Primavera Sound in brief, day 3

As promised, here comes the final post on "our" Primavera Sound Festival (PS) 2019, with the quick summary of what happened in Saturday's 1st, plus a comment on Sunday's 2nd. One more time, let's talk about music!

The Good

Built to Spill: Another box to be checked in this PS, we were finally able to see the Boise band lead by Doug Martsch live. And in a very special occasion, performing the flawless 'Keep It Like a Secret', in what it became an hour of getting completely lost in the sound, during which the Primavera stage transformed in the 'Center of the Universe' for a rapturous while. Not-so-secret, happily.

Best kept secret from Idaho. Photo: Bloodbuzzed

Jarvis, making you dance and jump... again
Photo: Bloodbuzzed

Jarv Is: It's a no-brainer. If Jarvis Cocker is in the building you go watch what he's about to offer. He's just one of a kind. On Saturday, at Ray-Ban stage he presented his new music adventure, Jarv Is, delivering a set of newbies. Obviously, that made the audience unable to connect fully, but the Sheffield's icon, in our opinion one of the best frontmans ever, can't miss a beat. Promising sounds, theatrical moves, odd, hilarious engagements with the crowd (that Italian guy, freaking out). Jarvis never disappoints.

Filthy Friends: Another mandatory gig, despite taking place on Sunday and having to suffer some trap act (beyond terrible) before two Blog superheroes, Peter Buck and Corin Tucker, took the CCCB stage, alongside the great company of an hyperactive Kurt Bloch, a shiny happy Scott McCaughey and the efficient Linda Pittmon on drums. There were some issues regarding Tucker's vocals (windy afternoon), but the energy and easygoing attitude, plus the strength of the diaphanous rock tunes contributed for a very pleasing afternoon, a nice way to end our PS with a smile.

The mighty friends. Photo: Bloodbuzzed

The Bad

Saturday's holes and mixtures: It was something to be expected. The PS turn towards mainstream, embracing the most commercial side of R&B, latin music, prefabricated pop, reggaeton or trap... took its toll, creating several huge gaps in our schedule during Saturday. Not much to see, if you weren't interested (at all) in the 'New Normal', a situation that is rare (and disappointing) in a Festival with such a great offer. But, in the other hand, maybe we shouldn't complain that much, because the amount of dubious acts were all programmed in Mordor, so we didn't have to visit the most exhausting area of the Festival, avoiding not only the unwanted music, but also the biggest crowds, allowing us to enjoy the ones we want to watch in a much more comfortable way instead.

The Queen
Stereolab: The most anticipated gig of the PS for us (never seen live before), but we must admit the previous excitement (another couple of Blog heroes in Laetitia Sadier and Tim Gane) was mixed with some concerns, regarding the possible clash of their experimental indiepop musik with this "millennial era" of permanent distraction. But the doubts quickly vanished, replaced by a stunning perfomance, rockier than expected, dynamic and energetic, making the audience dance with their komische sounds. Playing in the milky night of Barcelona... 

At the French Disko. Photo: Bloodbuzzed

Here are the links of the previous chapters! Day 1 and Day 2