Caribou and La Casa Azul ignite opening night at Primavera Sound 2025

Primavera Sound kicked off on Wednesday with the festival's now-traditional free opening day at Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona.

Llum got the evening going with a mix of pop, electronic beats, and experimental sounds, the first of 300 performances across 14 stages between Wednesday and Sunday. 

Madrid indie rockers Hinds took over the baton, before a high-energy set from La Casa Azul. 

The band, led by Guille Milkyway, turned the park into a dance floor filled with confetti, smoke, and their signature visual effects, before Canadian producer Dan Snaith brought his Caribou project, with full band, to bring the night to a close.

Caribou brought their signature psychadelic electro sound, coupling it with the more upbeat dancefloor favourites of the band's most recent album, Honey. 

Primavera Sound, which sold out in early January, expects to welcome 290,000 attendees from more than 130 different countries over the five days of the festival.

Gaza sound tunnel

At the entrance of the venue, a fifteen-meter tunnel has been installed where the real sounds that the population of the Gaza Strip hears 24 hours a day are played.

The 'Unsilence Gaza' installation was created by Palestinian Oussama Rima, and features a two-minute sonic loop using real sounds from the ground fused with others recorded in recent weeks.

Three pop Divas

Three pop divas headline the three main nights: Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter, and Chappell Roan.

Primavera Sound will also feature the likes of LCD Soundsystem, FKA twigs, Jamie xx, Beach House, Haim, Central Cee, Amelie Lens, Anohni and the Johnsons, Fontaines D.C., Turnstile, Idles, Stereolab, Amaia, Wet Leg, Parcels, Beabadoobee, and Wolf Alice.

Check out all artists' stage times and the Catalan News guide to everything you need to know before you go.

Noise complaints

The associations Stop Concerts and Xavecs (Neighborhood Network Against Noise), and organizations from the Maresme area filed a legal complaint on Monday requesting that the  courts shut down one of the Primavera Sound stages, "located very close to residential buildings, a student residence, and a hospital."

The groups have included data from last year's sound level records that demonstrate "violations during the days and nighttime hours of the last festival."

However, the Primavera Sound organizers maintain that they have always complied with regulations and said that after the 2024 edition, the Sant Martí district did not report any violations that would warrant sanctions.

Council points out acoustic obligations

Barcelona City Council has pointed out that Primavera Sound organizers are already obliged to implement measures to minimize the festival's acoustic impact on the surrounding area.

After organizations called for the closure of one of the stages, the council emphasized that a number of mandatory measures are already in place for event promoters.

These include positioning stages to cause "the least acoustic impact on the environment," installing acoustic limiters on all stages, and measuring sound levels at nearby residential buildings.

The city council reports that no sanctionable noise violations were found during last year's Primavera Sound.

However, it acknowledges that noise thresholds were exceeded at certain times.

In those instances, it notes that "strong winds exceeding 5 m/s were recorded, which invalidates the measurements under current regulations, as it becomes unclear whether the noise came from the festival or the wind itself."