Primavera Sound 2009

Okay, it was amazing. Terrific. Euphoric. Blissful.

I'll start off on Wednesday night. Traversed through La Ramblas, which was only a short walk from our apartment- met up with my flatmates and walked around the flashy apartment a bit numbstruck. I could have stayed their forever. Of course, it was the Champions League final, and as a Man Utd supporter, Barcelona was a strange place to be. We found a shabby cafe to watch the match (awful match), and attempted to avoid the throngs of horn-toting Barca fans. It was kinda funny, we ended up being closed into alleyways while policemen fired off rubber bullets as warnings. Apparently there were riots later.

Thursday we played some scrabble and then set off for the festival site. The forum is by the sea, a huge site featuring various stages and courts, all concrete. As a festival goer comfortable with the grassiness of Latitude and Leeds, it was a little disconcerting at first. My least favourite stage perhaps, by the food court, was the Pitchfork one. We started off there catching a set from Women. To be honest they were a little flat, not terrible, but not much stage movement, not much dynamism. Black rice was a highlight, but the other material didn't shine.

I'd decided before the festival to research as much of the line up as possible, and The Bats were ones to look out for. Recently reformed, they could be classed alongside bands like The Chills and The Church, although they're from New Zealand. Like those bands mentioned, they use a clean, jangly guitar sound but what really came out of the set was the cool grooves. Very tight, seemed to enjoy themselves, and the Vice stage right by the water was a lovely and appropriate setting for them.

Sadly, I missed the Vaselines. The ticketing machines, for at least a few crucial parts of the festival, were a joke. The idea was that you'd go buy some drinks tickets at the machines (and a few staff), and then exchange these for drinks. Alright, there were much less queues for the bars, but perhaps only because no one could get drinks? Anyway, a friend got stuck in a massive long queue, and we missed the fucking Vaselines. I caught one or two songs and they sounded great, not at all fey and insubstantial, but punky and fun.

Next up was Yo La Tengo. Only at Primavera would a band like this be given a slot on the Estrella Dam stage. This stage was basically for the biggest bands of the three days. I'd seen them before at the Southbank, soundtracking some marine films, but this was the real deal. Sugarcube, From a motel 6, Shaker, Tom Courtenay, it was all there. The band were excellent, the crowd was going wild, just a wonderful moment.

I managed to glimpse a bit of the Jesus Lizard, but missed the sight of a crowdsurfing David Gow. It looked pretty good from what I saw, but I'm not a massive fan.

My Bloody Valentine at the Estrella Dam was my musical highlight. The sound was glorious, a sea of devotees and we were at the front peddling our own form of prayer (vigorous headbanging). I think Only Shallow was the opening number, probably my favourite, but To here knows when and When you sleep were indescribably euphoric as well. It was great to see the band play into the indigo Barcelona sky as well, much preferable to the stuffy gig at the Roundhouse last year, and much better sound to boot.

Where do you go from MBV? Dancing to Aphex Twin? Yeah, OK! The enigmatic Mr James played to a throbbing crowd at the Rock Delux, the 2nd biggest stage. It's really great because it's lined like a Roman coliseum with stone steps, so you can just sit and watch lazily. We had to dance, obviously, and AT's set was dominated by his more upbeat, dancier compositions, with little of the ambient material that I favour.It didn't matter though, it was still incredibly fun.

Missed Squarepusher for reasons unknown, but found solace in the ATP stage, where DJ's played alternative rock hits incessantly, and awkward indie kids united in love of Debaser and I wanna be your dog, surrounded by beautiful people wearing Sonic Youth t-shirts, and looking up at the peach pastel sky as the sun came up. The Jagermeister's and JD and cokes had worked their magic, and everybody was flailing and shimmying happily. A superb end to the first night.

Friday began with Crystal Stilts, who were on top form. Saw them at the Barden's Boudoir a few months prior, and they were good, if a little lazy, but here in the sun their jangly shoegaze was rather joyous. They even admitted "this was the best we've sounded for ages".

Vivian Girls followed, pretty decent, nothing too special. The girl trio are pretty energetic performers and change instruments, but some of their tunes felt a bit lacking somehow, didn't have the punch of their debut. I would have liked to have seen Pains of being pure at heart, to round off a trio of retro noise makers, but y'know, MBV clashed with them, so it was a no contest.

