Primavera Sound '10: Day Three Review (May 29, 2010)

And we finally reach the last part of our epic report of how we experienced the Primavera Sound ’10 festival in Barcelona: a four day musical journey with plenty of highs and very few lows. So, what exactly did I do on the last Saturday of May in Parc Del Forum? Glad you asked. Here’s how the story ends:

Once again, I managed to arrive at the festival site at 6:00 pm sharp, quite an achievement if you take into account the exhaustion from the two previous all-nighters, the record shop excursions and a bit of sightseeing. For starters, I paid a visit to the Pitchfork Stage for the hotly tipped Real Estate. I cannot really say that I didn’t like them, but the fact of the matter is that their music just didn’t leave a lasting impression on me. As I am writing this piece, I take a break to watch a video we took of one of their songs to refresh my memory but it’s like seeing-hearing them for the first time. I guess that after a four day sensory overload, the polite psychedelic pop of Real Estate just failed to register.

Dr. Dog

A brief visit to the nearby San Miguel Stage to catch about 20 minutes of Dr. Dog’s performance proved to be more memorable, thanks mostly to a few rocking numbers that were delivered with conviction and intensity. This was followed by a failed attempt to see the Dum Dum Girls performing at the Ray-Ban Unplugged Stage as the whole thing was over in less than 10 minutes and there was no way to see anything anyway. But we were going to get another chance later on in the day… and it was going to be sweet!

Back to the Pitchfork Stage it was time for Atlas Sound, namely Bradford Cox and his guitar. Last year’s “Logos” was certainly a fine album, but the live experience felt too understated and, frankly, unable to provide the thrills I was looking for. After a couple of lengthy numbers, it was time for me to move on and try to get my kicks elsewhere. New Zealand legends The Clean who were playing at the Vice Stage, seemed like the best proposition for that purpose.

The Clean

Listening to the highly infectious drone-pop of The Clean, a band who has been around since the late ’70s and whose debut single “Tally Ho” was just the second release in the celebrated Flying Nun Records catalogue, it’s easy to realize the influence it had on latter day indie stalwarts like Pavement or Yo La Tengo. And, furthermore, they prove they still got it, as one of their new tracks, “In The Dreamlife You Need A Rubber Soul” from 2009’s “Mister Pop”, is easily among the best I’ve seen performed in this festival.

Another lesson in musical history was offered at the Pitchfork Stage, where The Slits played a lively set buzzing with their traditional reggae-punk sound. Ari Up and Tessa Pollitt are the only remaining members from the original line-up, but the new girls do a fine job recreating classics like “Typical Girls” or “Shoplifting”. The Jamaican influence was prevalent in their fun performance which featured several new songs from recent album “Trapped Animal” and non-stop dancing and dreadlock spinning from Ari Up.

The Slits

A second visit to the San Miguel Stage to watch Florence + The Machine proved rather disappointing. She gave her usual flamboyant performance, managed to get the crowd jumping at her command, but the music suffered from an apparent effort to alter the songs. Maybe after a year of touring behind her highly successful debut it’s time for Florence to take a rest and start writing some new material.

Moving on to the Vice Stage, a huge crowd had already gathered for one of the most talked about new bands, The Drums. Jonathan Pierce is a gifted performer, busting out some jerky dance moves as he sings infectious songs that blend ’60s surf guitar with ‘80s new wave pop that brings to my mind, above all, Edwyn Collins and Orange Juice. They played most tracks from the already familiar “Summertime” EP with “Let’s Go Surfing” easily becoming one of the hits of the festival, along with several new ones that are going to become familiar pretty soon as their recently released eponymous debut has the potential of becoming a big hit.

The Drums

As The Drums’ set approached its finale, I made my way to the also crowded Ray-Ban Stage for the ending of Grizzly Bear’s dreamy folk performance. Last year’s highly praised “Veckatimest” failed to make me a fan of the band and, as expected, the 15 minutes that I watched sitting on the stands helped me only to catch my breath for a while before moving on to the ATP Stage for one of my most anticipated performances of the festival; it was finally time for me to see Built To Spill live for the first time.

