Primavera review: Fontaines DC triumphant at first weekend alongside Nick Cave and Charli XCX
Grian Chatten of Fontaines DC on at Primavera Sound Festival at Parc del Forum in Barcelona, Spain. Picture: Jordi Vidal/Redferns
Primavera Sound returned to Parc del Forum in Barcelona over the weekend (Thursday-Saturday) for its first outing since 2019, with a healthy Irish contingent representing in the crowd.
It's bigger than ever, in all senses of the word, taking about 30 minutes to get from one end of the site to the other and being held over two weekends. But bigger doesn't always mean better and like the headline-grabbing queues at Dublin Airport recently, maybe this summer will be one of growing pains and learning curves as things continue to 'return to normal'.
Primavera's bar situation on the opening night was woeful with war stories traded of hour-plus waits for a drink. Thankfully the festival rectified this by day two. The side-by-side main stages and the sheer size of the crowd were also issues.
And yet this is a festival in the sun in Barcelona so such gripes and issues can be balanced by the quality of music on offer from late afternoon to 6am. There's Pavement and Nick Cave for the seasoned beard-strokers, Charli XCX and Kacey Musgraves for the pop fans, myriad DJs and dance acts at the beach, and then there's the future of music too, with K-pop represented and the likes of PC Music's Hannah Diamond starring in her tutu.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds played one of their first gigs since 2018 on Saturday evening, a heaving crowd fell silent before tears duly came - he had lost a second son just weeks ago. An emotionally charged set followed - nobody commands a crowd like Cave
You can make the case that nobody had a better weekend than Fontaines DC. Having released two albums over the lockdown years, their star has risen high since they last partook in festival season. Playing on Friday evening, they looked very much at home on the main stage, opening with a stirring In Ár gCoithe go Deo. Grian Chatten has transformed into the most irresistible of frontmen since we last saw him.
Squint and it looks like a Liam Gallagher impression, but the way he paces the stage, slams his mic stand down, and whips the crowd up is not easily taught. "Are you not terribly excited for the jubilee," he asks at one point, adding, in case their music didn't make clear their stance: "F**k the queen."
A band that Fontaines DC have supported in the past, Idles, were also playing over the weekend. They've had to cancel multiple Irish shows this year so it was a treat to see them, with crowdsurfing and earnestness to the fore. Joe Talbot is also a lesson in how to front a band - it looks like it means the world to him.
The National, who also play Limerick and Cork this week, followed Fontaines DC on the main stage, an impressed Matt Berninger shouting out their performance. It's a greatest hits set from the band, with Fake Empire, Mr November and Terrible Love all played one after the other, and a reminder of a long, joyous journey taken together.
