The feeling that this can no longer grow, that we are on the verge of collapse, that supply exceeds demand and that the famous bubble (which we have been talking about since 2006) is about to finally burst is repeated summer after summer, corrected and redoubled. And the tide of concerts and festivals continues to rise, and the agenda fills with more and more names of renowned artists who even overlap on the same dates in different venues in the city (and surroundings). The questions are pertinent: why are so many music festivals held in Barcelona? What does the Catalan capital have? And is there an audience for so much partying?
Barcelona's relationship with live music (pop-rock orbit) dates back to the seventies, when it acted as an incipient pole of attraction for international tours. Here we had the first great promoter in the State, Gay Mercader, who attracted exclusive performances by figures such as Frank Zappa, Patti Smith, the Rolling Stones and many others. There is a substratum of pop culture in the city that was precisely configured at that time: specialized magazines with projection throughout the State (Popular 1 and Vibraciones, later Rock Espezial, Rockdelux and Ruta 66) had their central newsrooms in Barcelona. Like most record labels.
Although during the seventies the first generation of festivals took shape (with the Sis Hores de Cançó and Canet Rock as high references), the format subsequently declined to gradually resurface many years later, starting in the nineties. It was, in fact, an anomaly that in Catalonia, and in Spain, lands of benign climate and tourist magnets, there were no musical events like those that roamed the inhospitable great north, in the United Kingdom (Glastonbury or Reading), the Netherlands (Pinkpop) or Denmark (Roskilde).
The roots of the first two Barcelona brands are located in 1994, when Sónar was born and the first version of Primavera Sound burst onto the scene, in the form of a humble series of concerts in clubs (in 2001 it grew, settling in Poble Espanyol, and in 2005 it jumped to Parc del Fòrum). The origins of the third Catalan epicenter, Cruïlla, are found twenty years ago in Mataró, in the Cruïlla de Cultures series, a precedent for the current exhibition at the Fòrum, which premiered in 2010.
And well, no other city in the State has consolidated a comparable festival scheme. Musical showcases, all three, conceived by Catalans and representing very distinguishable and singular models. Sónar has become a mix of showcase of sound avant-gardes, laboratory, and massive electronic rave. Primavera combines its 'indie' rock ascendancy with a growing commitment to high-reach pop figures, taking advantage of the fact that the red lines between the underground and the mainstream have blurred or become confused. And Cruïlla reminds us that it was a pioneer in the mix of niches and musical transversality, while boasting a powerful package of values: sustainability, inclusion, identification with the local audience.
These operators we have in Barcelona are not international franchises like Lollapalooza (which, from Chicago, has settled in cities like Buenos Aires or Paris), but initiatives that emerged here, very identified with the city. With clarifications: Sónar was integrated in 2018 into a multinational, the British Superstruct Entertainment which, in turn, at the end of 2024, was swallowed by the North American conglomerate KKR, which has been suddenly singled out this year for its real estate interests in Israel and in the occupied territories, in line with the accusatory campaigns of BDS, a fact that in the last edition of the festival caused a noisy boycott campaign and some casualties on the lineup. Setbacks that, however, did not prevent the usual attendance figures from being revalidated.
On the other hand, Primavera sold 29% of its property to The Yupaica Companies in 2019, while Cruïlla fully retains Catalan ownership, managed by the company Barcelona Events Musicals. Each festival has chosen its path, its way of doing things, and today, far from showing fatigue, all three maintain quite stabilized attendance figures, in addition to artistic profiles that, beyond individual tastes, work for them.
They are no longer alone, because in the Fòrum (with the necessary mediation of the City Council, which seeks to balance the will for cultural revitalization and the decibel fit, which lately excites neighborhood sensitivities) other shows with equally very marked identities have emerged: the Share Festival (urban and Latin music), Festival B (latest Catalan and Spanish pop), the Reggaeton Beach Festival (which the reader can imagine what it's about) and the debutant Brunch Elektronik ('disc jockeys', electro-pop and similar). And in Can Zam, in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, we have a heavy metal colossus, the Rock Fest.
Outside the Barcelona area, but not far, the Vida Festival (pop and independent sounds in Vilanova i la Geltrú), Canet Rock (night of youthful Catalan proposals "until the sun rises") and the Idílic Fest (Spanish 'star system') unfold. And in parallel, we must talk about cycle or 'boutique' festivals, where music is surrounded by a host of attentions, in an exclusive setting and with elaborate gastronomy. A very characteristic circuit of the Empordà region (with Cap Roig, Porta Ferrada, Sons del Món and Portal Blau as prominent venues; Perelada has recently renounced pop and sticks with opera and classical), the model extends to other places, such as Terramar (Sitges) and the International Music Festival of Cambrils.
