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And the last night came, the one in which everyone tries to endure until the final end. After the big names of the previous days, getting a shocking goodbye was very difficult, but the organization saved for Saturday nothing less than Rosalía and Caroline Polachek – the hype of the moment – without forgetting John Cale, of course. The pull of these names did not cause the uncomfortable crowds of the previous edition, but it did make circulation through the enclosure more complicated.

It was also the time to review the numbers and events in general. The attendance has been lower than in previous editions although the organization says it is satisfied. In total, from Thursday to Saturday, 193,000 people gathered at the Forum, in addition to the 20,000 people who attended the free concert of Pet Shop Boys on Wednesday. Counting the rest of the activities that took place during the week, the global attendance has been 253,000 people. Next weekend they have their first appointment in Madrid, where they expect to have an average of 40,000 people a day with a possible boost in sales from the previous days. As for the incidents, a small fire at the Skrillex concert, which was quickly solved and the arrest of a man for sexually assaulting a tourist during a concert.

The brand new Barcelona group Heal opened the most rocking side of the last day in the early afternoon on The Vision by Pull & Bear stage, a few steps from the space where Be Your Own Pet was reunited with its audience 15 years after its dissolution. During that time, Jemima Pearl and her companions were dedicated to gathering tornado forces that unleashed on the stage at sunset. His frantic head movements, those that derail the vertebrae, and his dedication to music was growing so much that the guitarist ended up making riffs with his mouth. Literal. Wildcat, Adventure and Becky, the song that his followers expected like water in May were part of a fun and above all, wild repertoire.

Of all the legends of experimental or alternative or avant-garde rock or whatever you want to call rock that is not standard or resorts to stereotypes, well, of all the legends of that broad, complex and unfathomable spectrum of truly artistic creation, the most important person in the world is probably John Cale. And this Saturday afternoon this incalculably influential and portentously prolific and long-lived musician took center stage at the Auditori del Fórum, stood behind the keyboard and offered a master class of everything that rock can be without being the typical rock of always, including the typical experimental rock of always, which culminated in a sharp rendition of 'I'm Waiting for The Man' by The Velvet Underground.

St. Vincent during his performance. Marta PerezEFE

Yes, John Cale, this 81-year-old man who was expelled from the Velvet before the Beatles broke up, who has never stepped on the path that someone else opened before, who has made adventure his modus operandi, who has literally been creating new music for 60 years: 'that' John Cale.

In good shape and accompanied by guitar, bass and drums, he started playing rock with songs from different decades and helped by a sheet music notebook, always refractory to any idea of show. Part of his performance was starred by his first album in a decade, the recent 'Mercy', whose electronic sound oriented more towards rock, as in the interpretation of 'Moonstruck', dedicated to Nico, during which a photo of the ill-fated German singer was projected on the background screen.

In these dark and vaporous new songs, John Cale reflects on the anguish caused by the rise of populism and the far right, the pandemic and the climate crisis. Art as an interpretation of reality or, better, as a mirror, to make a nod to one of the most famous songs of the Velvet and that serves as the emblem of the double edition in Barcelona and Madrid of Primavera Sound: 'I'll Be Your Mirror'. His final deconstruction of Elvis' 'Heartbreak Hotel' was the perfect spell to say goodbye.

Heiress of Cale's iconoclastic rock although she did have a sense of spectacle, the great St. Vincent filled one of the main stages without a new album on which to revolve her performance. That allowed her to review her 15-year career, although the virtuoso guitarist and singer focused her repertoire on her last three albums, 'St. Vincent', 'Masseduction' and 'Daddy's Home'.

With funk and rhythm & blues rhythms, acid and glam sounds, St. Vincent rocked with that creative voracity of his to look for original solutions and resources in each element of his songs. A succulent, enjoyable and sexy music that he interprets at his peak as an artist. He already had the public in his pocket when he dedicated a toast to the city: "Everyone has a favorite city and I have fallen in love with Barcelona," he said.

"Drink water, hydrate" recommended Villano Antillano in the heat of his concert, as provocative in the sensual as in the political. Because if anyone has any doubts at this point, art cannot be neutral. The atmosphere was already heated at that point but when the time came for Mala mía, the session #51 he recorded with Bizarrap -the producer who turns everything into gold-, the ovation was heard for miles around and above the swarm of sounds coming from other scenarios.

Mobile phones at the ready to capture the moment, macrokaraoke and a little danced to the fullest. Many consolidated historians would have liked to achieve such a level of delivery from their audience. In addition, he offered "new material direct from the streets of Puerto Rico," to leave you wanting more. On the other hand, no concert has aroused as much expectation at the festival so far as the one in Tokischa. In front of one of the small stages, a fully packed crowd tried to dance the marrano and scintillating reggaeton of the artist. It has been a tremendous triumph for the Dominican rapper, the biggest open secret of current Latin urban music. The perfect appetizers for the rest of the evening's music menu

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