Primavera Sound Barcelona 2022

People in Barcelona were excited about the Antonoff Superjam too.

Headed to Auditori to see Kim Gordon after grabbing my wristband. It's kind of a wash that Lingua Ignota canceled, because personally there's no way I would have been there in time after trying to get my band and get any sort of bearings. Made me curious whether people were in there for Joan Miquel Oliver, and if so, how many of them had been to Primavera before and knew exactly what they were doing. Met a dude who went to UT Austin in the VIP line for Kim who didn't have his wristband yet, and they let him in with his phone QR but were like "but just this once!" so that would have been an option, but you wouldn't necessarily know that.

Kim was dope. More electronic-based and almost hip hoppy than I expected. Not that she rapped, but some of the beats had that character. For the most part, she just sang, with a drummer and a bassist producing most of the music and a guitar player making noise, playing her guitar with a butter knife. Occasionally Kim would play a little guitar. When they finally played something a little more harmonious the vibe shift was so heavy I almost cried reflexively. It was definitely loud and entertaining but going from the hot bright outside to a cool dark room made me a little drowsy. I think my new buddy dozed off a couple times and then quickly was shocked awake.




After Kim, I headed over to Binance (formerly Primavera) to see some Les Savy Fav. The singer was wearing a white suit which he tore the sleeves off of with his teeth by the end of the second song. I realized pretty quickly I'd be seeing them at a Ciutat show in a few days with King Gizz, so figured this was a good time to explore. From what I can tell and have heard about Binance, the left side of the stage is cramped but the right side (stage left) where I was had plenty of room. Definitely approach from that side/the festival entrance if they keep the same layout in the future.

Went over to Cupra, which was super empty ahead of Dinosaur Jr, and then decided to go see the main stages and the VIP area, especially because my stomach was rumbling and I wanted to use the restrooms, which I figured would be nice over there. Got over to Mordor and Joey Badass was playing. Bathroom was cool, had a sink to wash hands in and the toilet was flushable with a foot activated pump. VIP pen was spacious and there was a bar, though I missed it at first because it didn't have the ubiquitous Estrella tents over it (sucks for those bartenders). Headed back to Cupra after snapping some pics of the area for the Discord.





Dinosaur Jr was starting to really fill up by the time I got there, around five to ten minutes before showtime. The first half of the show was a little meh for me, partly because a bunch of lads were in front of me chatting through the show. Idk if I just tune out other languages, but the English chatter was pretty annoying. There were some French dudes talking through this too, though. Eventually, those guys all left and Dinosaur Jr themselves seemed to be playing their killer tracks more toward the back half of the show, and it got dope. The Cupra is, obviously, a really great stage, probably the most iconic of the festival, but at that show I learned you either want to get way up close to the stage or grab a seat on the stadium seating. The back half of the flat area can slope down a bit, which makes it harder to see and hear clearly.




After that, went to check out Amaarae, mainly for her one hit song, Sad Gurlz Luv Money, (sp?) which of course she closed with. Heard one guy walking by say "hey, I know this song from TikTok!" Hell yeah, you do, dog.




Had planned on going to see shygirl between Amaarae and the Armed but decided against walking and instead just got on the rail for the Armed. Glad I did, because at that point I didn't realize how insanely far away the Bits stages are. I wouldn't have been able to see any of her and get back for the Armed.

The Armed were fantastic and put on a huge show. There were like nine or ten people on stage, and they replaced the bassist like three songs in. Not sure what that was about. Maybe he wasn't jacked enough to hold his own with the other buff bros onstage. He had his shirt on like a fuckin loser. Unfortunately, the next bassist had a shirt on too, so it's an ongoing process for them, I'm sure. Part of their visuals were heavily processed excerpts of the credits of Metal Gear Solid 2, which was neat. All I was getting from the mix was drums and bass and screaming, so I thought about moving back to get a better mix, but that seemed out of the question with how many people were around me and the pits forming behind me. Just stayed on the rail and rode it out. Got some good up-close video of the dudes jumping in the crowd and starting pits. Overall, I've listened to some of their music, but was a total voyeur at the show. Will have to listen to more in the future.







Then I went to main. I've already covered that and might more in the future. Idk. They had a whole side closed off to entry and then the VIP was "closed". Not clear why. Not sure if they were alternating entrance and exit sides at that point but I don't think so because I came in the opposite side when Joey Badass was playing, iirc. There are a ton of security guards at this festival and they're really annoying. Left to get some food.

