Primavera Sound 2016 kicks off

Barcelona (CNA).- Nearly 200 artists will perform at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound 2016, which is considered the most international musical festival in Southern Europe and a global point of reference in the realm of urban music events, particularly among indie and pop fans. Eight different stages will offer non-stop music from 5 pm in the day until into the next morning. This year, Radiohead, PJ Harvey and the recently reformed American rock band LCD Soundsystem will top the bill, together with Suede, Tame Impala, Sigur Rós and former Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson. One of the most attractive novelties of this year’s edition is the beach club, which will be open during the day and where attendants will be able to swim within a designated area. From the 2^th to the 5^th of June, more than 190,000 people are expected to attend Primavera Sound and nearly half of them will come from outside Spain.

 

Primavera Sound, Barcelona’s top music festival, opened its doors on Thursday for its 2016 edition. Although the festival officially starts this Thursday, on Wednesday some bands, including Suede, performed for free at Barcelona’s Forum Park, right alongside the sea.

The main names on the line-up for the 2016 edition of the festival feature genre-defining Radiohead, Australian psychedelic rock band Tame Impala, New York-based LCD Soundsystem (reuniting for an epic performance after having disbanded in 2011), the dreamy music soundscapes of Sigur Rós, former Beach Boys front man Brian Wilson, and rock icon PJ Harvey, among others.  

Beach Club and PrimaveraPro, main novelties

One of the most eagerly awaited novelties of this year is the Beach Club, a newly inaugurated space funded by Bacardi where several food trucks will be on site, and from which it will be possible to access the beach directly from noon until 9 pm.

Additionally, PrimaveraPro 2016 premiered Wednesday at the Centre for Contemporary Culture in Barcelona (CCCB) museum and cultural institution, making it a new venue for the festival. The event is a new meeting of the international music industry that runs parallel to Primavera Sound until the 5^th of June and will play host to several presentations and discussions featuring promoters, record companies and festivals. It will also show concerts in brief format, and have spaces for contact between professionals.

The fifty Catalan artists performing at the festival this year has led to the presence of the 'Creative Catalonia' (the ICEC) brand at PrimaveraPro, with a stand and proposals for contact with international professionals. 

15 years of incredible line-ups

Since its opening in 2001 in a humble basement in Barcelona, Primavera Sound first made its rounds at Poble Espanyol – an open-air architectural village located on Montjuïc hill – before moving to Fórum Park in 2005. Primavera Sound has made a name for itself among Barcelona’s famous festivals as one of the most important in the world, counting among its international roster of performers Neil Young, Portishead, The White Stripes, Lou Reed, Pixies, to name only a few that have performed at the festival in the last 15 years. 

Strongly international audience

As more and more incredible artists perform at the festival, so also grow the number of festivalgoers. From 8,000 people who attended the festival when it was just beginning, in 2001, the event has grown to welcome 175,000 people, the number of ticket holders registered in 2015. Keeping with the steadily growing number of attendees since the festival’s opening, Primavera Sound is expecting more than 190,000 people this year. 

Coincidentally, the international roster also draws a fairly international crowd. Of the 175,000 people who attended in 2015, 46%, almost half of them, came from outside of Spain: the highest number of foreign participants came from the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, and Germany. As of 2015, the organisers of the festival have also a noted a growth in attendance of people from Italy, Germany, the United States and Mexico.