Cover Photo Credit: Neelam Khan
Going to your first ever massive three-day music festival months before turning 30 hits differently, especially to your back, knees, and heels. Yet here I was in Barcelona to attend Primavera Sound 2026, whose hell of a lineup made me utter a whispered “Wow” the moment it was announced. In the next moment I felt utterly ambitious to go, and finally claimed victory when my application for a press accreditation got approved. I would be a solo traveller, which got me even more excited since I knew I could act totally independently on which artists I would see without any negotiations with my companion(s). (I still managed to catch up with a few friends in the course of three days, which was great.)
It was, overall, a blast. If you wish me to elaborate much, much further, the following are a collection of thoughts about (a fraction of) my experience.
June 4, Day 1; Where It Begins (If you don’t count the opening day on June 3, which I sadly missed): It All Came on Like A Storm
In case I haven’t made my point in the first paragraph, I am not 20 anymore, and believe it or not, ten years make a huge difference in your physical capabilities in the age of collective scoliosis. If you take it easy, the festival supposedly should help you stay in shape though, as Parc del Forum takes place is about 200,000 square meters large, and virtually all of this space is used for over ten different festival stages located in very different locations of the area. That means you should either do a lot of hiking or a lot of biking. I find it funny right now, looking back at the time when I first made my festival schedule, as it said stuff like this:
18.40 – See Artist X briefly at Stage A
18.50 – See the full performance of Band Y at Stage B
(A and B are on the opposite edges of the park.)
See, the moment I stepped onto the festival grounds, I thought, “Shit, that schedule needs to be rearranged.” As I made quick calculations in my head regarding which artists to prioritize, I was simultaneously trying to figure out the stage locations from the map provided. The area just grew and grew before my eyes, as my discovery of small hidden spots on the premises never really stopped until the final day -though it did lose momentum day after day, and I felt more and more confident with my navigation skills. It felt like being a child and finding everything around you really big. After getting a vegan burger (they had a great variety of food options), watching a small yet awesome section of Blood Orange, and exploring some distinct corners of the park (Aperol Island of Joy is such a cool location by the sea, though I could not figure out where the Auditori stage is at first, and therefore missed Lucrecia Dalt -forgive me Lucrecia Dalt!), I decided to go ahead and catch a front row spot at Geese. It was a success, and the band finally came on the stage with huge applause. I had a great view, yay!
Was I worried at that point that some black clouds were piling up above us? Believe it or not: not at all. The weather forecast had been expecting rain for some time, and I had brought an umbrella to be safe, which actually proved to be quite helpful. I even managed to shield two people from a friend group standing next to me from getting wet for the majority of the performance, as the band rained over us awesome renditions of their hits. However, as the weather finally grew dark, things got more stormy. Literally. There was a storm happening, and my umbrella was shaking. This foreboding vibe adversely helped Geese to arguably do their best “Trinidad” performance ever. I guess I won’t even try to describe how epic it was to hear Cameron Winter yelling “THERE’S A BOMB IN MY CAAAAR!” while the sky was literally falling on us. Rock ‘n roll, dude. (Reports indicate that Winter’s solo performance at Auditori earlier in the day was also a banger.)
It was not as rock ‘n roll when the set ended, as all of us felt the urge to rush to the tented food area. Horrible mistake, for, 1: The storm was lighter now and we are not made of sugar, we would survive under the rain, and, more importantly, 2: we were packed closer than sardines and it was an absolute hellhole trying to find your way out. I am from Istanbul, so I have many times been in places with crowded human traffic, but this experience simply unlocked another level. I am genuinely surprised that (hopefully) all of us survived that stampede without injuries. When I finally made my way out of the crowd to check out Alex G’s performance, a surprise was waiting for us all: The stage was empty, and an announcement was projected to the three giant screens by the stage, stating that “due to severe weather conditions, the performances on this stage is delayed. Stay tuned for more updates.” Those updates didn’t come until much later, and in the meantime lots of other stages, including Mac DeMarco’s and Father John Misty’s, were also put on hold.
