Primavera Sound kicks off to international tunes

Summer officially begins June 21, and it certainly feels like it in the sunny Catalan capital. But for now, it’s still spring, and there’s not only still time to enjoy this colorful season – but there’s a great excuse to do so, too. Festival season kicked off with an event with an appropriate name, then: Primavera Sound.

The 18^th edition of one of the biggest events in the country started yesterday, to run until Sunday, June 3. The lineup for this year’s party includes such musical behemoths as Arctic Monkeys, Björk, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and The National. In all, over 200 artists will play to an audience that organizers hope will number in the hundreds of thousands, at the very least meeting the 200,000 spectators from last year, if not more.

Held at the outdoor Barcelona Parc del Fòrum venue, the wide variety of performances will run until this Sunday. On Wednesday, concert-goers were able to attend free of charge, and enjoy music from such local talent as Maria Arnal i Marcel Bagès, presenting their latest album, centered on the theme of memory.

There were also, though well-known names playing far from home, like Wolf Parade (from Canada) and Javiera Mena (hailing from Chile). From the UK, the festival also saw the performance of Scottish band Belle and Sebastian, who played a wide range of material from the mid-90s to their latest releases, as well as group Spiritualized With Orchestra and Choir (England).

This is the first year that Primavera Sound joined in on a new protocol, named ‘We will not keep quiet in the face of sexual harassment.’ This measure, put forth by the Barcelona City Council and pioneer in all of Spain, aims to give visibility and solutions to any form of sexual assault, through an information point with staff on hand. Here, attendees will be able to speak to trained individuals there to help make sure that sexual assault is properly identified and that whoever needs has the tools to help.