Has anyone been to the Primavera Sound Festival or been in Barcelona while it's been going on? I've just learned that it will be going on during the dates I am considering for a Barcelona visit. I'm curious what it's like, the type of people it tends to attract (teenagers/young adults/middle age? local versus tourist? etc.), and its impact on the city (i.e. is there a big influx of people making it tough to find lodging, or is it mostly people who come for the day?). I've found some festivals in other European cities to be a wonderful opportunity to experience local culture. On the other hand, my hometown (Milwaukee) hosts a big summer music festival each year, and I've never been a big fan of the hordes of drunk teenagers it attracts. Thanks in advance for any input!
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Barcelona (Catalonia)
2942 posts
Barcelona is a big city, no individual event clogs the city. Quite a few of them are hosted throughout the year, often concurrently, from concerts to arts festivals, sports events, business congresses, etc.... and live goes on as usual for the rest of the city. Regarding accomodation, only during the Mobile World Congress in Feb and perhaps during La Mercè in Sept it can become a bit of a problem as on each occasion over 100.000 visitors flock into the city in a very short space of time. While some specific weeks, especially in July-August, the presence of tourism is particularly "noted" in certain areas of the city, the rest of the year it's not that much, after all, we locals "win in numbers" :)
As per Primavera Sound, it's a festival celebrated over five days full of concerts all day long, simultaneously in different scenarios by the Parc of the Forum, next to the seafront. The line-up for next year is quite impressive and it caters a variety of 'genres' so to speak, each one with its own crowd which ranges from teens to families with kids. Thus, I wouldn't categorise the festival as attracting this or that, that'll depend on the concert. You'll find many locals and many visitors from all over Europe, some coming especially for this event. Last year's edition had over 190.000 attendees in all. This infographic about the history of the festival might help you to picture a bit more the sort of festival this is. As per 'drunks teenagers', again, I guess one can't escape that in any concert, isn't it?... but thankfully it's a small minority.
These are some of the major music and arts festivals across the year in Barcelona.
Enjoy