Primavera Sound 2019 (Day 1)

Back to Primavera Sound

Festival season has started again! And for me, as usual, it has started with Primavera Sound. Although not everything was "as usual" this year at Primavera...

The "New Normal", as the motto of the festival itself put it, saw as many women as men on stage... "We should have done it ages ago," you could read on Primavera's Website. "If half of our audience is female, why shouldn't half of our line up be so too? Why can't there be equality in schedules, styles and stages?" Well, good questions indeed... :-) As a woman that has been going to festivals for over 15 years, I have to say this is no meaningless evolution. How many times have I heard people say "I don't see why we should invite shitty female bands instead of good male bands just to comply with some stupid quota"... Well, first, not all male bands are so goof that they deserve to be invited to festivals. And second... what about inviting some of the (many) good female bands that actually exist out there, but only don't receive enough attention to be invited to a festival? What a crazy thought, right?!

Another thing that struck me this year at Primavera Sound was the much more visible presence of  LGBTQ+ people and queer fashion in general, at the expense (thank Goddess!) of the traditional snobbish hipster looks. Quite a refreshing change, I have to say!

So let's go for a summary of my first day at Primavera Sound...

First round

[Spoiler: based on The New Normal motto, I am afraid you're gonna see a lot of women on the photos coming up... Sorry not sorry!]

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Bad thing about this festival starting a Thursday is that I usually miss the first artists scheduled. On this occasion, I would have really liked to see Las Odio, Elena Setién and Alice Phoebe Lou, but there was no way I could get there on time.

First brother - sister selfie

So first gig that my brother and I really managed to see was Dream Wife, a British trio whose mixture of punk, rock and pop sounded quite appealing. It was nice, I enjoyed the energy of the musicians, I applauded with conviction when the singer said something like "Gender's just a notion, let's tear it down." But I didn't fall in love either, to be fair. Maybe because I was still kind of warming up a bit. But truth is the songs sounded a bit repetitive after a while and I expected a bit more from the concert in general. It was nice and I had a good time. I just didn't feel passionate about it.

Dream Wife

Then my idea was to go and see Big Thief, but I guess I just didn't feel ready yet for the excursion to Mordor! Instead, we went to see a bit of Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, who weren't on my initial selection because I had given priority to Big Thief, but who turned out to be a good choice for the start of a festival.

Back to the Adidas stage to see Shonen Knife. Well, that one was a really good one! Weird, when you think about it, because the recipe was pretty much the same: a trio of women playing a mixture of punk and pop. From Japan, this time. And with a notable age difference. Shonen Knife are certainly no newcomers! But I don't know, somehow, the stripped-down songs sounded more dynamic, efficient and melodic to me. I really had a great time during this concert and quite enjoyed the aesthetics as well!

Shonen Knife

Change of style for the next concert... One of the names I was really, really happy to read on the line up: Christine and The Queens, or Chris, to follow the evolution of the artist's persona. I had seen her in 2014 at Solidays festival, not long after the release of her first record. I had very much enjoyed the show back then... but that was nothing in comparison with this concert at Primavera Sound. And to be perfectly honest, I didn't entirely expect to be that moved... I didn't know what to expect, really! What happened on stage was something that was a bit of a concert, a bit of a show, a bit of a musical, all at the same time, with pyrotechnical effects, confetti cannons, smoke, a suspended rig, etc. And I am not even sure how... but it worked! Actually, I know how it worked -for me, that is: I never felt like I was before the show of one of these interchangeable pop stars. Because in the middle of everything happening on stage, glitter or fireworks, there was this intense presence, this unique character, this amazing voice. And the statement that goes with it all, really, this call for a more open conception of gender and what it means to be identified as a woman.

As for the concert itself, the stage direction was obviously impeccable, also relying on amazing dancers. It is quite fascinating to see the interactions between Chris and her dancers, communicating both strength and vulnerability, conflict and desire. And even though everything must have been prepared, revised, rehearsed I don't know how many times, the lack of "spontaneity", inherent to such a well-prepared and well-thought show, was compensated by the intensity of feelings and the deliberate theatricality. And, I insist: by the artist herself, both thanks to the persona she incarnates and her clear, powerful voice. After playing several songs from the last record, like Comme si (aaaah, this pyrotechnic-powered entrance!), Girlfriend or 5 dollars, my first real "gasp" moment came when I recognized the first beats of iT, followed by Tilted (double gasp, actually!). The a capella delicate cover of David Bowie's Heroes was obviously another of these poignant moments, immediately followed by the haunting Doesn't matter. Later on, Chris got onto the suspended rig to deliver a beautiful version of Saint Claude, after explaining the audience she had written it after she saw an extraordinary-looking man being persecuted on the streets of Paris, as an ode to weird beauty, adding to many cheers from the audience: "Fuck the norm!" And at this point, I could distinctively feel tears coming up my eyes... I have a feeling that many other people in the audience around me suddenly seemed to have something in their eyes too!

