Sonar Barcelona

When and where is Sónar?

Sónar is an annual festival of electronic music and digital art in Barcelona, founded in 1994. According to the official site, Sónar 2027 is set for Thursday 17 to Saturday 19 June 2027 in Barcelona. As of 16 October 2026 the 2027 venue has not been announced, no lineup is published and the ticket page still shows the 2026 edition. The 2026 edition, from 18 to 20 June 2026, was held at Fira Gran Via in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, with Sónar+D at the Llotja de Mar.

History

Sonar started in Barcelona in June 1994, dreamed up by music journalist Ricard Robles alongside musicians and visual artists Enric Palau and Sergi Caballero. They called it a festival of "advanced music and multimedia art," and built it around a split that's defined it ever since: Sonar by Day, staged at the Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona (CCCB) for a crowd that could browse talks and installations between sets, and Sonar by Night, which opened at the Apolo club before moving to Poble Espanyol for its second and third editions. Around 6,000 people showed up for that first edition. Two years later, the number had tripled to 18,000.

The festival kept outgrowing its own venues through the rest of the 1990s. Sonar by Night relocated to the Mar Bella sports pavilion in 1997 to handle the crowds, and in the summer of 1998, in only its fourth year, the festival landed a booking that made the wider music press pay attention: Kraftwerk's first live performance in twelve years. By 2001, the night program had moved again, this time to the Fira Gran Via exhibition halls in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, a shift that let Sonar start booking large-format concerts with real production behind them. Attendance kept climbing alongside the ambition, passing 53,000 by 2000.

Sonar by Day found its current home at Fira Montjuic, on Plaza d'Espanya, in 2013, the same year the festival launched Sonar+D, a three-day congress on music technology and creative industries that has since drawn in Spotify, Google, and MIT Media Lab, among others. The move coincided with a run of record attendance: 121,000 in 2013, climbing to 126,000 for the 25th anniversary in 2018, the same year Sonar transmitted a set of specially composed tracks toward the exoplanet GJ 273b, 12.4 light-years away, under the project name Sonar Calling GJ273b. If the message is ever answered, it's timed to arrive back around the festival's 50th anniversary in 2043. Over three decades, the bill has run from Bjork, the Chemical Brothers, and LCD Soundsystem to earlier-era bookings of Laurent Garnier, Sven Vath, Richie Hawtin, and Jeff Mills, who all played the festival's first few years.

The festival's ownership has shifted more recently, and messily. Superstruct Entertainment, the pan-European festival group, took a stake in Sonar in 2019 before KKR acquired Superstruct outright in a deal reported at roughly $1.3 billion in 2024. When KKR's ties to Israeli and defense-linked investments drew a boycott campaign across Superstruct's roster in 2025, Sonar was one of the properties forced to respond, issuing a statement of solidarity with Gaza's civilian population and distancing itself from KKR's actions, an episode covered in more detail in our reporting on the wider Boiler Room boycott. That October, Robles, Palau, and Caballero stepped away from the festival they'd built, after 32 years, with Superstruct executive Francois Jozic taking over as CEO. Sonar today runs sister editions in cities including Reykjavik, Istanbul, Hong Kong, Bogota, and Buenos Aires, but the flagship Barcelona weekend remains the reference point for all of them.

The 2026 edition, the first without the founders, changed the format. Sónar by Day and Sónar by Night were merged into one program at Fira Gran Via, running 17:00 to 03:00 on Thursday and 17:00 to 07:00 on Friday and Saturday, while Sónar+D moved to the Llotja de Mar in central Barcelona. The bill included Charlotte de Witte, Amelie Lens with her AURA showcase, Chris Stussy and Sara Landry, alongside The Prodigy, Skepta and Boys Noize. Techno has been a thread here since the 1990s: Sven Väth played the first edition in 1994, according to Wikipedia, and Jeff Mills played in 1995 and 1996. More recent years include Theo Parrish on the Red Bull SonarDóme in 2019, Nina Kraviz on the 2017 bill, and Surgeon with Speedy J in 2024. Kalabrese took his Rumpelorchestra to the festival in 2008.

Sónar 2027 is set for June 17 to 19 in Barcelona, according to the festival's own site. As of 16 October 2026 the venue for 2027 had not been announced, no lineup was published, and the ticket page still showed the 2026 edition.

Getting there and practical info

Sónar's logistics changed in 2026, so most of what follows comes from the festival's official 2026 practical pages. The 2027 site had not been announced at the time of writing, so treat it as a guide to how the festival has worked most recently and check sonar.es once the 2027 venue is confirmed.

