Festival Review: Primavera Sound 2014

29-31 May 2014     by Helen Clarke | posted on 5 Jun 2014 in live

UK festivals could learn a lot from Primavera Sound; here, at the Parc del Forum, laid out by a port in Barcelona, there are few of the traditional festival woes to contend with; there’s an abundance of bars and clean toilets, it’s convenient for public transport and it rarely feels too busy. There’s no over-zealous security staff and stewards (a quick bag check on entry is the only time you see anyone of this sort – after that everyone’s pretty much left to their own devices). But even in Barcelona they can’t control the rain.
 

Another recent reformation – on the live scene at least – is the Ramones-obsessed Helen Love. Last year they played their first show since 2001 at Derbyshire’s Indietracks festival. Predictably, it went down a storm, and tonight’s show rivals it, as people wearing T-shirts with the logo of their Spanish record label, Elefant Records, pogo away at the front to their hyper bubble gum pop. A pretty special end to the weekend, which yet again proved that music absolutely can cross borders; even obscure, ’90s Welsh indiepop.
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