Primavera Sound, Barcelona review: Charli XCX lets fans down, but Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan soar
Who runs the world? If the music industry is anything to go by, it's the girls. Pop is now dominated by solo female superstars, and so it made perfect sense for Primavera Sound – one of Europe's largest festivals – to turn to the holy trinity of Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan to headline this year.
A huge Powerpuff Girls statue designed to look like the three singers welcomed festival goers to the sprawling site in Barcelona, and from there began three days of agenda-setting pop, rock and electronica.
The first evening featured the weakest of the three sets: an oddly flat, disjointed affair courtesy of XCX and her frequent collaborator Troye Sivan, reunited to bring their much-hyped 'Sweat' tour to Europe. XCX has had an incredible 12 months, riding high off the success of last year's viral album Brat.
But her set let the thousands of fans who had turned up in Brat-themed lime green merchandise (and paid €350 for tickets) down: it began not with her own anthems, such as 360 or Club Classics, but a staid three-song run from Sivan. To sum up how much of a vibe killer this was, I caught a girl next to me Googling, 'Who is Troye Sivan?' midway through his rendition of Got Me Started. Once XCX finally arrived on stage, her stripped-back production – a green curtain, some flashing lights – and propensity for miming did little to help. Those who criticised Glastonbury for not choosing her as a headliner this year would have been wise to watch this set. It just wasn't good enough.
Thank heavens, then, for the subsequent pair: Carpenter and Roan, both newer artists whose ascent to pop's big leagues has been a mere two years in the making, were exceptional.
Carpenter has put sexy, old-school glamour back at the heart of pop, her songs flitting between Britney-esque ditties and scathing takedowns of ex-boyfriends. Themed around a 1950s variety show, the set opened with the US singer shimmying along to Busy Woman, before she treated the audience to chart-topping hits like Please Please Please, Taste and Espresso; country-influenced new track Man Child also got its first live outing.
Roan rounded off the weekend, and proved, once again, that she is exactly the sort of boundary-pushing artist the industry has been crying out for. Not since Lady Gaga has a pop artist's debut album – in Roan's case, the superb The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (2023) – become such an overnight classic. Its most popular singles (Pink Pony Club, Hot to Go!) were electric live. Dressed in an array of medieval princess-inspired costumes, Roan's soaring vocals never suffered for a second as a result of all the bells and whistles.
There was also plenty on offer for those not into bubblegum pop, from indie bands at the absolute peak of their powers – Wolf Alice, Fontaines D.C., LCD Soundsystem – to gorgeous Americana (Waxahatchee) and ferocious hardcore (Turnstile). Excellent weather, an expertly curated lineup and €5 beer – what more could you want from a festival?
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The Independent
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- The Independent
The European MMA promotion selling out 60,000-seater stadiums before the UFC
Who is watching MMA if it's not the UFC? In mainland Europe, it seems they all are. Dana White 's combat goliath is synonymous with the sport. To the ever-lucrative casual audience, the UFC equals MMA. Such brand dominance can often spell doomsday for competitors, unable to get a foothold in the wider perception. However, one promotion is proving you don't need to be the UFC to blaze the trail in the industry. When Pavol Neruda and Ondrej Novotny founded Oktagon MMA in 2016, they dared to dream big. After all, they had to. Lofty ambitions were a requirement to do what they were seeking to achieve - cultivate mainstream fandom for a sport in a part of the world that previously didn't exist. Starting out in Czechia and Slovakia, the immediate priority was break new ground in the region. Little did they know Oktagon would take MMA, as a global entity, to brand new heights. Fast forward eight years and Oktagon have taken the consumption of MMA to the next level, one that the UFC have yet to touch. They have mastered the art of the stadium show. 'We changed the landscape totally in this area,' Neruda told The Independent. 'How people consume the sport and the perception of the sport. It was an underground sport. Nobody liked it and we were so desperate to change this to how people look at it.' In that pursuit, they have been resoundingly successful, and the events of 12 October 2024 were indicative of that feat. That night, the promotion smashed the UFC's all-time attendance record for a single event. A staggering 60,000 fans packed into Deutsche Bank Arena, the home of Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt, to experience an almighty fighting spectacle. Neruda could hardly believe it, even as the showpiece got underway. 'I rented this colosseum for a few days, how crazy is that? I was waiting for the moment it would hit me, to digest the whole experience. 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'Our events are full from the fight number one because people are involved in the stories of the fighters. They want to see them and they have a connection with everyone on the card.' Many of Oktagon's top stars are from mainland Europe. Czech sensation Karlos Vemola has captivated the attention of his homeland and beyond, with his 2019 clash with Attila Vegh - sold domestically as the 'Match of the Century' - and his 2023 rematch with Patrick Kincl breaking viewing records for the promotion. The likes of explosive Belgian featherweight champion Losene Keita and German middleweight titan Kerim Engizek, whose victorious debut ended in a 99-second knockout, are among other major continental draws for the company. The promotion has a penchant for virality, with Frederic Vosgrone, nicknamed 'The German Neanderthal', taking Oktagon by storm after just one fight. Looking like a jacked-up Paddy Pimblett, his chaotic, unforgiving fight style has made him a must-watch attraction, with a clip of the undefeated BJJ black belt getting dragged across the cage while refusing let to go over his opponent's leg doing the rounds on social media. Vosgrone went on to put him to sleep. However, Oktagon haven't been afraid to stray to the British Isles to locate some of its largest personalities. Shem Rock, fighting out of Dublin, is one of the promotion's fast-rising stars - a man with a backstory like no professional fighter on the planet. The Liverpudlian spent seven years on the run in Asia after being wrongly accused of burglary with violence and assault in 2014, fleeing the country at the age of 20 as he feared he'd be jailed for a crime he didn't commit. It was while a fugitive that he started training MMA and discovered his talent. He was eventually arrested upon his move to Ireland, with his burgeoning combat career leading the authorities to him. But in 2022, having spent six months on remand in custody, he was found not guilty by a court and acquitted. Now without a criminal shadow casting over him, Rock has fast established himself as a leading draw both at Oktagon and potentially beyond - with his contract up with the promotion at the end of the summer. 'The fighters from UK and Ireland, they are crazy,' Neruda says, who will be savouring Rock for as long as he's got him. His brash showmanship is what has won him over with the fans, wearing a 'Dana' mouthguard to the cage at Oktagon 71 as he prepares to become one of the hottest free agents on the market. 'Everyone wants to be entertained, right?' It's this entertainment factor that has proved pivotal in Oktagon's ability to sell out these 'colosseums', as Neruda puts it. The promotion is among the forerunners in the western world to hone the stadium extravaganza in MMA, following the path first trod by now-defunct Japanese giant Pride, just over two decades on. 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Daily Mail
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'Seriously ill' rock legend rushed to hospital as band make heartbreaking show announcement
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Daily Mail
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Zak Starkey admits his father Ringo Starr brutally slated his drumming skills growing up - and reveals what he really thinks about The Who sacking
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