a toilet (we’ll get on to these in a moment) and the staff were always quick and friendly. And this rubbed off on the punters with frustrations or irritations seemingly never in evidence.
Speaking of irritants: festival toilets. The numero uno of all festival nightmare experiences back on UK soil was simply not in evidence throughout our time at Primavera. From day one to five the pristine white plastic thrones remained so, with copious toilet roll, soap and washing water on offer, it was almost bewildering that by close of play – and despite temperatures soaring – we felt content with each visit.
The feeling was mutual down the food court as the array of scran was matched with reasonable prices and more than reasonable quality – our favoured offerings including large bowls of Thai curry, oriental noodles, Malaysian rice and falafels – our only qualm selecting the wrong dressing (yoghurt instead of four herb; schoolboy error). If we were being churlish, the sponsored ale on site (Heineken was a tad foamy and kinda blended into nothingness in the heat) but that rarely stopped us making repeated visits. Meanwhile a small press cabin ideally situated behind the main stages provided soft drinks, coffee, water and yet more clean toilets until the early hours of the morning (we didn’t even indulge in the copious free alcohol and canapes provided at intervals throughout the festival – we were having too much fun elsewhere).
So, yes, it’s fair to say, the foundations for our opening Primavera Sound experience were set up to be, well, sound. But the fluff around the edges can’t mask a festival lacking in good music which in turn feeds the crowd and overall vibe.
Happily Primavera had no such concerns as the tone was set early on Wednesday afternoon as former Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia headliners, Goat brought their inimitable Swedish pagan-funk boogie to a sizeable crowd (many of whom were allowed in free for the soft launch opening day – another aspect you’d seriously doubt happening at a corporate event in the UK) who lapped up a set split between their albums Commune and World Music – the latter’s Run to Your Mama and an extended fried-guitar freakout jam of Goathead ensured a wild opening salvo. Suede follow on the Primavera stage packing the hits into a bracing sheet-metal-infused set which sees a zealous Brett Anderson repeatedly mounting amps and side stages as the band dice up select cuts from their back catalogue; Introducing The Band, Animal Nitrate and We Are The Pigs particularly rampant. There’s even a neat outing for Killing of a Flashboy. Better still follows in a trip across town which sees Montreal outfit SUUNS stir the Sala Apolo into a sweaty frenzy with their claustrophobic vice-like grooves.
Grooves and beats, fare better in the heavy Barca heat and during our four days those intent on stirring the soul and willing the feet to move are the festivals biggest beneficiaries – so the vicious electronic rumble of (an evidently very happy to be in attendance) Beak>, an effervescently sprightly Chairlift and a preposterously wild Evian Christ (mixing the savage with the cutely silly to skillful effect; represent Ellesmere Port!) ensure crowds are willed to shake their limbs in ridiculous fashion. Perhaps the biggest bombs were dropped by Moderat, though, who lights up a terrific Saturday night from 1.40am and keeps everyone entertained through to 3am. The same can’t be said for The Avalanches, who while attracting one of the largest crowds of the weekend, seemingly plug in a Now That’s What I Call Karaoke CD and simply press play. It’s truly awful – and the only respite occurs during the naff attempts at mixing when they change to disc two. It’s almost comical.
The same couldn’t be levelled at the hip hop sets which pepper each of the four days – Action Bronson is on typically verbose form drawing the biggest crowd of any rap outfit all week over on the Primavera stage while Vince Staples and Pusha T share a high-scoring draw on the Pitchfork Stage (perhaps our favourite platform for both atmosphere and the impressive vantage point whether looking up at the magnificent solar panel above or actually walking across it’s concrete buttresses to peer below at the masses below) impressing with oodles of charisma and seismic bangers – the former winning the energy stakes by repeatedly bounding across the stage but it’s Pusha T‘s relentless arrogance and weight of ‘this is a serious event‘ which hands him hip hop set of the festival.
It’s these infectious personalities married to block-busting sonic dramas that work so well within the context of this concrete playground, and the urge to listen to the downbeat melancholia of the likes of post-rockers Explosions in the Sky or Sigur Ros seems incongruous – despite them being artists we’d usually race into position for. Similarly, the more guitar-orientated artists are overshadowed – Deerhunter are somewhat underwhelming in the early night sunset while Savages, despite their best efforts to rally a riot with Jehnny Beth‘s persistent crowd-surfing-enticing feel a tad contrived and one dimensional as the bluster overwhelms the actual songs.
