The third and final part of our coverage of Barcelona's Primavera Sound 2015 festival - check out below all our favorite performances from the last full day of the festival which took place at Parc del Fòrum on May 30th, including The Strokes, tUnE-yArDs, DIIV and many more:
tUnE-yArDs
I knew as soon as I read the festival's timetable that I had some tough choices to make, especially on Saturday. The Strokes were the headliners of the day at Primavera stage and given that I had never seen them live before, I had to fit at least part of their set in my schedule. At the same time, a quarter to midnight, at the ATP stage on the opposite side of Parc del Fòrum, Babes In Toyland, one of my favorite '90s bands, were making their Spanish comeback after two decades, while tUnE-yArDs, one of my current faves, would be on the Pitchfork stage at half-past midnight.
To cut a long story short, I started with The Strokes, missed completely Babes In Toyland's set (and had to make do with watching it on YouTube later) but, thankfully, I got to see the majority of a magnificent performance by tUnE-yArDs which turned out to be amongst the best of the festival. Merrill Garbus has created a truly unique, utterly euphoric sound and is doing a great job in recreating it live by mixing electronic sounds with a variety of percussive instruments, Nate Brenner's bass guitar, her trademark ukulele and, of course, her astonishing vocals given an extra boost from her back-up singers. Respect!
Tune-Yards, live @ Primavera Sound, May 30th, 2015
It's been quite some time since "Oshin", the very promising debut by DIIV, but judging by their excellent, highly energetic performance on Primavera's Pitchfork stage, the band from New York is about to make a dynamic comeback. Their set included several new tracks from their upcoming sophomore album (confusingly titled "Is The Is Are"), which managed to excite the crowd despite the fact that for most of us this was the very first time we were listening to them, and, of course, some of "Oshin"s highlights, including the track everybody wanted to hear live, the great "Doused":
DIIV - Doused (live @ Primavera Sound, May 30th, 2015)
The Strokes
They walked on Primavera stage fashionably late (maybe they were waiting for the end of the Spanish football cup final?), they kicked off with "Machu Picchu" followed by "Someday", an indication they would split their set between their new songs (that, let's face it, is not what we came here to listen) and their classic hits, and proceeded without much between song banter to give an efficient performance that would get their numerous fans singing every time they decided to revisit their past glories. I was glad I was able to see them even at this late stage of their illustrious career, even in the overcrowded conditions of a big festival, but after half an hour I knew I had to make my way to one of the other stages.
Here's "All The Time", the track they were playing as I was rushing to see tUnE-yArDs:
The Strokes - All The Time (live @ Primavera Sound, May 30th, 2015)
I will not say much about Shellac's late night performance in one of the smaller stages of the festival except state the fact that the approximately half an hour that I've witnessed was absolutely terrific. We'll have more about them soon, as a few days later we had the pleasure of attending their sold out show at An Club in Athens (the kick off event of Plisskën Festival). Also, it seems that Steve Albini watched Sleaford Mods earlier in the day on the same stage (we didn't, but made up for it next week in Plisskën) and was sufficiently impressed to declare them the best band in history during his band's set.
HEALTH
HEALTH had gone MIA for quite some time now, but they are about to make their comeback with new album "Death Magic" very soon and, based on their impressive performance on the Pitchfork stage, you can expect an explosive mix of industrial dance beats and gothic, noisy guitars. Sounds promising - here's their cover of Pictureplane's "Goth Star":
HEALTH - Goth Star (live @ Primavera Sound, May 30th, 2015)
It was really late when Hookworms took to the stage (nearly 3 in the morning) but their powerful set helped us to somehow muster up the strength to stay on our feet for another 40 minutes. Great energy from a band that has the potential to produce truly exciting rock music in the years ahead.
Other notable performances we got to experience on Primavera Sound's third full day included Einstürzende Neubauten's unique, industrial experimentation, Kevin Morby's charming folk-rock, Foxygen's burlesque theatrics (not sure about the music, but their stage show was certainly something else), Younghusband's melodic pop and Fucked Up's ambitious (and entertaining) hardcore.
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| Einstürzende Neubauten |
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| Kevin Morby |
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| Foxygen |
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| Younghusband |
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| Fucked Up |
Earlier in the day, before we make our way to Parc del Fòrum, we had the opportunity to see once again in action the wonderful Ex Hex at Parc De La Ciutadella - a great way to start your day, without a doubt:
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| Ex Hex, live @ Parc De La Ciutadella |
To close our Primavera Sound 2015 saga, let's hear some more live music from the festival:
Ex Hex - New Kid (live @ Parc De La Ciutadella, May 30th, 2015)
Kevin Morby - All of My Life (live @ Primavera Sound, May 30th, 2015)
Fucked Up - I Hate Summer (live @ Primavera Sound, May 30th, 2015)
Coming up, all the action from Plisskën Festival...
