Sónar attracted 119,000 visitors across Sónar by Day (52,500) and Sónar by Night (66,500), plus another 42,000 across OFFSónar and the rest of the Sónar Week activities.
The cancellations first emerged when KKR was highlighted as having invested in the Israeli tech sector, US weapons manufacturing, climate destruction, and the displacement of Indigenous people. This led to a wave of artist cancellations, many accompanied by social media posts calling out the ethics of performing at a festival with links to the genocide being carried out by Isreal on Palestinians.
Days before the festival BDS called on Sónar to explicitly commit to adopting its own ethical policies on programming and partnerships, and upholding BDS guidelines with regards to the cultural boycott of Israel, anti-normalisation, and due diligence. While this did not come ahead of the event, debate will likely continue long after Sónar+D's panel reflection on the role of culture in the current global context, hosted on the Friday.
Armed with an arsenal of hardware, Blawan's live techno set of inventive rhythms and diverse beats played out on a soundsystem that could do them justice.
Sónar by Day's set up remained the same this year, with the central SonarVillage outdoor stage given its now familiar cover while SonarHall, SonarPark, SonarComplex, and Sonar+D stages are found in the buildings around it. The opening set was given to Nahoomie, the mind behind Barcelona house party Telescopio, to kick off proceedings with plenty of groove for the hot Barcelona sun.
In SonarHall, so often the setting for dramatic live shows, the influences of SOPHIE and Arca were clear to see when Spain's Nina Emocianal presented FDM. A performance steeped in theatre, the stage had a flight of steps leading to music controllers which she ascended to during the opening through smoke, light, and dancers. Her vocal acrobatics and experimental beats produced a captivating show.
We'd stick our heads into a variety of stages, including SonarPark where Nathy Peluso collaborator TRISTÁN! played with The Jazz Band Air before Alizzz stepped up with his and we caught sight of our first Palestinian flag in the crowd, then settle at the Sonar+D stage for Libby Heaney's Eat my Multiverse talk.
She began by helping us understand quantum physics... as best we can, but who better to get a crash course in the super-complex theory from than an artist with a PhD in Quantum Information Science? Dr. Heaney told us the cameras filming her were beaming the recording back into a quantum computer, one that can tackle far more complex problems than usual because they can explore multiple possibilities simultaneously. This parallel existence was represented via a layered screen from which watercolour pigments, gelatinous forms, and tentacled creations emerged, and at times merged, with her face as she delivered a spoken word performance based on her own thoughts through turbulent times in her life.
Heaney's dramatic words played with the idea of being in contradictory emotions and states at the same time, effectively playing out the technical definition of the quantum superposition of being in two places at the same time - effectively creating a multiverse of the self. The audiovisual lecture certainly made quantum computing a bit more relateable, encouraging a personal response to Heaney's shared experiences.
Back outside in the sun for SonarVillage there was a South Korean takeover with rising stars yunji, Mar Vista, and Coziest ahead of house legend Todd Terry. Terry would step up to the decks with a perma-pout, wearing a t-shirt with 'crime time' written across the chest, and opened with a sample of the lyrics 'money talks' from the Adventures Of Stevie V classic 'Dirty Cash'. He proceeded to then fall back on a stream of hits such as 'You Don't Even Know Me', 'Au Seve' and 'Renegade Master' in what was a much safer set than his inital appearance on stage seemed to tease.
Alva Noto & Fennesz's 'Continuum' was a fitting tribute to the late Sónar favourite: Ryuchi Sakamoto.
We got down to SonarVillage in the late afternoon where Adrian Sherwood had donned a Palestinadelica shirt combining the Palestine flag, Primal Scream's Screamadelica artwork and Celtic FC's classic green and white hoops for his live dub show. Like Blawan, the head of On-U Sound looked and sounded like a master of his art surrounded by all his equipment. Dub landed so well on a Friday afternoon in the Barcelona sun we were surprised we had not heard the genre more often in the SonarVillage. We hope the organisers consider some dub artists in future to ease us into the day's activities.
