x

The latest industry news to your inbox.


I'd like to hear about marketing opportunities

    

I accept IQ Magazine's Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy

Primavera Weekender returns as Spain reopens

Primavera Weekender is set to return after the government of the Valencian Community announced that standing festivals could once again take place.

The rollback of restrictions came into effect on 9 October, less than a month before the festival is due to take place in Benidorm on 5 and 6 November.

Primavera Weekender debuted in November 2019, ahead of the celebrations planned for Primavera Sound’s 20th anniversary in 2020, which would have also included festivals in Barcelona, Oporto and Los Angeles before Covid-19 struck.

Ultimately, only Primavera Weekender 2019 went ahead, with the 2020 edition also called off.

Taking place once again at the Magic Robin Hood holiday park in Benidorm, on Alicante’s Costa Blanca, Primavera Weekender 2021 will aim to replicate, as much as possible, “what a festival was before the pandemic”, say organisers.

Asturias, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y Leon, Extremadura, Madrid, Navarre and the Basque Country have also reopened

However, access to the festival will not be possible without a Covid passport. In the coming days, organisers will report further details related to the regulations that govern nightlife and events.

The sold-out festival will welcome 1,000 attendees and some 30 artists including Mogwai, Kings of Convenience, Los Planetas, Thurston Moore Band, Maria Arnal i Marcel Bagés, Pa Salieu, Danny L Harle and La Zowi.

Alongside the Valencian Community, seven other regions  – Asturias, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y Leon, Extremadura, Madrid, Navarre and the Basque Country – have also dropped all coronavirus restrictions.

The remaining seven communities – Andalusia, Aragon, Balearic Islands and Catalonia, Canary Islands, Cantabria and La Rioja – are still reckoning with various restrictions.

The news will come as a relief to Spanish music venues which have endured the broadest restrictions in Europe, despite having the third-highest (73%) vaccination rate in the continent.

 


Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Primavera Weekender 2021 is a go

Primavera Sound’s Primavera Weekender will return in November, welcoming some 30 artists and around 1,000 attendees for the second edition of the resort festival in Benidorm.

Primavera Weekender debuted in November 2019, ahead of the celebrations planned for Primavera Sound’s 20th anniversary in 2020, which would have also included festivals in Barcelona, Oporto and Los Angeles before Covid-19 struck. Ultimately, only Primavera Weekender 2019 went ahead, with the 2020 edition also called off.

Taking place once again at the Magic Robin Hood holiday park in Benidorm, on Alicante’s Costa Blanca, Primavera Weekender 2021 will aim to replicate, as much as possible, “what a festival was before the pandemic”, say organisers, who add: “We have been working for a long time to make it so.”

No artists have been announced yet, though the 2019 event featured performers including Primal Scream, Belle and Sebastian, Idles, Mura Masa, Squid, Cigarettes After Sex and Sleaford Mods.

Reflecting on the festival’s successful debut in 2019, Primavera Sound says in a statement: “The first weekend of the event at the Magic Robin Hood resort in Benidorm in November 2019 was supposed to be the starting point for the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Primavera Sound… and it ended up being the only one.

“Primavera Weekender will once again be the beginning of many things”

“But what a celebration it was: some 3,000 attendees experienced a weekend in which the concerts shared the limelight with a community party; it was as if somehow we were saying goodbye to something for a while.

“When it was over, everyone who had been there was clear on one thing: it had to happen again. There was something magical in the atmosphere during that sort of musical camp with unforgettable concerts, lodges, unpredictable alliances and, of course, legends that will be talked about for years.”

Tickets for the festival, which include two nights in a two-person cabin and full board, start at €299pp and go on sale Tuesday (6 April) at local time.

Two years on, “Primavera Weekender will once again be the beginning of many things: the true 20th anniversary of Primavera Sound, and all the time we want to make up for,” add organisers.

The flagship Primavera Sound festival cancelled its 2021 edition earlier this month as a result of ongoing uncertainty around mass gatherings in Spain.

 


Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.