Barcelona – After an extremely late first night at Primavera Sound, Tennis‘ bright, sunny pop on a bright, sunny evening was the perfect way to start off the second day of music. The husband and wife duo and their drummer played an enjoyable set which included a couple of new songs along with the songs off their debut, Cape Dory. Presumably, these new songs will not be about sailing. Speaking of sailing, if you’ll pardon the bad pun, Alaina Moore’s strong, clear voice sailed out over the crowd. I also realized after watching them how incredibly thin she is. Like really very tiny. She also looked somewhat like she had been timewarped forwards from the late ’80s with her big curly hair and tight jeans.
Less easily digested than Tennis, but just as satisfying was Pere Ubu’s sunset performance of “The Annotated Modern Dance,” so called because they had been contracted to play for an hour and their debut album is only half an hour. Frontman David Thomas badmouthed vinyl and the purists who love it because of the format’s length restrictions, giving vinyl a thumbs down and the raspberry. Thomas was an amusing performer in general, his oddball behaviour making for an entertaining performance. Sipping from a flask of Remy Martin and slouching about the stage, he made comments on each of the songs performed, such as “I’m convinced if we had done this song 17 more times in different variations, I would have been Sting.” He then went on about how we would have never been forced to hear about the rainforest and tantric sex were he Sting. As I watched him perform, I was reminded that The Tragically Hip had taken Pere Ubu out on their Another Roadside Attraction tour years ago and was struck by how much Hip frontman Gord Downie has probably borrowed from Thomas’ onstage persona.
“Everybody at this festival is extremely sexy!” said Shellac’s Steve Albini as he addressed the crowd, commenting that one could have sex with anyone around them and their children would be beautiful. Shellac has performed at each and every edition of Primavera Sound since it’s inception and is also a staple of the ATP festival, upon whose curated stage they appeared this evening. Albini and his cohorts Bob Weston and Todd Trainer performed an intense set of noisy math rock that definitely left an impression on the crowd. Trainer was especially entertaining to watch as he played hard hitting intricate rhythms from his spot at centre stage. Albini also threw some Canadian content into their set, inviting the crowd to join them in singing “the Canadian National Anthem” as he and Weston launched into an impromptu a capella version of the theme to “The Great White North.” I guess they must be SCTV fans.