After some reflection, I deduced that Auditori, which is an indoor stage, should logically be carrying on with its schedule. I finally found out where it was, and I was right. We witnessed a superb performance by Panda Bear. Impressive psychedelic visuals accompanied Noah Lennox and co, and in the meantime two separate friends of mine were texting me and asking if I knew the day would carry on (us managing to communicate was a lucky scenario on its own, since there was bad internet reception at the majority of the premises). I said that Auditori was carrying on, and that apart from that, I didn’t have a clue. By the time Panda Bear went off the stage, an instinct simply told me to go and have a nice sleep instead of lingering there. I was right, for the most part: Apparently Father John Misty came on stage later, and I could have easily watched other good names like Oklou and 2hollis. On the other hand, Mac DeMarco and Alex G were straight up cancelled, and other big acts including Massive Attack and Doja Cat shared the same fate.
Now, here is where things get complicated: The communication on the organisation’s side to properly update people on what’s going on was insufficient, as we had poor internet connection inside Parc del Forum and all we got for hours was the single “Stay tuned” notification on the blue screen (why not also use the speakers all over the venue to update people?). On top of that, lots of security people were telling attendants that the day was cancelled, so many simply left the venue very early to end the night. On the subway, a new (since deleted) official Instagram post shared the news that Massive Attack would indeed perform. I got frustrated for a second, but then, feeling happy for all the people who were about to see them, I proceeded to go back to my accommodation to get some sleep, having relief over the fact that I had seen them live before. One of my friends texted me shortly after, saying Massive Attack would come on stage soon and that they were there waiting and that I should come back. I politely turned this offer down but wished them good fun, as well as to other people who decided to go back to the festival premises after the announcement. As I was getting ready to go to bed, a new text message came from her saying “Maybe they won’t.” I checked the time: they were supposed to come on stage half an hour ago, so I had just assumed that they had already started. “What do you mean?” I texted, “Are they not there yet?” She only sent a “LOL”.
The roller-coaster cancellation process of the Massive Attack performance (eventually announced by this post), when added to other cancellations and the overall chaos of the day, brings to mind some questions on what went wrong. To answer this, I did a first in my career, and conducted in my own mind this interview with myself:
Q: Yeah, the situation sucks, but you can’t control the weather, Deniz! What could they possibly have done?
A: The forecast had been predicting adverse weather for at least a week in advance. They could have prepared better for it and done modifications on the stages.
Q: The two stages whose programme got cancelled are really huge. If they could not withstand bad weather, any fix on them could have either cost a lot or taken a huge amount of time to properly adjust.
A: The turnout hardly felt like they had taken that into account. The same warning screen stayed on for hours without updates, which could only make me assume that they didn’t expect things to get this bad, so they took their time to develop the best strategy on spot. Also, you should have big and secure stages from the very beginning in an event like this.
Q: Even so, the audience’s safety is important. Cancelling the two stages was the only option.
A: You are totally right, but I am not directly opposed to the cancellation itself. I am talking about how the situation was handled. When I say “They could have prepared better for it”, I also mean that they could have come up with the cancellation announcement earlier once they realized the area was not safe. Announcing Massive Attack would perform, then cancelling it again, making thousands of people unsure what to do under rain and storm for hours is also not safe.
Q: Maybe. Either way, what is done is done.
A: It is. And I will have nothing but praise for the other two days, but, bare with me, there are a few other ethical questions to be asked. First, as you may have noticed on Instagram comments, lots of people are asking for a refund. There are many people who travelled to Spain for this event simply to see Massive Attack.
Q: But the organisation has confirmed that they are refunding the Thursday tickets.
A: Yeah, but what about a partial refund for the full festival ticket holders? They say only a small portion of the overall lineup roster was cancelled so a refund would not be necessary, but let’s be real: In a festival with +10 stages, all of us only get to see a small portion of that lineup anyway.
Q: Wow, you take all this really personally, especially for a journalist with a press pass who didn’t even pay the regular fee to get in.
A: I am not talking for myself, I’m talking for everyone else who felt that their money went to waste. That is the least you could do as a journalist. Also, do you think that I got travel and accommodation for free?
Q: Well, okay, good point. Are there any other points you want to make?
A: First of all, I love Primavera Sound. I think there are good people behind it who I find myself politically aligned with. I think we are very lucky that events like this one exist. My criticism comes from a good heart, similar to how you would point out your pals’ mistakes when you need to. Hopefully, this piece, along with other criticisms by other people, would serve as a learning experience for the future. Also, I think Doja Cat could have received better treatment in the midst of all this. It is not ideal that she had to do the cancellation announcement herself just because the festival didn’t have any updates on her until much later. There are also rumors that she cried on her livestream while making the announcement, but I can’t verify that.
