Monday Jun 16, 2025

* Marta Pallares – Head of Press and Corporate Relations – at Primavera Sound 2025 *

Primavera Sound (commonly referred to as simply Primavera) is an annual music festival with the main location in Parc del Fòrum, a park situated directly at the Mediterranean seafront in Barcelona, Spain. The festival takes place between the end of May and the beginning of June, every year since 2001. In addition to the best-known edition in Barcelona, since 2012, Primavera Sound has expanded to Primavera Sound Porto Edition as well. Before 2025, Primavera Sound festivals were organized in several locations outside of Barcelona and Porto; this year, Primavera Tours are scheduled in Madrid and Barcelona in June, July, and September.

The 2025 edition of Primavera Sound has been an edition of superlatives: maximum attendance with 293,000 visitors and more than 900 journalists from around the world (me included 🌟), people from 136 countries and 311 performances. The main location of the festival is still Parc del Fòrum, but during the whole week, the whole of Barcelona is buzzing, celebrating the festival. There are Primavera a la Ciutat (which means "Primavera in the City" in Catalan) showcases on the iconic venues of Barcelona, as Sala Apolo, Tazzmatazz, and Laut, allowing music to resonate beyond the main locations. And there are many networking opportunities and conferences for the music professionals and as part of the Primavera Pro offering. I attend some of these, but not many. During the day, I love exploring Barcelona, soaking up its unique vibe outside of the festival, and meeting with the local people. And writing daily reviews 😎!

As many of the listeners of Gimme a Beat know, I've been following Primavera Sound for a while now, for several reasons. Not only that Primavera always have an impressive line-up, and it is happening in Barcelona, one of my favourite European towns, but this festival has been a leader in the gender-balanced line-up, and the role model for inclusion and diversity, not just in Europe but worldwide.

And this, by default, makes Primavera Sound a perfect festival for Gimme A Beat.

But it took me a while to start reviewing Primavera. The first time I attended and reviewed the festival was in 2023. I know, I know, it is a bit embarrassing, but I wrote the detailed reasoning in my Primavera Sound 2023 review. This year, I decided to go back, and I was so happy that I did.

Everything worked perfectly: superb organisation, collaborative weather: sunny but not too warm with a continuous sea breeze; great food, easy-to-move-around festival layout, and perfect location. All of this, combined with friendly and energetic festival-goers, local and international crowds excited to be there, created a unique, unforgettable atmosphere.

In addition to this, the Primavera Sound 2025 achieved a unique milestone: their Three Headliners were three women under the age of 35: Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter, and Chapell Roan. This is where the Powerpuff Girls reference is coming from as well, which I thought was a brilliant move, also from the perspective of merch, and this huge Powerpuff Girls statue near the merch stand.

With this and an impressive, carefully curated line-up, exploring the *female factor* of Primavera Sound with my Gimme A Beat lenses (or better said sunglasses) was easy. And I returned with enough materials for two shows!

Didn't I just write that THIS is a perfect festival for Gimme A Beat?!

Even before I arrived, I discovered so many, for me, new artists just by studying the program. And I knew that I would see some of my favourite ones that would move me to the core. And when I got to the official festival, the time seemed to fly by. I would arrive late in the afternoon at the festival ground and leave in the wee morning hours with feet and back pain from all the dancing, standing, and exploring. Still, then tomorrow, as I was recollecting memories and writing a review of the day before, I couldn't wait to go back and do it again.

I've seen many great gigs, but thanks to Instagram being able to host 20 videos per post, I was able to create one post per day, and here they are for day 1, day 2, and day 3. You can also see my reviews via the Gimme a Beat Facebook search.

Two weeks before the festival, I reached out to Marta Pallarès, Head of Press and Corporate Relations at Primavera Sound. I usually only interview female artists – I've never done something like this before. But given Marta's role at Primavera Sound, a festival that continuously "walks the talk" when it comes to inclusion and diversity, and the impeccable press strategy that shows others how to do it right, I really wanted to speak to her and include her in my Primavera Sound coverage.

Honestly, I didn't think that she would say yes, but she did 🎉!

And THIS made my Primavera Sound experience super special even before the festival even began.

I learnt a lot in this conversation, from what it means to lead Press and Corporate Relations at Primavera Sound, to how their deep, authentic commitment to diversity drives both artistic credibility and serious business results. (With the impressive line-up, also including 3 female headliners, they were sold out before Xmas 2024).

I also realized something bigger: the magic of Primavera’s strategy and communication approach — where walking the talk isn’t just a slogan — is something we can apply anywhere. Even in industries like tech, where I work too.

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Tune in to Gimme A Beat tonight (16.06.2025) to hear my impressions of Primavera Sound Barcelona 2025, and an interview with Marta Pallarès, Head of Press and Corporate Relations, and a selection of songs from female artists who performed at the festival and were my highlights.

Tune in for…

Marta Pallarès – Head of Press and Corporate Relations – at Primavera Sound 2025

with click-to-play or playlist (for the songs played in the show and available on the streaming platforms)

from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora

Kisses, Babymonster

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for the info about old shows, please go to previous entries

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