2001–2004: Beginnings at Poble Espanyol The name "Primavera Sound" was first used for a series of concerts held at the Sala KGB venue in Barcelona in 1994, the first on 9 April. It continued to promote local
indie and
noise shows in Spain throughout the 1990s, but founder Pablo Soler was able to take the name back for a festival that he began planning in 2000. The first edition was held on 28 April 2001 at the
Poble Espanyol, an open-air architectural museum on top of the
Montjuïc hill. It featured four stages and 19 acts including
Armand van Helden,
Carl Craig,
Los Planetas,
Unkle and
Yasuharu Konishi, the former frontman of Japanese band
Pizzicato Five. Soler said he wanted to start the festival "as a showcase for Spanish
noise bands." The festival differed from most of its other European counterparts like
Glastonbury by being held within a city rather than in a large camping site. (2001-04)|alt=|240x240pxPrimavera Sound expanded to a second day in 2002, which took place on 17 and 18 May. Friday's headliners were
Pulp and
Spiritualized, while Saturday was headlined by
Echo & the Bunnymen and
Tindersticks. Other prominent performers included
Aphex Twin,
Camera Obscura,
Cat Power,
J Mascis and
The Moldy Peaches, whose set was their only concert in Spain for the next 21 years.
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead headlined a launch party on the eve of the festival, held at Sala Apolo for €9. The headliners were
Belle and Sebastian on 23 May and
Sonic Youth on 24 May. There were now five stages, while the film festival and record label fair took place at the Mercat de les Flors. Bands such as
Arab Strap,
Yo La Tengo,
Teenage Fanclub,
Television,
Mogwai and
The White Stripes played on the main Nitsa-Apolo stage.
The Go-Betweens,
Julian Cope,
LCD Soundsystem,
The Kills and
Wire were also on the lineup. On the eve of the festival, there was a presentation party led by
Godspeed You! Black Emperor at the Poble Espanyol and
The Streets in Sala Apolo. The 2004 festival was the first to take place over three days. It was headlined by the reunited
Pixies (their first European show in 12 years),
PJ Harvey,
Primal Scream and
Wilco (making their European debut). The main Nitsa-Apolo stage was also played by
Franz Ferdinand,
Mudhoney,
Liars and
Elbow. Elsewhere, artists like
The Divine Comedy,
Dizzee Rascal,
Lloyd Cole,
Smog,
Sun Kil Moon,
Scissor Sisters and
Michael Gira were seen.
2005–2009: Expansion to Parc del Fòrum , where the festival takes place since 2005.|300x300px In 2005, the festival relocated from the
Poble Espanyol to the
Parc del Fòrum by the
Mediterranean Sea, a site seven times larger. 2006's headliners included
Motörhead and
Yo La Tengo on Thursday,
The Flaming Lips,
Dinosaur Jr. and
Yeah Yeah Yeahs on Friday, and
Lou Reed,
Violent Femmes and
Stereolab on Saturday. Other performers included
Animal Collective,
Babyshambles,
Big Star,
Deerhoof,
Drive-By Truckers,
Killing Joke,
Richard Hawley,
Sleater-Kinney and
The Drones.
Shellac performed for the first time; they have performed every year since, aside from 2007. That year,
The New York Times dubbed it "the little festival that could", praising the Parc del Fòrum for its "picturesque setting... before an azure Mediterranean backdrop." The 2007 event was headlined by the reunited
The Smashing Pumpkins,
The White Stripes,
Wilco,
Sonic Youth performing
Daydream Nation in full for the first time,
Patti Smith,
Slint performing
Spiderland in full and
The Fall. Other prominent acts included
The Good, the Bad & the Queen,
Maxïmo Park,
Los Planetas,
Spiritualized,
Modest Mouse,
Buzzcocks,
The Durutti Column,
Jonathan Richman,
Built to Spill,
Billy Bragg,
Melvins performing
Houdini,
Low,
Blonde Redhead and
Isis. It was the first year that DJ Coco (booker Abel Suárez) performed his festival-closing set of pop hits, which became a yearly tradition, ending with
Journey's "
Don't Stop Believin'". The 2008 edition was headlined by
Portishead,
Public Enemy performing
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back,
Rufus Wainwright and
Cat Power. Other performers included
Tindersticks,
The Sonics,
Sebadoh,
De La Soul,
Young Marble Giants,
Mission of Burma,
Throbbing Gristle,
Model 500,
Nick Lowe,
Vampire Weekend,
MGMT and
Bon Iver. It marked the first time that artists performed in club venues across Barcelona in the days leading up to the festival, beginning a tradition which would become known as Primavera a la Ciutat. By this year, 45% of festivalgoers came from other countries. It was headlined by
Neil Young,
My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth.
