On the second day of Primavera Sound 2026, I walked into the Parc del Fòrum to the swirling sounds of Slowdive, who graced the Revolut stage early in the evening. I thought I’d arrived late, but their set was pushed back and I managed to hear most of it; although it was audibly marred by technical issues, there was nothing more evocative than hearing the muffled echo of ‘When the Sun Hits’ as I was leaving. It’s how I remember hearing ‘American Teenager’ at the festival a couple of years back, and now Ethel Cain was about to take the main stage once again. Having recently caught her immersive live show at an indoor venue, though, I decided to head back to see Rilo Kiley, which was the start of a far breezier and pleasant, if no less sprawling, night than the rain-soaked day 1. Here are five highlights from the second day of Primavera Sound 2026.
Rilo Kiley Are Really On
Rilo Kiley came a long way to perform at Primavera Sound, one of a handful of dates they lined up this year as an extension of their Sometimes When You’re On You’re Really F**king On tour; it was their last stop, in fact. The last time they played here, as Jenny Lewis noted, was at the 2013 edition headlined by the Postal Service – which, I should add, was the last time this Saturday’s headliners, My Bloody Valentine, topped the bill. The band breezed right through ‘The Execution of All Things’, splitting their set between the eponymous album, Under the Blacklight, and a bit of More Adventurous. The show was sprightlier than the casual fan might have expected, keeping the crowd grooving through cuts like ‘The Moneymaker’ and ‘Breaking Up’. Lewis’ stage presence was especially vibrant, relying on subtle gestures to match her striking voice on songs like ‘Does He Love You?’; at one point, she pulled the always-fun move of grabbing a camera and pointing it at the crowd so that we could see ourselves in real time. But even with your eyes closed, how can you not see yourself in the one-two punch of ‘Arms Outstretched’ and ‘A Better Son/Daughter’? Speak of “hiding the tears in my eyes” – but more on that soon.
Addison Rae Makes It Feel Like Summer Forever
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Whatever was wrong with the Revolut stage earlier didn’t prevent Addison Rae from putting on her dazzling show, which brought to mind Sabrina Carpenter’s set from last year (which actually did have some sound issues) – and also brought them into sharp contrast. The two pop stars share a devotion to sparkle and glamour, offering elaborate and meticulously choreographed shows based on relatively recent yet massively successful material. But Carpenter’s cheekiness and sexual innuendo felt much more controlled compared to Rae’s sultriness, which veered from pole dancing to grinding and actually smoking a cigarette. While the “Can’t a girl have fun?” energy of ‘Money Is Everything’ could serve as the unifying factor of any modern pop performance, Rae’s had a slightly unhinged shadow, from the extended rendition of ‘Von dutch’ and its infamous scream to the way she leaped into her higher register on ‘High Fashion’. With a whole hour to fill and only one album to her name, she bookended the show with ‘Diet Pepsi’ and shouted out every single back-up dancer by name, relying on them to channel her fervour through everything from twerking to pirouettes. ‘In the Rain’ had an ominous edge this time around as clouds loomed over, but Rae reminded us that summer is a feeling, after all.
The Cure’s Heavenly Melancholy
“It used to be so easy,” Robert Smith sings on ‘The Last Day of Summer’, “I never even tried.” It echoes a song they released over a quarter of a century later, ‘Endsong’ from their latest album Songs of Lost World, and its line about wondering how he got so old. Aging – more than any specific emotion, which always intermingles with another – is a recurring theme in the Cure’s discography; not only the way people age, but memories, places, dreams. Their songs, of course, have aged spectacularly, remaining in vogue as young stars like Olivia Rodrigo bring them into her world. Over a two-and-a-half-hour show that carried a bigger weight following the cancellation of the previous night’s headliners – not to mention the fact that it kicked off their first tour in three years – the band wove together classics and rarities, airing out ‘Mint Car’ for the first time in a decade after playing its A-side, ‘Lovesong’. Hits like ‘Pictures of You’, ‘Fascination Street’, ‘Just Like Heaven’, and ‘A Forest’ buoyed the crowd in between stretches of dark propulsion marked by lesser-known songs, which made space for the band’s sturdy rhythm section and some flashy guitar solos. The nine-song encore was one single after another, and Robert Smith’s exhaustion heightened his playfulness, whether riffing off the melody of ‘Why Can’t I Be You?’ or singing gibberish on ‘Lovecats’. Not effortless, exactly, but colouring every attemptwith a touch of maddened joy.
Skrillex Is on Fire
Skrillex must have spent most of his budget on pyrotechnics to match his rapid-fire mashups; can you imagine if he had to put on this show on day 1? The magic of a festival like Primavera is that you can watch a pop star on the main stage, scoot over to the adjacent one to see a band that put out their eleventh album the year said pop star was born, and enjoy a bonkers Skrillex set where the sound seemed tailored to his exact needs. As was to be expected, the producer debuted his Spanish-language-heavy new album SOMA (surprise-released the same day) while sprinkling in wobbled-up covers of tracks by Porter Robinson and Brutalismus 3000 – who had just captivated the Cupra stage, where Skrillex is curating a 12-hour program on Saturday – as well as the Eurodance hit ‘Stereo Love’. Only at one point did he allow the crowd to catch a breath, which was the most surprising part of the whole spectacle.
Viagra Boys’ Thrilling Rumble
After the end of Skrillex’s set, I attempted to catch a glimpse of the Cara Delevigne show that had just started, after her first pair of singles – co-produced with Charli XCX collaborator BJ Burton (Film, Fashion, and Music?) – piqued my interest. But by the time I got to the Schwarzkopf stage, not only was it overcrowded, but half of her 40-minute set had gone by. It wasn’t sure what to make of it, so I followed the sound of Viagra Boys’ thrilling rumble up at the Occident stage, which housed Geese’s similarly sleazy performance the previous day. “Good to see so many punk losers in the crowd tonight,” Sebastian Murphy said, a sharp contrast to “Let’s go gays,” the first thing I heard coming out of Cara DeLevigne’s mouth. The Swedish punks ripped through hits like ‘Troglodyte’ and ‘Sports’, which had Murphy doing a couple of push-ups before falling to the ground and grunting into the microphone. “Do I look weird?” he kept asking through the sax-addled maelstrom that cut through their slinky grooves. On the screen behind them, the words “Endless Anxiety” flashed intermittently. What a way to sweat it out.