Ran across Theo and my night brightened substantially. Caught some of Fred Again with him and met his brother. Don't think Fred Again is really my thing. The vibe is a little too saccharine and earnest for me, and the music I'm not that into. Feel bad saying that because I know a lot of people love him. I don't think he's bad or anything but I generally like sad and/or angry music more. After a couple songs, we headed for Pavement. It was still crowded but definitely more manageable, more like a big festival crowd I expect. We worked our way up to be even with the sound stage/VIP.

Went to check out Black Midi but could see on my way over that Plenitude was jam packed, so I gave up on that idea. Went over and took a seat on the steps at Cupra for DJ Shadow, who was amazing, much better than either of the other two times I've seen him. Hoffm83n came from up front to sit with me just before the show. I stayed for most of the set, including Nobody Speak, before I started trying to make my way over for Honey Dijon. As I was leaving, though, Shadow started playing Organ Donor. This other guy started running up the wall on the way to Boiler Room/Plen, but it was too tall at that section. We went over to a shorter section of wall and balanced on top of it. Got a little bit of video.

Black midi crowd.

I didn't know how to get over to Bits really. Not sure if the VIP bridge was closed off or if they were just turning GA people away, but I ended up taking the long way over to Bits, just trying to leave eventually, but there's weirdly no exit over there so I had to backtrack and leave through the main entrance back by Auditori. Lots of unnecessary walking on the first day at a festival, in my experience, but I'm pretty bad about doing prior research.

Showed up a little late on Friday. Security wouldn't let me bring my aluminum thermos in, which I suppose could really do some damage if it was full of water. I briefly argued that I'd been allowed to bring it in the day before, but quickly realized no one cared, which is fair. I asked if I could leave the bottle with someone like we'd been doing at Auditori and the security person suggested I leave it by a tree and come back for it. So anyway, bye Kalahari Resort thermos my aunt surely got for free and then gave me for Christmas or something.



I was one of the last people that got in for Low, so VIP came in handy there. I got seated in the balcony/bleeders sometime during the first song. This was a really good show where Low played their most recent album followed by some older songs to fill out the hour-long set time. At some point during the set, a girl and two of her friends walked up the left side aisle, around the back of the section, and down the right side aisle. On the way down the right side aisle, our girl puked all up in the aisle. Everyone in the section was like "oh fuck". Some people who left over the course of the rest of the set walked down the aisle, tip toeing around the vomit puddle. After the show, I went down the left side aisle to avoid the puke and happened by girl's seat. Of course I took a picture.


And then when I was passing the right aisle I decided to get a picture of that too. Apparently the one guy who was so into the show he didn't see what happened was leaving at that time, because he stepped in it right as I was taking a photo.


Anyway, I was the last one out and told some staff about it. I pointed to both puddles before going down to the ground level to meet Bing for Autechre.

Autechre was dope. Fully blackout set so I was in a trance with my eyes closed most of the time. Good bit of hard drum n bass but not so hard or esoteric like some of their stuff. Overall, I felt it was musically superior to Aphex Twin's DFN set, although obviously not visually. Evian Christ was a big visual contrast to Autechre. His set built through its full run time from an ambient, chill vibe to really hard noisy techno (?). Visually, there was a massive array of lights and mirrors, along with a huge amount of artificial fog to enhance the beams of light. By the end of the set, most of the crowd was on their feet dancing, which was the only time I remember that happening in the Auditori that weekend. It felt like all the biggest Evian fans in the world were there, and I was just happy to be there with them (felt this way many times at the fest, like with Armed and Charli. I guess this was me with Gizz!) Happy to have gotten this video:





After the badass Auditori run, I got some chicken wings and a couple baos and chowed down. Not sure if I ate much Thursday (just some ceviche and a very small chicken burrito) so I really loaded up for the night here before heading over to Bits for Pabllo Vittar. Vittar was great but played a couple of their songs I know the best pretty early in the show, so I used some of the later part of the set to check out the Dice stage (dedicated techno/house stage) over at the Bits area. Aurora Halal was playing, so that was a vibe. Hung out for awhile before heading back across the bridge for Gizz at Binance.



Making friends at Primavera isn't hard. Just walk through the crowd until you hear someone speaking English and then ask for a light. Boom. Language barrier solved. Plenty of English speakers around. Language can be tricky in Barcelona because even if you know a little Spanish, it feels like a risk trying to use it because if you're like me:

1) your Spanish isn't *that* good to begin with

2) Spanish basically sounds like incorrect/failed Catalan so even if you're totally nailing the Spanish you probably still sound stupid

3) you have social anxiety and are self-conscious

But yeah, chilled with a few Americans I just met and waited for Theo to show up. New friends were railing on the conditions of the day before, said it's usually way better than it had been that day. Oh well, I was well past that by then.

