here is the primavera 2005 report!
first of all, i'd like to say how shit it was to miss ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS. whoever had the idea to make them play in the Auditori, want a slap? oh well, it was fun to witness the mini riot as security refused many punters to get in.
this year, primavera sound festival moved to a different area of barcelona. from poble espanyol to plaça del forum.
it is true that the festival has grown pretty big over the last few years. i guess that something had to be done cos it was wee bit crowded last year at poble espanyol, wasn't it?
that said, el forum hasn't got much soul; it's a kind of industrial place, really. oh well, it was nice to have a lot of space and patches of grass here and there.
before i get into the fun part of it all... why oh why was the alcohol so bad this year? was it all mixed with water or something? i'm no alcoholic but i need a little bit of proper fuel to make me going from 6pm until dawn. godly enough, we bumped into a lovely messiah on the second night who asked if i could give him my lighter against a bit of dope. holy shit! of course i can, amigo!
THURSDAY: having spent freakin hours to get dale's pass (it turned out that the poor little lamb wasn't on the guest list as expected and it took a great deal of time to sort it all out), we eventually entered the site.
it was already late but it didn't matter for today wasn't a big day. only two stages were opened and all i really wanted to see was ARCADE FIRE.
we watched MAXÏMO PARK from afar (pretty boring they were too) and then, it was time for the best band in the galaxy, ARCADE FIRE!
okay, before i go any further, i want to say that i kissed régine from ARCADE FIRE on both cheeks when they played vienna last month. oh yes, i did. whoohoooheyy! and very nice she is too.
once again, my favourite band since GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR put the audience on fire and... made a few grown boys weep too. it's so rare when a band deserves all the hype they are subjected to.
i read on some message board that the sound during the gig was bad and that the audience kept on talking through the songs and blah. well, i don't know but from where i stood, the sound was loud & crystal clear and the audience was respectful, jumping up and down and they knew most of the lyrics by heart too. -ah, those gigs during which you have the feeling that you belong to a beautiful community!
ARCADE FIRE are the best thing since the PIXIES. except, i find them even more exciting than the PIXIES because their songs make me jump up and down AND fill my eyes with tears too at the very same time. it's also incredible how better and better they get live and how the way they extend the songs in the live context make them even more powerful. i love them!
| off to the Danzka stage and ISIS are about to play. i very recently discovered ISIS with their album panopticon. even though i really like their music, a blend of hardcore and post rock, i found the gig too polished.
to my ears dismay, the sound was very loud though and my ribcage was very happy because it played the maracas all along.
back to the Rockdelux stage and SERVICES are on. don't remember anything about it except saying at one point that it was shit.
i thought i would dance crazy on VITALIC. well, i didn't. some dj's get boring once they start to release their very own albums. it seems they forget that they are paid to make people dance and not to play it clever with their own songs which, in the case of VITALIC that night, sounded weak compared to the album versions and to his comrade MISS KITTIN who at last year's Primavera made the whole audience go wild.
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| 5.30am. what's next? bed is next. except it's not. the metro stops at ciutadella villa olimpica and refuses to go any further. we get off and walk along the beach. it's dawn and it's pretty.
7am. we're so hungry it hurts. we end up in some bar and eat a glorious plate of ensalada rusa. -i have a pic of dale taken in that bar on which he looks sooo fucked i won't put it on here cos i want everyone to keep on thinking that he's so pretty at all times. oh fuck it, i put it anyway. ah.
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| FRIDAY: i get up early, around 2pm that is, cos there's no way i'm going to miss ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS. (i guess vincent playing BRIGITTE FONTAINE at full volume helped me to get out of bed too.
right, let's buy some food to go along vincent's lovely pasta. and with a full tummy, off we go!
we get there 15 minutes before ANTONY is supposed to be on and there are many people queuing to get in (well, 'queuing'... it's not england, here!) and the doors of the venue are closed.
at one point security or management stick some sheet of paper on the doors. it says "venue full" or something along these lines.
i don't know how many people are left outside, probably a few 100's, and some start to make a lot of noise, throw bottles at the doors and try to break in. ANTONY, your fans rock!
as we head off to the Rockdelux stage where a very sparse audience, -well, it's still very early, shake their head on TWELVE & SOLE, we bump into many more people who want to see ANTONY. security has just put some barriers to prevent people from getting any closer to the venue entrance.
