THREE DAYS OF EMOTIONAL WHIPLASH AT PRIMAVERA SOUND WITH CUPRA
words by ELIANA CASA
Summer never truly feels like it has begun until we set foot on the grounds of Primavera Sound. Year after year, the Barcelona festival marks the unofficial start of the season – days become longer, melting into warm nights, and a sense of possibility lingers in the air, as though anything could happen between one stage and the next. As always, CUPRA joined us on the journey, becoming much more than just a means of getting there, but the reason why we stayed up until late at night.
All beginnings come with their own challenges – a lesson we've learned time and time again. This year's Primavera Sound was no exception. After arriving on Thursday, anticipation was running high as we made our way through the festival grounds, eagerly awaiting Blood Orange’s performance, the first on our schedule. Armed with what felt like the perfect festival survival kit – a bottle of water, a cold beer, a vegan chicken wrap, earplugs, hand sanitizer, a poncho and, most importantly, great company – we truly felt ready for anything, especially for the Oklou’s set at the CUPRA stage. Or so we thought. Within minutes, a full-blown windstorm interrupted Oklou’s flute opening, but her dreamlike set continued enchanting the crowd until the end. After accepting defeat, we made our way to our hotel, and recharged for day 2.
Ethel Cain had us crushing hard on Friday, proving once again that she's one of those artists who can simply exist, and that’s enough. Armed with a vintage stick microphone and dressed in Ann Demeulemeester, we entered her world, and will probably never recover from that.
Can you imagine spending an entire hour waiting for one of the most iconic rock bands of all time while Addison Rae performs right in front of you? We experienced exactly that, and honestly, that’s all we needed for the weekend. Watching devoted Cure fans patiently hold their ground while Addison gathered every gay, girlie, and pop enthusiast in sight felt like a cultural moment in itself. And somehow, it just made sense. For one hour, it felt exactly as it should: an Addison Rae summer. Then came the moment everyone had been waiting for. The Cure's historic return. For two and a half hours, Robert Smith and company reminded us why they're one of the greatest bands to ever do it. Without so much as a real break, Robert Smith carried The Cure through two and a half hours of pure magic. And honestly, can you imagine anything better than jumping to Friday I'm in Love on a Friday night with your colleague aka best friend, only to find yourself nearly tearing up during Boys Don't Cry a few songs later? That's the kind of emotional whiplash Primavera does best. Just when we thought the night couldn't possibly offer anything more, we made our way to the CUPRA stage for PinkPantheress, and called it a night.
If you ever wonder what it feels like to have ADHD, Saturday would have given you a pretty good idea.
Grace Ives sweetly opened the day at the CUPRA stage, and while screaming along to Babyyy, the sun finally decided to make its long-awaited return to Barcelona. Sudan Archives became one of the sweetest surprises of the weekend, providing the perfect soundtrack while waiting for a vegan burger before rushing off to Smerz.
Smerz, however, left us speechless. Dressed in what looked like Prada, Catharina Stoltenberg and Henriette Motzfeldt completely mesmerised the audience with goddess-like vocals, a violin, and a performance that felt somewhere between a concert and a piece of poetry. No one swings a microphone quite like Catharina. There were spoken-word passages, fragments of Big City Life, and a lingering feeling of being a lost girl wandering through Primavera Sound. How fabulous!
Then the unexpected happened. I’m not talking about Olivia Rodrigo taking the stage and bringing out Robert Smith for a surprise appearance, debuting What's Wrong With Me, but realising how much of a big fan we were. Suddenly we were screaming along to deja vu, good 4 u, and every other song that our inner 16 years old selves would have let out for that toxic ex relationship.
You'd think that would be enough for one day. This year, CUPRA Pulse truly became the electronic heartbeat of the festival. Set right by the sea, the immersive open-air club returned for its second edition, transforming a corner of Primavera into a world of its own. Designed around sound, light, movement, and discovery, it was the place where everyone inevitably ended up at some point during the weekend. With twelve hours of electronic music a day, surprise appearances, secret sets, and a crowd constantly moving between curiosity and hedonism, it felt less like a stage and more like a parallel universe running alongside the festival. Which is probably why it felt completely normal to spot Arca casually walking past while smoking a cigarette outside CUPRA Pulse on her way to a surprise set.
The night continued with endless bathroom queues and unexpected encounters with fans of The xx and Gorillaz while waiting around the festival grounds. Seeing The xx back together felt almost surreal, just as much as hearing the opening notes of Intro is one of them.
Then came Gorillaz. The performance opened with a political statement from Arab Barghouti before quickly transforming into exactly what we needed: a celebration of collaboration. Bringing out Mos Def, De la Soul, Little Simz, Kara Jackson, we danced, we screamed, we smiled at strangers, and for a couple of hours the rest of the world disappeared. We went on a journey on Malincony Hill and with Damon Albarn, 2-D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle and Russel Hobbs to Feel Good.
The thing about primavera sound is that it lets your inner kid come out, meet beautiful strangers and go back home with the need of wanting more.