Gizz played a pretty standard festival set for what they've been doing lately. You got your Dripping Tap to close, Magenta Mountain, Gaia, a couple Infest songs (Mars for the Rich included). Pretty similar to the Coachella W2, Shaky, and Roo setlists. Grim Reaper is a lowkey favorite new song, so it's cool that's part of that rotation. Honey also a nice one they've been playing a bit. Cavs was back with the band and played a sick solo during Gaia, as is his wont. A pit developed near where Theo and I were and Theo got involved. It was a friendly, well-organized pit. Even some ladies were in there. Got a bit of video:



Originally having planned to see Jamie xx, I now felt that with Mordor so far away and also wanting to see Lightning Bolt that I was probably realistically best off just going straight to Ouigo for LB. I was a little bit faded at this point but I definitely enjoyed LB. Saw a dude in a Cowboys trucker cap and asked if he was a fan. He was Dutch and said that no, he wasn't, he just thought it looked cool. I was like "hey, it's a great logo" and we watched the show. I told him I'd been a LB fan since I was like 14, which is crazy to think about, because I'm 32 now. He didn't know the band that well but he liked what he was hearing. Basically this dude had good instincts when it came to what American stuff is cool. They played one of their better-known songs (Dracula Mountain?) and the crowd reacted so I told him "yeah this is one of their most popular songs" which just felt really funny to me because all their songs kinda sound like the same insane racket. He was going to Jeff Mills, so after LB I walked over there to Dice with him. I took the GA path so I could stay with him, because even though I was VIP this weekend I have not forgotten the little people, nor the Dutch. We split up to get drinks/use bathrooms at some point and said we'd see each other at the Gizz shows (he and his kids were going).

At that point I met up with Tristan, Thomasmars, and a couple other people over there at Dice. Tristan and thomasmars were arguing about whether Joel Embiid is a top 5 NBA player or something. I guess I think he is? But I didn't really want to get into it at that time.

At some point before Mills ended I decided to head back to the hotel because Caretaker was so early the next day and I had a couple beers waiting for me in the mini fridge. Got back around 7 AM (hotel was far) and got to bed about 8.

Was kinda worried about waking up on time but that was not a problem! Headed out from the hotel around 2, stopped to get a coffee and some lunch, and made it just in time for Caretaker at 4. The crowd was light, so I got a seat right behind the mixing board in the dead center, with plenty of distance between myself and others (I know I got COVID anyway but this was nice. I was mostly masked inside the Auditori other than this.) The performance was incredible. I've only recently become aware of the Caretaker and Everywhere at the End of Time, but I know the piece will be an obsession of mine going forward. How he managed to get so much of the emotion and narrative across in what was basically a 45-minute show was very impressive. I found myself emotionally overwhelmed toward the end to the point I felt like I might need to leave. I didn't, but it's rare art has that profound an effect on me. I can really only think of one other time I almost left something because I was so affected. So yeah, that was special.




Jenny Hval was great after that! She had a five-piece band backing her, which I was not expecting. I kinda thought it would just be her on a stool with a guitar or keyboard, but her show had kind of a tropical, groovy vibe that was nice. Female Vampire, among others, had a less moody feel to it and was brighter than one might anticipate. Some of the visuals backing the performance were POVs of Jenny's dog exploring a forest in Norway.



Ok. So. The plan *was* to do Einsturzende Neubauten at Mordor and then leave for Krule > Bauhaus > IDLES before Squarepusher > Disclosure > Vynehall. But something was telling me that hanging out in the VIP pen at the mains for Neubauten > Jorja > Cave > Gorillaz was actually the move after I got out of Hval. I could stay in there, drink Estrellas, and see Nick Cave and Gorillaz? Not a bad deal. Texted Maddog about it and he told me Krule and Bauhaus were gonna be in Houston coming up so those wouldn't be the hardest shows to make up or anything. Might as well get some use out of VIP since I had it, so camping at Mordor was the plan for the evening.

Neubauten was everything I'd hoped for. They didn't have any actual jackhammers drilling through the stage like some of their infamous early shows but they did bring an assortment of industrial springs, saws, pipes, metal drums/barrels to bang on that would make the Blue Man Group blush. Kind of a weird vibe seeing one of the most goth acts on the lineup play during the day/sunset but I guess Bauhaus got dibs on the night show.