The key to this expansion of the sector is, simply, the pronounced and spontaneous growth of the publicAnd, new, also in Barcelona, where the promoters Concert Studio(the wintryMil·lenni Festival) and Clipper's (Cap Roig) respectively exploit the Alma Festival (Poble Espanyol) and Les Nits de Barcelona (Pedralbes Gardens), an offer to which must be added the musical plot of the Grec.
So we have an avalanche of musical offerings to which is added the increasingly bloated concert schedule of artists who do their own tours with individual performances. Stadium pop is experiencing a cycle of expansion and, just as before the pandemic, the Olympic Stadium used to host one, two or three concerts each summer at most, this year it registers seven (the already held Guns n'Roses and Imagine Dragons, and the pending Aitana, Lola Índigo, Kendrick Lamar, Blackpink and Post Malone). And the RCDE Stadium, in Cornellà (Robbie Williams), has been added. Not to mention the saturated Palau Sant Jordi.
In fact, one of the topics of conversation in the sector, internationally, is the crisis of 'headliners', festival headliners, since the increase in demand in the field of large events invites more artists than ever to embark on their own tours instead of sharing a bill with a bunch of attractions of all sizes. Obvious advantages: more income, full stage production (at festivals they are often cut, both in setup and duration) and the possibility of offering full lines of merchandising, a plot that increasingly weighs more in business figures (and for which large shared shows do not have enough space to put). This year, the Barcelona festivals have managed to come out, but there is concern about the direction all this may take.
There are those who see ghosts in the rise of big concerts and festivals: industrial conspiracies, scams to citizens, perversions of the capitalist system... In Catalonia, a certain skill is observed in the practice of not valuing what we have and seeing dark keys, and in attributing to the music industry a more evil character than any other economic sector may present. But the key to this expansion of the sector is, simply, the pronounced and spontaneous growth of the public, whom we must treat as a universe of adult individuals who make their decisions and choose to go here and there because they want to, not because anyone forces them.
It is reasonable to think that the most 'macro' festivals could threaten the daily life of an indispensable link in music, the venues and clubs, where, in principle, everything should begin, but people make their own choices, and it had never been as easy as it is now to be informed about the programming of the smallest and most underground venue. It is surprising how certain analyses with penetrating pretensions, which see festivals, in general, as an axis of evil (artifacts subjected to capital, frivolous covens where extramusical ingredients rule, as if these factors were not always present, also in events with a more 'authentic' aura: precisely because of that) overlook the elementary consideration of the principle of individual responsibility and refer to attendees as victims of a great alienation and as manipulable beings. This does not seem like a very progressive reading.
Until not many years ago, only very music lovers or followers of certain artists went to concerts and festivals, and now people of all kinds and conditions frequent them.The fact is that, after the pandemic, the hunger for organic experiences and 'experiences' (the buzzword), for sharing situations and celebrating existence while one can, has run wild. It is possible that the effect also plays a role.FOMO, this panic of missing out on a situation perceived as mandatory attendance, of being left out of the public conversation, of feeling like a social pariah. Again, to each their own, right? On the other hand,the phenomenon of musical tourism has exploded, a practice until recently confined to very dedicated fans of an artist and now quite widespread.
Traveling is more affordable than ever, and more universal, and less elitist, which should be celebrated as a social triumph (and is not always read that way). Many large-format concerts are nourished by varying percentages of attendees who have traveled to attend. Primavera Sound stands out, exceptionally, having placed the share of foreign audience at 65% in its last edition. An audience that chooses Barcelona because, in addition to live music, it offers a 'pack' of incentives not found in just any city: stable cultural offerings, architecture, gastronomy with a global projection, six kilometers of beach. Again, a fact that could be a source of civic pride is transformed, in certain forums, into a curse.
But well, we are where we are, and although every season one promoter or another gets their fingers burned with some proposal (it's the law of life and the market), there are, for now, no signs of exhaustion nor does a collapse of the sector seem to be on the horizon, quite the opposite. Jordi Herreruela, creator and director of Cruïlla, a festival characterized by not wanting to grow, states that new large spaces for live music should be created in Barcelona (high-capacity auditoriums, designed for music and not for sports; even a new stadium designed for concerts), because this area is expected to remain on the rise in the coming years.
At the same time, the growing rivalry between cities is perceived, and Barcelona is playing to maintain, or not, the certain primacy it has held for decades in this corner of Europe. Recorded music can be found everywhere, almost free, and live music is comparatively much scarcer and has more room to run. Until not many years ago, only very music lovers or followers of certain artists went to concerts and festivals, and now people of all kinds and conditions frequent them, it's that simple. Audiences that perhaps are governed by less pure principles than some would like, but, listen, the world is not made to the measure of each of us and, moreover, it changes and never ceases to surprise us.