As a small festival reduced to just four artists, Primavera Sound opened its 24th edition with an impossible combination to fit into any musical box other than the one that brings together those who enjoy going to concerts, especially when it is free. And the traditional Wednesday session brought together at the Fòrum the 30,000 lucky ones who got their pass at no cost to see in one go the indie of Wet Leg and the airy pop of Guitarricadelafuente, backed by none other than Yard Act and Ouineta, British punk flashes and local electropop. Hard to mix more in less space.
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The mix, an appetizer for the feast that starts this Thursday, was served in portions of pop and rock respectively, starting with Ouineta, who colored the afternoon with the digital sweets that decorate their first work, Ouineta verificat.
Guitarricadelafuente reminded that he is a musician before an actor and presented the single ‘Calypso’
Dancer and choreographer, Marta Ros appeared on stage dressed in shiny pink and accompanied by two other dancers and bases with a lot of bass. The first attendees could dance to the rhythm of Bikini kill, the bachata Lily-Rose, DMs or the fast Tai chi accompanied by Maria Jaume in Va x Tu, and of course Mushkaa, Marta Ros’s partner, with whom they performed the collaboration Noia loaded with playful bases.
Primavera, which this year welcomes the public with the slogan Steve Albini first in tribute to the late member of Shellac, returned to its first essences with the borderless post-punk of Yard Act. The Leeds band took advantage of their second visit to the festival to present the new music that will make up their third album yet to appear: You’re gonna need a little music, where the band delves into individualism propelled by social networks. They do it with a rawer sound, the one that seeps in Redeemer, dirty guitars and the desperate voice that sings: “you stole the Sun/now you orbit around the shitty damage you caused.”
James Smith came out full throttle pushed by the solid drum rhythm to shoot Dark days or the new Tall tales with the guitar that tore hard while the keyboards added a rock layer. In a quintet formation, Yard Act crafted a muscular performance, with Smith talking non-stop amid guitar distortions that went either towards punk or funky rhythms, as in Dead horse, while You’re gonna need a little music, which gives the title to the upcoming album, brought a note of light rock with predominance of keyboard and the gallop of guitars and percussion.
With The overload he returned to the punk vein where Smith thrives so well, who on this occasion wore a Napalm Death t-shirt, while the mustached Sam Shijpstone filled the space with melodies loaded with distortion in a closing party where the only downside was the brevity of the compulsive performance.
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The tables turned – and a lot – with Guitarricadelafuente, who before the Javis recruited him for cinema was already known for Spanish leather, the second album that placed Babieca or Full time papi – with which he started his performance – as the romantic pop soundtrack of 2025, and also of this Wednesday night. Sensual and shy at the same time, Álvaro Lafuente didn’t have to do much to win over the audience as the sun set over Parc del Fòrum.
He took the opportunity, yes, to present Calypso, a summer dance to loves, as Ulysses did when he abandoned the witch of the title. It was before hanging the guitar on Futuros amantes to underline the arrangements that took his music to a more band concept. It was not the only time he pulled out an instrument, like the acoustic in El conticinio, his first song, after greeting the audience in Catalan, or the piano in Puerta del sol while two young people imitated a fight on a rectangle of mud. Lafuente himself also rolled with Pose to add perhaps unnecessary drama.
He showed another image, happier, in Caballito with a rumba rhythm that he maintained for Pipe dream, while slowing down with Mataleón and turning Tramuntana into a cheerful pop tune. An evening that had it all, including melodic song in Tramuntana and some festival party thanks to Port Pelegrí, the most celebrated by the audience, who said goodbye to the young artist chanting Babieca.
The closing party rose again thanks to Wet Leg, the duo formed by Rhian Teasdale (vocals) and Heather Chambers (guitar), expanded to a quintet for their second album, Moisturizer, which has catapulted them with a rock sound of produced guitars. But these two friends go a little further as they showed from the initial Catch these dreams with Teasdale showing muscle, a contrast between pop diva with glasses and rock panther that did not change when she hung the guitar for the pop punk of Oh no. That the new album of the British is loaded with hits was demonstrated with Liquidice and that melody that the Strokes could do, as well as Jennifer’s body or the calmer Davina Mccall.
Songs that offer what is expected from a festival, to get everyone moving their heads without question as they achieved with the syncopation of Pond song or the catchy chorus of u and me at home. A powerful performance that did not forget the roller coaster of Chaise longue with which they became known in 2022, and that this Wednesday night worked to overcome the fresh wind that foretold a Primavera Sound where the heat must be put by the music.
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