Aphex Twin,
Bloc Party,
Jarvis Cocker,
Yo La Tengo,
The Jayhawks,
Spiritualized,
Throwing Muses,
Saint Etienne and
The Jesus Lizard were also given prominent billing. It was Young's first Barcelona concert in 22 years, and he became the festival's most expensive headliner booked to date, ending a four-year pursuit to secure him. My Bloody Valentine also performed one outdoor and one indoor set. Performances in city venues began on the Monday of festival week, while more sets at the Parque Joan Miró extended the music to Sunday. The band
Wavves had an infamous meltdown on the Pitchfork stage.
Clash commented that Primavera Sound was the "younger brother" of
Sónar, Barcelona's longer-running music festival, drawing praise for its "holier than thou indieness" despite the latter's international reputation. Festival booker Abel Suárez noted six years later that booking Young "was a turning point in terms of growth" because Primavera Sound "started to be known as one of the most important festivals in Europe from that point on."
2010–2018: International recognition at Primavera Sound 2010 The festival officially took the name
San Miguel Primavera Sound beginning in 2010, after
San Miguel Beer. The headliners were
Pixies,
Pavement (in their first tour since 1999),
Pet Shop Boys,
Wilco and
Orbital. They were joined by
The Charlatans performing
Some Friendly,
The Fall,
Sunny Day Real Estate,
Superchunk,
Grizzly Bear,
Panda Bear,
The xx,
Broken Social Scene,
Tortoise,
Wire,
Built to Spill,
Gary Numan,
Marc Almond,
Health,
Van Dyke Parks,
Florence and the Machine,
The New Pornographers,
Fuck Buttons,
No Age and
Atlas Sound among other bands. The festival announced that over 35,000 watched Pixies perform at the San Miguel stage, the largest crowd for a single performance so far in Primavera history. Between Pet Shop Boys, Orbital and Marc Almond, Primavera notably secured three names who had previously headlined
Sónar. at Primavera Sound 2011 In 2011, attendance grew to over 120,000 people. Headliners were
The Flaming Lips and
Grinderman on Thursday,
Pulp and
Belle & Sebastian on Friday, and
Animal Collective and
PJ Harvey on Saturday. Other prominent names were
Interpol,
The National,
Fleet Foxes,
Sufjan Stevens,
Mogwai,
John Cale performing
Paris 1919,
Mercury Rev performing ''
Deserter's Songs'',
M. Ward and
Low. International brands such as
Ray-Ban and
Adidas began partnering with the festival. On Saturday night, large crowds gathered at the video screens set up by the Llevant stage to watch
FC Barcelona defeat
Manchester United in the
2011 Champions League final. The 2012 edition of the festival was headlined by
Franz Ferdinand and
Wilco on Thursday,
The Cure on Friday and
Justice on Saturday.
Björk was supposed to headline Saturday but cancelled three weeks prior because of an inflamed vocal cord nodule. Notably,
The Weeknd performed his first career European set and
Refused, who broke up in 1998, played as part of their
Reunion Tour.
The xx,
Death Cab for Cutie and
Rufus Wainwright were also given prominent billing.
Melvins,
Sleep and
El-P also dropped out. The Cure's headlining set lasted three hours, with 36 songs and three encores, including the first performance of "Fight" since 1987. It remains the longest single set in Primavera's history. The closing night was held at the
Arc de Triomf and headlined by
Richard Hawley. at Primavera Sound 2013|alt=|left|235x235px2013's headliners were
The Postal Service,
Phoenix,
Blur,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and
My Bloody Valentine. The lineup also featured Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear,
Tame Impala,
The Knife,
James Blake,
Band of Horses,
Wu-Tang Clan and
Los Planetas, among 260 acts. The festival was also set to host
Fiona Apple's only scheduled performance of the year, but she canceled in April.
Heineken replaced San Miguel as the festival's beer partner, and the festival dropped partnerships from its official name. at Primavera Sound 2014 The lineup for the 2014 edition was announced via a 26-minute short film. The headliners were
Arcade Fire,
Queens of the Stone Age,
The National,
Pixies,
Slowdive,
Nine Inch Nails and
Kendrick Lamar. Slowdive announced their reunion after 19 years of disbandment to play the festival. The main stages were also played by
Real Estate,
Disclosure,
Midlake,
Warpaint,
X,
Haim,
!!!,
Spoon,
Television (performing
Marquee Moon in full),
Volcano Choir and
Foals. The Heineken Hidden Stage debuted this year, offering intimate concerts on a smaller stage which required ticket reservations to enter. In 2015, the festival was headlined by
The Black Keys,
Antony and the Johnsons,
Alt-J,
Patti Smith performing
Horses,
The Strokes,
Ride,
Interpol and
Underworld performing
Dubnobasswithmyheadman. Other performers on the main stages included James Blake,
Julian Casablancas & The Voidz,
Damien Rice, the reunited
Sleater-Kinney,
Mac DeMarco and
Foxygen.
