Listen: New Perfume Genius Song at Primavera.

01 Jun 2011 — Henning Lahmann

At Barcelona's Primavera Sound, the Auditori is the only indoor venue, situated right next to the actual festival ground and meant to host the more quiet, intimate moments of the three-day craziness. Splendidly detached from the sonic overload that's happening between the seven outdoor stages, with separate lines and occasionally even reservation requirements, shows happening at the Auditori are nothing the casual Primavera attender will get in touch with. In other words, the few hundred people that were gathering in front of Herzog & de Meuron's post-modernist architectural landmark at four p.m. on Saturday afternoon knew exactly what they were doing, a fact that can't be praised enough in light of the things that should follow in the next 45 minutes. Mike Hadreas aka Perfume Genius' performance became one of the few truly magical moments of the festival. Surrounded by a pitch-black stage, Hadreas and his excellent collaborator Alan Wyffels delivered an outstanding, magnificent set, during which the two did not confine themselves to playing songs from last year's debut Learning but also performed a couple of new songs, supposedly from Perfume Genius' forthcoming sophomore effort. One of those new tracks can be streamed below (as well as You Wont B Here from Learning), by way of variation with Hadreas playing acoustic guitar, and as expected it's another breathtaking beauty of painfully stripped intimacy, leaving us struck down and longing for more. (Photo via Turnstile) Read more → At Barcelona's Primavera Sound, the Auditori is the only indoor venue, situated right next to the actual festival ground and meant to host the more quiet, intimate moments of the three-day craziness. Splendidly detached from the sonic overload that's happening between the seven outdoor stages, with separate lines and occasionally even reservation requirements, shows happening at the Auditori are nothing the casual Primavera attender will get in touch with. In other words, the few hundred people that were gathering in front of Herzog & de Meuron's post-modernist architectural landmark at four p.m. on Saturday afternoon knew exactly what they were doing, a fact that can't be praised enough in light of the things that should follow in the next 45 minutes. Mike Hadreas aka Perfume Genius' performance became one of the few truly magical moments of the festival. Surrounded by a pitch-black stage, Hadreas and his excellent collaborator Alan Wyffels delivered an outstanding, magnificent set, during which the two did not confine themselves to playing songs from last year's debut Learning but also performed a couple of new songs, supposedly from Perfume Genius' forthcoming sophomore effort. One of those new tracks can be streamed below (as well as You Wont B Here from Learning), by way of variation with Hadreas playing acoustic guitar, and as expected it's another breathtaking beauty of painfully stripped intimacy, leaving us struck down and longing for more. (Photo via Turnstile)