First thing’s first, let’s escort the elephant out of the room. Shitshow. Clusterfuck. Disasterclass. Thursday’s PR disaster will go down in Primavera Sound history. If you weren’t there, your friends, Instagram stories, subreddits, TikToks will have told you about it. Fourth of June in one of Europe’s most temperate climates featured chilling gales, a shit tonne of rain, and the cancellations (and one infamous reconfirmation and recancellation) of some of the festival’s biggest bookings. As the 2026 edition of Primavera Sound Barcelona got fully underway, it was starting to look like a ship that was sinking at port.
The mixed messages, the security as confused (and decidedly more aggro) than the punters, the screens playing adverts instead of communication updates, the headline sets disappearing into the night … it was enough to derail the entirety of any normal festival. In its 24th edition, though, Primavera Sound is made of stronger stuff; if for its devoted followers alone.
Those devoted, and drenched, followers would eventually be rewarded with rearranged sets from the likes of Overmono, Rustie, Ben UFO, and ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U. This local joined tens of thousands of others in avoiding the potential of starring in a sequel to the Fyre Festival documentary, but the FOMO of raving in my wet socks to the aforementioned dance music gems still hits hard. In Barcelona, however, multiple freak weather days are practically nonexistent, and so said FOMO is turned back on itself to forge a serious appetite for the remaining days. And those remaining days come up with some Man vs. Food-sized portions to devour.
Packed to the rafters with revellers hungry for some music to actually revel to, Friday’s atmosphere is palpable, and one of indie music’s most iconic names use that to turn out a near-perfect, almost three hour set that runs through their weighty discography.
Now in their sixth decade, The Cure have seen and done it all, and have a catalogue of bona fide classics to back it up. The beautiful, drifting dreaminess of tracks like Pictures of You and The Last Day Of Summer; the driving spacey post punk of Fascination Street or A Forest; the wistful melancholy of Lullaby; the unashamed grooviness of Hot Hot Hot!!! and The Lovecats … it’s a joyful, touching and note perfect set that takes on the concept of ‘masterclass’ and runs with it. And that’s before I even mention the likes of Just Like Heaven, Close to Me, Boys Don’t Cry, and of course, Friday I’m In Love. After a slight falling out on Thursday, the many generations that make up this vast crowd, are clearly back in love with Primavera Sound on this faultless Friday.
From the triumphant beauty of The Cure straight into Skrillex’s chaotic clash of electronic music, two headliners that are poles apart, two headliners that define the festival’s ability to truly curate something for everyone. Tightening up that curation over recent years, certain stages have taken on their own life, meaning that regulars will know what to expect (even if it’s the unexpected) from the likes of Plenitude, The Levi’s Warehouse and Cupra Pulse … and so I spend the rest of the night bouncing around catching sets from Australian DJ Roza Terenzi, Iranian percussionist Mohammad Reza Mortazavi, local nightlife stalwart Marc Piñol, and Mexican-American electronic experimentalist, Debit; tonight a testament to Primavera Sound’s exceptional eclecticism.
Saturday begins with an unexpected clash; pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo making a surprise addition to the lineup overnight. Clashing with my bloody valentine, making a return to the festival after 13 years, there’s a FOMO draw to see what all the fuss is about. After a couple of songs grabbing videos for our “Livie” niece, though, the sonic onslaught of the Irish shoegaze icons wins out, leading us to miss out on a Rodrigo and Robert Smith duet that spans generations of festivalgoers. Them’s the breaks. One performance that the second coming of Christ couldn’t clash with follows MBV, as a beautiful trio from London return to the stage together after an eight year break.
Not many acts can reduce tens of thousands of grown adults to tears, but The xx are one such band. From the haunting minimalism of Crystalised and Angels to the stadium-sized pop of On Hold or I Dare You, generation defining simplicity in VCR or Intro, the touching soulfulness of Sunset, Shelter and Fiction, the dancefloor-ready foray into their solo projects … Romy and Oliver’s bewitching vocals, Jamie’s peerless production, their heartwarming chemistry … their is no band in the world that can come close, and the crowd’s response is indicative of that. Treated like the returning heroes they are, Thursday feels like a lifetime away, and there isn’t a dry eye in the house.
Not content with dropping one of the biggest names in world music out of its hat, surprise Saturday continues with the Cupra Pulse stage billed solely as “Curated by SONNY” from 6pm till 6am. Those close to the sort of music that one of Primavera Sound’s lead dance stages is renowned for will already know that one Sonny Moore goes by the name of Skrillex. And he has a little black book of some of electronic music’s biggest names.
Alongside Dutch DJ Tracey, bonkers screamcore industrial jungle from Nexus (B4MBA + MOOKI6), and contemporary electronic trailblazer Arca, Skrillex takes to the decks himself and is joined b2b by Four Tet and Blawan, who each also enjoy a one hour set of their own. Those into this particular branch of the music world know that this is a big deal, and it more or less locks off our remaining hours of this latest edition, managing to escape occasionally to catch Manchester rave pioneer A Guy Called Gerald and the excellent Spanish DJ, JASSS.
Missed in the process of indulging in a night of underground electronica are names like Gorillaz, Little Simz, Kneecap, and Peggy Gou, but this just exemplifies Primavera Sound’s ability to cater to multiple generations, tastes and desires, whilst retaining one cohesive festival that brings all together. If the ship might have felt like it was sinking on Thursday, by sunrise on Sunday morning, it was positively flying. With Primavera Sound Barcelona 2027 already confirmed for 3—5 June and tickets on sale now, it’ll take more than a storm to put the festival’s 25th edition of course.