But these are minor criticisms – for while each stage sees perhaps a dozen or so artists grace them per day the choice remains overwhelming; the clashes are constant. LCD Soundsystem v Thee Oh Sees? Radiohead v Shellac v Dinosaur Jr v Tortoise? Or how about Brian Wilson v Autolux v Richard Hawley v Jenny Hval v Current 93? The fact of the matter was – wherever you ended up at Primavera Sound 2016, you were near guaranteed to see something close to superb.
This, perhaps more than any other was the key strategic masterstroke of Primavera – organisers did indeed book a large number of live acts, yet spread over the five or six days and across the 14 stages it proved just the right amount resulting in good sized audiences across the festival site and choice was at an all-time high.
Undeniably superb, was the welcome relief of sitting down and digesting the quite remarkable Auditori Rockdelux. The contemporary exhibition centre played host to everything from desert-storm guitar soloing (Six Organs of Admittance), frenetic industrial techno (Cabaret Voltaire), improvisational free-jazz (Kamasi Washington) and old school metal (Angel Witch). Both visually and sonically, it was something else – a space to luxuriate in, absorb an oceanic array of music and relax, take stock and sometimes fall asleep when it all got too much.
The experimentalism of Boredoms would have been ideally suited to the auditorium’s expressionism as they traded three sets of drums with theremin (controlled by movements of the head, but of course), undulating keys and three sets of what looked like towel racks made of steel which reverberated in metallic hums when scraped or beaten. For a band so acclaimed for their rhythmic propulsion, this was a more considered set, fewer chaotic peaks and more restrained ambience – albeit dissonant and hardly an easy listen early evening on the final day of the festival. Far easier on the ear were New Zealanders The Chills who jangled away on the Ray-Ban Stage – another of our favourite platforms which included ideal vantage points with it’s oval-tiered seating allowing for opportune rests. Similarly, Spaniard Joana Serrat is delightfully airy imbuing Americana, Jenny Lewis-esque vibes which ease us into the Saturday afternoon quite beautifully.
Algiers are completely at odds with their opening slot on Thursday; gothic guitar doom trades with frenetic percussive drones and they’re an intriguing proposition which compels a large crowd to maintain their attention. Air on the other hand do exactly what they’ve always done – fizzle gently and waft into nothingness – and in this context it simply doesn’t work. Earlier we spot Har Mar Superstar giving an interview on a golf buggy and decide to follow it into the Beach Club which is a throbbing mess of half naked happy souls lapping up a packed tent to Todd Terje. If we’re honest, this was our least appealing element of the site – think Spring Break on Sangria. Not for us.
Dungen are more our sort of people who deliver one of the sets of the week on the imposing H&M Stage (the second largest on site) early doors on Friday – early cut Panda from their 2004 album Ta Det Lugnt is a rip-roaring fuzzy delight but it’s their final song – which they announce to groans of disappointment with 20 minutes of their set remaining – that showcases the band’s supergroup talents; a sprawling suite which takes in Canterbury folk-prog, organ noodles and high-octane guitar pirouetting which leaves us breathless. Twenty minutes later they leave to unanimous applause. They play Liverpool Psych Fest in September, don’t miss them.
But it’s the big guns that the majority are waiting for and none more than Radiohead who provide a set which is characteristically obtuse yet high in drama. Opening with a five song salvo from a Moon Shaped Pool which begins with Burn The Witch (minus the stabbing strings), near silence falls over the vast surrounds as a sea of people watch the electric blue light fall over the stunning ambience of Daydreaming but it’s the introductory rumble of The National Anthem which truly kicks start the set. The peaks are numerous – a mighty Talk Show Host complete with crackling Johnny Greenwood guitar crunches, two scintillating Kid A numbers in Idioteque and Everything In It’s Right Place, the ghostly refrains of Street Spirit and an extended encore which marries the savage (Paranoid Android) with the beautifully subtle (Nude) concludes with Thom Yorke wryly commenting, “Thanks for sticking with us, I’m surprised you stayed so long“, before dropping a delirious version of Creep. Was it perfect, nope, but it wasn’t far off.
Elsewhere, LCD Soundsystem are simply stunning playing almost two hours of euphoric, melancholy-infused delirium, John Carpenter combines minimalist synth stabs with giant screens of clips from his peerless horror slasher flicks and oodles of charisma and Brian Wilson is, quite simply, a ray of sunshine on Saturday afternoon. And just when you thought Primavera’s pop perfection couldn’t be topped, the sun rose on Sunday morning showering hazy yellow light across the Ray Ban Stage only for DJ Coco to drop David Bowie‘s Heroes. It was 8am, and time for bed. Primavera truly had turned our musical dreams into some kind of awesome reality.
picks of Primavera Sound 2016
8. Beak> on Primavera Stage – Thursday June 2
Geoff Barrow’s Beak> entertained with a solid set of noirish electronica to an unexpectedly big crowd which left Barrow visibly delighted. Their krautrock inspired driving rhythms are hypnotically repetitive and bear an uncanny resemblance to kraut pioneers Can.
