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My lungs (Jesus the smoke at this fest) and feet haven't made it past 4 AM either night, but trying to stay til 5 AM today.
All in all a good fest with some clear pros/cons from other fests I've been to. Gonna write a longer recap in the next few days, going in for Day 3 now.
Holy shit this is so great, no idea how I'm still conscious now.
Today I saw Junun -> Pond -> Van Morrison -> Metronomy - > Grace Jones -> Sleep -> John Talabot Disco Set (soooo sick) -> GAS -> Skepta -> Recondite -> DJ Coco
I don't think I've seen a single bad set the entire weekend. I made friends with some dutch dudes and after DJ Coco finished we went to the beach with like thousands of other people and watched the sunrise together after everything was done.
This thing is on another level. It's 9AM, good night
Was DJ Coco fun? Hope I gave you good advice, lol. Also glad to see you caught Metronomy, how was that?
DJ Coco was very fun, it's crazy how many people were at that set! Metronomy was fun but I still don't really get them. They were a good warm up for Grace Jones fuckin slaying. And yes you did give me good advice, all very appreciated!
Post by RedFrog Intern on Jun 4, 2017 8:20:29 GMT -5
Imma need to look into this fest for next year sounds like a fun time. The lack of a sound curfew is a game changer (something I wish Roo still utilized)
Imma need to look into this fest for next year sounds like a fun time. The lack of a sound curfew is a game changer (something I wish Roo still utilized)
Imma need to look into this fest for next year sounds like a fun time. The lack of a sound curfew is a game changer (something I wish Roo still utilized)
The 6PM-6AM time frame is so great.
Im surprised you didnt go to both Arcade Fire sets, but its cool you saw them unannounced which opened up the opportunity to see Sleep.
Imma need to know which sets were the best when you get the chance!
Im surprised you didnt go to both Arcade Fire sets, but its cool you saw them unannounced which opened up the opportunity to see Sleep.
Imma need to know which sets were the best when you get the chance!
It was totally worth it. Got rail for the secret set and then skipped the real set for Sleep, John Talabot and GAS which were all empty since everyone was at AF! I'll give a rundown when my brain recovers a bit haha
Im surprised you didnt go to both Arcade Fire sets, but its cool you saw them unannounced which opened up the opportunity to see Sleep.
Imma need to know which sets were the best when you get the chance!
It was totally worth it. Got rail for the secret set and then skipped the real set for Sleep, John Talabot and GAS which were all empty since everyone was at AF! I'll give a rundown when my brain recovers a bit haha
Its crazy that all those artists conflicted with AF and King Krule. I would go mad
A few thoughts on Primavera Sound 2017 that I’m typing on my flight back to the states. Overall, had a pretty incredible time in the city as well as the festival and really enjoyed the unique experience of my first festival in Europe. Wanted to provide a couple thoughts on pros/cons to the fest based on my expectations and how it went.
-Obvious statement, but I can’t imagine there’s a better lineup value (if not better lineup overall) than this festival with a GA pass costing about ~$200 USD. There was probably $200 of value to me just to see Van Morrison, Grace Jones, and Arcade Fire, and they were all within a 6 hour stretch on one day where we saw another full set in between; pretty wild. There’s been plenty of words typed on how great the lineup is, but it really is amazing how well they curate the lineup and how many different options you can choose at any time; whenever we were a bit tired and didn’t want to make another cross-fest trek to maybe see our first choice in a given timeslot, there would be another great option pretty close to the stage we were at
-Man, was Saturday night an amazing night of music. Van Morrison much exceeded my expectations, Angel Olsen sounded fantastic, Grace Jones was Grace Jones, and the Arcade Fire set was incredibly euphoric. Their opening with “Wake Up” was a festival moment I’ll cherish forever; just an immediate, emotional, communal experience. Followed up with “Neon Bible” returning, an intense “Intervention,” everyone knowing the new song after two days, etc. it was just an awesome headlining set even if I’ve seen them plenty of times. Followed up with the back half of Against Me! and still three more hours of music before leaving at 5:40 AM; it’ll be hard to top this day. Thursday night also had a great Mordor lineup in the evening; thought Bon Iver was fantastic, and Slayer and Aphex Twin are examples of acts I just probably wouldn’t see (or be able to) outside of the fest. Music going until 6 AM was pretty great even if we called it at 3 AM and 4 AM the first two nights. A little bummed they didn’t give a proper replacement to Frank Ocean (talked to someone “in the know” who suggested they should have seen it coming) but I’m not going to be one of the people demanding my ticket back for it
