Sónar Festival

Sónar returned once again to Barcelona for 29th major festival days converging the widest elements of music, creativity and technology. In total, around 120.000 people from 122 different countries from around the world attended this year’s edition. Especially cultural diversity but also showcasing local talent and highlighting female artists from across five different countries were this year’s focus. 

From the 16th to 19th of June, Sónar presented over 180 activities with several artists and speakers who performed world premieres, exclusive concerts and long awaited returns to the stage. This year also marked the opening of Sónar +D which hosted conversations between more than 60 speakers who discussed topics such as the creative, industrial, political and ethical challenges of artificial intelligence or the ongoing work on ecology and fiction. 

Regarding this year’s performing artists there are the most important current global, national and local talents present. Some of them, and our favorites, were Arca, who prepared an exclusive show for Sónar, The Blaze, who returned to Sónar after their hiatus and Hispanic superstar C. Tangana but also electronic magnitudes Richie Hawtin, Charlotte de Witte, Herrensauna XXL and LSDXOXO. From the grime rap and popular and experimental music genres we also were amazed by the performances of AJ Tracey, Headie One and Sega Bodega. 

For an exciting daytime experience, the programme SónarExtra provided attendees with tours through the city of Barcelona throughout the week and other great activities such as sound experiences and audiovisual shows like the exceptional one of the Italian artist Quayola. All of this resulted in special hybrid presentations between concerts and conferences, audiovisual components, talks and Q&A sessions.

The biggest dance floor in the world’s next edition in Barcelona will take place on June 15th to 17th 2023 and marks the 30th anniversary of the festival – it will be an absolute blast! Tickets are already available via the pre-sale.

Ahead of this, Sónar will additionally return to their editions in Istanbul and Lisbon between Marc 31st and April 2nd, 2023.

This summer, Sónar will also take place in Mallorca for Un SónarVillage a S’horabaixa that is scheduled for three days – July 16th, August 6th and September 13th – in the Antiguo Aquapark de Calvià. Leading electronic artists such as The Blaze and Floating Points will serve us the grooves there. Tickets for this are also on sale already – www.sonarshorabaixa.com

OffSónar

In addition to Sónar Festival, its wild companion event OffSónar took place simultaneously and thus fulfilled the Summer’s biggest party week in Europe. OffSónar provided a high quality selection of cutting edge labels and brands that hosted stages in three different archetypal venues within the Poble Espanyol, a Spanish iconography that reveals the most scenic views over Barcelona.

The programme presented by OffSónar started off with a stage dedicated to Exhale by Amelie Lens, providing hard-hitting future sounds by Amelie Lens, Kobosil and Dax J among others.

On the second day electronic music icons Paul Kalkbrenner and Boris Brejcha blessed us with immaculate vibes at the Plaza Mayor under the Spanish sun for an incredible OffSónar Special.

Marking the end of Sónar Festival and OffSónar, and our personal favorite, Innervisions took over all four venues of the Poble Espanyol with a lineup of djs and artists at the cutting edge of dance music such as Bonobo, Marcel Dettmann and VTSS.

A stunning and intense experience we will never forget – we cannot wait for the next edition and truly encourage you to also not miss this mind-blowing journey!

Written by THORE DAMWERTH