Throughout the set Barrow makes numerous comments about how nobody probably knows who they are, but we’re in no doubt that if this is the case, they certainly will have picked up a few new fans here. The reception from the early revellers was great, and it made for a solid start to the first day of the festival. AL
7. Cabaret Voltaire at Auditori Rockdelux – Friday June 3
Away from the blistering heat outside, the Auditori Rockdelux provides some much needed respite for our sore feet. There’s absolutely nothing relaxing Cabaret Voltaire‘s set, though. With the expansive auditorium plunged into complete darkness, Sheffield’s electronic pioneers assault the senses with their intense, industrial sounds matched with a glitching, flashing backdrop with video clips of war, Jimmy Saville and Cesar Romero‘s 60s Joker put through a psychedelic filter. The music is played at ear splitting volume and is genuinely disorientating. AL
6. Dungen on H&M Stage – Friday June 3
Kicking off proceedings on the second day of the festival, Swedish prog-rockers Dungen impressed with a 40-minute set taking tracks from their eight studio records. Their kaleidoscopic, prog-psych sounds were a perfect match for the Spanish sunshine, with fuzzy guitars, gorgeous bass-tones and soaring flute solos.
We were disappointed when they announced they were about to play their final song only 20 minutes into the set, so it was a nice surprise that what followed was a 25 minute, whacked out prog jam. Swirling keys, swaggering guitar solos and colossal drum fills. Epic stuff. AL
5. Suuns at Sala Apolo – Wednesday June 1
One of the highlights of Primavera arguably happened before the festival had even properly started, with a handful of bands performing at the intimate Sala Apolo in the centre of Barcelona. The main attraction of the night were Canadian’s Suuns, who shook the Apolo to its core.
Playing tracks mainly from their latest record Hold/Still, Suuns smashed their way through an hour long set of sharp, stabbing synths at ridiculous volume. Their sound is absolutely packed with huge, swaggering grooves. There’s something really discordant about the whole thing. It’s relentless, punishing and leaves you feeling like you’ve been hit by a ten tonne truck of noise. Incredible stuff. AL
4. Brian Wilson on Heineken Stage – Saturday June 4
The early evening sun was shining, glimmering on the deep blue of a Mediterranean sea which ran alongside the festival site, and Hawaiian shirts were out in full force. We’d struggle to think of a more perfect environment to listen to the music of the Beach Boys in.
Read our review of Brian Wilson at Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall here
Performing Pet Sounds from start to finish to celebrate the record’s 50th anniversary, Brian Wilson and his excellent band started with a slightly quiet rendition of the album’s opener Wouldn’t It Be Nice, but what followed was completely perfect. The melancholy, orchestral songs of Pet Sounds were performed in front of a relatively hushed crowd before a greatest hits set including California Girls, Good Vibrations, I Get Around and a completely bizarre but incredibly fun cover of the Monster Mash had everyone singing along.
Although much of the vocal heavy lifting is performed by Matt Jardine, son of original Beach Boy Al Jardine, who does a great job bringing a lot of the songs to life, it is genuinely heartwarming to see Wilson enjoying every moment of the set. Sat behind his grand piano, the genius songwriter conducts his band through each of his masterpieces, beaming with enthusiasm between each song and even speaking the odd bit of Spanish, the 73 year old gives the impression of someone finally at peace after an incredibly tortured and difficult life. It’s a beautiful, touching moment. AL
3. Pusha T on Pitchfork Stage – Saturday June 4
The Pitchfork Stage, sat beneath the beautifully brutal solar panel, was one of the best stages at the festival with consistently strong sets taking place over the three days. Pusha T‘s was certainly the stand out. Performing amid plumes of smoke and between two neon crucifixes reading ‘Sin will find you out‘, the set was visually impressive as well as musically.
What was most enjoyable about King Push‘s set was that it injected some much needed fun to the festival. Arms were in the air, there was a call and response with the crowd about ‘money, pussy, alcohol‘ and the impressive crowd that the president of G.O.O.D. Music drew were just having a great time. When it’s good, there’s not much better than live hip hop, and this was just one of a number of great hip hop sets throughout the weekend. AL
2. John Carpenter on Primavera Stage – Thursday June 2
While much of the festival punters are off watching the dreary cod-psychedelia of Tame Impala, the near peak set of the festival happens on the Primavera stage, as 68-year-old synth warlock John Carpenter enters all in black with his white facial hair marking him out amid giant background screens. What unfolds is a joyful synthesis of his timeless scores pitched to classic scenes from his various cinematic classics.
