Well yes: Cruïlla is home!

One more year, Cruïlla has shown that it is one of the most Barcelona-like festivals in our city. Why? Well, because just by crossing its door, where they launch their claim that Cruïlla is home, you find yourself in a space where you really feel at home: many local people, families, people of all ages, and a lineup where national and international talent converge perfectly.

The 16th edition of the festival managed to gather 73,000 people who were distributed throughout the 4 days of its duration. The Parc del Fòrum became a kind of shared home where you could enjoy live musical performances, eat at its food trucks, have a drink on one of its terraces, or enjoy a comedy or dance show by the sea.

Music, nostalgia, and fun

This year's lineup has been presented as the most complete and balanced in the festival's history. Among its artists, we found a great variety of musical styles that show that the organization shies away from genres and labels with the aim of bringing together international artists and essential names from our home.

Garbage, Pixies, Suede, Standstill, Sidonie, Mishima, Mazoni, Maika Makovski, David Byrne, The Black Crowes, Ezra Collective, Bomba Estéreo, Alizzz, La La Love You, Ultraligera, or Zahara Rave were some of the artists we could enjoy on Thursday and Friday nights. One of the big surprises was the Arde Bogotà concert on Friday under the name of Bigger Splash: the band announced hours before that, behind that pseudonym, their performance was hidden.

Saturday afternoon greeted us with cloudy skies, reducing the impact of the sun's rays and allowing the public to breathe a little more. Because the co-star of this edition of Cruïlla has been the thermometer: in the midst of a heatwave, the Fòrum and its cement became an unappealing place to visit. But the festival organization had everything planned and, for that reason, they gave straw hats to attendees, as well as cardboard fans to help deal with the high temperatures.

Els Pets was one of the groups that opened Saturday afternoon, offering a nostalgic, fun, and very intimate concert. Lluís Gavaldá, the band's vocalist, gave himself to his audience in an effusive way and ended up going down to the floor to mingle with the crowd. His people, all closer to their forties than their thirties, were euphoric remembering the songs that marked their youth and, for that reason, there was a moment of explosion and fun among the audience who decided to throw their straw hats and create a dance in the air to the rhythm of their songs.

And that was just the beginning of a musical day that would extend until five in the morning and on whose stages Jon Batiste, Rigoberta Bandini, La Ludwing Band, Polo & Pan, The Hives, Two Doors Cinema Club, Svetlana or Judeline, among many others, could be seen.

Much more than concerts

But, in addition to music, the highlight of Cruïlla is its commitment to art in every sense. And it is that, unlike many other festivals where you can only go from concert to concert, here you have at your disposal a wide variety of proposals suitable for all audiences. Because, what happens if you have two "dead" hours in which there is no artist you know? Cruïlla has covered that niche with a vast cultural program that moves between stand-up, urban dance, street art or gastronomy.

There is no time to get bored: on the Bon Preu-Esclat stage, a construction by the sea that offers stunning views of the beauty of the Fórum and its saltwater pools, is where the performing arts are concentrated. Monologuists and comedians from here take to the stage to offer their show of laughter, humor and complicity. The audience is located in the side stands or seated on the artificial grass next to the stage; all this generates a unique feeling of closeness and authenticity.

On this same stage is also where the dance battles take place in which a duo of dancers competes with another duo in front of three judges; those who pass the battles, compete in new encounters until only one is crowned the winning duo. Hip-hop, breakdance, contemporary dance and ballet movements were seen in the bodies of these artists who earned the ovation and applause of the audience.

The wide variety of offerings at Cruïlla is what makes it a family-friendly festival, especially in the afternoon. Groups of friends with sons and daughters danced and played in the Fòrum, thus opening up the "festival" universe to all ages. Because, as they well emphasize in this year's slogan, Cruïlla is home and, in a home, one feels security, tranquility, and fun. In the Fòrum space, there is room for everyone, and there were even installations such as Imagin Music Sessions, a portable music studio where you could become the protagonist of a music video.

Popular culture has also been present this 2026 with the participation of one of the most significant elements of Catalan festivals and traditions: els Gegants. The Federació d'Entitats de Cultura Popular i Tradicional de Barcelona Vella exhibited its figures and offered a show of traditional and folkloric dances that enlivened the entire "square" of Cruïlla. The spirit of the main festival was experienced in the Parc del Fòrum.

But there's more! Because if you walk through "the streets" of this mini-city called Cruïlla, you will find a great variety of artistic installations, graffiti, and drawings by artists who manage to give it, even more, that unique and personal touch that the festival has. One of the most striking proposals of this edition was the statue in the style of Venus de Milo holding a hairdryer in her hand; it will surely be one of the images of this edition!

A Barcelona festival made for Barcelona

Unlike other major music festivals in Barcelona (such as Sónar or Primavera Sound), the majority audience of Cruïlla is people from Barcelona. In fact, according to the organization, this year 95% of attendees have been local public and, most strikingly, the average age is between 35 and 45 years old. These two factors are very different from other large musical events held in our city. This makes the atmosphere close, relaxed, easygoing, and where good vibes and complicity are what is most palpable in the environment.

And Cruïlla's commitment to progress and solidarity has been clearer than ever this year thanks to the Escenario Transforma't, a space where people danced under the motto "Jo no ballo amb l'odi" (I don't dance with hate) and where people were encouraged to enjoy world music and, at the same time, to reflect on the hate speech that is currently on the rise. But also, the solidarity aspect was seen in its affiliation with Worldcoo and its campaign "Cruïlla per Gaza", where a portion of the money was allocated to humanitarian tasks in the Strip.

One more year, the Cruïlla Festival has once again shown that a macro-festival can be made designed for the people of Barcelona, for families, for young people, for people not so young, and for anyone who wants to enjoy culture and music in a space by the sea. Counting the days until Cruïlla 2027!