music festivals

Music and arts festivals fill Catalonia throughout the summer season. In recent years, the number and quality of them have grown exponentially, to include the participation of international artists who sometimes choose these festivals as their only Spanish tour date. So far, Jamiroquai and Pet Shop Boys are amongst the main names announced for Cruïlla Festival, to take place from the 7th to the 9th of July at Barcelona’s Parc del Fòrum. One of the most long-standing festivals, the International Festival of Porta Ferrada, which takes place in the coastal town of Sant Feliu de Guíxols, will have in their line-up Jamie Cullum and UB40, amongst many others. Beyond the festivals, no other than Sir Elton John has also confirmed that he will perform in Barcelona his only concert in Spain. This will be on the 3rd of December. 

Two days after the 15^th edition of Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona closed its doors with a record 200,000 attendants, half of them international fans, Catalonia is getting ready for a vibrant summer of music festivals, attracting all types of music lovers. In Barcelona and the Costa Brava, both mass and boutique festivals are held. Mass festivals are the big, open air, hipster festivals, such as Sónar Festival, the largest electronic music festival in Europe, and Cruïlla, to name a few. Boutique festivals, on the other hand, focus not only on the music, but also on offering high-quality gastronomy and a classier atmosphere that targets a public with a higher income. In these cases, the venue is sometimes as important as the artists, which may be a castle on the Costa Brava or a cosy stage near the sea. Here is a list of some of most important events from both worlds

Primavera Sound, Sónar or Cruïlla BCN. These are some of the music festivals that the city of Barcelona hosts. However, according to Marcelo Rosero, director of the Salsa & Latin Jazz Festival, the city “lacked high quality salsa and latin jazz music”. This new festival is taking place in a square at Poble Espanyol (Barcelona). Rosero has compared the programme of the festival with a restaurant saying that it has an “exquisite menu” and a “buffet where all is jewellery”. The festival will have “top-level bands” and its “musical acts are very important internationally”, Rosero has concluded.