Jorja was good. I really don't have a whole lot to say about the set, sorry. It was weirdly louder than Neubauten, which I thought would be devastatingly, uncomfortably loud and did get there a couple times, but I think for the most part Estrella where Jorja and Gorillaz played tended to be a little bit louder than P&B where Neubauten and Nick Cave (and Tyler) played. Someone else I spoke with felt that way and made me consider it.

I'm not a big Nick Cave fan as far as his recorded music. A lot of his biggest songs are ballady, lyric-driven songs that seem perfect for TV show opening credits (obviously Red Right Hand literally is one but a lot of others sound like this too) and that's not usually what appeals to me. But this guy live is a different story. He has Bono-level, Mick Jagger-level swag on stage and his band rocks. 100% headliner-quality show and the best headlining set I saw at either weekend of the festival. A must-see, A+, #1 hotdog musician. It's like Radiohead, then NIN, then Nick Cave for me.



Gorillaz were awesome, too. I was hanging with hoffm83n and we were obviously stoked when Mos Def showed up. I went to the bathroom and while I'm standing in line who walks up to join me but Michael Cavanagh, aka Cavs, aka the drummer of King Gizz who had COVID and had people worried they might drop out of the festival! I said "hey, are you in King Gizz?" And he said "yeah." And I said "you're Cavs, huh?" And he said "yeah mate" and I said "you're the fuckin man, dude" and we shook hands. After that he saw some people he knew and talked to them for awhile.

Ok, but then.. Those people left. So then Cavs asked me "who's the guy rapping onstage rn?" And I said "that's Mos Def!" And Cavs was like "oh is that Mos Def? Cool." So then I asked if he saw Nick Cave (both Australian. He had.) and the Caretaker (he hadn't but said it sounded cool). I told him Nick Cave was the set of the weekend, and then kinda was like "aw shit, but yall were great too!" He asked if Tyler was gonna be on P&B after Gorillaz so I told him yeah he was. And I asked if he always does a drum solo in Gaia like the night before and he said yeah. I told him I was going to all five Gizz shows that week and said sorry if that's weird. He said "nah."

Bathroom was out of soap.

So anyway, Gorillaz did 19-2000 and Rhinestone Eyes and Kids With Guns and Feel Good and Clint Eastwood and it was good.

Squarepusher was good but if I'm being honest I was a little distracted texting some friends about meeting Cavs, so I was mostly just vibing, drinking and texting during the half of his set I caught.

Went back over to Disclosure and used my patented "listen for someone speaking English" technique to find some guys to smoke with. They were English and Irish so we talked a little bit of shit about GB and the US and the Queen before they ran off somewhere. Went over to Vynehall and saw some of him with Bing, Theo and Hoffm83n. Tristan was there briefly to say hi to Bing. Left Vynehall (at Plen) a little early to see the end of Ben UFO (Dice) since Ben was playing til 6 and I wanted to stay that late and see the sunrise. And I did! 14 hour festival day! The 🐐.

Sunday

Got on the wrong bus, missed Picasso museum, walked up to Parc Guell entrance, bailed to get dinner and wine at Bar Salvatge before Gizz at Sala Apolo.





Sala Apolo was a pretty cool venue! Theo and I were up on the second level which had its own bar with no line at all. Iceage were good but I was firmly there for Gizz. They immediately launched into the Mind Fuzz/Cellophane material and I immediately launched into mixing liquor and beer. Tequila shots with lemon, washed down with Estrella. Things got a little hazy after that. I do remember Blame It On the Weather and Venusian 1 decently well, but mainly it was all about Mind Fuzz and having a good time. I bailed before LSF because I really didn't know the way home and was worried it would get harder later. Ended up getting a drink and some food (?) at some sidewalk cafe and taking a cab home. Probably my most expensive night with that cab ride but I made it home safe 👍.

Monday

Today was easily the laziest day. All I really did before the show today was hit up the coffee shop, watch Miami Vice and Barry on my laptop, and head back to my hotel with a big coffee score for the rest of the stay. Went straight from the hotel back out to Barcelona to Razzmatazz for the show. Showed up to the back alley looking for the two-weekend priority line and I had gotten there too early. As I was looking around the security/staff arrived (this was around 7 I think). I asked if I was early and the guy said "dude, you are way too early. Come back in like two hours." I went to a sports bar on the block and hydrated and ate some pretty mediocre bar food.