Built To Spill

Doug Martsch seemed a bit unhappy with the sound coming from his monitors, but personally I had no problem whatsoever with what I witnessed for the next hour. Built To Spill played an intense set that relied on tried and tested old material, going as far back as 1994’s “There's Nothing Wrong With Love” (“Distopian Dream Girl”, “In The Morning”, “Big Dipper”, “Twin Falls”) and moving on to latter day favorites (“You Were Right“,  “Else”, “Carry the Zero”, “Traces”, “Wherever You Go”). Latest album “There Is No Enemy” was represented only with “Hindsight” (personally, I would have loved to hear also “Pat” or “Planting Seeds”), while the track that went straight into my Primavera Sound “best of” list was the superb “Goin' Against Your Mind”.

 Built To Spill

The other highlight of the festival’s third day for me came right after Built To Spill. Dum Dum Girls, the band that thanks to the excellent debut LP “I Will Be” has quickly become one of my favorite new acts of the year, took to the Pitchfork Stage dressed in matching vintage dresses and gave us a brief but electrifying performance. Dee Dee and the girls breezed through a set filled with future classics like “Jail La La”, “I Will Be”, “O Mein Me” or “Bhang, Bhang, I'm A Burnout” while they also included a few choice covers (GG Allin’s “Don’t Talk To Me” and The Rolling Stones’ “Play With Fire”). An excellent set from start to finish.

Dum Dum Girls

Around one in the morning, totally satisfied but with batteries running dangerously low, I somehow managed to summon my remaining strength and head back to the ATP Stage for the last part of Liquid Liquid’s highly energetic, polyrhythmic set, during which Tim Harrington made a cameo appearance jumping gleefully around the stage. After a brief look at Gary Numan who was still wondering “Are Friends Electric?” on the Vice Stage and a dose of heady dub sounds from the legendary Lee “Scratch” Perry, it was finally time for the C.M.C. team to head for the exit, while we were still able to walk. Primavera Sound ’10 - it was certainly a pleasure to have met you!

Live action from Primavera Sound '10 - Day Three (May 29): Built to Spill ("Distopian Dream Girl", "Hindsight"), Dum Dum Girls ("I Will Be", "Jail La La"), The Clean ("In The Dreamlife You Need A Rubber Soul"), The Slits ("Typical Girls")

Top 10 performances of the festival:

• Les Savy Fav
• The Fall
• Sleigh Bells
• Dum Dum Girls
• Spoon
• Superchunk
• Built to Spill
• Broken Social Scene
• Beach House
• The New Pornographers

The rest of our Primavera Sound '10 coverage:

Day One Review (May 27, 2010)

Day Two Review (May 28, 2010)

Primavera Sound ’10: Day Two Review (May 28, 2010)

The plans to start the second day of the festival with Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions at the Auditorium were scuppered by the delayed start of the performance. After listening to just a couple of tracks, I left the darkness of the indoor venue to return to Barcelona’s sunshine and made my way to the San Miguel Stage where The New Pornographers were just starting their set with just the right track: “Sing Me Spanish Techno”.

The New Pornographers

Although both Neko Case and Dan Bejar didn’t make the trip to Barcelona, Carl Newman and the rest of the Canadian collective did a fine job on the festival’s main stage, presenting us with an hour-long upbeat collection of sunshine pop, that combined brand new tracks (“The Crash Years”, “Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk”, “Your Hands (Together)” - the latter dedicated to Dio) with old favorites (“Mass Romantic”, “The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism”, “Use It”, “The Laws Have Changed”, “All The Old Showstoppers”, “Testament To Youth In Verse”) - an ideal soundtrack for a sunny afternoon by the Mediterranean beach.

Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast

More sunny guitar pop with a twist of '60s girl-group sound was on offer at the nearby Pitchfork Stage, where Bethany Cosentino and her group, the hotly tipped Best Coast from California, were presenting their soon to come debut LP “Crazy For You” (out in July). Recent singles “When I'm With You» (see also this) and “Something In The Way” were the tracks that I enjoyed the most, while they cheekily closed their set with a cover of Wavves’ “So Bored”, the band who suffered an infamous meltdown at the same stage a year ago.

Spoon

Back at the main stage, it was time for me to finally see Spoon live, one of my favorite bands of the last decade. Britt Daniel and his band have had considerable success in the States with “Transference” but their profile in Europe remains relatively low. Maybe this is starting to change as Spoon managed to pull quite a crowd at the San Miguel Stage, although not as large as Wilco did a bit later on (one of the performances I missed, as well as that of Japandroids due to the congested schedule of the day). Spoon have built up a remarkable repertoire over the years, so it was certain that for the next hour we were going to get an interesting mix of new (“Nobody Gets Me But You”, “Got Nuffin”, “Trouble Comes Running”, “Written in Reverse”) and older tracks (“Jonathon Fisk”, “Small Stakes”, “The Way We Get By”, “I Turn My Camera On”, “I Summon You”, “Don't Make Me a Target”, “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb”, “Don't You Evah”, “The Underdog”) while, inevitably, some favorites would be left out (“Everything Hits At Once”, “Sister Jack”, “Rhythm & Soul” for example). In any case, this was definitely one of my favorite performances of the festival and the start of a four hour period (from 8 pm till midnight) that had plenty of excitement in store for us.

Beach House

A little after half past 9, and after catching just the first song of CocoRosie’s set, I made my way to the packed ATP Stage where Beach House were about to begin. Climbing on the bleachers and finding a spot to watch the band proved to be a tough challenge, but I was rewarded with an enchanting 40-minute performance, dominated by Victoria Legrand’s imposing voice and brief fits of headbanging over her keyboards. Alex Scally, to her right, was more restrained, concentrating on his guitar and effects pedals, while the drummer had a relatively quiet evening. I usually prefer more tension and volume in live shows but on this occasion I must admit that the ethereal, magical sounds of Beach House won the day, captivating the audience for the duration of their show. Not surprisingly, the highlights of their set came from “Teen Dream”: “Norway”, “Zebra”, “Used To Be” and “10 Mile Stereo”.

Wire

The tension and volume I am usually after were on offer in generous doses at the nearby Vice Stage, my next destination, where I was able to catch the second half of Wire’s electrifying performance. The veteran post-punkers are preparing a new record for January 2011, and I’m guessing that they played some of the new material as I didn’t recognize several tracks of their set, a fact that didn’t lessen in any way my enjoyment of it. In stark contrast to bands like the Pixies, the headliners of the day, who seem to be stuck to their glorious past and, unable to move forward, have become nothing more than a touring nostalgia act, Wire are looking to the future and continue to create vital art.

Les Savy Fav

The absolute highlight of the day (and perhaps of the whole festival) for me, came at around 11 o’clock when Les Savy Fav started their deranged show at the ATP Stage. Tim Harrington made an impressive entrance dressed in a strange animal suit (I’m guessing an oversized wolf in honor of “What Would Wolves Do?”) and seconds later he was diving in the crowd and heading for the bleachers, as the guitars were catching fire. As soon as he was back on stage for the start of their second number (the magnificent “Patty Lee” - check it out here), he began his customary striptease, thankfully keeping his shorts on, and pretty soon he was back in the heaving mosh pit where madness reigned supreme. Impressively, among all this chaos, the band didn’t miss a beat, performing a note perfect set even when the guitarist was riding on the shoulders of some big fellow. For a blissful hour, Les Savy Fav was a well-oiled, firing on all pistons, punk rock machine on its way to music Valhalla!

