Primavera Sound on bringing the festival from Barcelona to Los Angeles: “The cities might be different but the vibes are shared”

nme.com:

NME about the challenges they faced as they brought the Mediterranean festival statesideAlfonso Lanza, co-director of Primavera Sound, has spoken with NME about bringing the Barcelona music festival stateside, the biggest challenges they faced coordinating the festival in the US, and what he’s most excited about for Primavera’s first Los Angeles edition.Primavera first announced they’d be bringing the festival from Spain to the US back in 2019.

However, both the 2020 and 2021 festivals were cancelled due to coronavirus-enforced restrictions. Finally, last weekend (September 16 – 18), the festival made its Los Angeles debut, with Arctic Monkeys, Nine Inch Nails, and Lorde topping the bill.“Los Angeles opens the doors to a whole new season abroad,” Lanza told NME. “We’re really looking forward to a special year.”Though this is the first time the Mediterranean festival has made its way to the states, the team behind Primavera have continued to expand the festival, since its start in Barcelona back in 2001.

Following more than a decade of success, the festival expanded to Porto in 2012 and has continued to launch new editions in Santiago, São Paulo, and Buenos Aires.When asked why he wanted to replicate the festival in Los Angeles, instead of other mainstay music festival locations like Chicago, New York, and even Texas, Lanza said that Los Angeles was “the heart of the music industry.”“Although we had other possible cities in the US to locate Primavera Sound, there is something about LA that makes us think it has a similar vibe to Barcelona,” he said. “The proximity to the sea, the character of the people, the passion for music, this is also what we’ve always believed about Porto.”Lanza added: “The cities might be.