Computer Age

At dawn, with hard wind up, two friends and you put a server due to the city, are still with the concern that rains could roil our plans as we did in our previous visit, but something told us this time nothing could fail, that the gods were propitious.
In Barcelona we found a wonderful time and a city full of light and lively, with all its people in the streets celebrating the arrival of good weather to hold or perhaps something else that does not reach to guess, with the magical view of the waves breaking in andalusia the beach with the breeze caressing our faces when it was planning to fund three days of rock and roll and try to squeeze the supply of fund Primavera Sound 2004, held another year in the magnificent setting of the Poble Espanyol.
The venue of the festival is organized with four scenarios in the Poble Espanyol, plus two in Mercat de les Flors, the only novelty on the previous year is now the main stage (Nitsa-named Apollo) has been moved to an area More broadly, I hope to overcome the problems of overcrowding in the previous year's popular concert, leaving the rest of the stage with the original provision.
This year has been to use digital identification system last year, a slow, cumbersome and not without flaws and fraud that has undoubtedly contributed to the long queues to enter the compound on Friday.
The main stage is certainly more ugly and more impersonal the Village Square, but it definitely helps to prevent agglomeration and caps which significantly hindered the transit last year in general is to be congratulated on the organization that once had more done a remarkable job.

Thursday 27

Once exchanged our tickets, we set out to meet an appointment before introducing them into the vortex of the festival, the concert offered by the group Wild Milá House, a concert and most intimate secrets in a framework of an incomparable beauty, the group Ernesto Gonzalez and the ruins of Evenless played almost entirely songs that comprise his first and only album, "In Black We Trust", offering a clear view of its best virtues but also its most chronic defects, with some items that shine sometimes at high altitude, showing a large pot of sounds more turbid and obscure American rock songs such as "The Survivor," "Elvis Love U.S." Sorrynonews, but canceling the event emotional impact of other issues to drown in parones endless and unjustifiable that can only be understood in amateur bands, ultimately could be appealed if irregular, and since its first concert (just in the Primavera Sound 2003) direct the band has hardly evolved.

Already back in the area of the festival, we are at our entrance on the stage Rockdelux (the principal amount of the previous edition) to The Good Life interpreted as "What is going to happen?", Although the group Valencia Iranzu have any significant or even any song that has managed to moved at some point in my life, has always seemed to me direct linear, boring and full of cliches that most odious of the indie-pop homeland, so after a few minutes to check that nothing had changed, we diluted the mass for our first beer.

More entonados and was now better placed to see Pretty Girls Make Graves defended on stage songs from the acclaimed "The New Romance," an album that was struck by its freshness and ferocity, the group finally live on the tension remains issues that emerge as "Something bigger, something brighter," "This is our emergency" or "The new romance with a stage set and demolishing an impeccable sound, the group led by Andrea Zollo menuda into its explosive mix of direct hard-core and pop in a devastating performance with the best of tradition Dischord on one side and a melting pot of diverse influences from the other, good musicians and good songs, the best of the festival.
That was all for us that night, what remained was not very good looking and certainly on Friday would be a tough day.

Friday 28

Our intention was to join the festival at 19:30 to see the performance of Dayna Kurtz and problems of access to almost no comment before we succeed, the language was finally arrived at the scene Nasti (one small, covered ) while the U.S. began its September accompanied only by his acoustic guitar and a bass player support. Dayna Kurtz's voice is a true prodigy, a veritable torrent flooded everything, soft and inviting as the best voices and torn black and dark as that of Tom Waits or Mark Lanegan, his music moves by parameters similar to those of cited musicians, songs and exciting cloudy with a view to folk, rock and blues most primitive, highlighted the issues in their own right behind his latest album "Postcards from downtown, one of the most notable last year.

No time to waste, running towards the scene where Apollo-Nitsa The Raveonettes had already started their performance, a performance marked by the deafening noise that Danes were taken out of their guitars, the garage-rock approach of his songs is almost hidden in direct after the wall of distortion that really apply to their wild sound, at times approaching the white noise of The Jesus and Mary Chain or psychotic moments of Sonic Youth, the problem is that songs, which they say songs are few worthwhile, although live thanks to the dramatic presence of Sune Rose Wagner able to mount a reasonably good show.