Cold Cave

For the finale of the festival’s second day I checked out Cold Cave at the Pitchfork Stage, who were playing industrial-sized New Order melodies armed with no less than three synthesizers, and ended up at the Vice Stage for a taste of the mad garage rock of The King Khan & BBQ Show and for the dance party of Yeasayer. They kicked off their set at 2:30 am and somehow managed to keep us on our feet for another hour, until they signed off with the fine “Ampling Alp”, “Odd Blood”’s best track. The highlights of their performance, however, were “2080” and “Sunrise”, the two top tracks from their superior debut effort.

Yeasayer

Live action from Primavera Sound '10 - Day Two (May 28): The New Ponographers ("Your Hands (Together)"), Spoon ("Written In Reverse"), Beach House ("Norway"), Les Savy Fav ("The Sweat Descends"), Yeasayer ("2080") and Best Coast ("So Bored")

The Day One report is here. Our report from the third day of the festival is coming soon..

Primavera Sound ’10: Day One Review (May 27, 2010)

For a second time in a row Cool Music Central was in Barcelona for the Primavera Sound festival, undoubtedly one of the best festivals in the alternative music world. In previous posts we have already given you a brief taste of what went on during the four days we were there, now it’s time to go into details.

Launch Party: Wichita Records 10 Year Anniversary Show (Apolo, May 26, 2010)

Just a couple of hours after getting off the plane I was on my way to the Apolo club for the Wichita Records 10 Year Anniversary Show, Primavera’s launch party. Unfortunately I just missed Peggy Sue, one of the label’s latest signings, but I was there on time for First Aid Kit’s performance. The band consists of the very young and beautifully voiced sisters Klara & Johanna Söderberg from Sweden, who play country tinged folk music with strong melodies. The band performed as a trio with the addition of a drummer and presented their recently released debut album “The Big Black & The Blue”. First Aid Kit’s strong point is the way the two sisters, who play acoustic guitar and keyboards, combine their voices to create beautiful harmonies. This was demonstrated when they demanded and achieved the complete silence of the crowd to sing a song without the help of a microphone - one of the highlights of their performance, along with their excellent cover of Fleet Foxes’ “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song”.

Things got certainly louder and amplified when Los Campesinos! took over the stage of the Sala Apolo. The eight piece Cardiff indie-popsters played a hyper energetic set with plenty of tracks from this year’s “Romance Is Boring” album, with the same-titled single as well as “There Are Listed Buildings” and “Straight in at 101” being my favorites. They also included several of their older hits with perennial indie-disco smash “You! Me! Dancing!” being the crowd-pleaser of the evening, provoking all sorts of dancing across the club and even on the tables! Certainly an entertaining start to our Primavera Sound festival expedition (more photos and video here).

Day 1 (Parc Del Forum, May 27, 2010)

After a morning raid to Barcelona’s record shops (you’ll find out the results in our up-coming Listening Habits post), I was at Parc Del Forum, the festival’s site by the Mediterranean Sea, at exactly 6 in the afternoon for the start of the first day of Primavera Sound ’10 with a performance by Sic Alps at the Pitchfork Stage, one of the nine stages of the festival. For a band that was chosen to open gigs for the likes of Sonic Youth or Pavement recently, they weren’t particularly impressive on this occasion. Maybe it was just too early in the day, but their low speed and heavy garage and blues rock influenced sound just didn’t do it for me. On the plus side they do have unusually melodic vocals for a band with such a grungy sound creating an interesting antithesis, so I do feel that I have to give them another chance and have a listen to their records.

After catching a glimpse of Bis at the San Miguel Stage (the main stage of the festival) and wondering what they are still doing here, I made my way to the Vice Stage, at the opposite side of Parc Del Forum, to see a bit of the mad performance of Israeli garage rockers Monotonix. The band didn’t play on stage at all but performed all their set (at least the part that I saw) among the crowd with singer Ami Shalev spending most of the time crowd surfing. The first day of the festival certainly started to get more weird and interesting.