Halloween, The Fog, Escape From New York and Big Trouble In Little China are all wheeled out to rapturous cheers and the combination of Carpenter’s distinctive keys hooks aligned to the vast ensemble of musicians he has with him (including his son and godson) makes for a rich, fulsome sound. It’s also hugely dance-worthy as he turns the crowd into a bobbing mess of delight. Stories alluding Kurt Russell, Ennio Morricone (who wrote the theme to The Thing, another Carpenter directed, and also features in his set) plus how he wrote his comeback album for Sacred Bones, Lost Themes, adds to the whole experience.
The stand-out arrives in the one-two punch of Assault On Precinct 13 which sounds like the best boxer’s walk-in-to-the-ring theme imaginable. An indomitable electronic force – Carpenter’s set felt like a genuine moment for Primavera 2016. PG
1. LCD Soundsystem on Heineken Stage – Thursday June 2
It’s only been five years since James Murphy and Co announced their split and performed the last show at Madison Square Garden, yet this comeback feels like one of the most highly anticipated in recent times. The excitement was palpable and the crowd was huge, and the sprawling mass of concrete that is Parc Del Forum became a massive dance floor as LCD Soundsystem delivered a set of wall-to-wall bangers.
Kicking off with Us v Them, quickly followed by Daft Punk Is Playing At My House, I Can Change and Get Innocuous!, it was absolutely relentless, euphoric and a complete justification of why this was without a doubt the most anticipated set of the festival.
It was a masterclass in choosing a set list, with most major hits from across their career making an appearance. Throughout their near two hour set, it was hard to think of a song that they didn’t play. Losing My Edge and Dance Yrself Clean were big standouts, before a towering performance of All My Friends invoked a mass singalong. It’s surely one of the best tunes of the last 20 years, and the perfect way to end what could be one of the all time great festival headline sets.
A is for Antony & The Johnsons
Anthony & The Johnsons headlining a festival? In 2015? It doesn’t sound so good, does it? I mean, we’re trying to have a holiday here, and he hasn’t had a new record in five years. It’s almost as odd a booking for Primavera as Damian Rice is this year, but you’d be surprised (or maybe not) of the magnetism of a full orchestra dressed in white, fronted by the effortless, always real Antony Hegarty, in front of a completely bizarre and somehow harrowing video projection of Japanese performance artists clowning around in the forests as if in a Beatles’ Zapple version of The Magical Mystery tour. It takes a full hour for people to notice there’s zero percussion.
B is for Breakdown?
Foxygen’s big stage performance on the final day of the festival is definitely the weirdest. There’s about a hundred of them up there, on a colossal amount of uppers, which gives their hippy homages a manic fear. It’s like the messy end of the sixties all over again, as the gaunt Sam France flails and slurs. He storms off. The band storm off. But it’s a joke! Haha. It’s not really, though, is it?
C is for Caribou
Caribou play Primavera every year, and yet it never gets dull. This time round, as the final band of the festival on the massive amphitheatre stage, Dan Snaith et al keep it banging, reaching for the lasers with their live-drums-plus-synths simplicity and, of course, a huge, winding singalong apt for closing this particular edition of the festival. All together now: “sun, sun, sun, sun, sun…” (see ‘W’).
D is for Dance Tent
Expanded this year with a surround-sound PA that reportedly cost a bazillion Euros (and sounds like it, too), this is Primavera’s go-to venue for locating the hipster you fancied from that Sven Väth Boiler Room clip. Also, and not particularly compatible with the aforementioned chirpsing, is its status as the only stage at the festival whose PA system induced vomiting in one unsuspecting dipsomaniac, during Raime’s spleen-rupturingly dubby Friday night excursions.
E is for Eating
Spain does food very well, and I’m sure by their standards the restaurants onsite were serving third rate slop at inflated prices. But we’re not from Spain, and a majority of British people can go to Primavera and eat healthier there than they do at home. What was with their burger buns? They were seeded. There was salad!
F is for Fair
That’s record fair. Primavera’s merch stalls are all in one place, neatly by the entrance, and happily free of jester hats, inflatable aliens, T-shirts that look like they say Maltesers but actually say Manteaser and other such tat. Each dedicated to a different store or label, from Rough Trade to the local Boston Pizza Records, they exclusively sell records and the odd T-shirt. We’re here for the music, don’t forget.