-Crowd control is overall pretty decent. Only set that felt crazy crowded was Arcade Fire (to be expected). There were a couple moments of huge crowd surges or enormous lines at bathroom/food stands but you just had to be strategic on leaving stages before big sets end or getting food at the right times. Even the sets at Mordor other than AF felt manageable and sitting down on the far side bleachers for Slayer into the first half of Aphex Twin was a great way to take a load off for ~90-120 mins
-Concrete wasn’t optimal, but don’t think it really started hitting us until Saturday night when we had to sacrifice the back half of Japandroids to sit and rest a bit. Ray Ban seated area and Mordor bleachers are great places to be able to sit and still watch music but prime areas for chatter boxes (more on this later). Quite a few amazing views of the sea from the grounds and think I got the hang of the layout and a couple shortcuts by the last day, even if I was fairly confused Thursday
-I had mixed feelings on the whole “Unexpected Primavera” thing. For those who weren’t following, they announced one secret show a night via the app and also had a “Backstage Pass” thing where recipients of a Backstage Pass had access to see 3-4 “secret” shows at a small stage (Local Natives, Operators, Hot Chip DJ set, Red Axes DJ set, etc.). I didn’t know how it would work and missed the Arcade Fire set being announced Thursday because we were on rail for another show at 7:45 PM when it was announced (thus not checking my phone…). I felt it kind of took away from the “live in the moment” experience to have people constantly being on standby on their phones waiting for the announcement (or checking reddit, etc. as well like I was). Also, the one night we tried to get a Backstage Pass token (they gave them away at the Info stands starting at 9 PM), we arrived at a stand at 8:45 PM and there was already an enormous line. I’m not waiting 20+ mins to get a token so I can maybe stop by an Operators set later when they played the fest a day earlier. So I liked the idea and was really cool to keep us on our toes (and would probably be raving about this if I caught the AF show ha…) but came away with mixed feelings on how it played out
-I mentioned this before, but this crowd was pretty horrendous, which was my biggest bummer of the festival overall. I thought anyone who attended this thing would have a genuine passion for music and be very well behaved, but unfortunately not the case. Any set needing a modicum of patience or reverence (Bon Iver, even Grace Jones) were completely talked through; Brits (“lads on tour”) being the worst offenders (I can’t imagine Beach House / Sigur Ros last year). The only sets I didn’t really experience chatters were small stage punk shows (Against Me!, Mannequin Pussy), sets where I was very close to the stage, and Arcade Fire (luckily, but we were close too). During Flying Lotus, we had a good seated spot on the Ray Ban stage which became crowded by teenage Brits in front of us who chatted through the early part of the set. About 10 mins in, a particularly drunk 18-20 year old girl stood up right in front of me to take a picture of all her friends blocking my view; annoying but whatever. After trying the shot 3-4 times, she literally stumbled backwards drunk and fell onto my lap. I gave her a “what the hell?” and she chirped back at me “you’re just going to have to be patient with me!” and went back to taking the picture(s). A mock applause went through my row when they left 10 mins later. Honestly just had to deal with it as a way of the festival; crowd noise is like another background instrument at each show. Why the fuck would people pay all this money, get close for a set, then just chat through it? Also, I know it’s just Europe in general, but my lungs really got a work out; smokers pretty much everywhere, smoking anywhere and almost nothing to do to avoid it
-The term “investing in the experience” has been discussed ad nauseum re: Coachella’s decision to do so a few years ago, but I would love to see this fest get a little experience investment (Inforoo edit: I wrote this for Coachella boards FYI). Mainly, bars and food stands either need to go all cash or get Square or some quicker payment processing systems; whenever anyone used a credit card it took forever getting processed on those handheld payment things that never work. Porta-potties started leaking by the end of the fest and a couple areas reeked of urine; there was a stream of piss in a couple places Saturday. Having more beer options than Heineken would be nice, or a larger variety of drinks (I was GA, so maybe this is different in VIP). Obviously not big deals, but these are little things that our baby FYF has become good at fixing in its adolescent years as it improves its overall experience
So anyway, didn’t expect to write a novel, but there you go. Amazing experience and thanks to everyone who answered some of my dumb questions in getting ready for it. Would love to come back some day; will continue on my string of annual Coachella/FYF trips and see when and how I can maybe make it happen again over the next few years
Post by The Foot Fuckin' Master on Jun 6, 2017 3:19:49 GMT -5
Nice review, thanks for writing down your thoughts.
Indeed, crowds in Europe can be just as bad as in the USA. And fucking lads on tour need to remain on their shithole island, or at least stick with festivals such as Benicassim that specifically cater to them.