Monotonix

My next choice from Primavera’s rich line up was Florida’s up-and-coming Surfer Blood at the Pitchfork Stage. “Astro Coast”’s melodic guitar rock went down well with the audience and, as expected, the catchy “Swim” was the hit of their 40-minute set, a track which they presented as “our very own Poker Face”. And as the time approached 20:10 pm, it was time to make my way to the nearby San Miguel Stage for the highly anticipated (at least by me) performance of The Fall.

 Surfer Blood

The band’s musicians led by Eleni Poulou took to the stage as the sun was setting and started to play, preparing us for the royal entrance of Mark E. Smith. They kicked off their tight and powerful 50-minute set with “O.F.Y.C. Showcase”, a fitting choice as this performance was exactly that, a showcase for The Fall’s latest creation “Your Future Our Clutter”. Smith appeared to be in high spirits, perhaps pleased with the fact that so many people turned up to see his band at Primavera’s main stage. At some point he even showcased a few rare dance moves during “I’ve Been Duped”, a song that his wife Eleni sings lead vocals, while he rarely messed with his musicians’ amplifiers, a sign that he was pleased with what he was hearing. The set was dominated by the band’s more recent material and the only time they chose to acknowledge their rich history was when they revisited their classic cover of “Strychnine”. Undoubtedly one of the best performances of the festival.

The Fall

After watching the closing minutes of what appeared to be a highly energetic and loud set by Titus Andronicus at the Pitchfork Stage, I visited the amphitheatric Ray-Ban Stage where a large crowd had gathered for the Primavera Sound debut of The XX. The slow burning, atmospheric sounds of the London band are perhaps better suited for a more intimate indoor venue but the quality of their music and the imposing light show helped to keep the majority of the audience captivated.

The XX

The next great performance of the first day also took place at the San Miguel Stage, where Superchunk followed The Fall with an hour long super energetic set. The band is gearing up to release their first new album in more than a decade and they took this opportunity to present few of their new songs alongside old favorites like “Throwing Things”, “The First Part”, “Slack Motherfucker” and “Hyper Enough”. The highlight of their set was a killer rendition of “Precision Auto” with vocals from Tim Harrington from Les Savy Fav, a huge fan of the band.

Superchunk

With ears still buzzing from Superchunk’s amazing set and without any time to recover I somehow found the energy to rush back to the Ray-Ban Stage where Broken Social Scene were about to start. The Canadian collective played more than half of their excellent new album “Forgiveness Rock Record” with “All To All”, “Forced To Love”, “Texico Bitches” with Pavement’s Spiral Stairs and set closer “Meet Me In The Basement” being the most memorable. There was still room in their strong 75-minute set for some classics including “Cause = Time”, “7/4 (Shoreline)”and “Fire Eye'd Boy” while their guest list also included John McEntire from Tortoise and Owen Pallett. Unfortunately they didn’t have Emily Haines, Amy Millan or Feist with them, but Lisa Lobsinger, the sole female of the 11-strong crew (if I counted correctly), did a remarkable job with her vocal contributions.

Broken Social Scene

About half hour past midnight I was back to the Pitchfork Stage to catch a part of The Big Pink’s set. The band performing as a quartet (guitar, bass, drums and a huge synthesizer being their weapons of choice) did a good job presenting their superb debut “A Brief History Of Love” and closed with an ace rendition of their hit “Dominos”. And as The Big Pink were finishing up their show at 1:00 am, it was time for the performance that most festival goers were expecting, the triumphant return of Pavement. Indeed, the main stage and the surrounding area was packed as the indie-rock heroes started their headlining set with “Cut Your Hair” and proceeded to present a big chunk of their recent greatest hits compilation “Quarantine the Past”. Personally, having seen the band live several times during its heyday, I wasn’t motivated enough to fight for a good viewing spot near the stage and after watching a few tracks from afar, including my all-time favorite “In The Mouth A Desert” and “Kennel District” with the participation of Kevin Drew from Broken Social Scene, I went back to the Pitchfork Stage for what turned out to be one of the revelations of the festival for me, Sleigh Bells.