June 5, Day 2; The Day of Revival; or: how Addison Rae got all The Cure fans to watch her performance, and how it gave diva)
Okay, after that harsh segment, I want to start off by stating my only bad criticism about Day 2: Why would you not schedule PinkPantheress at one of two main stages? I am not even talking from a selfish “I-LOVE-HER-SO-SHE-DESERVES-THE-BEST” point of view, she is simply an objectively popular name. So if she performs at a smaller stage, which she did, obviously there will be chaos and rampage in the audience, which it did! Isn’t that also important for audience safety? We don’t want another Astroworld disaster, do we?
Phew. Sorry, I can get passionate with my words sometimes. Now that we got that out of the way, we can soften the vibes a bit, for Day 2 really did turn out awesome. From a personal point of view, it was bound to happen, for I was about to see two of my favorite acts ever for the first time. I’m not talking about Slowdive, who I’m sure gave a solid set just like the last one I witnessed (though I’m not sure why they were given such an early slot. Their music is sunset music, the earliest. It would go even more ideal after dark). No, I am talking about Einstürzende Neubauten and The Cure. The former was to be held indoors at Auditori, which meant that if I was not early, all seats could have been filled in advance. Luckily, I found a nice spot among the front rows. What a sight, what a sound it was afterwards!
I was totally starstruck by Blixa Bargeld, as if we hadn’t talked and laughed together a few years earlier (though part of me still can’t believe that interview happened). Bargeld has such a powerful, dominant aura on stage still, and was seemingly in a good mood throughout the concert, greeting us with a smiley face on a few occasions (a boomer German who smiles???), making great vocal deliveries, hushing us with a simple gesture of his hand when we clap early (such a boss move), and occasionally making seagull sounds with simply his vocal cords (which was really impressive, I will ask him more about that if we ever get to talk again). The rest of the band was also in shape, and they shook us to the core with a stage design that includes many custom instruments/noise objects. It is sad that Alexander Hacke is not part of the band anymore, but newcomer Josefine Lukschy blends in well. I was particularly happy to hear “Sabrina” and “How Did I Die?” live, as they were among the first songs that introduced me to the band. The first perfect performance of the festival. Bravo.
Next up on my schedule was The Cure, and I rushed to their stage way early to get a good spot. That decision immediately came with a few consequences: First, the band was given a massive 2.5 hour spot at a very busy festival, which meant aborting my dreams to see many other quality acts performing at the same time, such as Merzbow, Matmos, The Avalanches DJ Set, and Shlohmo (which isn’t a huge problem because it is The Cure). Second, to achieve my goals, I had to wait standing for around an additional 1.5 hours within a tightly-packed crowd (which isn’t a huge problem because it is The Cure). Third, upon getting there, I realized that getting a good spot was possible, but a great one would be too tough to get, since there was Ethel Cain on The Cure’s stage before them. I figured most people who listen to Ethel Cain would likely listen to The Cure as well, hence, audiences at the front rows would likely not move an inch between the two stages (I was right, still, I ended up on a nice enough spot, maybe 30 meters away from the stage). Lastly, the two main stages of the festival (Estrella Damm and Revolut) stand next to each other, so you simply have no option but to watch a concert on one stage when you are standing in front of the other (the timetables are carefully set so that two acts are not performing at the two zones at the same time). This is all to say that between the sets of Ethel Cain and The Cure stood Addison Rae, who is one of the new generation pop girlies whose music I like, but it was so funny to see some of the rocker The Cure fans having to watch a pop diva with an annoyed look on their faces (many others seemed to process her music with appreciation, just like me).
Rae’s set revealed itself as one of the many high-production stage designs of the festival, and a very well-made one at that. I thought throughout the performance that the sound volume was a bit low, but that could be due to my positioning in front of The Cure’s stage, as a friend who was in front of Rae during her performance later declared that she found the volume just alright. During her theatrical show, Addison was a great performer and a total charmer. Being a fellow Libra, I totally get her gusto for visual aesthetics, both in terms of costume design and choreography. She did a crowdsurf at one point while performing her remix of Charli XCX’s “Von dutch”, while at another instance there was a large thunder sound effect on stage, which I believe should have come with a trigger warning considering the trauma we all have from the day prior (I think I saw a few anxious faces around me during the thunder sound). After an hour of one hit after the other, including “Fame is a Gun”, “Diet Pepsi”, and “High Fashion”, she was saying goodbye to us with a “Thank you Barcelona!”, but her mic was cut abruptly right after the “Barc-”. Rude.
