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Though Primavera Sound has been called off, its fellow Parc del Fòrum tenant plans to go ahead as normal with rapid antigen testing
By IQ on 12 Mar 2021
The smaller, socially distanced Cruïlla XXS took place last summer
image © Festival Cruïlla
Cruïlla, one of Barcelona’s three major international music festivals, is continuing to plan for a summer 2021 edition.
Cruïlla 2021, headlined by Two Door Cinema Club, Editors, Morcheeba, Of Monsters and Men and local acts Kase O and Natos y Waor, is scheduled for 8–10 July at the Parc del Fòrum (also usually home to Primavera Sound). Taking inspiration from 27 March’s Love of Lesbian concert at the Palau Sant Jordi arena, which will utilise rapid Covid-19 testing to enable 5,000 people to attend, organisers hope to create a “sanitary bubble” of healthy festivalgoers so Cruïlla can go ahead as planned, according to promoter Barcelona Events Musicals.
The idea, which has also been floated by festivals in neighbouring Portugal, is to require all festivalgoers to test negative for Covid-19 using rapid antigen tests – which, in the case of the Love of Lesbian show, means the Sant Jordi “will be safer to be in the audience than walking down the street, because everyone in the audience will have had a negative result”.
“We will prove we have the right health protocols in place to get back to dancing, singing and hugging in complete safety”
For Cruïlla, the plan for 2021 is to “create a sanitary bubble in the Parc del Fòrum that will allow us to offer a music festival in the same conditions, or very similar, to those we enjoyed before Covid-19,” says the festival.
Barcelona’s other major festival, Advanced Music’s Sónar (80,000-cap.), has yet to elaborate on its plans for 2021, although it is still scheduled for 17–19 June.
Cruïlla held a socially distanced concert series, Cruïlla XXS, in place of its flagship event last summer. While this “was a great example of civility, in which we showed that there are ways of doing culture safely”, the event is committed to returning without restrictions in July.
“This summer, we will go one step further and prove that we have the right health protocols in place to get back to dancing, singing and hugging in complete safety,” say organisers.
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