Catalan talent fills Primavera Sound 2026

The countdown is over. This Wednesday, June 3, the new edition of Primavera Sound 2026 begins, the festival that, this year, is making a big bet on local talent. We spoke with Aleix Ibars, head of communication for the festival, to explain how big names in international music like Gorillaz or The Cure coexist with artists from our home like Bad Gyal, Rojuu, Remei de Ca la Fresca or Renaldo & Clara, among others.

This year's lineup features more than 150 names where music legends, social media phenomena, and local artists mix, demonstrating that music made in Catalonia has enough strength and quality to share the bill with great industry totems.

The great presence of Catalan music at Primavera Sound 2026

One of the strong points of the new edition of the festival is its commitment to Km 0 music, which responds to the sweet moment that music made in our home is experiencing. This is how Aleix Ibars, head of communication for Primavera Sound, sees it: "Programming local talent is for identity, for responsibility and for what they contribute, obviously," he states emphatically. "The Primavera Sound lineups aim to be a photograph of the most relevant musical scene of the moment, and it would be incomplete if we did not include local bands and artists, taking into account that the city of Barcelona is a fundamental part of the festival's personality."

When we ask Ibars what the criterion is for a local band to enter Primavera, what a local artist must have, he confesses that the bar is just as high as for an artist from outside: "The same thing we look for in the international artists and bands we program: that they bring something new, that they take risks, that they have made their best album, that they are unique... It is very difficult to explain in words what makes a group or artist should be at the festival. After more than 20 years of work, the festival's booking team continues to debate each band on the lineup, local or international, so that in the end everything makes sense."

But within the local programming of Primavera Sound, there is one proper name that stands out above the rest: Bad Gyal. The artist from Vilassar de Mar is no stranger to the festival, but she is no longer the same one who participated for the first time in 2018; now she is a star of urban music and the festival stage was one of her great loudspeakers. In fact, now, four editions later, the artist from Vilassar is one of the main acts on Thursday night, sharing the spotlight with big names like Doja Cat and Massive Attack.

From the festival offices, the success of the Catalan artist is experienced with a touch of almost family pride: "We have seen Bad Gyal grow since she first performed at the festival in 2018 and starred in the famous inaugural press conference alongside C. Tangana and Yung Beef," explains Aleix Ibars, "It is a source of pride to see that this year she is one of the headliners of one of the main days of the festival. She is, along with Rosalía, the only artist from Barcelona who has been, so we are very happy."

At the Parc del Fòrum we will also see proposals that are revolutionizing the way of understanding street music, such as the Barcelona-based Rojuu, one of the greatest exponents of alternative pop and emo trap. The lineup also features Renaldo & Clara, one of the most elegant voices of contemporary pop in Catalan, who will present their new album L'encant; for her part, Ouineta, one of the freshest artists of the moment, will bring her experimental pop proposal to the free inaugural day on Wednesday, May 3.

Other local artists such as LaBlackie, Ven'nus, Pavvla or Ósserp will demonstrate on stage that current Catalan music no longer responds to a single style. Finding everything from hip-hop to death metal on the same lineup confirms that the label "music from here" is no longer a closed genre: it is a sample of the diversity we experience in the streets. "It is a sign of maturity of any scene that origin is not a determining aspect," reflects Ibars when we ask him if the label 'Catalan music' has become obsolete. "Just as we don't talk about a British or American scene but about scenes defined by musical styles, affinities or approaches, the same thing happens with Catalan music: it must now be classified for reasons that go far beyond where it is made".

Electronic music and club culture play a key role in the festival. For this reason, the program also includes performances by Catalan artists such as the res_ duo or the grunge-pop of st.frances (the project of Frances Ribes Renshaw). And in the booths, local talent mixes with the migrant scene that has chosen Barcelona as their place to live and develop their creativity. This is the case of Marc Piñol, a true institution of local clubbing; Safety Trance and his deconstructed industrial sound; or creators like Malena (Argentinian based here) and M8NSE (Chilean settled in Barcelona), who will get the Fòrum on its feet to the rhythm of latin club.

"Catalonia, and Barcelona especially, has always been a welcoming land and many cultures have converged," Aleix Ibars reminds us about the weight of this adopted scene. "This is also a source of pride and it is completely natural that it has its correspondence in music.

Local concerts with the Primavera a la Ciutat cycle

Parallel to the Fòrum program, the festival presents Primavera a la Ciutat, which will feature a total of 90 concerts spread across Sala Apolo, La (2) de Apolo, Razzmatazz, Paral·lel 62, LAUT, La Nau, Les Enfants Brillants and the CCCB. And it is here where national proposals have more presence: the lineup is led by Remei de Ca la Fresca who, directly from Arbúcies, will bring their psychedelic rock with a punk attitude.

Alongside them, we can enjoy the guitars and power-pop of paco te quiero or the underground touch of LHARA. There will also be the post-hardcore of Barcelona's Serpent, the distorted rock of Salvana, the free-slowcore of the Canadian-Catalan duo The Clothes or the joint session of M8NSE and Doppelganger, ready to fill the Apolo dance floor.

The springboard of Primavera Pro and Catalan Arts

The festival week also has its aspect that is fundamental for the industry: Primavera Pro. On Wednesday, June 3, starting at 6:30 p.m., the Pati de les Dones of the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) will host the inaugural day of the Pro by Catalan Arts, the internationalization brand of the Institut Català de les Empreses Culturals (ICEC) of the Department of Culture of the Generalitat.

It will be an open day to the public where four free showcases of emerging projects can be enjoyed, such as the following:

• L'arannà: A duo that walks between synthesizers and root instruments.
• Kris Tena: A singer-songwriter from the Barcelona scene who will open her universe to us through voice and guitar.
• kara boi: The new pseudonym of the creator formerly known as Krissia, who breaks the boundaries of conventional pop.
• Hadren: Barcelona-based producer and music designer who will close the night with his style between deconstructed club and avant-pop.

Is Primavera Pro the real springboard for a Catalan group to start touring Europe or America? Aleix Ibars is clear: "It certainly can be, because it is where hundreds of professionals from all over the world gather, arriving in Barcelona to discover the festival's bands and everything Primavera Pro offers, both in terms of conferences and showcases. In this sense, the joint work with Catalan Arts, which has been going on for many years, is essential for the international projection of Catalan music."

The big names on the Primavera Sound 2026 lineup

Apart from local talent, the new edition of Primavera Sound features a luxury program that knows no labels or ages. Heading the lineup we find The Cure, Robert Smith's band that returns to the Fòrum with their post-punk style. But, we will also find urban music references like Doja Cat, a chameleon artist who will turn the main stage into a true spectacle.

But the list of artists does not end here. The return of The text, the pop of Gorillaz with Damon Albarn at the helm, the trip-hop of Massive Attack or the shoegaze of My Bloody Valentine will make this edition one of the most heterogeneous.

In the coming days, Barcelona will become a marathon of high-quality concerts thanks to Primavera Sound. But if one thing is clear, it is that the public, both local and international, has a golden opportunity to discover that the musical fabric of our home is more alive than ever.