Pavement

I’ve recently listened to Sleigh Bells’ debut album “Treats” and although I was pretty impressed by it, I certainly didn’t expect such a mind-blowing performance by the duo. Although there’s only two people in the band, guitarist Derek Miller with a hardcore past (ex-Poison The Well) and vocalist Alexis Krauss with a teen-pop background (Ruby Blue), they do an excellent job filling the stage with their unstoppable energy, while their bass heavy sound pummels you into submission. Their dance-floor ready tunes combine aggressive punk guitars with hip hop and electro beats while Alexis singing and dancing is simply captivating. While most people were celebrating Pavement’s glorious past at Primavera, I think I was able to catch a glimpse of the future thanks to the glorious beats of Sleigh Bells!

Sleigh Bells

The amazing first night of Primavera Sound ’10 was concluded with Chrome Hoof at the Vice Stage with an imaginative set that mixed glam, psychedelic and space rock with death metal and with a brief taste of the noise and dance combination of Fuck Buttons at the Ray-Ban Stage, complete with a trippy light show. After more than nine hours filled with some of the finest music I could hope for, it was time to head back to the hotel and have some much needed rest before doing it all over again the next day.

Live action from Primavera Sound '10 - Day One (May 27): Broken Social Scene ("Meet Me In The Basement"), The Big Pink ("Dominos"), Sleigh Bells ("Rill Rill"), The Fall ("Strychnine"), Pavement ("Conduit For Sale!") and Superchunk ("Learned To Surf")

Our reports from the second and third day of the festival coming soon..

Postcards from Primavera Sound 10: Day 2 & 3 highlights

Mobile phone-quality photos and videos from some of the best performances of the second and third day of the Primavera Sound 10 festival in Barcelona featuring Les Savy Fav, Spoon, The New Pornographers, Best Coast, Built To Spill, Dum Dum Girls and The Drums. We're keeping the good stuff for the detailed reports that we're going to bring you both here and in mixgrill.gr as soon as we're back home and make a full recovery from this three day music-marathon!

Day 2 - May 28, 2010

Les Savy Fav, live @ Primavera Sound 10

Les Savy Fav - Patty Lee, live @ Primavera Sound 10

Spoon, live @ Primavera Sound 10

Spoon - Trouble Comes Running, live @ Primavera Sound 10

The New Pornographers, live @ Primavera Sound 10

 Best Coast, live @ Primavera Sound 10

Day 3, May 29, 2010

Built To Spill, live @ Primavera Sound 10

 Dum Dum Girls, live @ Primavera Sound 10

The Drums, live @ Primavera Sound 10

Postcards from Primavera Sound 10: Highlights from the first day (Barcelona, May 27, 2010)

Sleigh Bells were the revelation of the first day of Primavera Sound 10. Amazing energy on stage and a huge sound that combines dance and hip hop beats with punk rock aggression. The best performance we saw during the first two days of the festival by a new band.

Sleigh Bells, live@Primavera Sound 10 (Barcelona, May 27, 2010)

Among the highlights of the first day of Primavera Sound 10 were also the performances of Superchunk, Broken Social Scene and The Fall:

Superchunk, live@Primavera Sound 10

Broken Social Scene, live@Primavera Sound 10

 The Fall, live@Primavera Sound 10

Better quality photos and videos plus detailed reports coming soon...

Postcards from Primavera Sound 2010: Los Campesinos! & First Aid Kit, live@Apollo, May 26

Photos from Wichita Records 10 Year Anniversary Show at Apolo, Barcelona. Los Campesinos! headlined the event with support from labelmates First Aid Kit and Peggy Sue.This was Primavera Festival's launch party. More details coming soon!

Los Campesinos!

