Idles revolutionize the first day of Primavera Sound 2025 with thunderous guitars and protest slogans.

Once again, an army of thousands of festival-goers—290,000 in total, according to the organizers' estimates—invaded the Barcelona Forum grounds, their desire for fun as their banner. At the entrance, a giant figure of The Powerpuff Girls, Craig McCracken's animated characters, welcomed attendees. It's a nod from the event to the three dazzling headliners of this twenty-third edition: Charli xcx, Chapell Roan, and Sabrina Carpetener. And they hit the nail on the head, because parts of the venue were still to be opened, and there was already a queue to take a photo at the feet of those dolls with oversized eyes.

But while tonight's lineup had an undeniably dance-friendly vibe, the guitars roared first. Shortly before sunset, Joe Talbot took the stage, ready to stir consciences and hearts, because his lyrics are designed to strike a chord, even if only through guttural screams. The show was a time-hopping journey through their discography from the very beginning : although they released their album Tangk in 2024, they opened with Colossus, from their acclaimed 2018 album, Joy as an Act of Resistance. The Bristolians are already seasoned in these endeavors and know that a good show never hurts to accompany the songs. The singer's dyed hair sparkled while Mark Bowen, who looked like Frank Zappa in a tight sequined dress, practiced extreme body surfing.

If there was one repeated slogan at Idles' concert, it was "Freedom for Palestine." Talbot, deeply committed to the cause—like Primavera Sound itself, which has installed a tunnel through which the daily bombings in Gaza can be heard—mentioned it every time he wanted to rouse the audience, who didn't need much more than the music. The pogo that began with the second song, "Gift Horse," didn't stop until they said goodbye, after performing older songs like "Mr. Motivator" and "Mother" and more recent ones like "Gratitude" and "POP POP POP. " The final flourish was a cocktail of three songs that ensured the performance would remain etched in the audience's memories and also in their muscle aches the following day: "Danger" (a song from the latest album with LCD Soundsystem), "Rottweiler," and, above all, "Danny Nedelko."

Barely fifteen minutes later, fellow Briton Tahliah Debrett Barnet, better known as FKA twigs, opened the nightclub that served as the festival's two main stages for the rest of the night. The show, divided into three sections, kicked off with "Perfect Stranger," a track from her recent album, EUSEXUA, which she performed almost in its entirety during the concert, accompanied by a group of scantily clad dancers. She made concessions to older songs, of course, such as "Weak Spot," "Papa Bones," and "Cellophane," with which she bid farewell to the audience.

The afternoon had started much more sedately with the dark trance pop of the very young Valencian duo Ultralágrima. The sun was still beating down fiercely when they took to the stage, but their small but devoted audience ignored the weather conditions and danced vigorously to their most celebrated song, "Dónde tú estás," a vocoder-laced anthem to heartbreak with a hint of The Cure . The increasingly popular Aiko group also had a spot on the schedule, thanks to humorous songs like "A mí ya me iba mal de antes."

Rigoberta Bandini, for her part, showed off her lively personality on a small circular stage set up inside The Levi's Plaza (all the festival venues bear a brand name). It was a capsule performance of just seven songs , so she didn't waste time digging into her songbook and instead pulled out the hits, which was exactly what the moment called for: Pamela Anderson, Perra, In Spain We Call It Soledad, Ay, Mamá, and everyone happily moved on to other stages after karaoke.

Beabadoobee and her nostalgic melodies from a '90s era that she never got to experience (she was born in 2000) set the sweet note for the evening. If in the near future, The Powerpuff Girls of Pop decide to expand their roster , she could be an ideal candidate (with Olivia Rodrigo's permission) with songs like Sunny Day, One Times or Take a Bite, the title with which she caught the audience's attention. Jamie XX and the first diva of this edition, Charlie xcx accompanied by Troye Sivan, took over as leaders for the rest of the evening.