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark headlined a free Wednesday show. This year featured many reunions as Ride last performed in 1996, The Replacements disbanded in 1991 and Sleater-Kinney toured for the first time since 2006. The 2016 festival was headlined by
Radiohead,
LCD Soundsystem (who had recently reunited),
PJ Harvey and
Sigur Rós.
Tame Impala,
Explosions in the Sky,
Air,
Beach House,
The Last Shadow Puppets,
Beirut,
Moderat,
Deerhunter,
Wild Nothing and
Brian Wilson's
Pet Sounds also played on the main stages.
Suede headlined the year's free lead-up Wednesday show. It saw the reunion of
The Avalanches, who had not performed live since 2007 or DJ'd since 2011. A new beach stage opened across a bridge at the
Sant Adrià de Besòs port focusing on
electronic music sets from artists including
Sophie and
Todd Terje. The festival sold out earlier than ever, with Radiohead's first festival show in half a decade. Radiohead ended their set with an unplanned second encore of "
Creep", the second time that the song was performed since 2009.
Consequence of Sound named it the festival of the year. Arcade Fire,
Mogwai and
Haim performed secret sets, while
Slayer,
Miguel,
Grace Jones,
Run the Jewels and
Solange also played on the main stage. On 31 May, Arcade Fire released their new single "
Everything Now" exclusively on a 12" vinyl single at the festival's merch table. The song was uploaded to streaming with a music video the next day, where the band debuted it live during their secret set. More than 200,000 people attended as the festival's budget grew to over €12 million. Planned headliner
Migos missed their flight to Barcelona and cancelled hours before their set.
Skepta was named as their replacement but airport delays prevented him from landing in Barcelona in time, so
Los Planetas filled in the timeslot on short notice.
Chvrches,
The War on Drugs,
Alex G,
Father John Misty,
Tyler, the Creator,
Lykke Li and
Car Seat Headrest were among the names that also played the main stages. The area for the electronic music beach stages were renamed "Primavera Bits" and advertised as a "festival within a festival", featuring sets from artists such as
Four Tet,
Floating Points,
Oneohtrix Point Never,
Jon Hopkins,
Panda Bear and
Madlib. Multiple bands paid tribute to the recently deceased
Scott Hutchison of
Frightened Rabbit. The festival emphasised a new initiative against
sexual harassment with the slogan "no callem" (English: "we won’t keep quiet"), as a response to the
MeToo movement and reports of widespread sexual harassment at
Coachella. On 21 June 2018, the American private equity firm
Yucaipa Companies, led by billionaire
Ronald Burkle, purchased a minority stake in Primavera Sound. The festival stressed that it remained an independent organisation.
2019–2023: "The New Normal" and double weekend model performing in 2019With the 2019 lineup, the festival's organisers committed to begin a gender-balanced lineup which Primavera advertised as "The New Normal." Female-fronted acts made up over half of the total performers, up from 35% in 2018. The largely female headliners were
Erykah Badu,
Future,
Interpol,
Tame Impala,
Cardi B,
Janelle Monáe,
Solange,
J Balvin and
Rosalía. Cardi B cancelled her appearance due to scheduling conflicts and was replaced by
Miley Cyrus, who fully premiered her brand new
EP She Is Coming. The festival noted how it featured a "variety of genres that goes from
extreme metal to
reggaeton." The festival also launched the "Nobody is Normal" initiative against
homophobia and
gender violence. Later that year, Primavera Sound announced it would switch to exclusively
mobile tickets for 2020, the first major festival in the world to do so, in order to combat
scalping and environmental waste. In November 2019, a smaller edition of the festival named
Primavera Weekender began at Magic Robin Hood Camp in
Benidorm, attended by over 3,500 people. It occurred until 2024. The 2020 edition originally featured
Massive Attack,
Pavement (in their first performance since their 2010 hiatus),
The National,
The Strokes,
Lana del Rey,
Tyler, the Creator,
Bad Bunny and
Disclosure as headliners. In March 2020, the festival was moved to August 2020 because of the
COVID-19 pandemic, and ultimately cancelled in May. Later that month, the 2021 lineup was announced, featuring similar lineups to the cancelled 2020 edition. However, in March 2021, the festival was cancelled again. at Primavera Sound 2022 Primavera Sound
returned in 2022 from 1 June to 12 June, featuring a two-weekend model for the first time with a lineup that combined most bookings from the cancelled 2020 and 2021 editions with new names. The first weekend was headlined by Pavement,
Tame Impala,
Beck, The National,
Gorillaz,
Jorja Smith,
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and Tyler, the Creator, while the second weekend was headlined by
Dua Lipa, Gorillaz,
Interpol, Tyler, the Creator,
Lorde,
The Strokes, Jorja Smith,
Megan Thee Stallion, Tame Impala,
Phoenix and
Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Scheduled headliner
Massive Attack cancelled three months prior to their performance due to a member's health complications.
