Guitarricadelafuente certifies to Primavera Sound its idyll with Barcelona

BarcelonaThe concert that opens Primavera Sound is usually a nod from the festival to a local artist. If last year it was Llum who broke the ice, this year it was Ouineta who was in charge of sounding the first notes of Wednesday's session, also free as a gesture to the city. The singer, dancer, and choreographer defended her danceable pop with urban touches in front of an audience of fans – mostly female – who sang the songs by heart, which suggests that this first performance is not so much a vehicle to make herself known to the international audience as a way to celebrate that the Catalan scene, even if at the ungodly hour of mid-afternoon, exists. The highlight of her performance was when Mushkaa appeared to sing Nois" together. 

Yard Act took over from Leeds, in front of an audience that suddenly had two decades more average age than half an hour before. Worthy heirs of The Fall – no easy task – the band presented their third album You’re gonna need a little music, which will be released on July 17. True to the motto of looking forward, they didn't dwell much on their past catalog but focused on offering new tracks, more pissed off and with distorted guitar in a closer plane (although the group's talkative leader, James Smith, insists that in these times of maximalists they wanted to make an album about the gray area). The band sounded incredibly tight and devilish thanks to the contrast between Ryan Needham's deep, patterned bass and Sam Shipstone's crazy guitar lines. The The trench coat museum" at the end, an extended and unbridled version, set the bar extremely high.

Then came Guitarricadelafuente, with an imaginative scenography featuring copper sheets in the background, gymnastic rings, a vaulting horse, and a mud pit where he really rolled around. Freshly returned from Cannes – he debuted as an actor starring in La bola negra, by Los Javis–, he offered an intelligent show, which skillfully escalated the intimate themes of that guy who became known on Instagram to a festival format, with a solid band in the background to give weight to the songs. He won over the audience from the first notes of Full time papi, he presented the songs in Catalan and thanked Barcelona for having welcomed him five years ago. His command of Generation Z aesthetics was evident because he performed for both the front rows and the mobile cameras that followed him closely, to project him onto the giant screens. Babieca!, Guantanamera, or Caballito were among the most celebrated. And also a video message sent by his friend and accomplice Bad Gyal.

Dessert was served by Wet Leg. Singer Rhian Teasdale has been gaining muscle and is one of the faces (and biceps) of female empowerment in rock. In parallel, her music has also gained more consistency. On stage, playful tracks like Catch these fists or Wet dream showed that they are not the one hit wonder that the great success of their debut single Chaise longue might have suggested.