The show itself was great, once you figured out what line was for who and what show. It was a pretty small room, like only around 500 people, it seemed. The whole bill was great. Aksak Maboul reminded me somewhat of Altin Gun or L'Imperatrice, whereas Theo said Stereolab. The singer had a digital overhead projector that she would draw images under or play with glitter or textures with, and the image would display behind the band. So that was pretty trippy. Spellling was next and was great. Very happy to see her. I wasn't drinking that night but I still needed water after the night before. Unfortunately the bar was all too happy to charge the same amount (4 euros) for bottled water that they charged for beer. So eight euros later I was a little less thirsty but still not at all eager to do anything but hang in the back for Beak> and Gizz. Beak> was cool and the crowd was into them. I think they debuted a new song they'd never played live before, so that was neat. What followed was the best Gizz show so far, and probably second-best of the week. Superbug and Robot Stop > Big Fig Wasp > Gamma Knife in the first half of the show were great, Presumptuous and Persistence are chill faves from the new album that were great live and K.G.L.W. was a great closer. Before Persistence, which is about fucking, as best I can tell, Joey, sorta the goofball of the group, said "let's hear it for dick! To dick, everybody!" So that was funny. Took the night bus home 100% sober which felt wrong but was imperative.




Tuesday

An earlier cab ride and the later night bus each took me by Plaça d'Espanya, which had so many cool features I planned to come back. The plaza has Hotel Barcelona, the arena, and the Magic Fountain all facing it, as well as an elaborate statue in the middle. The stairs along the Magic Fountain leading up to the Catalonian Art Museum were an incredible artistic achievement. There's really nothing better for me to do here than just show you some photos. Even these won't really do justice to how amazing this looks in person. Maybe if I was a better photographer:



Then I saw Gizz again. This time Tristan was there. He told me that Gizz is actually secretly his favorite band so he was excited to see them and was gonna probably leave before Slowdive because he was pretty tired! Luckily for Tristan, the setlist was solid again. It was full of deep cuts. Predator X, Sadie Sorceress (real weird) and Garden Goblin from the new album. Theo was stoked because they played Nuclear Fusion, his favorite Gizz song. At some point Theo and I moved upstairs where there was more space. I think it was up there that we met Ficklecycle and his wife. She asked if we had our tissues ready for Slowdive. I didn't know if she was talking about for tears or for cum! I did neither of those but Slowdive was a good show nonetheless. I'm sorry Tristan had to miss it.

Wednesday

On this day I saw Sagrada Familia and Megan Thee Stallion at Razzmatazz 1. Unfortunately, I didn't get a lot of pictures of either.



Thursday 2

Took my time a little more this day because there was no Auditori on the second weekend and no programming I was dying to see before Amyl and the Sniffers. Today was another day where I was happy to chill in the main stage area, check out Khruangbin, Interpol and a little bit of Gorillaz before heading over the the capstone fifth Gizz set, which was during Dua Lipa at the mains.

Amyl was definitely putting on a show when I got there, and I was a bit frustrated I had gotten there a little late, but oh well.

Khruangbin are hometown heroes of Houston so depending on the month I either think they're way overexposed or defending them as one of the best bands going. I loved this set, though. No question. Mos Def coming out for their standard hip-hop/pop medley really livened that up, and it seems like they played their typical setlist and simply continued on past their usual closer (You & I?).

Laura's dress was very similar to the one Jorja Smith had worn on that stage a few days before, which was funny.

I think this Khruangbin show was when the first two dudes said something about my Mastodon shirt. First guy was in the bathroom line and kinda saw me from farther away and we mostly just did a thumbs up/nod thing. Second guy was actually closer to me watching Khruangbin and talked to me for a second. He was from Houston, so we exchanged numbers. That was helpful for the next day because I could tell him I was COVID-positive.

Saw Interpol with Mr. and Mrs. Ficklecycle. He's seen them over 20 times and used to be in an Interpol cover band, so he knew what was up. He told me they didn't usually play Stella Was a Diver and they did not play it, so he wasn't bullshitting. The setlist was good overall. I was a little sad not to get that or Take You On a Cruise from Antics, but Khruangbin at dusk into Interpol at sunset is what you call nailing a vibe. Saw about 35 to 40 minutes of Gorillaz and then gave myself an hour to get over to Gizz at Tous Bits. Left after Rhinestone Eyes, right before Mos Def came out for Stylo again.



