Primavera Sound Madrid will not take place in 2024

There will be no 2024 version of Primavera Sound Madrid. The organization of the festival decided to allow the next year to pass, although it does not rule out a return to the capital in the future. “We have looked at it a lot and at the moment there is no space in Madrid that meets all the conditions to celebrate the 2024 edition. But we continue to actively search, we keep our office in Madrid and we are in contact with both the community and the city council in search of alternatives. We do not rule out celebrating it in 2025,” Alfonso Lanza, co-director of the parent edition, the one in Barcelona, ​​tells this newspaper by phone.

The Madrid edition of Primavera Sound held its first edition last June in the City of Rock, in Arganda del Rey, 37 kilometers from the center of Madrid. It was a rough start, as he was there To comment the first day (June 8) due to the continuing rains unloaded on the capital. The other two days (June 9 and 10) were held with Serious movement problems Especially during peak times. Certainly the moments of greatest chaos arrived on Friday 9 (about 40,000 people showed up) to see Depeche Mode (two hours pass by bus from Metropolitan Stadium in a journey of about 35 minutes) and left on Saturday 10 (48,000 spectators bought tickets), after the concerts of Rosalía and Bad Gyal, with people who waited up to three hours to take a gala from the festival.

Alfonso Lanza confirms that Primavera Sound will not return to Arganda del Rey: “The experience indoors was great, but the place has an obvious problem of access, and it also proved that it could not withstand constant rain. Of the 40 days of pre-production, it rained 35 causing all the bus and car spaces to be flooded and the navigation plan was not the plan we originally planned. Good dimensions: If it is possible to use a Car parking I think it would have worked, but we won’t know that anymore. After this experience we can’t risk it.” In addition to the climatic differences, the festival’s co-director also posits that the A3 and R3 “need better access”. It’s complicated.”

There are eleven months left for what will be the 2024 edition and one would think that is enough time to look for another site. The organizers point out that the main titles are appointed more than a year in advance, so it is not possible to continue if the venue is not clear. “We will continue to study the possibility of holding Primavera Sound in Madrid because we maintain a continuous and constructive dialogue with the city’s institutions. The will to continue this relationship is present on the part of all parties involved, and the relationship with the city, which has already come from afar, has only strengthened in recent months”. Of course, the festival does not want to change its ideology to adapt to other spaces. In other words, foregoing the 12-stage “Bill Depth” and shortening a schedule that lasts until six in the morning. But they assume that the space they need that does not generate neighborhood problems does not exist in Madrid. There are other places, like IFEMA (near Barajas) or where Mad Cool was held this year (between Villaverde and Getafe), but they realize that their project is ambitious and they don’t want to give up the “Primavera Sound Experience”.

The co-director sees a way out in designing a new venue. “I know that the Madrid institutions want to find a suitable place. We have offered, with the experience we have for 20 years, to help them with the design. It is under consideration,” says Laza.

This news culminates in a black week for music festivals in Madrid. Wednesday The City Council suspended the Reggaeton Beach Festival due to security issues. which was to take place this weekend in Mad Cool space (Villaverde); And DCode, On September 9 at Ciudad Universitaria Complutense, he announced that he had been cancelled, this time because he could not headline replacing Lewis Capaldi, who had suspended his tour in June due to health issues. After this year’s experience, the capital continues to be a hostile territory for massive festivals.

All the culture that goes with you is waiting for you here.

Participate

papilla

Literary novelties analyzed by the best critics in our weekly newsletter

receive it