Saturday 30/05/09 Primavera Sound Festival, Day Three @ Parc Del Forum, Barcelona

Saturday saw us traipsing around Barcelona searching for a pub to watch the FA Cup Final in before settling on the Black Horse just near Parc Ciutadella – a pub which had earlier in the week shown the Championship play off final; that’s dedication. Good match. Solid football played by both, but Chelsea had the quality to hold off Everton’s opportunism. Rock Music.

As we get in we are treated to the countrified croonings of Minnesota’s The Jayhawks. They play quite standard country rock of about 20 years ago, for what feels like ages. It’s inoffensive stuff, and perhaps the perhaps the perfect lead up to the big guy, Neil Young, on the same stage.

But before Neil can put everything on hold, there’s time for Herman Dune to do his thing over on the Rockdelux. David-Ivar certainly delivered a happy set of French joy. Stand out track I Wish That I could See You Soon had everybody dancing and smiling like only a simple love song can. Also it was hard to ignore how much the drummer looked like Leonardo DiCaprio in The Aviator.

Then it was time for Mr. Neil Young and everything stopped. Between nine o’clock and ten thirty there was nothing else. Everyone in the whole festival was watching Neil do his thing on the Estrella Damm stage. It was quite a feeling. There he is – the silver haired king of rock music. This is what the people want. Just glance around and where before people could wander relatively freely around the site, now they were a mass of people.

Neil said nothing to the crowd, no attempt at Spanish: no attempt at interaction even. Perhaps he’s decided it just isn’t worth it any more, or perhaps he just doesn’t have anything left to say. His voice is still spot on, with that delicate edge making it so soulful when he sing about the trials of life. When he wrote Heart of Gold he wasn’t old… now he literally is getting old, and he’s not going down quietly. Well done Neil.

Far be it for Liars to be upstaged, Angus thanks Neil Young for opening for them and then smashes into a pulsing set. He is like Todd Trainer – all snake hips and clothes that weren’t meant to be on his body (he finishes the set topless with one trouser leg rolled up. The thunderous ‘tribal’ drums are like a paracetamol advert. The vocals are wailed joy. The crowd erupts when they announce “you’re lucky. We haven’t done this for a long time: we’re gonna play one from our very first record.” They don’t give us mr you’re on fire mr, but Grown Men Don’t Fall In The River Just Like That is amazing nonetheless!

So that’s it for Primavera Sound then… and amazing festival it has to be said. Forty thousand people is just right. Six stages is just right. The mix of music is just right. The Spanish weather is absolutely spot on.

Hang on… Sonic Youth are playing? Jesus this is good. Kim Gordon howls while Thurston shakes. Hey Joni and Crème Brulee hit the spot just right, while the big tunes are a little less readily available. From where we are this might as well be the 80s as they look like a bunch of students introducing the world to proper punk rock music. The crowd is awash with smug grins, happy to have been treated to some enormous bands to cap of this fine festival.

Primavera 2009 in photos: