Primavera Sound

0:13Hello and welcome to the Monaco Weekly. This time I speak with Marta Palhares, head of press for Barcelona's Primavera Sound Festival. She tells me about the upcoming 22nd edition of the festival, the stellar lineup that includes Lana Del Rey and Cesar, and also the international expansion of the festival.

0:43Marta Payares, welcome to Monaco Radio to talk about, you know, we were talking before we started the recording we all love Primavera Sound I think it's such a fantastic festival with a lovely history some basic questions I want to know a little bit more about you for how long have you been working actually with the festival? Well, Fernando, thanks for having us. It's been quite several times that we've done things with you guys at Monocle, so it's always a pleasure. I started working at Primavera Sound back in 2016, and I was in charge of the streaming that was done with Red Bull TV. Back then, I was a project manager.

1:23Then I jumped into the official team in 2017, handling the international press. And since last year, I'm the head of press. So it's been a very interesting journey so far. How do you see Primavera in 2024 compared perhaps when it started? We started in a very small venue in Barcelona, which is called Pobla Spagnol. And then after not so many years, we moved to our actual venue, Parthel Forum, which is very well known by a British audience because it's our biggest market abroad. So as you might know, if you have visited our festival, it happens besides the sea. So obviously the change of venue was a really, really important part for us.

2:11But I think that in the core, we continue programming and delivering our bills with exactly the same idea, which would be to be a photograph of what's happening today and what might happen tomorrow with some beloved acts from yesterday. That would be a little bit what we always have in mind. If you see the bill in this edition, we have bands that have been with us for many, many times, like I don't know, Vampire Weekend or Pulp, of course. We have Lana Del Rey, who was supposed to be playing in the infamous 2020 edition and has been consistently demanded by the audience in social media. and people who we didn't know about maybe, I don't know, just seven years ago or whatever, like Cisa.

3:08And she's already in our lineup as a headliner. So I think that's quite an interesting mix of acts and some names that could reflect what we try to do. And in the end, it has always been with that spirit that Primavera has been developing. And tell us about the format. There's been some mild readjustment. There's a one-week weekend format as well this year, right? Well, actually, we've always had typically one weekend. And it was after the pandemic that back in 2022, we decided to do a special edition of two weekends. Of course, what happened is that we had a headline, some lots of headliners that were due from 2020.

3:51And then that didn't happen. And it didn't happen in 2021. And then lots of people wanted to enjoy those shows, but somehow it felt like that wouldn't have been the lineup that we would have delivered in 2022. There were so many amazing acts that delivered new records during the pandemic and shortly after. So we had all those tickets sold for 2020. We were really tied to the audience that wanted to go and enjoy those. But at the same time, we thought, OK, why not offer a different lineup completely for the next weekend? So then we decided to go gigantic and offer the two weekends and everything in between because we had 15 venues operating in Barcelona during that week.

4:42But typically, we have always been a weekend festival. After some changes from 2022 to 2023, the venue is a little bit more compact. We believe it's more comfortable. it's a little bit more workable even though of course it is huge and we have to admit that but I think that we finally have the format that we are comfortable with the format that we have always been seeking and yeah we are really excited for the next edition For the curation of Primavera I know Primavera has been incredible when you talk about diversity especially women in music which has been an ongoing topic when people talk about festivals.

5:25But in my view, Primavera Sound has been doing this for a few years now. So just look at the headliners this year, right? But what is considered in the curation? Of course, you need the old favourites, the fan favourites, right? But do you try to spice things up? You know, perhaps a new genre here and there. I want to know more about this curation process. I would say that a perfect day at Primavera Sound would have four different type of acts. The first one would be your favorite band that you might or might not have been able to enjoy live previously. The second one would be your next favorite band you might or might not have known until you found them in Padel Forum.

6:10Third one would be something that challenges you. That could be a K-pop band with its colors and crazy dance and choreographies and everything that's happening also. in front of the stage because the audience is absolutely crazy and in costumes or it could be weird very dark doom metal band from belgium something challenges you somehow and the fourth one would be something that makes you so happy and it is so much fun something that you really enjoy and makes you dance and connect with the rest of the people so if you find those four acts in a Primavera day, I would say that's what we aim for.

6:57That would be a perfect day at Primavera Sound. Let's talk about some of the artists. I mean, first of all, Lana Del Rey and Cesar, I mean, they are, you know, two of the biggest names in pop music today. They are incredible. I'm a big fan of both. But I wonder if you can tell us perhaps some of the other artists, perhaps the newer ones or the ones you would like to mention. now. Of course, now that you mentioned Lana and Cesar and I was mentioning them before, I think it's a very easy way to spot how headliners evolve in a very short time span. Since 2020, Lana Del Rey has been consistently demanded by people on social media and that has been really interesting to witness.

