Festivals of Life, Love, Art - and Care.
Primavera Sound should take lessons of basic human care, from our great legacy of communal festival gatherings.
This is an observation. I just left the Primavera Sound ‘Festival’ in Porto, Portugal with mixed feelings. Having attended many festivals from the early 80’s, my bar is high, and as a precedence for the early festivals in my lifetime including free festivals and Glastonbury Fayres, Stonehenge, these are a suitable standard from where Primavera Sound can draw lessons from. Perhaps first though, we should define ‘festival’ and wonder if we’ve mixed up our metaphors a bit? Even early rock festivals like Donnington and Knebworth are worth a reference.
Us humans have been creating festivals for an extremely long time indeed. Glastonbury (on Worthy Farm) used to have a powerful sense of people coming together to celebrate life, spirituality, arts and love. The feeling of embodied community was incredibly life-changing, with its tangible air that we should live like this together - all the time. Know what I mean?
By the way, to the performers - you were great. Thank you.
Let’s get started.
WATER. Water is a basic human right. Let’s get that clear. So to Primavera business owners - when you promise drinking water fountains on your website, you really, seriously need to deliver.
You took away everyone’s water at the gate and some of your staff just removed the lids but then sell bottles with lids inside (huh?). We asked toilet attendants, stewards, the police and even the medics and no one, not one person knew where the drinking water was and the toilet attendants said “NO you cannot drink this water” (and as there was no soap provided, I wouldn’t risk toilet taps anyway). Drink stall staff gave conflicting information about the toilet water, before apologising and selling us tiny 30cl bottles (in plastic - with lids, I might add) for €2 (about £1.75) each. Single use plastic bottles are now banned at many events in the UK.
I’m watching the Instagram comments coming thick and fast now, and you’ve clearly got some reputation repairing to do, and serious lessons to learn. Reportedly, people were fainting and throwing up in 30 degrees with “your security laughing” at them, then thankfully Lana Del Ray’s own people began handing out water.
Wait, I missed something. Day one we went to the park only to find no signs on the road pointing to the gate. I saw hundreds of people walking the wrong way round the park - an extra 25 minutes, in the heat, to have their water taken away and then… are you following me?
OK here’s a shortlist of what else you did wrong.
POLICE - why so many? I lay down on the tarmac waiting for a friend and the police looked at me so I immediately felt unsafe, in case they thought I was drunk. I paid to get in - and you were selling alcohol everywhere. I imagine this is cost-saving, right? But it really doesn’t help the festival atmosphere. What are you afraid of?
FOOD PRICES - €14 for a vegan burger? Seriously?
TRANSPORT - As above - put signs for walkers. The headline acts finish at 1 or 2am (why?) and with very few shuttle buses = long waits, impossible to get taxi/uber = very long walks home from the remote location = many people given up lying on the road, miles from the venue.
GROUND CONDITIONS - drains and ditches in the main arena, in pitch darkness, containing rocks - this was really bad. Having tripped a few times before using my phone light to see, I imagine a more than a few ankles were twisted. For a moment I had to wonder if I was in a third world country, but considering the booming tourism here, I don’t need to look at the GDP, do I? Who did the risk ground conditions risk assessment?
SOUND QUALITY & VIEW - At the back of the headliners, we couldn’t hear properly at all. The ground is level and the stage too low, with the AV desk housed in a large tent, in the middle blocking the view. On squeezing through the dense crowds for a view, a group of five locals, some with their backs to the stage thought it was a good place to have a loud conversation. Is this a Portugese thing? If so, please can you consider the people you’ve invited from other countries to pay lots of money to actually witness the artists you’ve hosted?
CORPORATE VIBE (competitions, ugh) - Large corporate stands like at a trade show with huge queues of people hoping to win a car and other materials. Please, just no.
This wasn’t meant as a rant but I can feel myself getting angry, so I’ll stop here.
Primavera Sound - I really just think you need to do the research and get some British event consultants in to do some decent risk assessments. And above all - reconsider your values and definitions of festival. It’s not a cultural ‘fiesta’ and if it’s a 3 days of concerts with 3 stages, just leave it at that.
Or open up genuine green spaces, where PEOPLE can love and share and express their love, care and creativity - and give them clean drinking water. Basic stuff, y’know…?
If you were a customer, consider making a complaint below. If you’re one of the business staff or a board member, please take this post seriously and consider what’s missing from your “festival”. I certainly won’t be investing in your business again until some of these things are corrected.
https://primaverasound.factorialhr.com/complaints
Primavera Sound, S.L. Josep Pla, 2, Torre B1, planta 7, 08019 - Barcelona (España)
Fiscal Identification Number is B-61978987.
Telephone number +34 933010090 - Monday to Friday 9:00 to 18:00.
email info@primaverasound.com