Though not a duo that have ever courted a lot of media attention, UK duo Plaid are electronic music veterans with a prolific creatlive output. They make bright, dreamy electronica which, coupled with inventive visuals in SonarHall made for a psychedelic trip. It was interesting to see one of Plaid strumming a guitar to create intricate melodies, and it made for an interesting counterpoint to how Fennesz would use his guitar a couple of hours later on the same stage.
We'd head back to SonarVillage for P-rallel who dropped Robin S classic 'Show Me Love' before sticking our heads into SonarPark for Brazilian group TETO PRETO. Known for their political mix of punk rock, electronic music and Brazilian culture, they had gone on record to say their slot at Sónar would acknowledge their financial need to play the festival while dressed to honour Palestinian resistance with their bodies as their weapons. They delivered on that promise.
As well as providing a electric performance brimming with energy as they cavorted around the stage with keffiyeh-inpsired outfits, lead singer Angela Carneosso donned what could best be distressed as a Palestinian flag literally in distress as though it had been ripped across their body.
From the outrospective to the introspective: we headed to SonarHall for Alva Noto & Fennesz's 'Continuum'. This set was a tribute to the late Sónar favourite Ryuchi Sakamoto, who most recently had performed at the festival opposite Noto at a closing concert in 2018. For this performance, Fennesz took Sakamoto's place on the left of the stage as the screen behind replicated the minimalist visuals from that peformance.
While Alva Noto provided the subtle, minimalist beats, Fennesz strummed his guitar to create what would have been a dramatic wall of sound had he not provided muted effects to almost muffle their impact. It was easy to get lost in the middle of these two contrasting deliveries and find yourself in a dream-like state. Truly a worthy musical send off for Sakamoto after his history with Sónar.
As Sónar by Day gave way to Sónar Night we would head to Fira Gran Via early where the first sets from People You May Know and NAGUIYAMI were getting arrivals warmed up but the big draw was Bicep with their Chroma AV/DJ set which packed out SonarClub. They took to the stage amid a burst of 4/4 beats and screens ablaze with colour, before taking the pace down in a set that included fan-favourite 'Glue'.
While Bicep were all lights and famous tunes remixed, we opted for something more cerebral over at SonarPub. Angel Molina's extended techno set was measured and meticulously mixed, one that rewarded close listening as off beats diverted and then coalesced with more powerful effect over two hours.
We pumped up our energy levels with a few rides to the new-look bumper cars, then headed to SonarLab where we caught dubstep queen SICARIA ending her set with a 'Satisfaction' variant and rapper Pa Salieu with a mix of drill, rap and grime.
One of zap! bang! Magazine's favourites was next to step onto the stage: Daito Manabe. Having seen him given a first solo slot at Sónar 2023 on the Sonar+D stage, finally he was able to make his debut By Night at the far larger SonarPub. Armed with a live AV show meticulously binding the music to the visuals, as you'd expect from an artist who has provided visual content for Nosaj Thing in the past, this was an rich tapestry for the eyes and ears.
While much of the set was all beats either big or break which had us bopping from side to side, Manabe had a masterstroke up his sleeve to conclude. He took a vocal sample from Roni Size's 'Brown Paper Bag' and tossed it in with his own jungle drum pattern for a thoroughly rewarding skank out.
After Daito Manabe's combination of visuals shaped by his own soundscapes, we fell into a bit of a stupor as we Interplanetary Criminal's set visuals and music just weren't hitting the spot. His use of a cartoon character seemed particularly crass compared to Manabe's absorbing musical shapes. We hoped to soothe our eyes with Max Cooper's Lattice 3DAV show, but it was cancelled after music started but the visuals would not. We hoped to get back to better aural treats at SonarClub but Four Tet's set underwhelmed and Jayda G just wasn't doing it for us either. Then up stepped Flore b2b Peder Mannerfelt.
When we hit the middle of the front of the SonarLab dancefloor, the pair had already hit their stride - one of them literally. When not behind the decks, Peder was flailing his limbs around the stage and singing at the crowd, and it seemed he had the perfect foil in Flore as they maintained an old school rave vibe with hits such as The Prodigy's 'Full Throttle' and Outlander's 'The Vamp' weaved into malestrom of energy we'd been hunting for all night. Easily a set of the weekend.