On the Rock Delux was Spiritualized, AKA Jason Pierce with his band, including a couple of soul backing singers. I enjoyed their set a lot, but for me a band like Spiritualized works best as a visceral experience, so I would have liked some kind of hypnotic visual background, more stage presentation, and perhaps a little less sun (thanks God). The songs drifted along so slowly it was almost unbearable at times, Pierce's pained vocals stretching out every note. Shine a light was sublime, but the real highlight was midway through a song, and suddenly everything goes widescreen, and the guitars burst into life, the drums crash. Where the hell did that come from?

MBV again? Oh, you do spoil us! This time they were booked into the auditorium just off site. It's a large assymetrical, angular, black building. I unfortunately arrived late so was left with a seat on the top tier at the back. It didn't matter too much, but I would have loved to have been sitting in the front row with Sometimes boring into my ears. The sound was absolutely spectacular, ricocheting around the blackness of the venue gloriously. You made me realise was terrific. I felt a tinge of disappointment that MBV weren't playing the next day.

The final day got off onto a good start with a ramshackle set by Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti. He really is a freak. I'd heard he was a bit reclusive, but yeah, really odd (in the best way possible). Wearing a feminine, loose stripy t shirt and shorts, he looked like he was bridging the gap between skater boy and drag queen. I'm only really familiar with his album The Doldrums, so much of it was new to me, but it was surprisingly psychedelic and noisy. There were about 5 or 6 other members, and even a couple of Vivian Girls joined them onstage at one point. The vocal interplay was great as well.

I stayed to watch Jesu at the ATP stage afterwards after hearing good things about them. I was pretty impressed, I liked the doomy soundscapes, almost sounding like ominous synths and the processed beats complimented them well. On the minus side, the two guys lacked a bit of stage presence (as is commonly the way with post rock acts) and the vocals were a bit flat. But otherwise, decent.

Michael Nyman in the auditorium was next up. We got better seats this time, so I felt more involved with the performance. I'm a big admirer of Nyman's collaborations with Peter Greenaway, so I was really looking forward to him (and importantly his band) playing. I think there must have been around 18 in his band, all sat on a platform, while Nyman faced away to their side. The music was sublime, and really quite innovative for 'classical' music. The musicians on strings were shredding it, really shredding it. Marnie Stern would have been proud. The horn section and Nyman's piano work was also pitch perfect. The highlight for me was definitely 'Fish Beach', possibly my favourite Nyman track. Achingly beautiful and simple. This set in particular showed how diverse Primavera was-something you might not find in a lot of festivals.

I caught quite a bit of Neil Young on the Estrella Dam stage. The crowd seemed to be really into it, and I was nodding my head happily along to a few of Young's hits. I remember Cinnamon Girl and Heart of gold got good receptions, and the man seemed on fine form. Even had an artist creating some improptu painting upon stage with him.

I had to leave Deerhunter pretty early on, due to someone drinking too much Jagermeister, which is a shame as I would have liked to have seen them in these kind of circumstances. I saw them a couple of weeks back, and I can tell you that the bassist seemed a lot happier in sunny Spain than a dingy London venue.

Caught most of Sonic Youth, and enjoyed them to an extent. Kim Gordon was the real heartbeat of the band, bellowing out determinedly at the crowd, and they seemed pretty tight. But it did make me realise that I don't really like their music that much. Just too discordant and harsh for me, even though I'm a fan of bands like Codeine and Slint, this doesn't really sit with me.

A smattering of Simian Mobile Disco and then back to a final hurrah with the ATP stage DJ's. Again, wonderful. Danced like a loon to the best of alternative 90's rock, then sat out the ones I didn't know. Watched people go crazy dancing to soul classics. A great end to the festival.

Other things that happened to me:

-Absolutely deranged girl sidles up beside me during Spiritualized, completely wasted and wearing only a bikini top and shorts. On one wrist, she'd sellotaped 6 or 7 of those shot tubes to herself, on the other there was a paper cup sellotaped round her wrist. I thought she might have been a drug addict. It got even weirder when she started nudging me, then whispers "It doesnt matter if you're naked or not, it's ok to be naked", and starts to pull up my shirt. This, all during the daytime performance of Spiritualized. I actually had to jog to the front to get away from her. The funny thing was, we exchanged a knowing glance the next day, and she looked completely normal and pretty embarrassed.

-Meet the Faith Healers through a mutual acquaintance, realise they were in Quickspace, the singer tells me I'm 'pale but pretty'.

-My friend decides to drink 17 Jagermeisters over the course of an hour. Misses Sonic Youth, Neil Young, Deerhunter, completely out of it, throws up on himself.

-Awkward handshake with Eddie Argos

Just the best.

Thu 28 May – Primavera Sound 2009