Barcelona’s Primavera Sounds showed everyone how to announce a festival line up. Almost two hundred names adorn the festival poster and they will all feature at The Parc del Fòrum from Wednesday May 31 through Sunday June 4 2017, whilst the Raval neighbourhood will once again be the headquarters of the increasingly attractive free programme in the centre of the city.

Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Frank Ocean, The XX, Aphex Twin, Grace Jones, Slayer, Solange And Van Morrison top the bill at the seventeenth edition of the festival. But the smaller print is just as interesting.

Granddaddy, Broken Social Scene, Japandroids, Swans, Gojira, King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, Converge, The Damned, St Etienne, The Afghan Whigs, Sleaford Mods, !!!, Badbadnotgood, The Zombies, Royal Trux, Against Me!, Shellac, Glass Animals and Wild Beasts are all in the second tier of acts, while Julia Jacklin, Joy Orbison, Let’s Eat Grandma, Preoccupations (formerly Viet Cong), Skinny Puppy, Wave Pictures, and The Wedding Present are down with the optician’s favourites.

The Primavera Sound 2017 full festival tickets in Barcelona cost €175 until 7th January. They can be purchased here in English. Instalment plans and VIP tickets are available. 

The Choice Music Prize has become one of the highlights of the Irish musical calendar since its inception in 2005 and is awarded to the Irish Album of the Year, as chosen from a shortlist of ten releases by a panel of twelve Irish music media professionals and industry experts.

Acts featured in Musos’ Guide who are nominated include; Cult Called Man, Eileen Gogan, I Have A Tribe, King Kong Company, Land Lovers, MINDRIOTmt, Mongrel State, Roisin Murphy, and Super Hyper Giant. Past winners include SOAK, Two Door Cinema Club, The Gloaming, Delorentos, The Divine Comedy, Villagers and Jape.

The winning act will receive €10,000, a prize fund which has been provided by The Irish Music Rights Organisation and The Irish Recorded Music Association. All of the shortlisted acts will receive a specially commissioned award. The shortlist for this year’s RTÉ Choice Music Prize, Irish Album of the Year 2016, in association with IMRO & IRMA, will be announced on Wednesday 11th January, 2017.

The 12th annual RTÉ Choice Music Prize will be awarded on March 9th with coverage on RTE. Tickets for the Choice Music Prize live event will go on sale from Ticketmaster on Friday December 2nd priced €26.50 including booking fee.

The full longlist is available here