Primavera Sound kicks off in Barcelona with night of free concerts

Primavera Sound, one of the largest music festivals in Europe, is kicking off its 2023 edition on Wednesday with a string of free concerts in Barcelona, setting the stage for five days of live shows by some of the biggest names in music.

Thousands of people flocked to Parc del Fòrum, the festival’s main location in Sant Adrià del Besós, next to Barcelona, to enjoy the first and only night of free music, headlined by British synthpop legends Pet Shop Boys.

The line-up for Wednesday also features Australian indie electro pop band Confidence Man, English singer-songwriter Jake Bugg, Madrid noise pop band La Paloma, and also the alternative indie project Guatemala and the eclectic guitarist Dagger Moth, both from Italy. (You can check the schedule for Wednesday here.)

Primavera Sound is expecting around 70,000 attendees each night from Thursday to Saturday, the days featuring the festival’s big acts. Day tickets are available for €125, and full festival tickets for €325 (€275 with resident discount).

Catalan superstar Rosalía is among the headliners, as is American rapper Kendrick Lamar, British new wave band Depeche Mode, or DJ Calvin Harris.

Also featured on the stellar lineup are Blur, Four Tet, Avalon Emerson, Built to Spill, Channel Tres, Christine & the Queens, FKA Twigs, JPEGMafia, Maggie Rogers, Pusha T, Skrillex, St Vincent, and The War on Drugs. 

Catalan artists open Primavera Pro

Also on Wednesday, Catalan artists Galgo Lento, Ven’nus, and Las Bajas Pasiones performed in the city center of Barcelona to open the festival’s fair for professionals in the music industry, called Primavera Pro.

In recent editions, over 3,000 accredited professionals, half of whom from abroad, attended the fair, which features around 100 activities and almost 60 showcases, and runs in parallel with the festival.

Limiting opening times to bars and terraces

Barcelona city council will limit the opening times to 29 bars and 43 terraces close to the Fòrum area, where the Primavera Sound takes place, as first reported by Spanish newspaper El Periódico and later confirmed by the Catalan News Agency (ACN).

During the festival days, bars will have to close from 11 pm until 8 am (two hours later than usual), while terraces will have to pick up all tables and chairs by 11 pm, between one and two hours earlier than the current legislation allows. Supermarkets in the area will be forced to close at 10 pm and open at 8 am.

Closing times have been proposed, thinking with neighbors and their resting time, stopping massive drinking sites, and avoiding overcrowds at bars or areas near metro stations at night.