• Venue (2026): Fira Gran Via, C/ Botànica 62, 08908 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, on the edge of Barcelona. Sónar+D ran at the Llotja de Mar, a separate city-centre venue, and a Sónar Kids program at Parc del Fòrum.
• Hours (2026): Thursday 17:00 to 03:00, Friday and Saturday 17:00 to 07:00. Gates closed one hour before the program ended.
• Metro and train: Metro line L9 to Fira, with an increased service on Friday and Saturday nights. FGC trains stop at Europa-Fira.
• Bus: several TMB and AMB daytime lines and the night buses N1, N15, N16, N17 and N18.
• SonarBus: a paid shuttle from Fira Gran Via back to Plaça d'Espanya (next to Fira Montjuïc), every 30 minutes, at 5 euros a journey in 2026. VIP ticket holders had a free service in both directions.
• Airport: Barcelona airport terminals T1 and T2 have a direct L9 metro line to Fira, plus bus 46 to Plaça Europa by day and night buses N17 and N18.
• Age: under-18s are not admitted to Sónar at Fira Gran Via under any circumstances.
• Wristbands and re-entry: you swap your ticket for a wristband at the venue, or earlier at check-in points in the city during Sónar Week. In 2026 the general public could leave and re-enter once per day, as long as they left before 11pm.
• Payments (2026): credit and debit cards were accepted everywhere, with cash points on site.
• Bags (2026): bags up to 40 by 20 by 25 cm and under 20 litres were allowed, and visitors could bring one capless disposable water bottle under 50 cl and one item of food.
• Tickets: the official ticket page on sonar.es still shows the 2026 edition. The festival's site invites visitors to sign up to its newsletter for 2027 news.

FAQ

What's the difference between Sonar by Day and Sonar by Night?

Until 2025, Sonar by Day ran at Fira Montjuic with a wider mix of stages, talks, and installations, while Sonar by Night at Fira Gran Via in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat was the large-scale club program. For 2026 the two were merged into a single program at Fira Gran Via, and the 2027 venue has not been announced.

What is Sonar+D?

It's Sonar's music-technology and creative-industries congress, launched in 2013 and running alongside the festival with talks, exhibitions, and networking sessions that have drawn participants from Spotify, Google, and MIT Media Lab. In 2026 it ran at the Llotja de Mar in central Barcelona.

Has Sonar always been in Barcelona?

The flagship festival has, but Sonar has run international spin-off editions since expanding to London in 2002, with recurring versions since in Reykjavik, Istanbul, Hong Kong, and South American cities including Bogota, Buenos Aires, and Santiago.

When is Sonar 2027?

The festival's website lists Sonar 2027 for June 17 to 19 in Barcelona. As of October 2026 the venue and lineup had not been announced.

How do I get to Sonar from Barcelona?

For 2026, which was held at Fira Gran Via, the festival pointed visitors to metro line L9 (station Fira) and FGC trains to Europa-Fira, with a paid SonarBus back to Plaça d'Espanya. The 2027 site had not been announced at the time of writing.

What is the age limit at Sonar?

For 2026 the festival stated that people under 18 are not allowed into Sónar at Fira Gran Via under any circumstances.

When do Sonar 2027 tickets go on sale?

The official ticket page still showed the 2026 edition as of October 16, 2026, and the festival invites fans to sign up to its newsletter for 2027 news. Check sonar.es for the on-sale date.

What is Sonar festival?

Sónar is an annual festival of electronic music and digital art in Barcelona, founded in 1994 by Ricard Robles, Enric Palau and Sergi Caballero. It pairs a music program with Sónar+D, a congress on music technology and creative industries launched in 2013.

Where is Sonar Barcelona held?

The 2026 edition was held at Fira Gran Via, C/ Botànica 62, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, on the edge of Barcelona, with Sónar+D at the Llotja de Mar in the city centre. The official site lists Sónar 2027 for Barcelona but has not announced the venue as of 16 October 2026.

What were the dates of Sonar 2026?

Sónar 2026 ran from 18 to 20 June 2026, Thursday to Saturday, according to the official ticket page. Sónar 2027 is set for 17 to 19 June 2027.

Has the Sonar 2027 lineup been announced?

No lineup for Sónar 2027 had been published as of 16 October 2026. The official site only invites visitors to sign up to its newsletter for news about the 2027 edition.

RTS.FM artists connected to this festival

• Amelie Lens
• Charlotte de Witte
• Chris Stussy
• Jeff Mills
• Kalabrese
• Nina Kraviz
• Sara Landry
• Surgeon
• Sven Väth
• Theo Parrish

Only sourced appearances at past editions or on announced lineups are listed.