Primavera Sound 2025 is just over a month away, and this year, the organizers managed to book three of today’s biggest pop stars: Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter, and Chappell Roan. If you’re planning to go to the Barcelona festival, you don’t need us to tell you not to miss their sets; they’ve got enough fans riding for them. Just like we’ve done the past couple of years, we’re not including headliners in our list of the must-see acts at Primavera, if only to highlight more of the good stuff you’ll find in the lineup’s smaller print. We’re also not including acts we’ve featured in this list before, like Turnstile (whose performance will excitingly coincide with the release of their new album) and Black Country, New Road (who are always a highlight but will perform a whole new set of songs this time, having just released Forever Howlong). Here are five acts worth prioritizing from each day of Barcelona’s Primavera Sound 2025.
June 5
FKA twigs
FKA twigs’ Eusexua Tour hasn’t exactly gone as planned. In early March, the artist postponed its initial Berlin and Prague dates due to “unforeseen production issues” – they’re now scheduled for May 30 and May 31, respectively – and later pushed back several North American shows due to ongoing visa issues, which meant dropping out of Coachella. She’s still on for Primavera Sound, though – granted, she was also on the bill in 2023 and 2024 and ended up cancelling. If she makes her way to Parc del Forum this time, it’s bound to be an extravagant, unforgettable performance.
Cassandra Jenkins
Cassandra Jenkins’ set was a highlight of Primavera a la Ciutat in 2022, and it’ll be exciting to see her on the main festival this year, especially given how stunning the follow-up to An Overview on Phenomenal Nature is. Jenkins’ music pierces right through you even when it gazes up at the sky, pondering the workings of the universe. A planetarium may be the ideal place to experience her songs, but seeing Jenkins perform them live in any setting can only amplify their resonance.
Magdalena Bay
Another band whose Primavera a la Ciutat set stood out to me a few years ago, Magdalena Bay’s popularity has since exploded, to the point where their placement in the poster seems to underestimate the buzz surrounding their most recent album, Imaginal Disk. The experimental pop duo’s Imaginal Mystery Tour is currently taking them across North America, and Primavera Sound is their first scheduled European date. It may not mirror their live show in all its visual extravagance or sheer length, but it’s sure to immerse you in the album’s vibrant, kaleidoscopic world in fresh new ways.
Momma
Momma have just a few European festival shows scheduled before returning to the US for the rest of their tour, and their cathartic, instantly gratifying indie rock songs deserve to be heard live. You’ll find yourself humming along to ‘I Want You (Fever)’, the lead single from their latest LP Welcome to My Blue Sky, even if it’s the first time it’s crossing your radar. The best Momma songs work like that – gateways to a band that’s certain to bring the heat at any festival.
This Is Lorelei
I was lucky to catch Nate Amos’ other band, Water From My Eyes, at last year’s Primavera Sound, and since then his project This Is Lorelei has picked up steam with the release of the addictive Box for Buddy, Box for Star last year. The record recently got a deluxe edition, which featured covers by MJ Lenderman – who called it “by far the album I listened to most in 2024” – and Snail Mail – who concluded that “he is the best songwriter of our generation as well as a great guy.” He did seem like a great guy both times I’ve interviewed him, and though he’s unpredictable as a songwriter, his live show will certainly be a treat.
June 6
Clairo
Clairo has been charming crowds with songs from her latest album since its release last July, and her name being placed right under Sabrina Carpenter’s on the Primavera poster says a lot about how her fanbase has grown. She had several indie hits when I saw her supporting Immunity in 2019, but every clip from her recent live shows the different level of confidence with which she carries herself on stage these days. Songs like ‘Bags’ and ‘Sofia’ will be big sing-alongs, but we can’t wait to hear Charm’s breezy, soulful indie pop under the Barcelona sun, not least because the singer cancelled her appearance at the festival in 2022.
HAIM
It’s a big year for HAIM. Their new album, out June 20, is called I quit, and the band is doing the opposite of quitting by touring quite heavily in support of it. Aside from an appearance at Radio 1 Big Weekend in late May, their show at Primavera Sound is the first chance we’ll get to hear some of the new material live, including the great recent singles ‘Everybody’s Trying to Figure Me Out’ and ‘Relationships’. It’s no surprise they’d pick Primavera – they played their first show in Spain at the festival back in 2014, promoting their debut LP, and delivered a surprise show in 2017. Their tour proper kicks off in the fall, but you can’t miss seeing them in the summer.
