Look for yourself in the Primavera Sound 2023 line-up… and find yourself. Because we assure you that you are there. After twenty editions, the festival is the mirror in which the community that will come from near and far to Barcelona and for the first time to Madrid next June looks at itself and recognises itself, but after everything it has experienced, this reflection goes in two directions, marking the richest musical itinerary we can think of: Primavera Sound also looks for and finds itself in its own audience. The learning is therefore twofold, just like the venues where a line-up will be deployed in which everything matters, full of surprises and at the same time familiar, recently revealed in an ad presented by Cupra. The Parc del Fòrum, from the 1st to the 3rd of June, and the Ciudad del Rock in Arganda del Rey, from the 8th to the 10th of June, will host the main days of Primavera Sound 2023 in two cities that will also mirror each other on two consecutive weekends. Wherever, however, I’ll be your mirror.

In total there will be over 200 performances in each city, including both welcome and closing days and of course the programme of Primavera a la Ciutat, one of the emblems of the urban festival format that will bring some of the most exciting sounds of today to different venues and concert halls in Barcelona and Madrid. A shared line-up shared 620 kilometers apart, with a few small exceptions, which once again finds the non-negotiable gender balance: the parity in the line-up of artists once again connects Primavera Sound with the real world without jeopardizing the artistic offer, which is so considerable that we will definitely need the seven months we still have ahead of us to discover every detail. Two festivals that are one and in reality, are infinite.

This plurality, this diversity that is so Primavera Sound, also extends to the strictly musical side and offers impossible combinations wherever you look. Punk and k-pop, reggaeton and metal, techno and salsa will coexist in an event to celebrate music in all its forms in the hands of big names, long-awaited comebacks, brand new revelations and living legends. Yesterday, today and tomorrow converge in a line-up that at first glance brings back the brilliance of hip-hop supernova KENDRICK LAMAR, BLUR’S chest of Brit anthems, ROSALÍA on her homecoming as a global phenomenon, the pop versatility of HALSEY, the fascinating mystery of every encounter with FKA TWIGS, SKRILLEX and his blender of beats for the club, the captivating ST. VINCENT, the resurrection of THE MOLDY PEACHES, the undeniable hitmaking skill of CALVIN HARRIS, and LE TIGRE’S return to the fray. Also, of course, DEPECHE MODE: the first confirmed for Primavera Sound Barcelona and Madrid will arrive at the festival in their stage comeback after five years.

But there is more, much, much more. Each name, however small it may seem, has been chosen to add value to the whole. And the reflection that Primavera Sound 2023 projects has multiple forms, perhaps more than ever in the history of the festival. The hardcore for the masses of TURNSTILE, the expansive rap of BABY KEEM and the unlimited groove of NXWORRIES (the union of Anderson .Paak and Knxwledge) also shine in a collection of sounds that also includes avant-garde references like JOHN CALE and LAURIE ANDERSON and disciples like YVES TUMOR and JOCKSTRAP. The reunions of KARATE and BE YOUR OWN PET to expand their cult history and new indie royalty personified by ALEX G, ALVVAYS and JULIA JACKLIN. The excess of MÅNESKIN and Japan’s PERFUME and the solemnity of MY MORNING JACKET and GABRIELS. The partying of CHANNEL TRES and DAPHNI and the solitude of JULIA HOLTER and ARLO PARKS. The thunder of SWANS and DEATH GRIPS as the perfect contrast to the finesse of DARKSIDE and BETH ORTON. The punk manual that BAD RELIGION and OFF! continue to rewrite and those new ways of being punk that YUNG LEAN, JPEGMAFIA and VILLANO ANTILLANO have taught us. A ticket back to the 90s in the company of COME and BUILT TO SPILL and the visa to the future that PINKPANTHERESS and FLOWEROVLOVE give us. A trip around the pop planet guided by the Koreans RED VELVET, the Nigerian artist REMA, the Dominican rapper TOKISCHA and the French singer CHRISTINE AND THE QUEENS. And don’t worry if you can’t find your way out: the Primavera Sound 2023 line-up is a labyrinth of mirrors in which the best thing you can do is get lost in order to find new musical obsessions.

If this is about looking at and seeing ourselves, about recognising ourselves, no sensation is as familiar as scanning the line-up and finding SHELLAC once again this year, the best mirror in which to look at ourselves, symbols of a festival who are fully aware of their history but always ready to generate new classics. FRED AGAIN.. after his double triumph in 2022, PUSHA T wearing the well-deserved rap crown, the cinematic SPARKS, the pop nymph CAROLINE POLACHEK, Julian Casablancas surfing the new wave of THE VOIDZ, KELELA leading another expedition to the dark side of R&B, the electronic genius of FOUR TET: they all return to the festival to immortalize new key moments in their respective careers and to mark the path to follow for the newcomers. Contemporary pop acts? The BLEACHERS of the multi-talented Jack Antonoff, the handcrafted choruses of JAPANESE BREAKFAST and the all-round talent of SUDAN ARCHIVES. Maestros? Nuyorican EDDIE PALMIERI certainly deserves a welcome with full honors. Urban idols? MORA and TRUENO at the peak of the genre. More dancing? CHARLOTTE DE WITTE and NIA ARCHIVES will get the party going. Extreme challenges? Those proposed, each in their own way, by SOUL GLO and BRUTALISMUS 3000. Part of the history of Primavera Sound is already contained in each and every one of the artists who make up a dazzling line-up.