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| we enjoy TWELVE & SOLE from afar whilst drinking our first beer of the day. which makes me think that any rich person reading this, please feel free to offer me all of the Anticon catalogue cos that's one hell of a good label.
BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE are now on the main stage and they are as beautiful as ever. as they play lover's spit, i call my girlfriend, put the mobile close to my heart and leave it on for a while. yeah, i'm romantic like that.
off to the Danzka stage and MICAH P. HINSON is a very angry man today.
DAVID THOMAS & TWO PALE BOYS are next. 2 songs in and my jaws drop. if that man isn't fucking fantastic, then i don't know who is. in fact, i'm so enthralled by the guy that i decide to miss IGGY & THE STOOGES who are about to play the main stage.
as dale, vincent and lorena really feel like they want to be IGGY's dogs tonite, i stand alone drinking that man's very peculiar world for the next 45 minutes. amazing.
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another loveable freak is next and she's called KRISTIN HERSH.
but before KRISTIN starts, i meet an icelandic girl and she teach me how to say Sigur Ròs in icelandic. what's all this business with the rolling r's, i ask her. i end up by saying that i'll probably stick to the french pronunciation even though it ain't as sexy and we have a laugh.
i like KRISTIN HERSH a lot. i have all of her albums, even the traditional songs one. see, it's the way she sings her quite deranged lyrics to the crowd that moves me. and she's got some beautiful songs too. oh, and her new band 50 FOOT WAVE rocks.
the odd track and the obvious hits aside, i've never been a NEW ORDER fan. i guess i have problems with singers who can't sing.
on the other hand, i knew that they would play one or two JOY DIVISION songs and I felt like i couldn't miss out. especially since unknown pleasures remains to this day my favourite album of all times and also because i've obviously never been to a JOY DIVISION gig.
we are only a few songs into the set and transmission flames out of the loud speakers. i am transfixed with love. i don't quite realise what's going on here. i can't move. i have tears in my eyes.
the song ends, vincent & i fall into each other's arms, i sit down and i think that what's just happened here is the most glorious single moment of my life. except, it obviously isn't.
later, they also play love will tear is apart but it doesn't hit me as much as transmission has earlier. they wrap it all up with blue monday and vincent & i enter into a crazy dance. well, we don't dance as much as we run into circle whilst jumping up and down and falling over people. -sorry, people!
when i think that they played transmission, love will tear us apart but also atmosphere and she's lost control the next day in lisbon! oh well, i'd probably have had a heart attack, so fuck it!
although i don't like MERCURY REV's latest, the secret migration, that is no reason for missing them. off to the Rockdelux stage we go and with the moon in the background, some truly gorgeous lights and a band on top form, their concert will turn out to be one of the the most beautiful of the whole week end.
time to walk a wee bit. PIANO MAGIC, another band i love to bits, are due to play at 3am on the Danzka stage. we arrive there and PSYCHIC TV are still on. my music culture being what it is, i tell dale that the girl who sings seem to have a tit out. to which he replies that the girl who sings is in fact a man. well, it's not my fault if Genesis P-Orridge dresses up like a slut and has tits, is it?
it's a shame that it was the end of the gig because the two final songs were quite phenomenal. it made me want to investigate mr P's legacy, anyway.
i hadn't heard PIANO MAGIC's new record yet and they mostly played songs off it.
although it sounded good, albeit less twisted than usual, i didn't really get into it. and i guess that being out of my head didn't help either.
it's now 5am and here i am thinking that i really shouldn't have smoked that joint. why did you put so much into it, silly boy? god, i feel awful. can we find a cool tent where a dj's spinning some groovy tunes so that i can get rid of the toxins? KOMPACT SOUND SYSTEM is on? that should do the trick. let's go!
okay, this is not going to work. is it me or the sound isn't loud enough? er, who am i? "-dale, look! we are surrounded by policemen! i'm sure they're policemen! they keep on looking at me!" 15 minutes later: "dale! all these gay people keep on looking at me! all of them! gosh, they're everywhere!" i wonder what that says about my sexuality. i swear that i've never watched a gay porn dvd called "police fever" or something. maybe i should.
