Simon Hunter
THE FIRST-EVER MADRID edition of the Primavera Sound festival was plunged into chaos on Wednesday, as organisers had to cancel concerts scheduled for tonight due to adverse weather conditions in the region. Blur and New Order were among the 60 or so artists due to play to thousands of festival-goers on Thursday night.
The organisers of the event – which is being held in the municipality of Arganda del Rey, some 30 kilometres southeast of the capital – were forced to take drastic action not just because of heavy rain showers in recent days, but also because of the forecast for more downpours on Thursday.
“We had a lot of things in our heads that could happen, but we never thought it would come to this extreme,” the organisers told the Spanish press. “We had no choice.”
The decision to suspend the Thursday program was taken on the advice of the local police in Arganda as well as the recommendations of the technicians involved in the set-up of the event.
Ticket holders will be able to go instead to the festival on Friday or Saturday, and should they not do so, they will receive a full refund.
On Thursday, however, it was still unclear whether the rest of the festival would be able to go ahead without any more hitches given the rainy weather in the Madrid region.
The organisers also announced that Blur would play a concert in La Riviera on Thursday evening. The venue, located in central Madrid, only holds 2,000 people, but festival ticket holders will be able to apply for a chance to see the Britpop band via Accessticket, the app used by organisers for their ticketing system, from 4pm onward.
The DJs who were due to play at the festival on the Boiler Room stage have also been rescheduled, and will be appearing in Madrid nightclub The Bassement. Tickets for that night can also be requested via Accessticket.
This weekend marks the first time that the Primavera Sound festival has come to Madrid. The event began in 2001 in Barcelona, and has been held in the Catalan capital every year since then apart from 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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