Got some salmon poké at the main food court near the entrance on my way. Not bad at all. Food selection at the festival was way undersold by people on the board, imo. Maybe Prima folks don't care about the food as much, but the selection and quality was much better than ACL (pretty trash) or Bonnaroo (decent at best). I got seafood at a music festival multiple times and didn't get sick (from that). Stopped and grabbed a couple beers for the walk over the bridge to Bits.

After the beers were secured I headed over to the bridge. On my way, a girl shouted from behind me "Mastodon!" and I stopped to talk to her and her friend. She was Irish, and asked where I was from. I said "Houston!" And she affected a southern accent and said "Hewstone Texez!" And idk we talked about Uvalde after that and like Columbine. She and her friend had names that were difficult to pronounce. The second one's name was Cairi, I think? And the first one I can't even remember. It was like Erwin or something, but I think that's from Lord of the Rings. Anyway, they were on their way to Mordor (!) to see Dua. I thought maybe if they liked Mastodon they'd like Gizz, but idk if they knew about them really. They did say Bicep was from Belfast (they were from Northern Ireland) and I was like "yeah it sucks it's not him and 2manydjs back to back anymore" but they were going to Charli (on Tous after Gizz) after Dua so I told them I'd hopefully see them there. Oh, and one said I was a fabe, which means fabulous babe, supposedly. She also told me to keep an eye on my shit, because she'd gotten pickpocketed twice in Barcelona, including once at Sonar. I was already fully on the pickpocket paranoia train, but that was helpful to not feel like I was being over the top worrying about it.

Best Gizz set of the damn week. Crumbling Castle (opener) and Rattlesnake (closer) are easy top ten Gizz songs, and seeing Han-Tyumi the Confused Cyborg, Murder the Universe, etc. with the Spanish-translated cyborg speech probably sounds so cornball but it was so rad. I was supposed to meet a dude before this show but he ended up oversleeping the entire day. I'm glad I was alone for this show so I could just focus on the show entirely. They played a ton of my favorite stuff and I can hardly imagine a better one hour setlist from them, honestly.



John Talabot started immediately after Gizz on Dice nearby so I went straight over. It was cool for sure and I think I could see lasers from Dua's show as I walked back to Tous for Charli. I tried taking video of that but it doesn't translate great. It was kind of a cool incidental touch in person, though.

I was pretty far up in the Charli XCX crowd and was pretty immediately intimidated by how big the crowd got and how into it everyone was. I felt like I could maybe use an Aperol Spritz. Went back to the whole Aperol setup and realize they had camping chairs and tables and shit, maybe I could meet my twitter friend there, and I could still hear Charli and also keep tabs on what was going on at Dice. It was around then that I heard from him that after flying in with lots of delays, he had just woke up at 2 AM or whatever and wouldn't be making it. I chilled at the Aperol camp in the rear of Tous until 2manydjs, but did hear Vroom Vroom. Kinda had Charli and Talabot both working at once for a little bit there.

Knew Don Zach was going to 2manydjs so met up with him near the sound board before the show. Crowd had thinned back out a lot post-Charli. Like a lot. Like less people than were there for Gizz even. We were way up front for what I thought might be the top set of the whole festival, topping the Gizz set I'd just seen.

But I was also, as an internet addict, checking the Discord, seeing what the boys were doing. Theo hadn't been feeling well and went home to take a COVID test. I put my mask on and showed Zach the message. Zach had been wearing a mask most of the time already so he may have already had his on, but we had been around each other unmasked and I'd seen Theo at all the Gizz shows aside from the fifth one that had just happened, so the possibilities were endless here. After a couple more 2mdjs songs I told Zach I was gonna hit the bathroom and wait for Theo's result. I headed out and a few minutes later we had a confirmed positive for Theo.

Ok, so cancel me if you want for the next few things I write. I might too. But at this point I had two choices. First, I thought, obviously.. I should leave. But also.. I really wanted a beer. I'm so wrong for this, but I wanted a beer so fucking bad. I didn't really think I had COVID and I think I was still trying to hide from it. So I masked up and got in line for a beer, my *last of beer of Primavera* (that was bullshit, I got another beer or two). Another guy sees my Mastodon shirt and we start talking. Polite chitchat that I'm sort of trying to get out of but he wants to talk because Mastodon is obviously the coolest band. Eventually I'm like "hey dude, I don't know if I have it or not but I should really tell you that someone I've seen a few times this week including two days ago just tested positive for COVID " but that's like under my mask that I'm like " ". So anyway, I tried to stay away from people and hang out on the beach, which was right there by the Dice stage, and leave when the music stopped. Test the next day, so that I'd have a chance to develop symptoms and test positive if I had contracted COVID.