“The Cure.” I considered filling this paragraph with only these two words, like that scene from The Shining, but I will indeed elaborate: When they first walked on stage, I was overjoyed and also a bit confused, as I had mixed up the schedule in my head and thought they were due half an hour later. So having one of the all-time legends earlier than I expected was a great surprise (Robert Smith would surprise us all once again the next day, but more on that later). Smith, who I essentially consider to be just a silly lover boy, has once again proven himself to be the most admirable silly lover boy throughout an insane set in which -as expected from The Cure- both all time classics (“Lovesong”, “Friday I’m In Love”, “Boys Don’t Cry”) and undercuts (“2Late”, “alt.end”, “Wrong Number”) charmed everyone over a lengthy set. Now, I should point out that I would have happily watched the band for two more hours, and they usually do rather long sets anyway, but I could feel that some people around me were getting tired toward the end. To me, though, it was perfection. What a blessing it is to have two dreams come true in a single day!
Personal highlight moments included “Pictures of You”, the gut-wrenching “Endsong” (what a masterpiece), “Close to Me” (where Smith was indeed moving closer to the audience), “The Lovecats” (those jazzy vocal deliveries by Smith were gold), “Burn” (one of the greatest soundtracks of the 90’s), and “Lullaby.” (Part of me wants the Primary and Pornography albums to get more attention, but I don’t want to sound selfish.) It was such an inspiration to see Smith move and sound as youthfully ever on a stage in front of I-don’t-know-how-many-thousand people who sang along. He even apologised to the crowd that he still hadn’t learned Spanish, and his effort to say this in the language was met with applause. At least as energetic as him were the rest of the band: Simon Gallup, Roger O’Donnell, Jason Cooper, and Reeves Gabrels all pulled off captivating moments, joined by Gallup’s son Eden following the tragic passing of Perry Bamonte earlier this year. I think the appropriate word for the whole set would be ‘cathartic’. Apparently, two more The Cure albums are on the way, so they are certainly nowhere close to stopping!
Now, you wouldn’t believe it, but after 4 hours of standing up, I was exhausted to my bits and felt that my knees were about to go on a strike. The next thing I know, I let myself go to lay on the ground with other people around me also taking a rest. Skrillex came out on the other stage, and after some time, I got back up to have a closer look at him. It sounded nice and people around me were having fun, but honestly, with what I had just gone through with The Cure’s set, I desperately needed a break. How can you follow up on that? So I went on a walk toward the other stages, briefly saw the sardine-packed performance of PinkPantheress (it looked like she was rocking it), and then went off to the Food Court for my first friend reunion of the festival. Then I felt hungry, said goodbye to her, grabbed a bite, and rushed to catch one of the best bands to emerge in the last ten years.
Viagra Boys does have a name that is difficult to take seriously when you are hearing of them for the first time, which could be the entire point, as their persona is pretty silly. Or, rather, frontman Sebastian Murphy has such a unique, parody-esque punk charisma that the whole vibe is deliciously unserious. His stage persona is very similar to the band’s music videos; and is simultaneously the answer to the age-old question: “What if Iggy Pop was a sillier and more modern brainrot-parody dude from the US but based in Sweden?” Now we all know, so you can rest assured. The performance itself partially felt like deliberate trolling, especially toward the end where Murphy laid on the ground motionless for quite a bit as chaotic musical crescendos built around him on stage. Even a security guy seemed worried and went to check up on him. After Murphy moved again, he went away. He yammered some stuff that I couldn’t exactly follow, or maybe they were meaningful and I was intoxicated. Who knows? Who cares? It was a bloody great rock show. It could be difficult to shine next to a frontman with such aura, yet the rest of the band proved to be skillful performers and entertainers, especially drummer Tor Sjödén and saxophonist Oskar Carls. Bangers such as “Punk Rock Loser”, “Uno II”, “Troglodyte”, and “Sports” came in a whirlwind, and I left the Occident stage with a big grin on my face.
