After the two-weekend format introduced last year, the festival went back to the usual three-day format in the city, but held in parallel with the festival held in Madrid with similar lineup a week later.
The main festival was supported by shows under the Primavera a la Ciutat banner, which took place in various different concert venues and clubs in downtown Barcelona, featuring performances by Pet Shop Boys, Loyle Carner, black midi, The Comet Is Coming and others. The "Welcome Day" was held on 31 May and featured performances by Pet Shop Boys and Jake Bugg, among others. Meanwhile, the closing Brunch on the Beach party was held on 4 June and featured performances by Purple Disco Machine and Diplo, among others.
Background
The 2023 festival date was announced on 29 November 2022, alongside its lineup announcement. Billed as "I'll Be Your Mirror", the festival was set to be held in two cities, Barcelona and Madrid during the two weekends.[2] On 7 March, New Order was announced as the final festival headliner.[3]
During the festival's free opening night on 31 May, a 57-year old Scottish man was killed by a tram outside Parc del Fòrum after the Pet Shop Boys' performance.[5]
Blur performed their UK number-one single "Country House" for the first time since 2015 and the B-side "Luminous" for the first time since 1999.[6]
On Friday 2 June, Skrillex's set was disrupted because the stage caught fire as he performed.[7]
On Saturday 3 June, the Ron Brugal stage suffered from sound problems. Kelela's set was halted for 10 minutes and ultimately cut short as her microphone suddenly cut out. The delay resulted in Måneskin's set on the neighboring Amazon Music stage also running past its scheduled end time. As a result, Death Grips could not take the Ron Brugal stage on time, and Death Grips fans began to boo Måneskin for continuing to perform overtime and delaying the Death Grips set.[8]
Prior to performing their final song "Bull Believer" on Saturday, Wednesday lead singer Karly Hartzman criticised Jeff Bezos and Amazon while performing on the Amazon Music stage, dedicating the song to "any warehouse workers who have ever been mistreated."[9]
Ticket preferences shifted with the previous ratio of 90% full festival tickets to 10% day tickets reversing in both editions. This change in trend was linked to the rising prices of tickets, flights, and accommodation.[10] Barcelona experienced a decrease in foreign attendees from 70% to 52%, mainly among British visitors, which was attributed to the impact of Brexit and increased costs.[11][12]
Madrid
This year was the inaugural edition held in Madrid exactly a week after Barcelona with nearly identical lineups. The grounds were held at the Ciudad del Rock, outside Madrid's Arganda del Rey municipality. However, the festival was cancelled entirely on Thursday as a result of weather concerns, which was announced a day prior. Blur performed a makeup show at the La Riviera club (capacity: 2,000), while Yard Act and Off! organized a show at the Wurlitzer Ballroom.[13][14][15]
The festival faced a mobility challenge, especially on June 9, when traffic jams at the entrances led to a 45-minute delay in Depeche Mode's concert. Limited parking, half of which was unusable due to prior rains, contributed to these issues. There were rumors of widespread distribution of gifted tickets to meet the target of 50,000 daily attendees, though organizers denied any unusual practices without disclosing exact numbers.[16]
Death Grips pulled out of their Saturday set at the last minute, citing an illness.[17]
The organizers noted that 38% of the attendees came from foreign countries, and in Madrid, there was a higher representation of Latin American attendees compared to Barcelona, which they attributed to Madrid being a more accessible and direct destination.[12]
On 22 July 2023, Primavera Sound announced that it would not be returning to Madrid in 2024, stating: "the expectations we had were not fulfilled and the experience of the festivalgoers due to several logistical aspects was not the desired one. Inside the Ciudad del Rock, we experienced a festival full of great musical moments, but we are not oblivious to the annoyances. And that leads us to understand that, now, the conditions are not right for Madrid to have a Primavera Sound as it deserves in 2024."[18]
