Canceled day, traffic jams, lower attendance: Primavera Sound in Madrid

Primavera Sound is over for another year, but this year hasn't been without its hiccups and controversies. 

The music festival which originated in Barcelona held its first-ever edition in Madrid this year, with a variety of problems playing out that led to complaints from fans.

Opening day canceled

The opening day of the festival was first canceled altogether at the last minute due to the poor weather conditions. Madrid had seen strong rains and storms in the days leading up to the festival, and as the Arganda del Rey venue was incapable of handling numerous days of rain, the accumulated muddy puddles meant that it was deemed not safe enough to go ahead with holding the event on the Thursday, despite the relatively little rain that fell on the day itself. 

Blur were one of the headline acts due to perform that day, and instead of playing at the festival, they played a gig in the La Riviera venue for ticket-holders. The Boiler Room x CUPRA events were also moved to another indoor venue in the city. However, the application to reserve free tickets to the gig collapsed after being launched, leading to something of a lottery to get tickets, leaving fans further frustrated. 

Another headline act scheduled to play on Thursday, Halsey, revealed on Instagram that she offered to play at any venue, big or small, in Madrid as an alternative for fans, but according to the artist the festival "wouldn't permit it."

Queues and traffic jams

On Friday, when the party finally got underway, the issues relating to the 37km distance between the festival site and the city became apparent, as many fans were stuck in traffic jams in private vehicles as well as shuttle buses. 

Spanish traffic authorities noted jams of three kilometers on Friday evening, as many people had issues attempting to arrive by private care. 

Shuttle buses were also organized from the Civitas Metropolitano stadium, located in another area of the city particularly comfortable to reach. 

Some social media users complained of having spent hours stuck in traffic to reach the festival with no air conditioning on board, leading them to feel "asphyxiated." 

Other videos showed some fans giving up on the vehicular route and making the final stage of the journey to the Arganda del Rey site on foot. 

Similarly, problems were seen among fans trying to leave the festival site late at night. 

Attendance 

Organizers said that Friday saw 42,000 fans come to Primavera Sound in Madrid, while 48,000 arrived for Saturday. 

These figures were significantly below Barcelona's figures of 54,000 on the Thursday, 68,000 on Friday, and around 70,000 on the closing night. 

Yet, some media reports have speculated that a high number of free passes were offered for the Madrid festival through competitions and via sponsors, which may have increased the numbers somewhat. Added to this is the fact that the festival is likely to have seen a boost in Friday and Saturday attendance figures thanks to Thursday day-ticket holders going on either of those days instead, as they were able to do so at no extra cost.