Finally walked down to the pharmacy around 5 PM for a COVID test and a blister bandage. Tested positive for COVID, which was kind of a double whammy because now I didn't really need the blister bandage. The rest of my trip was fucked. Fortunately, Joe Biden and Co had changed the US immigration policy to let Americans who had been vaccinated back into the States without testing negative beforehand, so at the very least I wasn't scrambling to find a place to stay for the next ten days.



Ok, another cancelable offense incoming. I started doing this thing I'm pretty good at called "rationalizing". I started thinking "well, I'm about to get on a plane for like 24 hours total, and Joe Biden says that's OK, so why can't I go to this festival and watch Lorde and the Strokes play outdoors when that's probably fine and hopefully no one will get COVID". And a lot of my friends seemed to feel the same way. So I went. I went to Lorde. And Lorde was awesome. But I couldn't really enjoy it. I felt like, yeah, it's probably more likely you're going to spread it on the plane, but you have to get on that plane. You don't have the money to stay in Europe for two more weeks until you are symptom free. But you don't really have to be at this Lorde show. You don't need to run that risk at all. As quickly as it was normalized to me that I had COVID and it was probably nbd since I was asymptomatic and boosted and all, this disease still kills, and I shouldn't have been taking any risks I didn't have to. So anyway, I left after Lorde. And I felt and feel weird about it in both directions. It was probably fine, almost certainly, but ultimately an unacceptable risk.

One complaint about that Lorde show, though. I was hanging in the back with my mask on, as far from anyone as I could get. That meant I was pretty much right in front of the Strokes soundboard on the lighter crowd side of the VIP pen. Lorde was on P&B, Strokes were gonna be on Estrella. During Lorde's fourth song, Ribs, the Strokes' sound guys started testing every mic on the stage. I think they started with each drum and then went through guitar and bass amps, and then started doing vocal tests. On *really* loud monitors that everyone in the VIP pen could hear. I kinda looked around, along with some other people, like "uh anybody?" but security were really the only staff around and were totally oblivious to the situation. One very French-seeming man went up to them and made a bunch of pleading motions to them, including "headphones??" ear-covering gestures, but to no avail. The fucking Strokes sound dudes just happily fucked up the end of Ribs and sections of the next Lorde song or two (the Louvre and Secrets From a Girl Who's Seen It All). Pretty much unforgivable as it stands, but I'm just glad it didn't happen during Buzzcut Season. For their sake.



So yeah, left after that. Fuck the Strokes. I like them but not that much. Took the busses home. Two separate ladies needed masks to be let on the bus, and I was the only festival nerd with a backpack full of supplies who had em. So it's possible I was a net positive on the COVID spread front. We'll never know. Anyway, I got back to the hotel in time to see the Warriors-Celtics game, which I think was at 3 AM. The hotel vending machine sold Estrellas for 2 euro a pop, which while a bit of a markup from the corner store (70-80 cents a can?) was still less than the festival. And I don't think they're really supposed to be sold after midnight anyway so really just a massive win to be able to buy a bunch in this scenario. The Warriors won and evntually won game six, too. Sucks, I guess, but let's be real the Celtics suck and are embarrassing to root for too.

I didn't do much Saturday or Sunday but sleep and drink coffee and listen to Caretaker.

Monday I checked out at noon and tried to find a cardboard tube for the Gizz poster I got my friend at the post office but to no avail. Place had terrible reviews, I should have known better. Just babysat that poster through the Barca to Doha flight, in the Doha airport, and then on the Doha to Houston flight we actually had a free seat so the poster got its own. Apparently my friend didn't even want a poster, he wanted a shirt! Probably one he could tie dye, since that's what he's into lately and it was a white shirt! Anyway, got him a white poster. Woo! King Gizz!

Started getting a stuffy nose by the time I was leaving Spain, but still pretty mild. Got home Tuesday and symptoms probably peaked that Thursday.

Can't recommend Primavera enough. Best festival I've been to. With Auditori working I can't really imagine something better. It's in an incredible city and locale. And the lineups are fucking stupid.

Incredible work piggy pablo, wish I had gone

The year I went, Poble Espanyol was under renovations and they used the Arc for the kickoff show. It’s where I saw Wedding Present do Sea Monsters in full. I also met a dude on the street that sold me a sixer of cerveza for like 5 Euro and heard The Walkmen talking about taking a poo in the Mediterranean.

It’s one of my favorite areas in the city and not such a PITA to get to.