First Aid Kit

Los Campesinos! - There Are Listed Buildings, live@Apollo, Barcelona, May 26, 2010

The Cool Music Central team has just arrived in Barcelona and over the next few days will be bringing you the sights and sounds of the Primavera Sound 2010 festival. Detailed reports coming soon. Stay tuned...

Set the controls for the heart of Primavera Sound, again

Since we've had such a great time last year, we've decided to do it all over again this year. The dedicated Cool Music Central r'n'r team (all two of us) is gearing up for a new Barcelona expedition and we will be bringing you all the action from Primavera Sound 2010 like we did last spring (read all about it here). Let's take a closer look at some of the most exciting names appearing at this year's Primavera Sound festival that is taking place between Thursday, May 27th and Saturday, May 29th in Spain:

May 27th

The big names of the first day, in order of appearance, are The Fall, Superchunk and Pavement at the San Miguel stage (the biggest one) and Broken Social Scene at the Ray-Ban stage. Indie rock royalty with tremendous history behind them and just as exciting present. We've already talked about The Fall's latest opus, while we've recently learned that Superchunk are finishing their ninth LP, their first in almost ten years. Broken Social Scene, Canada's all-star rock team, have recently dropped the tremendous "Forgiveness Rock Record", while Pavement may not have or planning on recording any new material but their reunion for a limited run of shows is undoubtedly one of the major events of the year, giving a new generation of fans the chance to catch them live for the first time. I'm also very curious how a backstage meeting between Mark Smith and Stephen Malkmus would go - friendly chat or something along the lines of "Hey, student! Stop plagiarizing my band"!

Other exciting acts appearing on Thursday include rising stars The XX and The Big Pink (two of the greatest new bands of 2009), Sleigh Bells (they just released their awesome debut "Treats"), Chrome Hoof, Titus Andronicus, Surfer Blood and Sic Alps.

May 28th

Plenty of excellent acts on offer on the second day of the festival but the overlapping schedule means that we're faced with some tough choices. I'm definitely planning on seeing Spoon and Les Savy Fav, two of my favorite bands of the '00s, while Beach House and Wire are also a must (one of the hottest acts of the year versus founding fathers of post-punk and a source of inspiration for countless musicians over the last three decades), but the proximity of their on-stage time calls for a very tricky balancing act on my part (which involves a lot of running around with a stopwatch on hand).

The tightly packed schedule means that I'll probably miss Wilco and Japandroids, but hopefully I can catch at least part of the performances of Yeasayer, Panda Bear, CocoRosie, Cold Cave, Shellac, The King Khan & BBQ Show and earlier in the day The New Pornographers, Best Coast, Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions and Low performing "The Great Destroyer". The last two groups play at the limited capacity but with great acoustics Auditorium stage, which adds the challenge of actually managing to get in these shows.

May 29th

The two most anticipated performances of the third day of the festival for me are from veteran guitar-heroes Built To Spill at the ATP stage and from fresh-faced indie darlings Dum Dum Girls (also the stars of one of our recent Killer Tracks posts) who are to play two sets: an acoustic one at the Ray-Ban Unplugged stage and a full-on electric one at the Pitchfork stage. Other hot new acts appearing on the third day include HEALTH, No Age (unfortunately playing at the same time as Built To Spill), The Drums, Florence + The Machine, Atlas Sound, Grizzly Bear, The Antlers and Real Estate. Among the names with an impressive history behind them we find The Slits, The Clean, Polvo, Liquid Liquid and the mad professor of dub Lee "Scratch" Perry.

These are approximately 40 bands out of the more than 100 that will be appearing across nine stages in the three days of Primavera Sound 2010 (without taking into consideration the many related events that take place in the city around these dates). At the start of June we'll be bringing you, both here and in mixgrill.gr, our complete report of what went down in Barcelona accompanied, as usual, with exclusive photos and video-clips. Keep watching this space in the meantime for some mini reports with the sights and sounds of the festival.

Broken Social Scene - 7/4 Shoreline