Primavera Is The Greatest Festival Outside Of The UK – Here’s Why

This morning Primavera Sound revealed the first truly great festival line-up of 2016, including headline slots from Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem and PJ Harvey, showings from hip-hop’s strongest up-and-comers Freddie Gibbs and Vince Staples, cult guitar gods Thee Oh Sees and Royal Headache, film soundtrack legend John Carpenter and all manner indie and electronica treats.

Primavera is truly a festival for music lovers, something which is clear from the artfully curated line-up. Now in its 16th year, the event always pulls out the stops when it comes to the bill – Pixies, Pet Shop Boys and Nick Cave in 2010, Pulp, Suicide and Nick Cave in 2011, Bjork, Jeff Mangum and The Cure in 2012, Blur, My Bloody Valentine and Wu-Tang Clan in 2013, Kendrick Lamar and Queens of The Stone Age in 2014 and The Replacements and The Strokes last summer.

Leftfield big hitters is the name of the game at Primavera, where old school legends will play alongside under the radar acts, people you literally thought has died 20 years ago, experimental noise wizards and bedroom bands on their first tours. It’s this eclectic but impressive approach which lead many to believe fake posters for the 2016 event boasting David Bowie’s name as headliner (which were leaked last year) were actually real, something which we now know to sadly but surely not be the case.

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But it’s not just the brilliant bands that have Brits heading in their hoardes to Barcelona every June. What really attracts the crowds is the vibe, which seems to transcend the strange, sprawling seaside site; a Tomorrow’s World stage set, full of steep steps, concrete edifices, rocky outcrops and the occasional grassy knoll. People at Primavera are a friendly bunch, bonded together by the fact that they’re there primarily for the music – not to see how many bottles of vodka they can eyeball in the campsite before eventually staggering onto the site at 10.30pm to catch the last 20 minutes of the headline act.

Which brings us to another reason why Prima’s so great – there are no campsites! Instead, festival goers pack themselves into apartments across the city, meaning, with access to regular showers, everyone smells good and looks amazing.

The bands also start late – around 4pm – and finish even later – around 6am – meaning you can watch the sun rise over your favourite DJ before taking in Barcelonan culture all day. Or just stay in bed sleeping off your hangover.

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