SATURDAY: today is my birthday! dale wakes me up, leaves some dvd's on my pillow and wish me "-happy birthday, asshole!" or something similar. -yeah, he's funny like that, the irish cunt. hmmmm...shaun of the dead. how lovely!
later, dale will pick up the guitar and sing cotton dress in vincent's living room just for me. whoooohoooooooo! thanks, macosqueen! that was cute.
today is french day too. which is just as well since it's my b'day. Danzka stage will see 12 french acts starting 6pm and finishing at 6am. i thought it wasn't a great idea to reserve a stage for french acts and another one for spanish ones. it'd have been better to mix everything. that way, people would have probably discovered more new stuff.
we start the day with BERTRAND BETSCH who introduces pas de bras, pas de chocolat, his most well known song with "-and now we'll play the shitiest song i've ever written". well, you said the same thing last time i saw you. it's so funny how some of the indie acts around here always feel obliged to justify themselves whenever they play their one and only little hit. why don't they just play the fucker and shut up? it's not a shame to sell more than 3 records and a half, you know!
i like BERTRAND's lyrics and i still think after all these years that la soupe à la grimace is a great record. that said, i like him better when he's on stage on his own with his guitar rather than with a backing band. same thing with DOMINIQUE A. but more of A later.
| FRANÇOIZ BREUT is next and i'm excited. i love her voice and her simple yet sexy demeanour. the way she sings other people's songs (will everyone please pay a little bit more attention to JÉRÔME MINIÈRE's talent?) makes my heart melt.
FRANÇOIZ is a million times more gifted than any of the so called "nouvelle chanson" revival boring representatives too. and the little booklets which contain her drawings in the limited edition of her new album, une saison volée, are so cute that it makes me want to put them in my mouth and eat them.
it's the first time i see her and i'm pleasantly surprised because as opposed to many touring solo artists, her backing band does not overdo it. which leaves her enough space to show the extent of her talent. something which i'd like to say about DOMINIQUE A.
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see, DOMINIQUE A is without a doubt one of the most gifted singer, writer and composer france has seen for a very long time. as a solo act, with his drum machine, effects pedals & stuff, he's a very enticing proposition.
now, the musicians who accompany him tonite may be good, but the sound they make take too much space in the mix. as a consequence, the songs get blown out of proportion and nantes boy's talent gets lost. too much is too little.
DOMINIQUE A needs no one but himself. amen.
sandwiched between our two lovebirds, (once lovebirds, lovebirds forever!) EXPERIENCE will blow their blend of alternative rock/hip hop suitcase into the face of what looks and sounds like a quite impressed audience.
what strikes me the most with EXPERIENCE are MICHEL CLOUP's lucid yet hopeful lyrics. "rien n'est si simplement sombre/rien n'est si simplement lumineux" or "on te demandera de te positionner/d'avoir des convictions, un avis/pour mieux te donner l'impression que tu existes/que tu es représenté ou représentatif/mais tu existeras sans ça/j'en suis persuadé." had someone been around to tell me this when i was 16, i may have swallowed rays of light earlier.
and yes, "too much love/too much love/wasted everyday." may the world listen.
oh, it's midnight! let's see what grandma & grandpa have put under the tree. an incisive set of great songs with sharp angles as it was the case 2 years ago at the very same festival or some indigest stew as they sometimes viciously put on the menu? unfortunately, the second option was thrown at our lovely faces.
SONIC YOUTH, you were boring, boring, boooooring! cut the crap between the songs, will you?
on the other hand, OUT HUD were great. i had never heard of this bunch before and they surely made us shake our booty.