When I came to the festival grounds today, I was really hyped to see Iglooghost, but it’s nearly 4am, and I had maybe one-too-many many cathartic moments, and also I am an old grandpa, and I began to wonder if I had enough fun for today. Plus, I couldn’t, for my life, figure out where his stage was. I asked a few people who seemed very drunk to navigate anything, and then suddenly decided to give up and call it a day. (Sorry, Iglooghost! I bet you did great.) As I was on my way to bed, there was a rumour going around in press circles that an artist named Olivia Rodrigo might perform a surprise set tomorrow. I drank more water, brushed my teeth, and slept until 1pm.
June 6, Day 3; The Hangover-y Climax, or: My (poor) Bloody Valentine gets tested by a new pop icon, or: So Cool That I Got to See All These Great Arti… HOLY SHIT FOUR TET AND ARCA WERE THERE TOO??!
First thought upon entering Parc del Forum on Day 3: It seemed like there were relatively less people here than yesterday. Initially I assumed that I had arrived too early, but soon deduced that most attendees were likely having a heavy hangover from yesterday and would arrive later (for it is a heavy task to be up at 6am raving -Barcelona is not Berlin). I headed to Auditori to see These New Puritans, who gave a mesmerising performance. I had kind of hoped that Caroline Polachek would appear in person for their duet “Industrial Love Song”, but her part was instead joined live by Elisa Rodrigues, who was awesome, so fair enough. I left early to catch the one and only Sudan Archives, who, in my opinion, delivered one of the best sets of the festival. She came on stage looking all futuristic and cool, initially staring at us with cold looks and a really cool pair of lenses. Then, slowly, a happy smile appeared in her face, and thunder erupted as she started playing her violin. (It was the most punk-looking violin I have seen in my life, with a design that seemed to belong to the Mad Max universe.) She invited an audience member on stage to dance, and the lucky person proved to be a perfect (in Sudan Archives’ words) freak (complimentary) to do the task. I was overjoyed as I headed toward Big Thief’s stage.
While I like Big Thief a lot, there was a hell of a busy lineup that day, so I had already accepted that I wouldn’t see the whole thing as I walked toward the stage amidst a crowd that was still not very dense at the start time, so it was a very easy task. At this point, Olivia Rodrigo was finally confirmed to be playing… at the same time as My Bloody Valentine. Damn you, festival! As if things weren’t already packed. I did some research, and after finding out that My Bloody Valentine plays “when you sleep” pretty early on set for their current tour, I decided to spend some time there, then check some of Rodrigo’s performance, and then head back to MBV to see more Shields & co. magic, which meant doing lots of back and forth between two points, as Ashnikko (who is my next destination) and Oliva Rodrigo were at Stage A (Occident) while Big Thief and MBV were at the Stage B (Estrella Damm), which made the order of my route look like this:
Stage B, then Stage A, then Stage B, then Stage A, then Stage B.
This route would be walked in less than two hours, and the two stages were around a kilometer apart. Feeling overwhelmed yet? Surprisingly, I was feeling youthful and alive on Day 3 as I did all this walking, and I didn’t even start feeling tired until around 2am. An energy boost from all the hype? After hearing “Simulation Swarm” by Big Thief (one more article from the dream list checked), I headed to Stage A to see Ashnikko, who arrived late but delivered a pretty solid and edgy performance, albeit to a somewhat tough crowd at first. Her weird-yet-sexy Anime girl image, as well as the impressive production design on stage, proved to be a solid-enough-to-remember part of the festival. Please note that I am not a huge fan of Ashnikko -yet-, but this performance urged me to check out more of her stuff. Congrats to her and her team. Toward the end of her performance, I met another one of my friends and we decide to check out Smerz live. I believe they were cool, but we only got to see them from very far away, and they were given a stage without big screens to properly follow what was happening. Honestly, I have very little idea about what actually went on there. I should see them again in the future.
I overheard that Day 3 has a newly-announced stage programme whose whole lineup is curated by Skrillex. “Cool,” I thought, but soon departed on my own to catch My Bloody Valentine. Ah, My (poor) Bloody Valentine! You didn’t deserve to have your slot clash with the festival’s last-minute surprise set by Olivia Rodrigo. (I mean, Rodrigo has good music taste, so maybe she herself likes MBV. If you didn’t consider us, didn’t you consider her? Or maybe it was her own choice -I have no idea.) All that to say, the crowd in front of MBV’s stage wasn’t really packed when I arrived 10 minutes before the set. Good for us, not so good for the band: I managed to secure a spot way up in front with relative ease, yet the area never really filled up as far as I could tell. Eh, maybe the band saw enough people from their end. The performance (or the part that I witnessed) was fire. It was straight up unreal to hear “i only said” and “when you sleep” from the very legends that wrote them. I think the crowd was as impressed as I was. Were they also as sad as me was when I (and others) felt compelled to move to Rodrigo in the middle? I am not crying, you are crying.