A few thoughts on Primavera Sound 2017 that I’m typing on my flight back to the states. Overall, had a pretty incredible time in the city as well as the festival and really enjoyed the unique experience of my first festival in Europe. Wanted to provide a couple thoughts on pros/cons to the fest based on my expectations and how it went.
-Obvious statement, but I can’t imagine there’s a better lineup value (if not better lineup overall) than this festival with a GA pass costing about ~$200 USD. There was probably $200 of value to me just to see Van Morrison, Grace Jones, and Arcade Fire, and they were all within a 6 hour stretch on one day where we saw another full set in between; pretty wild. There’s been plenty of words typed on how great the lineup is, but it really is amazing how well they curate the lineup and how many different options you can choose at any time; whenever we were a bit tired and didn’t want to make another cross-fest trek to maybe see our first choice in a given timeslot, there would be another great option pretty close to the stage we were at
-Man, was Saturday night an amazing night of music. Van Morrison much exceeded my expectations, Angel Olsen sounded fantastic, Grace Jones was Grace Jones, and the Arcade Fire set was incredibly euphoric. Their opening with “Wake Up” was a festival moment I’ll cherish forever; just an immediate, emotional, communal experience. Followed up with “Neon Bible” returning, an intense “Intervention,” everyone knowing the new song after two days, etc. it was just an awesome headlining set even if I’ve seen them plenty of times. Followed up with the back half of Against Me! and still three more hours of music before leaving at 5:40 AM; it’ll be hard to top this day. Thursday night also had a great Mordor lineup in the evening; thought Bon Iver was fantastic, and Slayer and Aphex Twin are examples of acts I just probably wouldn’t see (or be able to) outside of the fest. Music going until 6 AM was pretty great even if we called it at 3 AM and 4 AM the first two nights. A little bummed they didn’t give a proper replacement to Frank Ocean (talked to someone “in the know” who suggested they should have seen it coming) but I’m not going to be one of the people demanding my ticket back for it
-Crowd control is overall pretty decent. Only set that felt crazy crowded was Arcade Fire (to be expected). There were a couple moments of huge crowd surges or enormous lines at bathroom/food stands but you just had to be strategic on leaving stages before big sets end or getting food at the right times. Even the sets at Mordor other than AF felt manageable and sitting down on the far side bleachers for Slayer into the first half of Aphex Twin was a great way to take a load off for ~90-120 mins
-Concrete wasn’t optimal, but don’t think it really started hitting us until Saturday night when we had to sacrifice the back half of Japandroids to sit and rest a bit. Ray Ban seated area and Mordor bleachers are great places to be able to sit and still watch music but prime areas for chatter boxes (more on this later). Quite a few amazing views of the sea from the grounds and think I got the hang of the layout and a couple shortcuts by the last day, even if I was fairly confused Thursday
-I had mixed feelings on the whole “Unexpected Primavera” thing. For those who weren’t following, they announced one secret show a night via the app and also had a “Backstage Pass” thing where recipients of a Backstage Pass had access to see 3-4 “secret” shows at a small stage (Local Natives, Operators, Hot Chip DJ set, Red Axes DJ set, etc.). I didn’t know how it would work and missed the Arcade Fire set being announced Thursday because we were on rail for another show at 7:45 PM when it was announced (thus not checking my phone…). I felt it kind of took away from the “live in the moment” experience to have people constantly being on standby on their phones waiting for the announcement (or checking reddit, etc. as well like I was). Also, the one night we tried to get a Backstage Pass token (they gave them away at the Info stands starting at 9 PM), we arrived at a stand at 8:45 PM and there was already an enormous line. I’m not waiting 20+ mins to get a token so I can maybe stop by an Operators set later when they played the fest a day earlier. So I liked the idea and was really cool to keep us on our toes (and would probably be raving about this if I caught the AF show ha…) but came away with mixed feelings on how it played out
-I mentioned this before, but this crowd was pretty horrendous, which was my biggest bummer of the festival overall. I thought anyone who attended this thing would have a genuine passion for music and be very well behaved, but unfortunately not the case. Any set needing a modicum of patience or reverence (Bon Iver, even Grace Jones) were completely talked through; Brits (“lads on tour”) being the worst offenders (I can’t imagine Beach House / Sigur Ros last year). The only sets I didn’t really experience chatters were small stage punk shows (Against Me!, Mannequin Pussy), sets where I was very close to the stage, and Arcade Fire (luckily, but we were close too). During Flying Lotus, we had a good seated spot on the Ray Ban stage which became crowded by teenage Brits in front of us who chatted through the early part of the set. About 10 mins in, a particularly drunk 18-20 year old girl stood up right in front of me to take a picture of all her friends blocking my view; annoying but whatever. After trying the shot 3-4 times, she literally stumbled backwards drunk and fell onto my lap. I gave her a “what the hell?” and she chirped back at me “you’re just going to have to be patient with me!” and went back to taking the picture(s). A mock applause went through my row when they left 10 mins later. Honestly just had to deal with it as a way of the festival; crowd noise is like another background instrument at each show. Why the fuck would people pay all this money, get close for a set, then just chat through it? Also, I know it’s just Europe in general, but my lungs really got a work out; smokers pretty much everywhere, smoking anywhere and almost nothing to do to avoid it