7:44Her fan base is powerful. Yes, yes, really powerful. I think that nowadays there would be like only one other artist who is also on tour this summer, but I'm not going to mention her, that would compete to that. So both Cesar and Lana Del Rey will play five and six shows only in Europe, counting UK and both of them will be the first ones in Europe when they happen in Parkdale Forum. We are very happy to have Vampire Weekend back because now they just released a new record after five years without releasing new music. I am particularly always excited about Charlie XCX because every single time she delivers something different and it is amazing how she's able to put herself on stage every single time, and it is never the same.

8:42I'm also very curious about Troye Sivan, who was called by someone here in the company as the biggest artist that we have this year in the lineup. So that's quite a bold statement. And I would really like to see how he performs live, a record that I truly believe is one of the best ones from the last year. and I'm very curious as particularly in a personal way about the Bikini Keel because they were the first ones everything started with with them and we wouldn't have the amazing female artists that we do have nowadays if the Riot Girls didn't open the door so I really really really want to see Bikini Keel and of course Palp and Jarvis Koker will always have a special place in my heart because you know I was born in 1979 so that's what generationally I am supposed to say and that's what I truly believe because I do love pulp it's soundtrack of my life.

9:40I mean what a selection and I have to say I agree in a way about Trois Sivan I think his latest album that song Rush it's so sexy so summery I can totally imagine people going mad for it at Primavera But one question, Marta, I'm curious. I mean, of course, those international artists, they're very important. Do you also have space for some Spanish artists at Primavera? Yeah, of course, that's something that we always want to have. And I think that people who attend the first day at Primavera, and let's remember that's a free day. So on Wednesday, we open the doors of Park del Fodum and it's just one stage running, but we do have headliners also for free.

10:23And we have Phoenix, who were headliners in the regular festival back in 2022. But some people, lots of people were curious about who are Stella Maris. Stella Maris is a band that was born through a TV series. And they play songs by our beloved duo, Hydrogen S. And it's going to be quite a show. It's kind of Christian band gone terribly wrong, integrated by seven sisters. And the craziness is real. It's really like crazy electronics, techno combined with, you know, prayers and stuff like that. You really have to witness that to believe it. And I'm not talking about religion. I'm talking about Stella Maris.

11:18that's going to be a really interesting one. I would also like to select probably Rels B, who is a very, very young artist, a hip-hop artist that has been already selling out big venues in Barcelona. So I think that's going to be interesting to witness. And an old favourite of the house is Guillaume Gisbert. Guillaume was the leader of one of the most known Catalan bands called Manel. And now he has released his first album solo. We are also organizing the tour for Guilherme in venues. They sold out in minutes. So I think it's going to be like the big presentation, big showing off the new music.

12:07So of course, we always have some special Catalan and Spanish bands that are dear to our heart. Well, that's very nice. And besides the main festival there in Barcelona, I know there's been an international expansion as well of Primavera Sound. What can people expect actually this year? Which cities will the Primavera team be in as well? we have announced what's going to happen in latin america already we always say that barcelona is our headliner uh barcelona the city is always as important as many artists in our bill and knowing that barcelona is irreplaceable and that's our flagship we want to continue investing and creating new audiences and catering especially to them because we do have so many audience that comes from Latin America and you can't go there you know as a conqueror and tell them hey this is what you should like it's always listening to the audience knowing what's right for them and of course we do have our curation line but you always have to invest in local talent and find the right venues for every city this said in 2024 we're going to have presence in nine countries.

13:29It's going to be four festivals, Barcelona, Porto, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires, two Primavera days, which are one day festivals. They are going to happen in Montevideo and Asunción. And three, what we call Road to Primavera, which is basically headline shows that help us create a whole tour for artists that go to Latin America and find that it's useful for them to have, let's say, five, six, seven shows, because just three dates wouldn't be enough for them. So we do have three road to Primavera, which are going to happen in Bogotá, Lima and Santiago de Chile. So with this, it's going to be nine countries, we are always listening to new options and new possible locations.

14:15But for now, this is what we have in 2024. And we are really, really happy with how it is developing and being established already. That's incredible, the presence in South America and not just in the big markets, not just in Brazil or Argentina, but you're in Paraguay, you're in Uruguay and that's incredible. yeah honestly it is what it it is the right thing to do probably when you want to be a serious promoter in those countries because just going and flying the the artists and the headliners to Buenos Aires most of them would say hey yes I would love it because Argentinian crowds are amazing or there is no way like Sao Paulo the way they live the music the way they enjoy the music in Brazil.

15:01But sadly, logistically wise or financially wise, it is not possible. So the only way to do it in a way that makes sense is to be able to offer more more options. And then if in Santiago de Chile, we believe, okay, not a festival this year, but some headline shows, then let's do it. It just makes sense. Marta, muchas gracias. Thank you very much. Thanks to you. And I hope to see you in Barcelona, both you, the audience and the rest of the Monaco team.

15:35There was Marta Palhares there, Head of Press for Barcelona's Primavera Sound Festival. The show was edited by Steph Tjungo and I am Fernando Augusto Pacheco. Thank you for listening.