The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain, as they say – except on Thursday, between the hours of 8 and 9pm, when it seems to mainly fall on the rock band Geese. “Qué bonita lluvia” (What pretty rain!), drawls Cameron Winter, Geese’s rakish, tracksuit-wearing frontman, as the first drops of water fall on Primavera Sound’s Occident stage. They’re words to be eaten: an hour later, the band are drenched, water pooling on the floor and coating the instruments and musicians. Their set meets the epic ferocity of the conditions: this is an immensely impressive, technically emphatic gig from a young band who justify all hyperbole. But another hour goes by, and Spain’s biggest music festival has been rained into disarray.
Faced with an hours-long downpour and pernicious winds, Primavera’s infrastructure falters. Safety risks mean that many of Thursday’s acts are cancelled, including Mac DeMarco, Spanish singer-songwriter Bad Gyal, and the headliner, Doja Cat. Organisers can’t, of course, be blamed for unexpectedly harsh weather, but communication proves an avoidable problem. Doja Cat announces her own cancellation in a tearful Instagram video; at some point, the festival declares that Massive Attack will perform later than expected, only to then reverse this decision. Kept away from the main stages, hordes of people congest the sheltered areas, unsure whether to pack it in for the night. It feels like there aren’t enough stewards; everyone is complaining. Those acts who do manage to perform – notably French electropop waif Oklou and old-hand eccentric Father John Misty – make a good show of it.
