Primavera Sound Madrid 2023 cancels opening day due to “safety reasons”

7 June, 2023

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Primavera Sound Madrid 2023 has cancelled its opening day due to safety reasons amid “severe” weather.

As explained in a statement posted to the festival’s social media pages, the first day (June 8) has been called off “due to the persistent severe weather experienced in recent weeks that have affected the pre-production of the festival and in view of the adverse forecast that is expected for Thursday with heavy storms during the afternoon”.

“Primavera Sound Madrid continues and will open its doors in the Ciudad del Rock in Arganda del Rey on Friday, June 9 and Saturday, June 10,” they added. “We will continue to keep you informed of any new developments through the festival’s official communication channels on the website and social networks. We apologise for any inconvenience this situation may cause and thank you for your support.”

While the opening day at Ciudad del Rock of Arganda del Rey has been cancelled, the performanced planned on June 8 at the Cívitas Metropolitano will go ahead as planned. Due to the weather, the time that doors open has been delayed, making La Paloma unable to perform. Jake Bugg, Confidence Man and Pet Shop Boys will go on as planned.

Day tickets for Thursday June 8 will be valid for Friday or Saturday without the need to do anything. If tickets are not used on either of the two remaining days, once the festival is over, the day ticket will be refunded automatically.

Back in March, Primavera organiser Joan Pons told NME that they decided on launching a sister festival in Madrid due to the venue being “like a dream site” for the event.

He added: “We’d feel kind of silly if we didn’t take advantage of this. It’s probably going to be better than the Barcelona one because it’s built for having festivals. The Barcelona site is lovely, iconic and part of our legacy, but every year we have to adapt it for us.”

The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas at Primavera Sound Barcelona 2022. Credit: Getty

Pons also addressed the many issues of last year’s Primavera festival in Barcelona, which suffered problems relating to bar issues, large queues, overcrowding and access to water on the opening day. By the second day, the festival had responded, citing issues with COVID “casualties” and other logistic matters.

“The thing is that we apologised for the very first day,” said Pons, looking back on the festival. “The behaviour of people once in they’re in the festival can be predictable but is often surprising. Last year it was the first big festival after three years of the pandemic and suddenly, all of the people who had tickets appeared there for the very first time just as we were opening the doors.

“We were like, ‘Wow, that is too many people for this time of the day’. We had some problems with the bars, but we fixed them the very same day. That doesn’t mean we don’t need to apologise – of course, we needed to apologise the second day. If you think about the whole event, it was a 12-day festival with only one day of problems. We are proud of ourselves for being so reactive and listening to people so quickly.”

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