Rodrigo’s stage, in contrast, was packed. A big factor that led to this outcome was that it happened on a stage with smaller audience capacity than MBV’s (though bigger than PinkPantheress’). I am pretty sure that many other people were as indecisive as I was on how long to stay there as I witnessed so much moving around in the end, but, let’s be real, Rodrigo is among the few new best pop icons to do their craft at the moment, so, yeah, it was exciting. She sang hits like “bad idea right?” and “vampire” as well as songs from his new album “drop dead” and “the cure”. After hearing “the cure”, which I love, I thought it was time to return to MBV, and was walking away when Rodrigo made an announcement that made people cheer loudly. My brain initially didn’t register the words so I kept walking, but after maybe five seconds, the steam wheels in my old brain finally clicked, and I gathered what she said was:
“Please welcome Robert Smith from The Cure!”
I yelled “SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!” out loud and bolted back to the stage at a superhuman speed (a sight which terrified a festivalgoer who I nearly clashed with). Robert Smith was indeed on stage with Rodrigo and they were singing a song which wasn’t familiar to me. It was a cool moment to witness. (I would, obviously, like everyone else, later learn that it was a new duet from Rodrigo’s new album. Congrats to her for making her first ever duet with Robert Smith!) At this point, the same friend who told me to come to Massive Attack on the first day texted, offering to meet before the festival ends and saying that she plans to check Rodrigo soon. I texted back: “I don’t know how much longer she will stay, so I could just come to you. Also, Robert Smith just went on stage.” I went to her and told my story including Robert Smith and the rest of the festival, and we witnessed both the final moments of MBV and the first moments of The xx together. After some catching up, I told her that I needed to go, for I had a very important concert to attend.
Joey Valence & Brae are a young hip-hop duo who essentially sound like an Internet-age Beastie Boys, and they just happen to release one banger song after another. When I approached their stage exactly on time for their arrival, I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was an empty spot on the edge of the front row. Then the boys came on with “The Baddest”, and the whole crowd began to sing along. The vibes were immaculate, the energy infectious: They rained over us one amazing track after the other: “Like A Punk”, “OK”, “Wassup”, “Punk Tactics”… The experience was proof that while the duo is not the biggest out there yet, they already have one of the best and most devoted audiences. I had to leave this one prematurely to be there on time for Gorillaz, so looking back at the official setlist now, I am shocked to find out that they have been covering Amyl & The Sniffers’ “Security” this entire tour. I wish I had not missed that! Maybe next time.
I was particularly excited for Gorillaz’ set having loved their latest The Mountain, so when they came on to stage with the title track, I got shivers, close in might to the ones I got during The Cure. Now, the track listing on the set was absolutely great: Getting to hear timeless classics (“On Melancholy Hill”, “Rhinestone Eyes”, “Clint Eastwood”, “Feel Good Inc”) as well as new songs and undercuts by everyone’s favorite virtual band live is quite a treat. On the other hand, this concert did not turn out to be a festival highlight for me, for the sound mixing didn’t sound all that great for the most part. This issue could be related to which part of the area I was standing at through the gig, because I later heard nothing but praise -for the mixing as well- from other people, but from where I was standing, I straight up was not hearing some parts. Other technical issues included: “19-2000” having a false start (which I didn’t mind at all), the instrumentals on “Damascus” sounding really offbeat (which I minded a lot and genuinely turned me off for a few minutes), and Yasiin Bey’s first verse on “Stylo” going completely unheard (a minor annoyance). Despite all this, it was a pretty solid set. I was already surprised to see Moonchild Sanelly dropping by for the hugely underrated “With Love to an Ex”, but seeing Little Simz come on to perform “Garage Palace”, I literally lost my mind like everyone else. It was such an unexpected and cool moment (and it is also incredible that Gorillaz made a duet with Simz way back in 2017, when only a few people knew who she was. I guess Damon Albarn has a good eye for up-and-coming talent). Albarn’s leadership, along with the good energy of the physical band and amazing guests, ultimately saved the show for me. Let’s also not forget that we saw Kevin Mercer, one third of De La Soul, live on stage. That’s simply an amazing thing to cherish. Mercer also hyped up the people nicely before going into “Feel Good Inc”, praising the track “Shadowy Light” featuring the late Asha Bhosle, which was a sweet moment. Albarn seemed to be in good spirits throughout the show. I wonder if he met the Spanish President Pedro Sanchez before or after the performance.