"- hé ! mec ! / mec, comment t'épelles paris ? / - paris ? p-a-r-i-s / - non, non, non, non, non / paris, ça s'épelle m-e-r-d-e."
as a member of TAXI GIRL, a band who wrote cherchez le garçon, one of the greatest 80ies french pop hits, DANIEL DARC used to write disenchanted lyrics.
20 years down the line and many spent boozing & shooting up, and DARC still writes disenchanted lyrics. disenchanted yet beautiful and nowhere near as funny as paris.
listen, man. it's 2am. i'm out of my head. i just don't understand what you're going on about right now.
it's 4am and another band hyped to the max takes the stage.
on record, M83 are a beautiful and at times tearful proposition. a mix of synthetic, organic and electric sounds which always remind me of how important it is to fight against the loss of innocence that gets heavier and heavier as the years fly by. music that makes me go whoohoooooo let's gooooo!
live, M83 don't pull it off so well though. something is missing. some naked girls with bunny's ears dancing in cages on both sides of the stage maybe?
it's ironic that ANTHONY GONZALES should like the COCTEAU TWINS so much because as a fan of both bands myself, their concerts have always left me frustrated. although i can make my own little films in my head in the comfort of my bedroom whilst listening to before the dawn heals us or heaven or las vegas, it ain't so easy in live surroundings.
when played on a stage, i feel like music of a soundtrack or atmospheric nature; music that can stir universal emotions needs visuals. and it'd be quite pretentious to think that the music alone can pull it off on its own merits. merits which in the case of M83 are numerous.
of course, some musicians out there think that we are spoon fed with images enough as it is and that a gig should be an opportunity for the audience to make their own. that is a lovely idea, indeed. sometimes, it even works. but ultimately, it's pap. cos what the media force down our collective throat are for most part images of a very negative nature. show us beautiful stuff first! only then will we all be able to learn again, get on our feet and scream our hope. think about happiness and you're already there.
am i talking bullshit? well, it doesn't really matter because it's 5am now and the WIGHNOMY BROTHERS are about to make us dance like monkeys on a stick! it's only good news that i shouldn't remember anything about The Brothers. what happened there? oh, i don't know i don't know i don't know!!
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| shit, it's dawn. but, i still want to dance, me! awright, then! go on, then!
okay, let's get out, buy more beer, laugh our head off and take pictures instead.
7am and we're still hanging around the exit. right, let's take the metro and go to the beach.
11am. vincent: "hey, guys! wake up! let's go home now!" i get up. some sand is incrusted in my right cheek and my flight back to paris is leaving in a few hours.
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all in all, i prefered Primavera 2004. i guess the new site, which i don't like as much as the previous one, has a lot to do with my feelings, here. well, Primavera 2004 will be hard to beat, anyway.
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| maybe, we didn't go to the grooviest stages to finish the nights too.
also, i think that most of the bands we choosed to see were a bit too obvious. maybe, we should have been as adventurous as we had been the previous years.
then again, it's pretty hard to be adventurous when so many bands you like are on the schedule. maybe maybe maybe.
anyway, it was fun and it still is a great festival and i want to go back next year. yeah, let's gooooo!
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**the 48h that preceded the festival are here.**
Posted by at June 5, 2005 03:18 PM
I can't believe you made me eat that for breakfast. I wasn't even hungry.
Posted by: dale at June 12, 2005 08:09 PM
Bon et à part ça !!! Comment tu vas ? Biz de Brive La Gaillarde ....
Posted by: lydie at June 13, 2005 11:50 AM
Hello Ex and current Delta crew, I didn't realize Damien liked talking so much, can't go through all the text here but love the pictures especially the last one here. Have to admit the guy is talented!Ooops now it's me talking to much!
C Ya all!!! Monik
Posted by: Monik at June 13, 2005 02:25 PM
Wouuuuuuuuuuuaaaaaahhh, I feel like I was there although it's Sat 18 June and I'm drinking Coca Cola light lime in the living room in front of the computer.
Damien, I really think the force is/was/'ll always be with you !
Posted by: Laure at June 18, 2005 12:29 PM
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