Without changing scenario was now the turn of Franz Ferdinand, the media phenomenon of the season all that aroused suspicions and reservations imaginable despite (or because of) how good it sounds from his debut album, soon we realized that who had an on-stage band was extremely competent, focused and inspired, even more critical viewers had to pay to be the strength of songs like "Take me out," This fire "or" Michael "with a clear touch ochentero via The Clash, Joy Division and Wire or incendiary certainly a consistent attitude, it seems that the British have finally found the answer I was looking for a Strokes or Interpol.

Without time to reflect on what seen so far, we were back on stage where Nasti Sun Kil Moon began his performance, with minimal training, without battery, the new group Kocelek Mark started his set with "Glenn Tipton," the the fantastic opening theme "Ghosts of the great highway" which was to be an intensive review disc, but the reality was that almost at the end sounded more items from Red House Painters, such as "New Jersey", "Mistress" or "All Mixed Up" which can easily catalog of classics for more than Kocelek insist deformities live up to them unrecognizable, the new band sounds compenetrada and sound and talent of Mark Kocelek no signs of exhaustion yet what action met all expectations.

Again in the big stage that we are no longer moveriamos to attend concerts of the heavyweights of the day: Mudhoney, Pixies and Wilco.
Mudhoney concert offered a powerful and forceful without much punch, it seems that somehow the sound lapsed with the death of Kurt Kobain and punk rock with Ramones is fairly predictable and linear, while classics like "Touch me, I'm sick "continues to shine at high altitude, Mudhoney today seem more a band of circumstances a real bet, with some members more involved in their projects alone in claiming that the position of the group of Seattle as true initiators of everything after Nirvana rentabilizarían.

Came one of the most anticipated moments of the festival, Wilco had never served in our country and among its fans espectación had become almost an obsession, "A Ghost is Born," the new album the band has not yet been published but was concert expected to be based on new songs like they did with a new formation, with many new players, Jeff Tweedy finally climbed onto the stage to the disbelief of the small but select audience that awaited them with a solid and sound surprising mise en scene and a truly impressive Wilco offered what was undoubtedly the concert festival, unreleased songs from the new album as "Theologians," "Spiders" or brutal "I'ma wheel" buy live incalculable dimensions, and cuts that "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" (2003) with wins in hundreds of shades and a superb, went missing perhaps more visits to their classic albums (just sounded "A shot in the arm" of Summerteeth and "One on one of the Mermaid Avenue vol1) but the concert was undoubtedly the final and definitive proof that Wilco have left behind the labels and that they only have to go their own limits still not even guess. Tremendous.

The reunification of the Pixies has been since its first ads surrounded by controversy and doubts, there are those who do not see the need or opportunity for a reunion that may have unintended effects on the legend of the band Boston, so the appointment of Barcelona looked a strange mixture of skepticism and excitement for the first (and only) time in the big festival stage remained small before the almost religious fervor of thousands of fans, Frank Black (or Black Francis) and his arremetieron mercilessly with all their classics, with little pauses sounded themes as "I'm amazed," "Velouria," "Where's my mind," "Come," "Island of love," "Monkey Gone to heaven" or "Debaser" to name but a few. The group maintained at all times a rather cold and distant but sounded compact and compenetrados, in addition to the caliber of the material that can not be too many objections treasure.
Striking that no court interpreting any of that "Trompe le monde" (1992), which was his last studio album.

With almost eight hours to our concert was time to retreat back to deal with some day-winded final.

Saturday 29

On Saturday presented a priori as a quiet day and most minor, but in the end we found a good match to draw the cartel, at 19:30 to enter the grounds to see the concert on stage Devendra Banhart Nasti, musician California stores under the aspect of a vagabond excentrico remarkable talent for building deep melodies songs from demolition, he has been compared with musicians such as Daniel Johnson, Nick Drake or roky Erickson, but the fact is that his unique form of interpretation is located outside any comparison, Barcelona completed a set that will inspire an audience that consistently arengaba more than one correct Castilian accent with Argentine (!!!???), emphasized the themes of his recent album "rejoicing in the hands" lo-fi folk.