The ending was rough but it sounds like you had an amazing trip. So happy you did. While it sounds like this year had more than a few hiccups, PS will always be my favorite festival. There’s just no experience like it here in the States.

Cool post. I would have stayed if I didn’t have any symptoms showing. At this point it doesn’t seem wrong. Sounds like an awesome festival.

great post piggy pablo

pablo inspired me to do a much less in depth review: 

Here's the schedule of every set I saw, there's other stuff I saw a little of but these are mostly full sets, bolded my standouts. 

Oklou > Kacey Musgraves > Charli xcx > Tame Impala > Pavement > Hannah Diamond > Kampire & Decay
 
Autechre > Wet Leg > Evian Christ (live) > Parquet Courts(partial) > Warpaint > Blawan > Lorenzo Senni > Jeff Mills

Low > DREAMCATCHER > Nick Cave > Gorillaz (partial) > Beach House > Boy Harsher > Ben UFO

Evian Christ Trance Party: Mechatok, Doss, Total Freedom, Evian Christ > Teki Latex

Yung Lean > Drain Gang > Mechatok > Femi > Torus > Dark0 > Lokey

Theramatic > King Gizz > Slowdive > Nagui

Easyfun > Namasenda > HYD > Hannah Diamond > AG Cook > Kero Kero Bonito > 100 Gecs > little Dorian Electra

Squid > Ride > Prospa (live) > Slowdive (partial) > Metronomy > Playboi Carti > Charli xcx > Bicep > Anz

Marina Herlop > Stella Donnely > Lorde > The Jesus & Mary Chain > The Smile > Grimes DJ (partial) > SPFDJ > Danny L Harle

Shellac > Celeste > Sky Ferreira > Mogwai > Angele > Jessie Ware > Molchat Doma > Oranssi Pazuzu > Daniel Avery (partial) > Goldie 

Courtesy > Acemoma

Favorite sets:
1. Playboi Carti - he had a small crowd which was awesome and basically the entire thing was a mosh pit. 
2. Jessie Ware - She blew me away. insane performance and the crowd was in the palm of her hand the entire time. I think this set benefitted from being the same day as Sky, Angele, etc. 
3. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Probably the best performance I saw. 
4. Teki Latex - Insane DJ set. I was dead after the Evian Christ party and then he had me moving for 3 more hours till sunrise. 
5. Charli xcx - both sets were great but her first weekend set at the main stage felt like a headliner. there were some lads going nuts right in front of me that were fun when i just leaned into the rediculousness. 
6. Hannah Diamond - she was way better live than I expected. really fun crowd
7. Anz - she played the coolest stage and threw the fuck down
8. Boy Harsher - they had a really big crowd compared to when ive seen them in the US and was one of the funnest dance parties of the weekend
9. Evian Christ Live and DJ - live set was crazy production and sound design. dj set at the trance party is probably hardest set of the weekend. literally felt like I was gonna pass out
10. Lorde - my friend had a accessibility pass so I got to watch her from there, right above VIP (I was actually right behind pablo in VIP with his mask on) which was a game changer for the headlining sets. 
11. Danny L Harle - it was fun and not as painful as i thought it might be lol
12. Beach House - im not the biggest beach house stan but this was gorgeous and some of my friends i was with are beach house stans which made it funner
13. Kampire & Decay - another great dance party
14. Angele - its a treat to see a pop star on a smaller scale like that
15. SPFDJ - she went hard
16. Prospa live - the way they incorporated live elements added a lot to the show. if it wasn't so early in the night it would probably be higher
17. Courtesy - kinda honorable mention, this set was amazing but it was the 11th day in a row of being at shows until sunrise and my body was starting to reject me. 

All in all had another amazing Primavera, feels almost like Bonnaroo at this point with the # of people I know and see at basically any show I go to here. made it to sunrise every night which was my goal. was good to see quite a few inforooers I hadn't met before and kinda crazy that so many of us were at a festival in Barcelona. can't wait till next year!

Yeah, that was nuts. God, I miss Barcelona and this fest.

A friend of mine saw Dawson & Circle and said it was alright, expected more of it tho.

In all fairness, she was still pissed I told the vets the kittens names were Death and (Eu)Ronnie(mus) for their first check up.

Mrs. GL had to tell the receptionist she was there for Death in a waiting room full of people.

this set is so much fun

Oh hey no, around the 19/20 min mark you can see me a bunch of times a bit more in the back left lol. Funny how that set was so lit and then.. the wifi / internet didn't work anymore for his computer to work (22 min).