G is for Golden Circle
For the second year running, Primavera installed a golden circle on it’s two, facing main stages. It’s nothing to worry about, but it’s worth remembering – one half of each circle is first-come-first-served, the other is for poshos with VIP wrist bands, which you can in fact buy, whether you’re very important or otherwise.
H is for Hip-Hop
Primavera’s hip-hop programme tends to be small but unmissable – it’s hard to lose your shit to Electric Wizard in quite the same way you can to Tyler, The Creator, but it’s Run The Jewels who really put the chin-stroking on hold, as a wheelchair is crowd-surfed in the pit and the ATP stage reaches its wildest peak of the weekend.
I is for Interpol
As usual, there is nothing remarkable about Interpol’s lengthy Saturday night set beyond the tunes themselves, which are played with the complete seriousness they demand, to a huge crowd. Interpol have never been great ‘performers’, but, then, they’ve never needed to be.
J is for James Blake
You’ve come a long way, Blakey: playing a headline slot on the festival’s biggest stage could’ve swamped James Blake’s fragile blubstep posturing, but instead he pulls out one of the weekend’s surprise successes, full of muscular throb and engagingly weird arrangements.
K is for the King’s Cup
Watching football might not feature high on your priorities at a music festival, but watching Barcelona isn’t like watching what passes for the (not so) beautiful game over here. Screening in the food court on Saturday evening was the final of the King’s Cup (Copa del Rey), between Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao – two clubs from regions of the country that crave independence from Spain. Of course the place is going to erupt into boos whenever King Felipe VI pops up on screen, but nothing – music or otherwise – is quite as powerful as the reception given to a complete wonder goal from Lionel Messi. Youtube it.
L is for Launch Parties
Primavera have always hosted a launch party the night before the festival begins in earnest. They used to be a ticketed event, though, on the other side of town. They’ve still got some of those going on, but they also now open a portion of the site on the Wednesday, this year for a completely free show by Albert Hammond Jr. and OMD, for anyone who can be bothered to go along. It’s just a shame that ‘Enola Gay’ couldn’t be a highlight of the festival proper.
M is for Mac Demarco’s band
Jokes are, of course, abound at Demarco’s main stage set (a massive upgrade from where he played in 2013), but they come from his ridiculous wing men, Piers and Andy, rather than Mac himself. Piers covers Coldplay’s ‘Yellow’ at one point; Andy answers back with spoken word improv and grandly introduces Anthony Kiedis (“He’s actually really chill”), who is in fact their friend who just happens to have long hair. Yeah, you had to be there.
N is for Noise
It’s not all jangly sunshine bubblegum goodness at Primavera this year – indeed, the back-to-back pairing of Spiritualized and SunnO))) on Friday evening was very much influenced by Super Hans’ motto, “the longer the note, the more dread.” Add a ruthlessly abrasive Pharmakon, a grandly fuzzed Ride and a 150-minute-long Swans set, and a Catalonian beachside festival starts to feel, unexpectedly, like quite the place to realign one’s eardrums.
O is for Oasis
Not including Andy Bell and the reformed Ride, there’s just one fleeting reminder of Oasis’ legacy, when we walk past a small group of British guys stood in a circle singing the chorus of ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ with impressive conviction. Book the wrong festival, lads?
P is for Poster Convention
It’s next to the record fair, of course, and that really is the end of the shopping experience at Primavera. Records, the occasional T-shirt and a hell of a lot of illustrated, screen-printed posters, clearly from some very talented people.
Q is for “Quiet!”
One of the drawbacks of city festivals is that eventually The Man’s gonna show up and get you to turn it down. And while a quieter site this year was an obvious bonus for the likes of Tobias Jesso Jr. (see ‘T’) and Torres, whose intimate set didn’t have to compete with neighbouring stages, the limited volume also reduced the impact of some bands who thrive in high amplification: Sunn O)))’s normally earth-juddering thunder became more of a passing storm, to the extent that we were shushed during their set, five rows from the front.
R is for Riot Grrrl
Whether by accident or design, Primavera Sound’s bookers this year scheduled a continuous Friday evening run across various stages that comprised Ex Hex (see, erm, ‘X’), Patti Smith, The Julie Ruin and finally Sleater-Kinney, making for a festival-within-a-festival of Riot Grrrl on day two. Smith delivered ‘Horses’, faithfully and in full, Kathleen Hanna cartwheeled and caterwauled with impunity and Sleater-Kinney turned in the set of the weekend, career-spanning and effortlessly convincing. Add a second Patti Smith show and a comeback for Babes in Toyland (mischievously booked in direct competition with the none-too-macho Strokes) on the Saturday evening, and now L7, Huggy Bear and Bratmobile are frantically refreshing their inboxes for next year’s invite.
