Primavera Sound ’09: Day Two Review (May 29, 2009)

The second day of the Primavera Sound ’09 festival turned out to be my favorite. There was no big name headliner (surely Bloc Party are big enough but they certainly don’t have the status of My Bloody Valentine or Sonic Youth) but there were plenty of great performances from both older, legendary acts like Throwing Muses or Shellac as well as from brand new names (The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Vivian Girls etc) .

Some of the hottest bands of the current Brooklyn scene were playing together at the Pitchfork stage, starting with Crystal Stilts and their mix of ’60s garage and mid ’80s, C86-style, indie pop. The band gave props to the Barcelona festival for the perfect weather and its location by the Mediterranean seaside and proceeded with tracks from their fine debut album “Alight of Night”, including recent single and personal favorite “Departure”. It’s certainly not easy being psychedelic this early in the afternoon but the band made a good effort.

Crystal Stilts live@Primavera Sound '09 (May 29, 2009)

The second performance we saw on Friday was certainly one of the highlights of the festival. Taking a break from the Brooklyn party at the Pitchfork stage, we headed to the nearby main stage where Bat For Lashes was the opening act. Natasha Khan and her band, featuring ex-Ash guitarist Charlotte Hatherley, were in top form, playing most of the brilliant “Two Suns” plus highlights from debut album “Fur and Gold” (“What’s a girl to do”, “Prescilla”, “Sarah”). Bat For Lashes were able to recreate beautifully the unique mix of ethereal and upbeat pop of the two albums and Natasha’s voice was simply amazing. Dressed in zebra colors, dancing round the stage or playing keys and other unusual instruments, she was certainly one of the stars of Primavera.

Bat For Lashes live@Primavera Sound '09 (May 29, 2009)

The enchanting Bat For Lashes performance kept us at the main stage until its very last song (“Daniel”, one of the singles of the year), so we missed most of The Vivian Girls set back at the Pitchfork stage. From the 15 minutes that we did get to see, I have to say that I was duly impressed. The lo-fi production of their noisy Shop Assistants-meets-The Ramones self-titled debut mini LP didn’t prepare us for this dynamic performance which ended with the three girls swapping instruments as they were playing, taking photos of the audience and jamming in a Sonic Youth style. On this evidence, I’m looking forward for “Everything goes wrong”, their second album scheduled for a September release.

Vivian Girls live@Primavera Sound '09 (May 29, 2009)

After a bit of relaxation at the stands of the sun-drenched Rockdelux stage watching Spiritualized, we returned to the Brooklyn party to catch the 30-minute fired-up performance of up and coming newcomers The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. Their set may have been brief but they managed to play, in a breathless manner, all the highlights from their recent self-titled debut, bringing the indie pop sound of the mid ’80s-early ’90s back to the limelight.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart live@Primavera Sound '09 (May 29, 2009)

Back on the main stage, Art Brut were presenting their new material from “Art Brut vs. Satan” as well as the older hits in their usual, entertaining style, preaching the gospel according to Eddie Argos and urging their audience to form a band. Crystal Antlers raised the decibel levels at the Pitchfork stage with their psych-rock, but now it was time for us to move on to the Rockdelux stage for the performance of one of our all-time favorite bands, Throwing Muses. When Kristin Hersh reunited the band for the first time in this decade, for the 2003 self-titled album and the subsequent tour, I traveled all the way to the other side of Europe (from Athens to Dublin) to see them play. So, this was my second Throwing Muses close encounter but the experience was just as exciting as the first time. Why this band never got to be as popular as The Pixies, The Breeders or at least Tanya Donelly’s Belly is beyond me - songs like “Bright yellow gun” or set-opener “Shark” sound like massive hits to my ears but the world wouldn’t listen. Maybe they’ll get luckier this time around. Other highlights of the powerful hour-long set (which you can download by going here) included the astonishing “Vicky’s box” from the 1986 debut album, a fiery rendition of “Bea” and the set’s grand finale with “Mania”, both from 1989’s “Hunkpapa”.

Throwing Muses' Kristin Hersh live@Primavera Sound '09 (May 29, 2009)

Midnight of Primavera’s Day Two found us sitting at the stands of the ATP stage, catching our breath after all the Throwing Muses excitement, and checking out Australia’s noisemakers The Drones before moving on to the Ray-Ban Vice stage for the hardcore punk explosion of Canada’s Fucked Up. Front man Pink Eyes spent most of the set among the audience or climbing the speakers while the band played super fast and super hard. Exactly what we needed to warm up for the next highlight of Day Two; Shellac’s performance back at the ATP stage. The trio of Steve Albini, Bob Weston and Todd Trainer is one of the tightest punk rock units in existence and the material they have recorded in the last 16 years includes some of the most incendiary, hard-hitting songs you’ll ever hear. Their amazing set included tracks from all their years together, from the classic “Crow” off 1994’s debut “At Action Park” to “Steady as she goes” and the spectacular “The end of radio” from 2007’s “Excellent Italian Greyhound”. The speed at which they dismantled their equipment while still playing the final notes of their last song was also impressive.