-The term “investing in the experience” has been discussed ad nauseum re: Coachella’s decision to do so a few years ago, but I would love to see this fest get a little experience investment (Inforoo edit: I wrote this for Coachella boards FYI). Mainly, bars and food stands either need to go all cash or get Square or some quicker payment processing systems; whenever anyone used a credit card it took forever getting processed on those handheld payment things that never work. Porta-potties started leaking by the end of the fest and a couple areas reeked of urine; there was a stream of piss in a couple places Saturday. Having more beer options than Heineken would be nice, or a larger variety of drinks (I was GA, so maybe this is different in VIP). Obviously not big deals, but these are little things that our baby FYF has become good at fixing in its adolescent years as it improves its overall experience
So anyway, didn’t expect to write a novel, but there you go. Amazing experience and thanks to everyone who answered some of my dumb questions in getting ready for it. Would love to come back some day; will continue on my string of annual Coachella/FYF trips and see when and how I can maybe make it happen again over the next few years
Agree with most of what you said
This was my first year. Normally I fly over to Coachella and then do a few fests here in the UK.
We went VIP and I would totally recommend it. The bar by the main stages had great sound and was a great option when things got a bit too crazy, especially during Arcade Fire.
In terms of crowd which I kinda witness during Flylo but other than that it was totally fine. VIP up front had nothing but americans, irish and english and everyone was really into the music. In fact, I think this was the best crowd I have ever been part of and one of the reasons I would go back.
But ya, if you go again, go VIP. The booze for example is cheaper and free pour too. The crowd is better, good viewing options, and according to my friends who went to some club nights Wednesday, easier to get into shows.
Yeah, I would definitely go VIP if/when I go back again; it's like ~$150 more but still the price of an average U.S. major festival GA ticket and I have heard some of the advantages you described. Someone I met who was VIP still said they had some crowd issues in VIP though (lot of people just being there to "be seen", etc.) so sounds like you did a good job of avoiding it all.
Yeah, I would definitely go VIP if/when I go back again; it's like ~$150 more but still the price of an average U.S. major festival GA ticket and I have heard some of the advantages you described. Someone I met who was VIP still said they had some crowd issues in VIP though (lot of people just being there to "be seen", etc.) so sounds like you did a good job of avoiding it all.
I never really experience the crowd issue. I was with two friends, one English and one from Florida. We met nothing but other travellers and didnt meet any "scene queens" It was cool to hang at Aphex with Bon Iver and Flylo and watching them enjoy themselves fully without being harrassed. I got a kick out of watching Flylo during Aphex. It was like the apprentice watching the master and was kind sweet.
The only crowd issue was the front vip section of the man stages. Basically you need to be a bit early for the sets to get near the section otherwise you queued. Aside from Arcade Fire which was not happening for us but the beer garden view and sound is pretty legit.
Ya, if you back, spend the extra money. It really is worth it. As someone who could never really spare the money for a Coach VIP , it is fantastic. I mean, we were buying our Coach tickets on the VIP wifi and Coach GA was more expensive than drinks/vip of prim combined.
How was buying Coach tickets on wifi over there? I can't imagine. It was nerve wrecking enough over here on three different platforms.
Weirdly fine. We had about 2 of the crew back home and two of my friends got them an prim so we managed 8 tickets. We go weekend 2 and have never ever had issues getting tickets for Coach.
filmfanb have you gone to Glastonbury and if so, how you compare your experience there to Primavera?
Really the only one left on my list and for some reason....not overly desperate to go.
My best mate has done Coach/Prim/Glasto and says Primavera is the best but Glastonbury really is in its own world in terms of scale.
Primavera was the perfect fit for me. Stayed near by in a nice tent, set list times and affordability of VIP added to comfort. Id love to do Glastonbury but something about it gives me major anxiety