Christopher BarrettThe promoter of multi-site music festival Primavera Sound has announced that it will not stage the event again in Madrid next year after its launch in the city this year saw the first day (8 June) cancelled due to adverse weather.
The festival has taken place in Barcelona since 2001 and in Porto from 2014, it has since been rolled out to other international cities including Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Bogotá and Asunción.
In a statement the promoter said, “Although both the city of Madrid and the whole region welcomed us with open arms, with a warmth that was mirrored in the institutions, the cultural agents and of course the audience, the external difficulties that the festival had to face in the final stretch of the pre-production gave rise to one of the most complicated events that Primavera Sound has ever had to face. And today, in the run-up to 2024, the city does not have a site able to host an event of this magnitude and format in terms of audience demands, production requirements and musical show.”
Primavera Sound director Alfonso Lanza said the company will continue to explore the possibility of holding a Primavera Sound in Madrid and is maintaining a continuous and constructive dialogue with the institutions of the city: “The determination to continue this relationship by all the parties involved exists, and the relationship with the city, which has existed for a long time, has only grown closer over the last few months. The thing is that, right now, there are no guarantees that it will be possible to organise a festival in 2024 that meets the quality standards that Primavera Sound is used to offering. It has been a first edition from which we have learned many lessons and we don’t want to ignore them for the future”.