Beach House
I still think about the first and only time I’ve seen Beach House, at Primavera Sound, back in 2022. It’s been three years since they released their last album Once Twice Melody, and you have to be curious about what their live set will bring 15 years after they brought Teen Dream to the festival stage – especially since it’s one of less than ten dates they’ve announced for 2025. Who knows if there’s a new record in the works, but I can guarantee their performance will be entrancing – and hopefully, once again, timed after midnight.
Cat Power Sings Dylan
Chan Marshall has released several cover projects, but her reimagining of Bob Dylan’s “Royal Albert Hall” concert (which actually took place at Manchester Free Trade Hall) is her most ambitious. She issued Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert last year, and seeing her recreate it live is a unique opportunity, no matter how many Cat Power shows you’ve seen. I can only hope it takes place in the auditorium, the one festival stage that can really enhance this kind of set.
Waxahatchee
Over the decade and a half that Katie Crutchfield has led Waxahatchee, her sound has grown lusher, yes, but also sharper in its honesty, more melodically astute. Her current setlist is mostly comprised of songs from her most recent albums Saint Cloud and Tigers Blood, which are also her best, as well as a couple of great sing-alongs she co-wrote with Jess Williamson as Plains, and maybe one of the standalone singles she’s put out recently to keep up the momentum. MJ Lenderman appears later in this list; if schedules permit, maybe we’ll even get to hear ‘Right Back to It’ as a proper duet.
June 7
Destroyer
Primavera Sound is the first stop of Destroyer’s upcoming tour, supporting his groovy yet meditative new album Dan’s Boogie. Talking to Dan Bejar ahead of its release, I got the sense that translating his songs live can be a mysterious thing, even to him. “As it gets closer to coming out,” he told me, “I’m starting to think more about the seven of us getting in a room together and figuring out what this music would actually sound like to perform on stage, so that’s becoming more of a tangible, real thing.” Maybe they’re still cooking it up, but it will no doubt be one to get lost in.
Los Campesinos!
The band cheekily self-described as “the UK’s first and only emo band” were excited enough about playing Primavera to make an individual post about it, not least because it’s their first trip to Spain since 2014. Given how many anthems there are on last year’s fantastic All Hell, we’re excited, too. “Prima has felt like our white whale until now!” they wrote. “We’ve been lucky enough to play virtually every Bucket List Festival (though of course there are some we’d love to play again ahem), but Primavera is the one that’s eluded us. We’re so glad this opportunity is coming to us at this stage of our band, and buzzing to have our name alongside so many incredible, and huge, artists! Gonna make a weekend of this to watch some of our faves.”
MJ Lenderman
Wednesday did not disappoint when they played Primavera in 2023, and since then, the band announced MJ Lenderman will no longer be touring with them, though he’ll continue to take part in the group’s studio output. Given how much of a leap his own solo career has taken, it makes sense. Manning Fireworks was one of the best albums of 2024, and his live record And the Wind (Live and Loose!) is as good as any of his studio records; you can hardly listen to an MJ Lenderman and not wish to hear it live. (What’s more, Colin Miller, our latest Artist Spotlight interview, plays drums in the Wind.) One can only hope the boat owners docked around the Forum get a free show out of it.
Horsegirl
Born and bred in Chicago, Horsegirl – singer-guitarist Nora Cheng, 20, drummer Gigi Reece, 20, and singer-guitarist Penelope Lowenstein, 19 – already have two albums of playful, idiosyncratically joyous indie rock under their belt. Phonetics On and On is more confident than their debut Versions of Modern Performance, which is surely reflected in their live show. But even if you’ve heard neither album, there’s something so elemental and hooky to their bare-bones approach that can captivate any listener.
Maria Somerville
The bleary-eyed festival goer needs an artist like Maria Somerville on their itinerary. You’ll want to hear her music – lush, liminal, illuminating – while the sun’s still burning hot and you’ve got hours and hours of live music ahead of you, and even more of them behind you. The Irish singer-songwriter had but one album to her name when she was announced for the festival, but the just-unveiled Luster, her 4AD debut, will go down as one of, if not the, best dream pop album of 2025. Don’t waste the chance to let it wash over you.
