At long last, Letters have no Arms is pleased to present you with our official look back on Primavera Sound 2010. What were our highs? Our lows? Our favourite food? Scroll down, where all will be revealed!
The 2010 edition of Primavera Sound marked the ten-year anniversary of the festival, and to honour this special occasion, the organisation asked forum users to list their favourite bands over the years, which the organisers promised to subsequently do their very best to book. They were relatively successful in this pursuit. Below is the group of bands that reached the final fan-picked shortlist, on which I’ve marked the bands that ended up playing this year:
Oddly enough there wasn’t really much on the festival site to suggest this was in fact an anniversary year, but the lineup more than made up for this. Which brings us to probably our main complaint: scheduling! The worst was the infamous The Drums, Grizzly Bear, The Antlers clash, but there were others as well, including Matt & Kim vs No Age and a handful of others. As for musical highlights, there were of course many. Below are a few main ones.
Musical highlights (all videos were shot by Letters have no Arms)
Broken Social Scene: Played much of their new album, had Spiral ‘Pavement’ Stairs guest on Texico Bitches and played several old favourites including Fire Eyed Boy and 7/4 (Shoreline)
Pavement: Where to begin? I last saw these guys (my first ever ‘favourite band’ in my teens) approximately ten years ago, playing at the Reading Festival. It was a little before they broke up, and they didn’t seem to give a shit anymore, plus they were playing an early afternoon slot on the main stage. All in all it wasn’t a particularly thrilling experience, so to see them ten years later, in all their glory, was a rather special moment for me. Even if they do indeed stop after this year’s tour, and return to retirement, I’m more than happy. They seemed not only happy and comfortable with each other (Stephen Malkmus could actually be described as playful!), but they sounded pretty damn great as well. For a band that has only been playing together for a few months, that’s an impressive feat. Oh, and Stephen Malkmus doesn’t appear to have aged one bit! Pavement, I salute you.
The Drums: Maybe it was the fact that they knew they were playing an ‘important gig’, maybe it was just the way they always play, but holy shit, these guys were great! Frontman Jonathan Pierce came across like a hybrid of a more gymnastic Ian Curtis, Brandon Flowers, Alex Kapranos and Patrick Wolf, showing us moves still ingrained in our memory two weeks later.
Matt & Kim: M&K opened their set with Notorious B.I.G.’s ‘Where Brooklyn at’ blasting from the speakers, setting the stage for an EVENT. A candidate for event of the weekend, they jumped, pounded, crowd surfed, played a Guns n’ Roses sample and generally ROCKED.
Les Savy Fav: Tim Harris also knows a thing or two about putting on a good show, starting their show balled up onstage in a yeti outfit, and jumping up several minutes into their first song to collectively blow our minds. 21, 21, 22, 22, 23, Patty Lee!
Yeasayer: Starting at 2.30 am was a bit of a wait, but his Ray Ban rant more than made up for it. I wonder whether the graphic ‘designer’ who designed those awful banners really was in the audience… They played Tightrope, 2080 and O.N.E. and we rode back to our hotel (on rented bikes) happy.
Shellac: Just have a look at the video below for the reason.
Other musical highlights: The New Pornographers, Harlem, Pet Shop Boys, Dum Dum Girls, the XX, Smith Westerns
Other highlights
Major Lazer: Got more people to dance than at any other gig we saw during the festival. He also pulled down his pants and jumped from a stack of monitors onto a waiting (and spread eagle) dancer, which, now that I’m writing it, sounds a little ridiculous, but at the time was brilliant. Guess you kinda had to be there.
Band sandwiches: I’ll be the first to admit I’m a total sucker for this kind of thing, but sandwiches named after your favourite bands? Genius! I’ll take one Wilco and two The Falls, please.
Vice Stage: watching bands play with cool air gently blowing off the Mediterranean… sure beats a muddy field in the UK.
Atmosphere: Maybe it was the music. Maybe the location. Whatever it was, the atmosphere was one of anticipation, excitement, and fun. Not of simmering aggression, mass drug-taking, and piss throwing. Clearly the vast majority of people are here for the music, which might sound obvious, but unfortunately isn’t always the case at other festivals these days.
Barcelona: As if Primavera Sound weren’t enough, it’s also set in one of the most beautiful cities in the world! Check out some more pics here.
PS2010 Photos
…and finally, some music
Major Lazer – Keep It Goin’ Louder (Feat Nina Sky & Ricky Blaze)
Matt & Kim – Yea Yeah (Flosstradamus remix)
The XX – VCR (Matthew Dear Remix)
Broken Social Scene – 7/4 (Shoreline)
Beach House – Apple Orchard
The Drums – The Future
Shellac – The End of Radio
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A video I made of the festival and the city:
Here’s to another ten years!
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![[Photos+Video] Japanther in Barcelona](http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5293/5416646626_b539c39232_z.jpg)
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