Dreamcatcher became the first
K-pop artist to play in the festival's history.
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard performed five sets without repeating a single song in a setlist. There were a total of 674 shows at the festival. As the 20th anniversary of the festival, it was considered an Event of Exceptional Public Interest by the
Government's
Ministry of Culture and Sports, the first international music festival in Spain to earn the distinction. It was attended by 460,500 people, including 65% foreigners, and the average attendee spent €1,423 in Barcelona during the festival, generating €349 million ($367 million) to the city. The 2023 festival reverted to the one-week structure in Barcelona but was the first to feature a nearly identical edition in
Madrid's
Arganda del Rey neighborhood a week later. Presented under the slogan "
I'll be your mirror", the headliners first announced in November 2022 were
Blur,
Halsey,
Kendrick Lamar,
Depeche Mode,
Rosalía and
Calvin Harris, followed by
New Order in March. Other prominent performers included
Darkside,
Ghost,
Turnstile,
Baby Keem,
Four Tet,
Fred Again,
Skrillex,
Caroline Polachek,
Måneskin and
St. Vincent.
Pet Shop Boys headlined the free Wednesday show in
Parc del Fòrum for Barcelona and
Cívitas Metropolitano in Madrid. On Friday, Skrillex's set was disrupted because the stage caught fire as he performed. There were 253,000 recorded attendees on smaller grounds than usual, as capacity was reduced from 95,000 to 75,000 with the removal of the Bits area. Barcelona experienced a decrease in foreign attendees from 70% to 52%, mainly among British visitors, which was attributed to the impact of
Brexit and increased costs. Before Madrid's planned opening day on 8 June, the festival canceled all performances on Thursday due to weather concerns. Headliner Blur held a free makeup show at the 2,500-capacity La Riviera club. Attendance in Madrid was lower than Barcelona, with 42,000 on Friday and 48,000 on Saturday, despite the festival grounds' capacity of 85,000. On 22 July, Primavera Sound announced that it would not be returning to Madrid in 2024 because "the city does not have a site able to host an event of this magnitude and format in terms of audience demands, production requirements, and musical show." Complaints were raised about the Ciudad del Rock complex's location 40 km away from Madrid's city center, long lines for shuttle buses to and from the venue, and overall poor logistics.
2024–present: Back to basics Upon the release of the 2024 lineup, with headliners
Pulp,
Vampire Weekend and
Justice on Thursday,
Lana Del Rey,
The National and
Disclosure on Friday, and
SZA,
PJ Harvey,
Mitski,
FKA Twigs and
Charli XCX on Saturday, the festival advertised the edition as showing "love for its own history." On 14 May, the festival announced FKA Twigs' set was postponed until 2025. A stage was renamed for
Steve Albini, who died suddenly the week before and was scheduled to play with
Shellac for a 16th edition.
Phoenix headlined the free Jornada Inaugural opening day at Parc del Fòrum on 29 May. Del Rey showed up nearly half an hour late to her headline performance on 31 May, which received negative reviews from publications including
Rolling Stone and
NME. A heavy rainstorm began during Harvey's headlining set on 1 June, culminating in lightning as Mitski performed hours later. Charli XCX debuted the songs "Everything is Romantic" and "365" days before the release of her sixth album
Brat. The 2025 lineup was revealed in October 2024, featuring headliners
Chappell Roan, Charli XCX and
Sabrina Carpenter, which Charli labeled the "holy trinity". The next day,
Central Cee was added as an "additional headliner", but ultimately not given headliner status on the poster. In December, Charli announced that
Troye Sivan would accompany her for the exclusive European date of their joint
Sweat tour. This edition of the traditionally
indie rock festival was headlined by three pop stars and one hip-hop act, and all tickets atypically sold out by January. The Auditori was unavailable in 2025 because of a private event booking. Attendance for the festival was 293,000, a franchise record for a single-week edition, and the economic impact of the festival generated over €300 million in revenue for Barcelona. The 2026 lineup was revealed on 25 September 2025, the earliest date in festival history. Thursday will be headlined by
Doja Cat,
Massive Attack ("to settle a historic debt") and
Bad Gyal; Friday will be headlined by
The Cure,
Addison Rae and
Skrillex; Saturday will be headlined by
The xx (who have not toured since 2018),
Gorillaz and
My Bloody Valentine. == Location and festival grounds ==