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It's always good to kick start the festival season early and where better than Barcelona's Primavera? While 听this years event didn't deliver the kind of household names previous Primavera's have, there was still an awful lot to see and a huge amount to discover . It also helped that they've started doing shots of Jager for a euro.

Day one began with New York's MGMT running through most of their debut record, a worthy start to a magical three days. 'Electric Feel' and 'Time to Pretend' were stand outs, until final track 'Kids'. When they invited a little girl to dance with them on stage. Awwww.

Slight change of pace then, as the upbeat pop of MGMT quickly turned to tragic sadness, as Portishead performed a few hours later. For a chain smoker, Beth Gibbons' voice has held up sensationally and still breaks hearts almost fifteen years after classic debut 'Dummy'. It was a fine mixture of new material and old classics, raw guitar and beats with Gibbons' vocals a staple throughout. The night ended with Explosions in the Sky and Vampire Weekend back to back while Midnight Juggernauts became the first real 'find' of the festival. Public Enemy on the other hand should learn to do more than just scream, 'Sup Barcelona? Can you hear it? Public Enemy!' for almost two hours.

Day two and The Go! Team are on form as usual, before Devo 听provide a bit of cheese (while sporting ridiculous orange suits) and Cat Power, who vomited on stage mid-way through her set. As you do.

The highlight was saved for the early hours of the morning as another New York group took to the Jagermeister stage. A Place to Bury Strangers played for over an hour, with a faithful gathering lost in the white noise jam of The Jesus and Mary Chain, the darkness of Joy Division and the melodies of My Bloody Valentine. It worked all to well with most of the audience left clutching the back of their hair as the band tore up the stage for an explosive climax.

Day Three, and when you're suffering from a bit of the post-drunk downer there's nothing more beautiful or uplifting than watching Bon Ivor. They played 'For Emma, Forever Ago' in its entirety, and like the album, this show was utterly breathtaking.

Deerhunter, on the other hand, ended up playing too much new material and were disappointing overall. Maybe it was just too much to get out of the Bon Iver vibe, but this was changed once Dinosaur Jr. and Animal Collective got their chance to shine late on. Primavera was then closed with a set from classic Manchester electronic heads 808 State. Ending a festival dancing on your toes is better than with tears in your eyes.

Pauric Keenan