Chris and her dancers

I'm gonna stop here because this is supposed to be a summary, so I can't really go on and on like that, but yes, it was a beautiful moment, both festive and emotional. A moment of joy and a moment to really tear down gender and all the (mis)conceptions that go with it. A moment to dance like crazy and a moment to shed some tears. "No judgement here, only love", Chris said at some point during the concert, asking later for "more empathy". And really, what else can you expect from a concert, if not precisely living and feeling all of these emotions?...

Back to reality... Of course, seeing the whole concert of Christine and The Queens meant that I had to give up seeing Courtney Barnett. Well, actually, I could have dragged myself to Mordor to see the last twenty minutes of her show, but I guess I was a little stunned after seeing Chris, so it didn't really occur to me. A bit of a shame, as the Aussie was high on my selection, but that's the story of festivals and the constant heartbreaking dilemmas of festival-goers: should I stay or should I go?! So you allow yourself to feel a little disappointed for a minute or two, you grab a beer and you go on.

And at last, the recycled glasses made their way to Primavera Sound!

And on it was indeed, with Nas. Yes, veteran-of-hip-hop Nas, you read well. If you are following this blog, you already know that I am not always highly passionate about hip-hop. But when I turn up to a show, I usually enjoy it a lot (last excellent example of this being Kase.O)! No exception there: Nas made the whole crowd jump while rapping classic hits and more recent songs. Thanks to him, the Primavera audience even got to hear a bit of Beethoven (it's an eclectic festival, we're telling you!), although the crowd got distinctively enthusiastic while hearing the first beats of N.Y. State of Mind or Hate Me Now. All in all, a really nice concert in a rather relaxed, festive atmosphere.

Nas

Maintaining eclecticism high on this day's agenda, we headed back to Adidas stage to see Carcass! I already wrote something similar about Slayer's concert in Primavera Sound a couple of years back: these are not bands that I would listen to every day at home. To be perfectly honest, I actually never listen to this kind of music. But I do enjoy seeing these bands live! No exception with Carcass, although I also have to say that, after a while, all songs started sounding a bit the same to my (ignorant) ears.

We then took our first excursion to Mordor... I was really curious to see Erykah Badu, whom I had never seen live before. Not sure how to describe what I saw, though... Her deep, warm voice, which I like so much and which is obviously one of her most distinctive features, didn't disappoint. The singer had a remarkable presence on stage -almost intimidating, actually. But I felt like the show (or what I saw of it, at least) lacked a bit of continuity. I will not deny the almost shamanistic (and charismatic) vibe of both the singer and the performance but I don't know... It was a little difficult to follow, somehow.

Erykah Badu

Anyway, we couldn't stay the whole concert because there was another artist I really wanted to see and obviously, she was playing at the other end of the venue! We remained in the "beautiful voice" theme, only changing styles once more: from new soul to... dark folk / black metal! Sounds unlikely? Not with Myrkur, it doesn't! The Danish singer is one of these improbable and yet fascinating mixtures between heaven and hell. No, seriously! Her voice can sound both angelical and absolutely sinister, ranging from ethereal notes to guttural screams. Plus, she turned up on stage in a white dress, which created a sharp contrast with the entirely black-clad musicians around her (not to mention the rather fun contrast also created by her future-mamma-belly!). In a rather intimate atmosphere, the concert, which lasted a bit less than an hour, was a journey to a dark universe, made of epic guitar riffs and accompanied by this incredible voice, both powerful and moving... And that was it, right there: my other "wow" moment of this first day at Primavera Sound... On this stage right next to the sea, which seems to kind of turn its back on the rest of the festival. For the second time on that day, I felt like time was suspended. And obviously, when Myrkur left the stage, after singing alone with her drum one final song in Danish, I felt that this first day couldn't really bring me anything more...

Myrkur

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Conclusions of this first day? Well, if anyone still had doubts, this day at Primavera Sound proved indeed that an equal split between men and women on stage is possible. And not only that, actually... The quality of performances from female artists was extremely high! I couldn't see her but from what I've read and heard everywhere, Courtney Barnett was excellent. As for me, I will of course keep as my own personal highlights the concerts of Chris and Myrkur... Different styles, different voices... and a lot of emotions! 💜💜

Photo galleries of the day:
- Dream Wife
- Shonen Knife
- Chris(tine and The Queens)
- Myrkur

Review of Day 2

Photo galleries of Day 2:
- Just Mustard
- Liz Phair
- Amyl and The Sniffers

Review of Day 3

Photo gallery of Day 3:
- Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes

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