primavera16

2007 Primavera Sound Festival - day three (Saturday June 2)

Today Evan Korte concludes his review of the 2007 Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, Spain. If you’re just joining us, why not start with day one and day two? And now, day three….

The Good The Bad & The Queen @ Primavera Sound 2007 (CRED)
PRimavera Sound 2007

The Good the Bad and the Queen (or the band with no name): The first few hours of Saturday’s Primavera were uneventful for me. I got there later than I wanted to, and only saw the last song of Ted Leo’s set. I was thoroughly unimpressed by both the Long Blondes and Architecture in Helsinki, and chilled in the back for Patti Smith.

The Good, the Bad and the Queen was the first concert in which I had high expectations. I haven’t heard the album, but I mean come on – with all the talent in that band I’d be an idiot not to check it out. Unfortunately it was a disappointment. A mere two days after the concert, the only thing that stands out in my mind is how badass bassist Paul Simonon looked hopping around in his suit, smoking cigarettes with no hands, and chugging whiskey like it was Kool-Aid. I guess an apt analogy would be seeing the Dream Team in a free throw shooting contest. Damon Albarn’s songs did absolutely nothing for me, and drummer Tony Allen and guitarist Simon Tong were completely under utilized. Everyone else in the crowd seemed to be pretty into it though.

Sonic Youth @ Primavera Sound 2007 (CRED)
PRimavera Sound 2007

Sonic Youth: Daydream Nation! I must confess that my overall Sonic Youth expertise is not that great. I had only heard Daydream Nation a couple of times in passing, but I mean everyone loves that album, and it was the first time ever that they performed it from beginning to end. They went on at 11:35 which meant I’d have to miss most of Hot Chip who were going on at 12. I made the right decision – the album rocked live! They mentioned several times that they hadn’t played many of the songs in seventeen years, but I thought they sounded incredible. The band was just so incredibly tight. Thurston Moore and the drummer absolutely blew me away. I forgot how experimental, yet melodic that album is. They’re performing the album again at McCarren Park Pool in July, and I would encourage all of you to cough up the 34 dollars or whatever it is and go. You won’t be disappointed. They played a second, shorter set of newer material, but I had to skip that to check out the Buzzcocks.

The Buzzcocks @ Primavera Sound 2007 (CRED)
PRimavera Sound 2007

The Buzzcocks: My biggest conflict of the festival was between the Buzzcocks and Grizzly Bear. As much as I love Yellow House, the Buzzcocks are legends. I simply could not miss the opportunity to see them live, even if there are only two original members in the band. This was possibly the best show of the festival. They look like old men now, but who cares? They still know how to rock with the best of them. I was up front eagerly awaiting the first song, and as soon as the first notes were played, a gigantic moshpit erupted all around me. When they came out for the encore, Steve Diggle was clearly wasted. He told all of us to, “Stop watching MTV, it’s killing your minds!” about ten times. It was the last show of their tour, they were thrilled to be there, and the audience was ecstatic to be watching them. At the end of the show, nearly everyone that had been shoving me around like a pin ball, put their arm around me or gave me a high five. What a great time. Highlights included “Orgasm Addict,” “What Do I Get,” “Autonomy,” and “Ever Fallen in Love.”

Editor’s Note: While Evan was moshing to the Buzzcocks, Zach from Beirut was busy jumping up and down on stage with Grizzly Bear

Wilco @ Primavera Sound 2007 (CRED)
PRimavera Sound 2007

Wilco: My Primavera experience ended satisfyingly with Wilco, though I was a bit disappointed. The new songs sounded great live, and the band certainly has the best musicians that they’ve ever had. Guitarist Nels Cline plays the pedal steel like a Nashville veteran. Glen Kotche is one of the best drummers around. The band on any given song is able to take a number of noisy, avant-garde detours and still get back to the main melody of the song that they are playing in a heartbeat. I guess my biggest complaints are with the song selections. No “Heavy Metal Drummer,” only a couple of songs off of Summer Teeth, and nothing off of Being There. The set was pretty much an exact replica of the one I saw them play at Lollapalooza last summer. Jeff Tweedy is a masterful songwriter, and Wilco are still one of the best bands around, but you get the feeling that they are slipping into complacency a little bit. And that would be a terrible thing. Still though, there’s nothing wrong with watching adventurous musicians do what they do best. Highlights include “A Shot in the Arm,” “Jesus Etc.” “I’m the Man Who Loves You,” “Via Chicago,” and “Shake it Off.”

Primavera Sound 2007 (CRED)
PRimavera Sound 2007

Overall, Primavera Sound was an amazing festival. I saw just twelve bands out of the twenty or thirty that I wanted to see. That’s a testament to what a great job the organizers did. They know what the hipsters want to hear. Of course there were flaws (the most glaring one being the sound problems on the ATP stage), but anytime you have this many great bands in one place it’s going to be mostly spectacular. If they keep putting lineups together like this one, I’ll be heading back very soon.

Editor’s Note again: Though Evan did catch Daydream Nation, he missed Slint play Spiderland on the first day of the festival. Videos below….

Slint live @ Primavera Sound (Barcelona 07)

slint live – primavera sound 2007 barcelona

Slint is also doing it at Webster Hall.

Thanks Evan!

Previously
* 2007 Primavera Sound Festival – day two (Saturday June 1)
* 2007 Primavera Sound Festival – day one (Friday May 31)