S is for Strokes
The appeal of The Strokes in 2015, it transpires, is both nostalgia and voyeurism. Accordingly, witnessing five men in various states of long-term disrepair who all appear to hate each other rattle through almost everything off ‘Is This It’ with precision insouciance is a queasily compulsive delight.
T is for Tobias Jesso Jr.
The most likeable man on site, Jesso Jr. flips Antony Hegarty’s setup on its head and performs alone, at a single grand piano. Unless you’re down the front, you literally can’t hear a thing, yet there are plenty of people happy to cock an ear in complete silence to will the smiley guy through it. I mean, people are missing Patti Smith for this!
U is for Underworld
Underworld’s sprawling festival sets are the stuff of legend. Although their brief here of playing the whole of ‘Dubnobasswithmyheadman’ restricts their set-list somewhat, there’s still enough energy, power and thump to show how startlingly contemporary that album still sounds. The record’s arc – slow-build start, big middle, comedown close – isn’t quite right for a festival crowd desperate to go mental, but the central pairing of ‘Dirty Epic’ and ‘Cowgirl’ remains the best 25 minutes of dance music performed in the whole weekend.
V is for Vanity
We all want to look our best at festivals, don’t we, but it’s quite the trial at Glastonbury when you smell like you’ve fallen in the long-drop and you’ve washed your hair with wet wipes. Primavera’s Pitchfork-y crowd are so fashion conscience I saw a woman wearing a leather bum bag and two hats. Seriously. A tip: stand out from the crowd by having a shave. And what’s with all the brown hair?! Don’t blonde people like music anymore?
W is for Weather
European festivals represent some sort of sun-blazing Shangri-La in the British festival-goer’s mind – a paradise of balmy evenings and dancing in Havaianas with a little beer and the sun setting into the sea. In reality, however, past Primaveras have suffered the kind of meteorological misfortune normally reserved for Glastonbury, so this year’s dose of PERMANENT SCORCHIO was long-awaited and duly lapped up: lobsterfied Brits added colour, early-evening bands got to wear their sunglasses with intent rather than standard vanity, and even the most tepid opening acts (I’m looking at you, The KVB) seemed improved by the warmth.
X is for Ex Hex
Continuing the trend for punned band names (Chet Faker, Joanna Gruesome, Joy Orbison – erm, Ryan Adams?), even if in their case it’s an unintentional one, Ex Hex nail one of the plum spots of the festival, in the evening sunshine on the stage that looks straight out to sea. Hurtling through the kind of fun that’s forever soundtracking John Hughes house-party scenes as a massive crowd of kids in Wayfarers look on, Mary Timony’s punchdrunk stage-stagger and ‘My Sharona’ shredding is pure, unaffected joy.
Y is for Youth
We’re not as young as we once were, but it turns out neither is anyone else. Youth was in short supply at this year’s festival, onstage and in front of it. Come on, kids, The Strokes are on! From New York. Y’know, Julian Casablancas? No, not the film.
Z is for Zamilska
Polish noise-techno artists aren’t exactly big-ticket summer festival fodder, but the fact that one such act, Zamilska, was closing the tiny Pro stage at 4am on day one, in the same company as festival titans like Andy Weatherall and Richie Hawtin, to about 50 dedicated gawpers, is a testament not just to Primavera’s impressively all-embracing booking policy but the open-heartedness of its attendees. No, we didn’t actually stop to watch, but you find me a better ‘Z’.
A drumroll and a fanfare! Rock Werchter is laying out its reddest carpet to welcome a very special guest. Paul McCartney, the ultimate in rock aristocracy and a name without which the festival history could never be complete. He will be performing on Thursday 30 June. On stage Paul McCartney continues to amaze audiences around the world with his epic sets packed full of classics and hits. The opportunity of watching Paul and his excellent band is not to be missed!Paul McCartney is a living legend. When The Beatles broke up in 1970 – he had already penned a huge collection of the greatest songs of all time. Since then, the tunes have kept on coming and in a variety of different genres. His very first solo album contains the sensational ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ and just last year he wrote the global hit ‘FourFiveSeconds’ with Rihanna and Kanye West. In the intervening years he’s given the world classics including: ‘Live and Let Die’, ‘Band on the Run’, ‘Coming Up’, ‘Say Say Say’, ‘No More Lonely Nights’ and ‘Dance Tonight’ to name a few. McCartney today remains as relevant as ever and is a truly outstanding performer.
