* Dagger Moth and Last Apollo at Primavera Sound Barcelona 2023 *

gimme a beat with babymonster

Primavera Sound (or simply Primavera) is an annual music festival held in Parc del Fòrum, a park situated directly at the Mediterranean seafront in Barcelona, Spain. The festival takes place between the end of May and the beginning of June, every year since 2001. In addition to the best-known edition in Barcelona, Primavera Sound expanded to other locations as well: since 2012, there is a Primavera Sound Porto Edition; in 2022, the festival hosted its first editions in Los Angeles, Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires and São Paulo. In 2023, for the 1st time, there was an edition in Madrid with nearly the same line-up.

This year Primavera Sound in Barcelona brought together 193,000 festival goers during the 3 main days in a Parc del Fòrum. Compared to the previous years, there were some changes in the layout of stages and the variations in bars and rest areas; This has led to an even more pleasurable experience. Of course, the best part of it is its exciting program.

I've been following Primavera Sound for a while now, for several reasons. Not only that Primavera always had an impressive line-up and it is happening in Barcelona, one of my favourite European towns, but this festival has been a leader in the gender-balanced line-up, not just in Europe but worldwide.

And this, by default, makes Primavera Sound a perfect festival for Gimme A Beat.

It is a bit embarrassing that I waited 21 years to attend Primavera, but the dates just never worked for me. Attending Coachella and then road-tripping for a few weeks after created no space for me to go to another festival immediately after my return to Europe. But, with my interest in Coachella not being in focus anymore, I decided that in 2023 I will be attending Primavera Sound in Barcelona.

Fast forward to the end of May, I packed my festival gear (dancing shoes and my voice recorded) and headed to Barcelona. I was already prepared to be blown away by all the artists I was going to see and I was hoping that everything else would follow.

And this is exactly what happened.

Everything worked perfectly: superb organisation, collaborative weather: sunny but not too warm with a continuous sea breeze; great food, easy-to-move-around festival layout and perfect location. All of this, combined with friendly and energetic festival-goers, local and international crowds excited to be there, created a unique, unforgettable atmosphere.

With an impressive, carefully curated line-up, exploring the *female factor* of Primavera Sound with my Gimme A Beat lenses (or better said sunglasses) was easy. Even before I arrived, I discovered so many, for me, new artists just by studying the program. And I knew that I would see some of my favourite ones that will move me to the core.

The clue that I was in for a great experience was already on the pre-day of the festival, the day I didn't even plan to attend, which magically opened for me in all its Pet Shop Boys glory. I've seen so many great gigs that it was hard to keep this on only a few posts, but here they are for day 1, day 2 and day 3, with the depeche mode awesomeness on day 2. You can also see my reviews via Gimme a Beat Facebook search.

In tonight's show, I will focus on two über talented female artists and great performers: Dagger Moth, the one-woman band from Italy and Last Apollo, an up-and-coming artist from Dublin. Interestingly, even though they are in different stages of their careers, both artists choose solo/independent paths to avoid compromising their art and creativity.

Tune in to Gimme A Beat (19.06.2023) to hear the review of Primavera Sound Barcelona 2023, interviews with Dagger Moth and Last Apollo, combined with the music from their latest releases and selected songs from Kelela, Rosalia, Sudan Archives, Caroline Polachek, Flowerovlove, Sevdaliza, female artists whose festival's performances I loved

Check also the relevant Spotify or Deezer playlist.
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for the info about old shows, please go to previous entries