Primavera Sound Barcelona’s opening night has been severely disrupted after strong winds and persistent rain forced the cancellation of several performances, including sets from Massive Attack, Doja Cat, Bad Gyal, Mac DeMarco and Alex G. The festival has now issued an official statement explaining the timeline of events and confirming that Thursday ticket holders will receive a full refund.
The festival, which this year features headliners including The Cure, Gorillaz and The xx across its three main days, opened its doors on Thursday 4th June as scheduled, but deteriorating weather conditions during the evening prompted a series of safety-driven decisions that left thousands of attendees without some of the most anticipated sets of the week.
Primavera Sound has now released the following statement in full:
Late yesterday evening, at around 9:00 pm and with a yellow weather warning from Meteocat and AEMET, the weather conditions forced the cancellation of part of the programme for Thursday at Primavera Sound Barcelona for safety reasons. Firstly, the rain and strong gusts of wind, reaching up to 80 km per hour, forced the cancellation of Alex G’s performance on the Revolut stage (8:50 pm) and the temporary evacuation of the area. The established safety protocol dictates that it is not safe to hold concerts in such strong winds.
Then, the persistent rain and wind made it impossible for Mac DeMarco’s team to set up on time on the Occident stage (9:55 pm), leading to the cancellation of his performance as the necessary safety conditions could not be met.
The CUPRA, Schwarzkopf and Port stages continued with their scheduled programme, allowing the concerts by Oklou and Father John Misty (CUPRA), Agriculture (Port) and Skullcrusher (Schwarzkopf) to go ahead, followed by the rest of the programme until the end of the night. The Plénitude, The Levi’s Warehouse and CUPRA Pulse stages also gradually returned to normality.
Meanwhile, the festival organisers worked determinedly alongside the Massive Attack, Doja Cat and Bad Gyal teams to ensure that the performances on the Estrella Damm and Revolut stages could resume later that night. At around 11:30 pm, with a more favourable weather forecast, the festival announced that Massive Attack’s performance would begin at 12:30 am (having been originally scheduled for 9:55 pm), this being the intention of both the band and the festival.
Unfortunately, the rain, and particularly the wind persisted in the area around these stages, ultimately making it impossible, for safety reasons, for Massive Attack to perform on the Estrella Damm stage, for Doja Cat to perform on the Revolut stage (originally scheduled for 11:30 pm) and for Bad Gyal to perform on the Estrella Damm stage (originally scheduled for 1:30 am). As these were the two stages that were most exposed to the rain and the wind due to their location and size, safety concerns arising from the weather conditions meant that it was not possible to guarantee safety for the continuation of performances on either stage, despite all the efforts made.
We understand and share the frustration and disappointment of the audience regarding this situation, which is not what we had hoped for on the first day of Primavera Sound Barcelona 2026. The festival organisers followed the established safety protocols at all times and prioritised the safety of the audience, artists and staff above all else. We thank the audience for their understanding and confirm that, despite the difficulty of the situation, there were no serious incidents.
On Monday, details will be provided regarding the refund process for Thursday’s tickets, the cost of which will be refunded.
The festival will open its doors this afternoon at 3:45 pm as normal to kick off the second day of the festival, which will feature performances by The Cure, Addison Rae, PinkPantheress, Ethel Cain, Skrillex, Amaarae, Ralphie Choo and Slowdive, among many others.
Despite the disappointment of the opening night, the festival is pressing ahead with Friday’s programme, which is headlined by The Cure alongside Addison Rae, and forms part of a line-up that, as the organisers noted at the time of the day split announcement, spans nearly five decades of music between the two headliners alone. Thursday ticket holders are advised to wait for Monday’s official communication regarding the refund process.
Image credits: Christian Bertrand / Primavera Sound
In this article: Primavera Sound, Alex G, Mac DeMarco, Massive Attack, Doja Cat, Bad Gyal, Oklou, Father John Misty, Skullcrusher, The Cure, Addison Rae, PinkPantheress, Ethel Cain, Skrillex, Amaarae, Ralphie Choo, Slowdive, Revolut, Estrella Damm, Meteorological Service of Catalonia, Agencia Estatal de Meteorología, Parc del Fòrum, Barcelona. Generated by Wikidata Schema Link Builder.
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