Shellac live@Primavera Sound '09 (May 29, 2009)

For the end of the festival’s second day we got to listen to a few tracks from Joy Division contemporaries A Certain Ratio (including the pioneering dance punk anthem “Shack up”) before moving on to the main stage for the finale of Bloc Party’s set. “Like eating glass” was the track that stood out for me in the twenty minutes of their set that we managed to attend, but hopefully we’ll have the chance to see them again soon as they are scheduled to play in Athens on July 1st.

Live action from Primavera Sound '09 - Day Two (May 29): Bat For Lashes ("What's A Girl To Do"), The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart ("Everything With You") and Crystal Stilts ("Departure")

Watch this space for our complete report from the third and final day of the festival.

Primavera Sound ’09: Day One Review (May 28, 2009)

Without a doubt, Barcelona was the happiest city in the world for the last few days of May. On Wednesday there was the all-night celebration for the Champions League victory of the city’s most popular football team and for the next three days and nights there was Primavera Sound ’09, one of the best festivals in the indie-world. C.M.C. was there, sending you brief, postcard-sized reports and now it’s time to bring you the whole story - or, at least, the part of the story that we’ve actually witnessed, as it is humanly impossible to watch around 150 bands playing on 6 different stages in just three days.

Magik Markers' Elisa Ambrogio live@Primavera Sound '09 (May 28, 2009)

The first day of the festival started for us with Magik Markers who kicked off proceedings at the ATP stage early in the afternoon. The sun was still hot and the band seemed to be in sound check mode at first. They picked up the pace with new tracks “Psychosomatic” and “Don’t talk in your sleep” while the highlight for me was “Taste”, one of the best tracks from their previous, Lee Ranaldo produced, album “Boss”. A little before the end of their charmingly shambolic performance, we left in a hurry to catch a little bit of The Bats who were playing at the nearby Ray-Ban Vice stage. The recently reformed New Zealand legends gave us a taste of their heavenly pop hits (to borrow the title of a famous Chills track), produced down under in the '80s and early '90s. This was the first of several reunited bands from that era playing at Primavera, giving the festival the feel of an '80s-'90s class reunion. And I have to say that, in many instances, the old school gave a lesson or two to the young guns who were also present at the event.

Dashing to the main stage (the one sponsored by Estrella Damm), we got to see the end of Spectrum’s set, another representative of the '80s-'90s scene. Sonic Boom’s music was buzzing, making its usual lift off towards space and the final landing came with a track dedicated to Alan Vega.

The Vaselines live@Primavera Sound '09 (May 28, 2009)

Having seen three bands in less than 90 minutes, it was time to concentrate our attention to The Vaselines, one of Kurt Cobain’s favorite bands. Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee have joined forces once again, touring in support of the recently released compilation “Enter The Vaselines”(on Sub Pop), featuring remastered versions of all their recorded material, demos and live recordings. The band was in high spirits, taking requests from the enthusiastic audience with the prerequisite that you removed an article of clothing to have your favorite song played. There was really no need to do that as they played all their classic '80s pop tunes, including "Son of a gun", "Molly's lips", "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam", "You think you're a man" (their disco cover) and "Dum Dum". A fun lesson in indie-pop history from a highly influential band who gave us ample evidence that a bright future may still lie ahead for them.

After taking a brief noise hit courtesy of Lightning Bolt at the ATP stage, we went back to the main stage for 20 minutes of Yo La Tengo (during which they played one of their best songs ever, “Autumn sweater”) and then on to the Pitchfork stage to check out the folk melodies of Bowerbirds.

The Jesus Lizard live@Primavera Sound '09 (May 28, 2009)

But, as the time approached 10:30, I realized that this wasn’t really a good moment to be listening to folk. This was the time to run back at the ATP stage for the return of The Jesus Lizard. One of the most memorable gigs I’ve ever been to was by this band, sometime around 1993, at The Garage in London. David Yow spent more time close to the venue’s ceiling than on the stage, climbing speakers and stage-diving like a madman. Could he pull a performance like that now, after all these years? The answer was a resounding “Hell, yes”! Of course, what makes all this madness work, is one of the finest, most finely tuned punk rock machines ever - the super-tight trio of David Wm. Sims, Duane Denison and Mac McNeilly. The Jesus Lizard are back in action, as wild as ever and hungry for more mayhem.

My Bloody Valentine live@Primavera Sound '09 (May 28, 2009)

After all this excitement, it was time for some pop relaxation with Phoenix before the next shock to the system, which came a little after midnight. The extra earplugs provided to those close to the stage could not really do anything to stop the noise onslaught that My Bloody Valentine had in store for us. The music coming from the speakers seemed to aim more at our bones than our ears, being experienced more as a vibration of the body than a sound wave. What really stood out from this levelling wall of noise that hit us, were the final three tracks - three of the songs that have defined the legacy of My Bloody Valentine: "Soon", "Feed me with your kiss" and an extended version of "You made me realise" which turned into a feedback orgy.

The night ended with a little bit of the beat frenzy of Aphex Twin and a lot of the psychedelic freak-out of San Francisco’s The Wooden Shjips, who presented us their fine new album “Dos”, as well as highlights from their self-titled debut, including my favorite “We ask you to ride”.

The Wooden Shjips live@Primavera Sound '09 (May 28, 2009)

Live action from Primavera Sound '09 - Day One (May 28): Magik Markers ("Taste"), The Vaselines ("You Think You're A Man") and The Jesus Lizard ("Destroy Before Reading")

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