The Spanish government is one of the few openly Pro-Palestine states in the world at the moment, and the team behind Primavera Sound 2026 are nice people supporting the same cause. One of the nicest instances where the festival’s anti-imperialist character stood firm was the inclusion of two speeches by Arab Barghouti, son of Palestinian prisoner Marwan Barghouti, one when he announced Gorillaz, and one when he took to the stage of Kneecap afterwards, giving a powerful speech on the importance of holding onto hope and solidarity for the future. Kneecap themselves were as fierce and politically upfront as ever, rolling out the amazing tracks from their latest FENIAN and more (with the inclusion of additional guests Grian Chatten on “Better Way to Live” and Fawzi on “Palestine”). They did have struggles performing the track “Fine Art” due to having their latest show ever at 3am after having been drinking all night, ultimately abandoning the track altogether. At this point, I love the lads and their music so much that I think I would have enjoyed the hell out of their set even with a thousand errors, so this one didn’t bug me at all. There was an awesome atmosphere of unison throughout, everyone just seemed to be having the time of their lives. I know I was.
And then, that was it.
I mean, the festival programme was going on until 6am, but I always knew that my finale would be with Kneecap. No need for more. So long, and thanks for all the fish.
Then, finally, one more blow to the chest: Remember the additional stage lineup curated by Skrillex that I mentioned earlier? Well, it turns out that Arca and Four Tet (among other good names) were there to perform, which hurt me a lot when I found out the next day. They were right over there, and I missed it?? Which wall do I toss my head onto? Well, on the other hand, would I have made it in the midst of an already busy schedule? Who knows? Maybe? I could have tried!
Anyway, no use for whining about it now. Deep breaths, Deniz. You will see them one day.
And you, my three or four readers who have come this far: Wishing you all the chance to go to a festival with your dream lineup one day.
Further Random Thoughts
-Primavera Sound 2026 had many distinct components outside of the main festival, including Primavera a la Ciutat, a series of concert events spreading in Barcelona throughout the week. I was very, very sad to not be there in the city during some of the events on this lineup: Black Country, New Road, Cardiacs, Model/Actriz, Yves Tumor… Such a fire roster.
-Day 3 had so many surprise famous guests on other acts’ stages: Grian Chatten on Kneecap, Little Simz on Gorillaz, Robert Smith on Olivia Rodrigo… Which makes me more disappointed that Caroline Polachek wasn’t there with These New Puritans! Aarrgh! Anyway, one day…
– It is such a cool thing to have free water-filling spots on at least two zones in the festival grounds. Stay hydrated, people!
-After their stage was cancelled, Massive Attack took to Instagram explaining how sorry they were that they couldn’t make it because “they had arranged a special set with special guests.” After receiving the news that Aarab Barghouti joined them later for their Berlin performance, I am %100 certain that he was one of the special guests. Who else, I wonder? Regulars such as Elizabeth Fraser, Deborah Miller, and Horace Andy would likely appear, but would there have been more “one-off” names? I think there is less than a %1 chance that Tom Waits was one of them, as he seems to have settled in a quiet home life for years, but wouldn’t it be insane if he broke the routine for once and joined the duo to perform their recent single “Boots on the Ground”?
-I asked my dear colleague Klaudyna Koźmińska what advice she has for the festival team next year, and this is what she had to say: “Build stages that is suitable for shitty weather and not a festival where everything is falling apart when there’s a bit of rain, because it can happen at any time. People in the UK have many festivals. They always have the worst weather ever, and they still have a shitload of festivals, because it’s working. So I think it’s a skill issue. Also don’t host a name like PinkPantheress in such a small stage. That’s also dangerous for people, even without rain.”
-I would like to thank the Primavera Sound 2026 team for accepting my press accreditation request. It was (mostly) a blasting great time. Hopefully see you there again next year! And thanks for the gift tote bag…
