After both the 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival returned with a new two-weekend format that combined many bookings from the scheduled 2020 and 2021 lineups while adding new artists as well.

[8] The initial 2020 lineup was announced on 15 January, with Massive Attack, Pavement, The National, The Strokes, Lana del Rey, Tyler, the Creator, Bad Bunny and Disclosure as headliners.

[12] On 9 June, Primavera Sound finalized the lineup with several new acts such as Beach Bunny, Kurt Vile, Kim Gordon, Slowthai, Khruangbin, Lingua Ignota, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Otoboke Beaver, The Murder Capital and The Caretaker.

[15][16] On 13 December, the festival confirmed even more additions to the lineup, including Low, Grimes, PinkPantheress, Bleachers, Amyl and the Sniffers, Remi Wolf, Magdalena Bay, Wet Leg and Meet Me at the Altar.

Mdou Moctar, Napalm Death, Caterina Barbieri, Richard Dawson and Circle, Yeule, Doss and IC3PEAK were among the names added to replace Connan Mockasin, Jessica Pratt, King Princess, OM, Perfume, Tokischa and Turnstile dropping out.

[19] On 31 May, a day before the festival's activities would start, Bikini Kill, Georgia, Girl in Red, Kehlani, Lingua Ignota and Pa Salieu dropped out, replaced by Joey Badass, Let's Eat Grandma and Marina Herlop.

[21] Despite initial controversies, resolutions came forward by increasing staff members and flowing communication with Mayor Ada Colau, who agreed to expand the festival's contract with the city until at least 2027.

[24] Tame Impala covered "Last Nite" during their first week headline set in honor of The Strokes' cancellation, and Kevin Parker said onstage about playing it: "Probably never again.

[26] Gorillaz brought several guests during their headlining sets on 4 and 9 June: Mos Def for "Stylo" and "Sweepstakes", Fatoumata Diawara for "Broken" and "Désolé", Bootie Brown for "Dirty Harry", Slowthai for "Momentary Bliss" and De La Soul for "Feel Good Inc." Stereogum lauded their performance as "the big unifying act" to close the first weekend.

She showed up onstage 15 minutes late, scrapped several songs midway, skipped parts of the setlist and successfully pleaded to be allotted more time to perform set closer "Everything Is Embarrassing".

The Independent commented that while it created an overall larger crowd in the area and longer bar queues, it benefited festivalgoers by allowing for an easier path between headlining sets.

In response, Primavera Sound promised improvements and said the bar issues were caused by staff shortages and technical difficulties with credit card payments.

The festival announced that it had fixed Parc del Fòrum's Wi-Fi issues overnight and hired additional staff for the remainder of the two weeks.