Playground magazine

The time has come to take stock of San Miguel Primavera Sound and put things in order. We’ll start by running through the best concerts at this year’s festival, the ones that we’ll remember in years to come with a mixture of excitement and nostalgia, as important moments in our lives –and in your lives too, we hope. It’s hard to shorten the list, but here are ten, arranged strictly in alphabetical order.

Atlas Sound didn’t perform at Primavera Sound in the same way as in Minneapolis, but the live show was full of surprises. The first came at the beginning. Simply dressed in a jacket and jeans, armed with a guitar and a harmonica, he delighted the audience with a classic of American music, “Your Cheating Heart”, originally by Hank Williams and covered by artists like Ray Charles and Elvis Presley. He then offered a long, captivating introduction that took the audience closer to the usual sound of his solo project. After awhile, he came out with “Te Amo”, which gave the audience goose bumps. He had everyone so involved in the experience that when he sang “I’ll pretend you are the only one” and pointed at the crowd with his finger, you thought he was singing just for you. His songs mutated on the stage. “Shelia” sounded less melodic and sweet - offering a rougher side - whilst the Atlanta musician worked “Modern Aquatic Nightsongs”, adding rises, drops, and stops and proffering desperate shouts. He kept up his prodigious use of guitar effects and ended several songs with loops hurled out at the audience with thundering power. As always, he was very friendly, with a few brilliant phrases (he interrupted “Walkabout” to call out like a little boy: “Look, a ship!” and he warned: “Guys, don’t take MDMA, you won’t be able to have kids”). Some things never change. Álvaro García Montoliu