Primavera Sound's Free Programming Will Fill Barcelona With Live Music For A Whole Month

Primavera als Bars will program live performances in small venues, while Primavera als Barris will turn the community and cultural centres of Vila de Gràcia, El Clot, Baró de Viver and Sant Adrià de Besòs into festival stages

The central Raval neighbourhood consolidates its role as the second headquarters of Primavera Sound and ideal counterpoint to the activities in the Parc del Fòrum

Barcelona will soon be flooded by a vast number of musical offerings that will spread through the city during seventeenth edition of Primavera Sound, not only at the Parc del Fòrum site, but across in the Catalan capital. The doors of fifteen bars, restaurants, hotels, community and cultural centres will be open for all those who wish to attend the wide variety of live performances that will take place throughout the month of May as part of Primavera a la Ciutat, the name under which, as every year, the free activities of the festival are included.

The seventh edition of Primavera als Bars, which will once again have the vital support of Heineken, will be the starting signal. From 3rd to 24th May, a total of eleven emerging artists and bands will present their projects in small format venues that are not usually featured on the live music circuit but will become stages on which these promising local artists can be seen. The shows will primarily be by Barcelona bands, although there are also bands from other areas of Catalonia, Spain and even Europe. Acts include the punk Belgian band Cocaine Piss, the multi-talented French crooner Ryder The Eagle, Jazz (Yago Alcover's, formerly in Mujeres, new band), elegant and sensitive pop from Silent James, classicism with hints of Britpop by The Harlock, a fun walk through the 80s with Papá Topo, the atmospheric rock of Aldrin y Collins, experimental folk by All Indians No Chief, indie rock courtesy of Belushi, Mediterranean airs from the Mallorca duo Donallop and lo-fi tunes from Regalim.

Also, the third edition of Primavera als Barris will kick off on 4th May and will be repeated every Thursday until the 25th of the month. The Espai Jove La Fontana, the Centre Cultural La Farinera del Clot, the Centre Cívic Baró de Viver and the Espai Cultural Font de la Mina in Sant Adrià de Besòs, will host eleven free concerts. Primavera als Barris strives to give visibility to up-and-coming local talent and engage the local neighbourhoods. In harmony with Primavera Sound's stylistic criteria, the post anthems of Retirada!, trap from the founder of Kefta Boys ELMINI, elaborate compositions by Evripidis together with his Tragedies and melancholic pop by Neleonard lead the program. They will be joined by the unadulterated pop from The Crab Apples, the rock with hints of emo by Keems, garage sounds from No Crafts, Bolga's echoes of postrock and shoegaze, the popular vàlius with Carlota Serrahima, Angela (a project by Víctor López from Redthread) and hip hop from DirtyPorko & Crie930 who will show that the scenes of these two towns have a lot to say.

For the second consecutive year, Primavera al Raval will take over the heart of the city thanks to its new alliance with SEAT, the Barcelona automotive company. In the first weekend of June, over 70 free concerts will be held during the daytime and in parallel to the activities in the Parc del Fòrum on three stages located in the emblematic Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB).

The concerts that draw the larger crowds will be outdoors in plaça Joan Coromines, on the SEAT stage, while the more intimate format concerts will be held in the Sala Teatre del CCCB. The music industry meeting Primavera Pro will once again have its own showcase stage in the Pati de les Dones, where there will be performances by artists coming from Brazil, Chile, South Korea, Australia, Peru, Austria, South Africa, Luxembourg, Taiwan and Italy, without forgetting national representatives from Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencia. While on the other hand, On-Screen will explore the links between music and audio-visuals. Attendees will have the opportunity to listen to Bill Drummond, who will present his documentary "Imagine Waking Up Tomorrow and All Music Has Disappeared", Geoff Barrow from Portishead and the composer Ben Salisbury, who will show their ten favourite audio-visual excerpts, as well as a round table in homage to the journalist Paloma Chamorro and the lasting mark left by her programme La Edad de Oro.

Primavera Sound thus asserts its commitment to bringing live music to all types of audience and to giving greater visibility to the dynamic cultural fabric of the city, by supplying all the people of Barcelona with a multitude of cultural events that have been conceived for them to enjoy the festival in all its dimensions.

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