Originally intended to premiere in the fall of 2020, the festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizers will honor tickets purchased for the 2020 edition. It is now scheduled to take place between September 16th-18th, 2022 at the Los Angeles State Historic Park.

Primavera Sound got its start in Barcelona in 2001 and normally takes place between the end of May and the beginning of June. Its first iteration drew about 8,000 attendees. Attendance has grown exponentially since then, with its 2019 edition attracting 220,000 attendees.

Due to its success, the festival expanded to the Portuguese city of Porto under the name NOS Primavera Sound in 2012. On top of expanding into Los Angeles, it will have a counterpart in Santiago de Chile.

The festival covers a wide variety of musical genres ranging from pop, rock, indie, and electronic/underground music. While the entire lineup has not been announced yet, artists such as Bicep, SHYGIRL and Pinkpantheress are slated to perform.

As of this writing, all public events in Los Angeles require proof of vaccination from attendees. Indoor events require attendees to wear masks. Outdoor events, such as Primavera Sound, do not require masks.

The 2020 and 2021 editions of the festival were canceled due to COVID-19. The Primavera team had shared in March that emergency health measures would prevent them from adhering to the production timeline necessary for this year’s event to take place as planned.

Attendees of the 2022 event can pick from a broad range of genres, from indie rock to electro, across 16 stages on Barcelona’s coast. The lineup includes Beck, Bicep, DJ Shadow, Gorillaz, Mogwai, Nicola Cruz, and many more.

Ticket bundles for either or both weekends as well as day tickets can be purchased. Ticket holders of the postponed editions of this and last year have the chance to keep their tickets for 2022. 

Primavera Sound is an open-air festival located in Barcelona. The gathering first took place in 2001 at the open-air museum Poble Espanyo with acts like Armand Van Helden and Faze Action. 

In 2005 the festival moved to the then newly built Parc del Fòrum. From 2010 onwards, over 100,000 people attended each year. Since 2012, a partner festival in Porto, Portugal has taken place annually.  To promote gender equality, the festival has been booking about 50% female artists since 2019.

Tickets and additional information can be found on the event website, PrimaveraSound.com.

In a statement shared on social media, the Primavera team noted that emergency guidances would prevent them from adhering to the necessary production timeline. “We have tried everything, but we have now made this very painful decision due to the uncertainty surrounding the legal framework for large events,” they wrote, explaining that “we cannot work normally on the preparation of the festival nor ensure that, once the date arrives, it can be celebrated.”

We will dance together in 2022 pic.twitter.com/Nk8t3iQban

— NOS Primavera Sound (@nos_primavera) March 2, 2021

The statement said that 2021 tickets will remain valid for the 2022 edition, but ticket holders will also have the option to request a refund starting June 2nd.

2020 would have marked the 20th anniversary of Primavera Sound, which originally took place at Poble Espanyol before relocating to the Parc del Fòrum in 2005. Its 2021 cancellation follows those of Glastonbury, Movement Electronic Music Festival and Ultra Music Festival, all of which also previously pulled out of their 2020 events.

Primavera’s organizers attempted to give would-be attendees hope for the 2022 edition. “We owe you the best edition of Primavera Sound, and we are already working on it,” they wrote.

Put together by Primavera Sound, the Fight AIDS Foundation, and the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital, the study found that no participant contracted COVID-19 from the test event according to a screening performed eight days later. The participants were broken down into two groups: one permitted into the event and another not allowed in so that they could be used as a control group.

In addition to the aforementioned testing, all participants were required to wear an N95 mask during the event and were told to only remove it when consuming a beverage. The five-hour event was also organized in such a way that reduced lines in the bathroom and bar areas. No restrictions on social distancing, dancing, or singing were put in place, however.

These findings led researchers to declare that live music events with rapid testing and health guidelines will not increase the spread of COVID-19. “Therefore, attending a live music concert staged with a series of security measures that included a negative antigen test for SARS-CoV-2 done on the same day, was not associated with an increase in COVID-19 infections,” reads a passage of the conclusion.

Limitations of the Sala Apolo Study

While a promising sign for the future of the live music industry, some have aired concerns over its replication outside of a clinical study. One can’t help but question if adherence to the health and safety rules will be followed as closely by the average concertgoer as their test event counterpart. Another limitation includes the potential for false negatives in a rapid test.

As shared by Harvard’s Health Blog, “False negative results tend to occur more often with antigen tests than with molecular tests.” This could create a situation where one infected with the virus tests negative and still gains entry to the event.

The complete results of the Primavera Sound-powered study on COVID-19 transmission during live music events can be found on their website.

Image credit: Long Truong

Originally scheduled to run from June 3rd-7th, the festival would have marked the 20th anniversary of the event. “In the face of the evolution of the COVID-19 health crisis, we find ourselves obliged to postpone the next edition of Primavera Sound Barcelona, for reasons of force majeure, until next year: from June 2nd-6th, 2021,” reads a statement. “We are devastated and are terribly sorry for the inconvenience caused, but the health and well-being of our festivalgoers and all of the people involved in the festival has always been and is still our absolute priority.”

 

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We will dance together again. Thank you so much for your support.

A post shared by Primavera Sound (@primavera_sound) on May 11, 2020 at 7:03am PDT

Sound of Spring

As far back as its 2001 debut, Primavera sound has billed no shortage of dance music talent. In addition to superstars like Armand Van Helden, the inaugural event saw performances by the likes of Carl Craig, DJ Godfather and Yasuharu Konishi.

Originally held in the Poble Espanyol, the festival relocated to the Parc del Fòrum in 2005. In the years since, offshoot events have taken place in Catalunya, Spain as well as Porto, Portugal.

Primavera Sound’s organizers have announced that ticket holders will be able to request a refund on June 3rd or keep their tickets, which will remain valid for the 2021 event.