The names announced so far for the festival are, in alphabetical order: At The Drive-In, Band of Horses, Bear’s Den, Beirut, Black Box Revelation, Bring Me The Horizon, Courtney Barnett, Daughter, Disclosure, Editors, Ellie Goulding, Florence + the Machine, Gary Clark Jr., Gutterdämmerung, Guy Garvey, Jamie xx, Låpsley, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, MØ, New Order, Oh Wonder, Parov Stelar, Paul Kalkbrenner, Paul McCartney, PJ Harvey, Rammstein, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Richard Hawley, Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters, Savages, Sigma Live, Tame Impala, The Last Shadow Puppets, The Offspring, Two Door Cinema Club, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Years & Years. More names will be announced shortly.
Happy New Year! We wish you all the best for the new year. Above all, treat yourself to some good music in 2016.
We’re starting off the new year with some new names. The bill for Rock Werchter 2016 is growing steadily. Five more acts have been confirmed this week: Parov Stelar, PJ Harvey, Richard Hawley, Courtney Barnett and Unknown Mortal Orchestra , bringing the total number of confirmations for this year’s festival to fourteen. Parov Stelar and Richard Hawley will be among the artists performing on Friday 1st July, along with Rammstein, The Offspring and Bring Me The Horizon. PJ Harvey and Courtney Barnett will play the festival on Saturday 2nd July. Already confirmed acts for that day include Editors, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Beirut. Unknown Mortal Orchestra is added to the line-up for Sunday 3rd July. It was previously announced that Florence + the Machine, Jamie xx and MØ will also perform on Sunday. Stay tuned for more festival news.
Tickets for Rock Werchter are available via proximusgoformusic.be and ticketmaster.be only. Go to rockwerchter.be for detailed ticket info and practical festival information.
A handy overview of the artists already confirmed, per festival day:
Thursday 30 June: Disclosure, Ellie Goulding, Gutterdämmerung, Guy Garvey, New Order, Sigma Live, Years & Years
Friday 1 July: At The Drive-In, Black Box Revelation, Bring Me The Horizon, Daughter, Gary Clark Jr. , Oh Wonder, Parov Stelar, Rammstein, Richard Hawley, Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters, The Offspring
Saturday 2 July: Band of Horses, Beirut, Courtney Barnett, Editors, Paul Kalkbrenner, PJ Harvey, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Savages, Tame Impala, Two Door Cinema Club
Sunday 3 July: Bear’s Den, Florence + the Machine, Jamie xx, Låpsley, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, MØ, The Last Shadow Puppets, Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Slaves perform Sockets at Reading 2015. Visit the Reading webpage for more from 2015 , If the British two-piece hadn’t ended up on stage, there’s a decent chance they would have ended up in prison on charges of grievous bodily assault. Classic British punk with harsh bluesy garage riffs, Slaves turn up with primal songs that throw together punk existentialism, sketches of suburban life and absurd narratives about manta rays and Sasquatches in noisy three-minute bursts.website for more videos and photos
Pre-sale ‘David Bowie Is’
Come and be part of the extraordinary ‘David Bowie Is exhibition’, at the Groninger Museum. The museum will also open its doors on the evenings of Thursday, January 15th and Saturday, January 16th. EurosonicNoorderslag delegates can book a ticket before 10.00 CET, tomorrow/Wednesday January, 13th, when this extra opening will be publicly announced.
Drive Like Jehu add Flamin Groovies, Holly Golightly, Martin Rev, The Spits, and The Schizophonics to All Tomorrow’s Parties 2.0! Drive Like Jehu announced their brand new additions – bolstering an already impressive line-up of The Gories, The Monkeywrench, and Soulside – to All Tomorrow’s Parties 2.0 today in a post via the band’s Facebook:
“Besides the scotch egg placed under my pillow every night by room service and the late night access to adult programming on tv, I am really looking forward to seeing every second of every band and talking to everyone in attendance personally at great length. I can’t wait to see Roy Loney sing ‘Have You Seen My Baby’, Bruce Brand bash skins, and what the Spits will be wearing” wrote Drive Like Jehu’s John Reis.
The band will post a new announcement every Tuesday in the run up to the April 22nd-24th festival – so keep checking back; there’s so much more to come!
Tickets for groups of 4,5,6 & 7 (which include weekend festival entry plus 3 nights accommodation) to AllTomorrow’s Parties Curated by Drive Like Jehu are available HERE.