Our next move took us to the stage where Rockdelux serving Dominique A, the French musician is sometimes a bit linear and predictable even if his beautiful voice fills compositional limitations, I recognize that "Auguri" (2001) I have lost track, So too do not connect with his new subjects, the language barrier in these cases also is an obstacle, that would still be very foolish not to appreciate the risky bet of the French.

But out of curiosity than anything else we will continue our steps toward the main stage where Liars were offering their performance, and I call it performance or concert performance I think frankly exaggerated, some guys on stage very serious blow to their pedals while affected by gesture Speaker arose about noise cacofónicos hard digestion. Perhaps we arrived at the wrong time, but after waiting some twenty minutes of Amager something that could be called "song" we decided that a beer in the rest of us would be more profitable.
Surely this is something to listen to the album fund; frankly, after what I saw on Saturday were very enthusiastic.

Another blind date, this time to see Willard Grant Conspiracy acting on stage Nasti, this time successful, the U.S. group led by Robert Fisher Orondo has since published 96 records, but are virtually unknown at least in our country rioja his Country-rock is the traditional view that the genre of the performance offered to drive for perfection, some songs really beautiful, vibrant and honest that pulled the most sincere applause of the day, a group that is worth discovering but is too late.

Later, again on the stage were large Elbow theoretically introducing his new album "Cast of Thousands" but the fact is that the concert was based mainly in the great themes of his previous LP "Asleep in the Back", the British band Coldplay and Travis shares his love for the melancholic and epic melodies, the same melodies that make Radiohead what they are today, but the band Guy Garvey has a special edge that separates conveniently group are issues long , dark, full of nuances in his performance of the PS band was compact and concentrated, offering good moments in songs like "Any Day Now" or "Newborn," although it is also true that sometimes the tension is too blurred arrangements slow and cumbersome, even so, if I were to choose a single group of post-Radiohead lot I would be with them without hesitation.

The Hidden Cameras as of yet has painted a lot worse, listed as the new Belle & Sebastian British band gave what was surely the most pathetic concert of all who witnessed the weekend, is that some were affected by an infamous sound throughout much of the action (only heard the casiotone and low), but that should not suffice to justify the real festival nonsense we see on stage, a group that tries unsuccessfully to hide insulsas under tonti-pop melodies and cool posturitas its most obvious gaps that creative and compositional techniques, so bad that even they laugh, almost made good the concert of The Good Life.

Back to the big stage (with less number of people the previous day), it was time for the performance of PJ Harvey, which was presented on stage with a rock band and a very pretty incendiary, records of British always very irregular but always offers a live show remarkable, this time there was little room for experimentation or more subjects in September had his rhythm and a clear development rocker. It is precisely in this kind of issues where the shadow of Patti Smith (who appeared on Friday in Festimad) is projected more about Polly Jean, is an influential and more than evident that even strives to conceal, even with a concert tall.

The concert of The Divine Comedy festival ended our journey, but the fact is that the group was at its lowest level, only in the presence of a bass and keyboard to support the voice and guitar, Neil Hannon, more than enough, the London musician has a repertoire of songs and wanted many of the current luminaries of pop, the latest album of the band, "Absent Friends" contains beautiful themes like "Charmed Life," "Sticks and Stones" and "Come Home Billy Bird" in this is accompanied with classical pieces like "Everybody knows ... Except You" or "Becoming More Like Alfie" intepretado crooner ended with a concert by rounding memorable.
Hannon is one of the most talented musicians from the British Isles, excellent composer, musician and sound with an extremely personal and charismatic voice, the day finally overcome its fixation by Scott Walker itself of a burden that comes from limiting principle throughout his career.

And that was it for us, we would have had time to see some action by Primal Scream, but the exhaustion after three days and its inexorable intensísimos bill passed so why put the final point.
The Primavera Sound 2004 was a very positive and very high level, perhaps a little more than the previous edition decompensated but equally interesting. The new location is a big stage that we must change to value as positive, he was able to minimize the burden of previous editions and also overcome the problems of sound from the previous edition. The festival is now one of the most important in our country, offering an excellent quality, a unique setting and under one of the most beautiful cities in the world.