Our favorites of the Primavera Festival that you should not miss in Belgium

More than 400 artists over 11 days, this is the madness achieved by the Primavera Sound of Barcelona, ​​the most hype festival of the summer which we were able to attend in its entirety. In addition to the abundance of concerts and legendary artists, the “PS” also has the good taste of start the festival season, and therefore to foreshadow what the festival season could give us. Among the fifty concerts we attended, here are the ones you shouldn’t miss in Belgium.

There is something divine about Nick Cave. There is already this slender and sharp silhouette, this long slicked back black hair, and this face that is both tender and cold. But above all there is the mark that the Australian leaves on his spectators during one of his shows, with fans looking at the rocker as if he were the reincarnation of Jesus.

Attending an Australian concert is understand that he is certainly one of the greatest showmen still alive. Nick Cave plays with the audience, watches them, talks to them almost as equals. This aura, he is probably the last of the rockers to still have it.

The singer keeps alternating between piano, wanderings, feverish titles (“The Mercy Seat”, “From Her To Eternity”) and heartbreaking ballads (“Waiting For You”, “Into My Arms”) with impressive energy.

Having just lost a second son, Nick Cave walks on stage as if through time: with elegance, humor and unwavering passion. Unmissable.

Since 2018, the four Londoners of Black Midi have forged a solid reputation as a frenzied live band. But with such cliches, we didn’t say much. Especially since the band’s music and (very) far from being accessible to ordinary mortals. Far from indie rock or pop, Black Midi has chosen to dig its furrow where almost no one has yet gone to explore.

At the border of grunge, experimental rock, post-rock and jazz, the band’s music is made of jerky rhythms, oversaturated guitars, nasal voices and repetitions. But as is often the case with such bands, you have to see them live to believe them.

And what a slap… In the memory of festival-goers, we had never seen such a crazy and gifted drummer, such precision in execution. But what really marks the performance of the group, it is this intensity, built throughout the set and crowned by these saxophone protrusions that come to plant your back like stabs. We are not far from grazing genius, for these four boys of barely 22 years old.

To be completely honest, we weren’t leaving for the Mecca of festivals with the idea of ​​going to see our national Angèle, as the offer there is plethoric. But, chance of the calendar, we still attended his show in front of an audience randomly made up of French-speakers, Spanish-speakers and English-speakers.

And what we saw there was quite pleasant. The singer has clearly passed a milestone with her second albumand the tour that follows is like this new version of Angèle who has “DuaLipalized”: professional, sexy and cheerful.

An “American-style” show with dancers, choreography, background visuals, and even karaoke for certain songs, to encourage fans to sing together.

The singer has thus gratified the Barcelona public with its best hits “Forget everything”, “Free”, and the inevitable “Fever”, to end with the sacrosanct “Brussels, I love you”, surprisingly taken up in chorus by the multinational crowd.

His show in Dour should be a real moment of communion between the artist and the festival-goers of the Flat country.

The Shoegaze is a genre apart in the world of rock. This somewhat strange term actually refers to the ability of musicians to look at their shoes during concerts, because of the many effects pedals they use, but also because of their great shyness. It had its heyday in the early 90s with notably My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus & Mary Chain or Slowdive, before gradually dying out. But since 2012, the Americans of DIIV resuscitate the beast thanks to their ample sound lined with melodies borrowed from pop and post-punk.

The four boys perfectly embody the movement, both in terms of their propensity to lower their heads and to throw overpowering sounds at the fans. And these return them well, since the group could get the palme d’or for the most beautiful pogo during the Primavera Sound.

Coming to shoot their last album “Deceiver” released before confinement, the group now takes the opportunity to delight the spectators with the most iconic titles “Blankenship”, “Under The Sun”, “Doused”.

But the show happens more in the audience than on the stage. The dazzled faces and the halos under the arms do not deceive, going to see DIIV is the assurance of spending a hectic, but benevolent moment.