Tickets for groups of 2 (which include weekend festival entry plus 3 nights accommodation) can be purchased via our Chalet Share scheme HERE.
adds This Is Not This Heat / The Fall – Music / Giant Sand / Flamin’ Groovies / Mission of Burma / Trembling Bells / Galaxie 500’s Damon & Naomi / David Toop & Tania Chen / Charlotte Church’s Late Night Pop Dungeon / John Cage’s Indeterminacy with Steve Beresford, Tania Chen & Stewart Lee / Arthur Russell Birthday Disco / Comedy from Bridget Christie / & Josie Long + MORE TBA!
Truck Festival with a massive list of 49 newly added acts including Kodaline, Jurassic 5 and Mystery Jets. We really didn’t expect quite this many to be announced – it’s practically an entire festival in one single announcement!
Turns out the third and final headliner will be the Irish chart-toppers Kodaline.
Last year saw the release of their second album stunner; Coming Up For Air which hit Number 1 in the Irish Album Charts and an amazing fourth place in the UK.
The lads have some achingly beautiful songs and are sure to leave Truckers spellbound.
We’re so pleased that 2016 is fully underway and can’t wait to let you all in on what’s to come over the next few weeks!
But we don’t want to leave you guessing…
So without further ado here is what’s coming up over the next 4 weeks!
2015 Aftermovie
Unveiling our brand new look #NewYearNewMe
Competitions to win Truckin prizes
BIG BIG BIG NEWS
Band App going live
2016 Tickets on sale!
Our first line up announcement!
Hells Bells! We can barely wait either.
Here’s to what will no doubt be a wonderful year!
Remember our 2016 Payment Plan tickets are still on sale and there are only a few left for January, so get yours before they’re all gone!
Northern Star show, set to take place in London to celebrate 10 years of the very best in music and mayhem. The show will feature some fantastic bands I’ve worked with over the last 10 years. Special Earlybird tickets are available from today for a tenner. Full line-up and details to be announced shortly.
Event poster design courtesy of our very own Peter Saville Simon Minter. Cheers Simon!
FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT: I’m really buzzing to announce supersonic stargazers 93MillionMilesFromTheSun are the first band confirmed for the “Northern Star – 10 Years of Psychedelica” show in London on Saturday 14th May. They’ve worked with us a number of times including an absolutely legendary performance on our ‘Live Revolution’ album. One of the best live bands out there.
The first ever Outlines Festival is coming to Sheffield on Saturday 27th February.
Outlines is a brand-new, one-day festival dreamed up by the brains behind Tramlines to add a dose of winter festival fun to some of Sheffield’s finest venues.
Expect a genre-spanning mix of established names and breaking talent, as artists take to the stage at venues including The Harley, Queens Social Club, Plug, o2 Academy and Skate Central’s roller rink, where the shows come complete with skates.
Outside of the music, there’ll also be the chance to check out a bumper crop of pop-up film screenings, sample the wares of some of Sheffield’s independent food and drink experts and pick up some exclusive artwork by local illustrators.
With a lineup including Roots Manuva, Gang of Four, Georgia, Loyle Carner and loads more, Outlines will take place across some of Sheffield’s best loved venues.
ROOTS MANUVA / GANG OF FOUR / TOY / SHURA / GEORGIA / LOYLE CARNER / ANDREW ASHONG / SPRING KING / ROSIE LOWE / PUMAROSA / PINS / NIMMO / OSCAR / BATIDA DJ SET / THE BIG MOON / NZCA LINES / COCO / KAGOULE / BRUISING / POLO / SKINNY GIRL DIET / THEE MIGHTEES / SAMMARTINO / TRASH / SAIF MODE / ESTRONS / ZUZU / BABEHEAVEN / BLESSA / KOG & THE ZONGO BRIGADE
From the people behind Tramlines comes the first ever Outlines Festival. A new, one-day multi-venue festival taking place across Sheffield City Centre on Saturday 27th February.
Expect a genre-spanning mix of established names and breaking talent, taking to the stage at venues including Skate Central, The Harley, Queens Social Club, Plug and o2 Academy.
Official after-parties:
Banana Hill at Queens Social Club with Andrew Ashong and Batida DJ set
Unit 3 takeover at The Harley
Access to after-parties for £3.00 with a valid festival ticket
TICKETS: http://www.outlinesfestival.com/
Or in person from The Harley, Plug box office, o2 Academy
This event is strictly 18+
No refunds will be issued for incorrectly booked tickets
The Fat Angel Sings 