Beats international in Barcelona

Lotte Jeffs does Barcelona's premier music festival in style
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Lotte Jeffs1 February 2013

The thing that puts me off music festivals is the mud. And the loos. And the queues for dodgy food. And the sleeping rough, because that’s basically what camping is, right? I’ve also never much fancied the traipsing between stages, the unwashed crowds, or the incessant banging of bongo drums/juggling/jamming that goes on into the early hours.

I have made it to my thirties without ever having woken up in a field with a crushed daisy chain around my neck and a man called Moonshine offering to make me coffee from tree bark. But last summer, with the promise of a five-star hotel, a beachside location and a backstage pass courtesy of my cousin’s band The xx, who were headlining the Mini stage, Barcelona’s Primavera Sound seemed like the perfect first music festival.

Primavera, which this year will run from 22 to 26 May, has for over a decade now brought 100,000 Euro hipsters to the Parc del Fòrum, a kind of giant concrete skate park in Barcelona’s Diagonal Mar district, every summer. While you’re unlikely to get Beyoncé, Jay-Z or Rihanna appearing here (as they have done at Glastonbury and Hackney Weekend), the Barcelona line-up is always an eclectic mix of new music, with a lean towards electro-pop as well as bigger-name indie and dance artists and some more iconic crowd pleasers — last year The Cure played a 36-song set that lasted three hours.

While performers stay at the Diagonal Zero hotel opposite the venue, transforming a rather bland business refuge into a rock’n’roll haven for the duration (thrash metal bands share the lift up to the pool with Brooklyn rappers and floppy-haired folksters, and the after-party never ends), we opted for peace and quiet further along the coast at the impressive, sail-shaped W. That’s not to say this hotel is for squares. On first checking in to our Austin Powers-style suite, with panoramic sea views and a bed big enough for an after-party of our own, we discovered a bottle of tequila, salt, ice and a pile of limes on the coffee table. We fixed our own margaritas before spending the rest of the day lolling in the W’s poolside Wet Bar with The xx and friends (who I can confirm still wear head-to-toe black while sunbathing, and miraculously maintain their flawlessly goth-pale skin). We had a quick tapas supper at the trendy but casual Pez Vela café, on the beach beneath the hotel, and then took a taxi to the festival — being able to drop in and escape at your leisure is one of Primavera’s prime selling points.

We bopped to upbeat electro-elf Grimes, drank lots of San Miguel and ate veggie burgers at the festival’s civilised waterfront dining area before The xx took to the stage at 1am. After a brilliant showcase of their then still unreleased album Coexist, we were hot and high on life (and Red Kooga natural energy pills). We danced on the concrete steps to DJ John Talabot and watched the sun rise.

After a restorative few hours’ sleep back at the W (you don’t get a pillow menu at Glastonbury), and a massage in the Bliss Spa, we headed out to explore the city, yet another perk of not being stuck in a rain-clogged field. The Picasso Museum quickly became one of my favourite galleries in the world. Housed in five 13th- to 15th-century Catalan townhouses, it is currently showing a fantastic collection of the artist’s mythological-themed ceramics. Then there was just time for a spot of shopping in the labyrinthine streets off Avinguda Diagonal, where I stumbled across Antique Boutique — great for funky retro furniture and knick-knacks — and chic Spanish designer emporiums such as Aílanto (good for handbags). Visiting musos should check out Discos Revolver on Carrer dels Tallers for a great selection of rare vinyl.

That night we dined on fresh pasta and salads at gastro hot spot Bestial on the San Sebastián beach, before a leisurely walk along the sand back to the W for some Crack Baby shots (champagne, passion fruit, vodka) at the vertiginous Eclipse bar on the 26th floor. We missed Laura Marling’s early evening show but caught the end of ambient indie darlings Beach House’s ethereal set. It was 11pm when we decided to head back to the hotel to fill in the room service card for breakfast and order a less fluffy pillow. Now that’s my kind of music festival. ES

CHECK IN

Rooms at W Barcelona from £271 (00 800 325 25252; whotels.com/barcelona). easyJet flies to Barcelona from £70 return (easyjet.com). For 2013 Primavera tickets, visit primaverasound.es

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