We'd finish our night at SonarClub for Helena Hauff with her vinyl only set which had stripped back lights to go with a simple set up. That's all she needed. This was techno at its most pure and direct, a fine end to a Sónar by Night.
Cora Novoa was on bombastic form, pummelling us with bass and visuals to which came a special effect: rain.
Saturday
After the heaviness of Helena Hauff's closing set on Friday, we continued the theme by checking out the anonymous Datashader act signed to Tresor Records in SonarComplex. The auditorium was filled with smoke so there we no chance of knowing if anyone did take to the stage for the sonic assault which had us thinking of Autechre. Dramatic hisses, startling creaks, and a heafty dose of bass.Paranoid London are a reliable source of rave fun with their persistent, driving basslines combined with acid lines and effects-heavy vocals, however today's set lacked their usual guest spot for a vocalist. Instead they relied on samples for famous tunes such as 'Sniffing Glue' and 'Drop the Beat' which hit differently as a result, lacking the raw energy a performer brings to the stage in front of the duo. Even so, you can't not bop to their beats and, save for a wayward mid-section, this set made us think it was more 5am on a Saturday morning than 5pm on a Saturday afternoon.
We arrived at Sónar by Night in time to get a prime position for Eric Prydz in SonarClub, where big drops and big visuals are the norm for the Sónar regular. Last seen presenting his Holo show two years ago, taking the gimick of the 3D visuals away provided an opportunity for Prydz to gear a set more towards the dancefloor. That said, after 15 minutes we'd seen all the big house drops we needed to from Prydz.
We traded Prydz for Perel and Dixon in SonarLab, the former playing a hybrid set before the Innervisions boss took over with a set of trademark deep house. After another blast on the dodgems, we headed to SonarPub to catch Paula Tape who played an engaging set of italo disco, EBM and synth-wave.
After Blawan's fine live performance on Thursday, we were hyped to see what kind of set he could produce with Skrillex by his side at SonarPub. It seemed a popular choice as the space filled up quickly in the interlude after Paula Tape, and when the set kicked off it seemed we might be heading into Blawan's home territory of deep, layered techno. This wasn't to be the case.
Blawan's solo sets and productions have been championed as having a mature, measured quality about them with little time for showmanship, while Skrillex's penchant for getting on the mic to announce drops to the crowd like a maniac MC are often seen on social media - particularly when he's been mixing with pals Four Tet and Fred Again... For this b2b, Skrillex reigned in his love of the mic, but seemed ill-equipped to let the music do the talking. The techno the pair exchanged over the first half hour were disjointed picks, then eventually Skrillex seemed to want to address the crowd by dropping something they could cheer to with 'Fine Day Anthem'. From there, it appeared the pair were heading towards a more simplistic set of crowd-pleasers so we opted to find something more inventive.
Two years ago Cora Novoa played a memorable b2b with Tiga in SonarClub loaded with electro bangers, this year she was given a solo slot in SonarLab to present her new album Mental Diary Act III. The live show combined modular synthesisers and analogue recordings with visuals by digital artist Tomás Aciego, who flashed 'delete KKR' and 'free Palestine' on screen at the start. Billed as an exploration of Cora's current state of mind, a state manifested live as an intense blend of dark techno and dramatic electro. This was Cora on bombastic form, pummelling us with bass and visuals to which came a special effect: rain. As large drops fell from the sky for a few minutes, we reflected it suited the mood well. It also reminded us of the storm we were hit by during a Boyz Noize set at a similar time in 2016, but that's another story.
We'd finish our Sónar 2025 with Actress, closing the SonarLab as only an advant garde producer would: a total distain for the norms. At first he played around with some ambiant vibes, then he switched up to a vocal disco track as we seemed to be heading to an upligting sunrise set. However, he abruptly pulled the soft rug from beneath us, and replaced it with an abrasive selection of heavy techno that had us bouncing around like loons until we had to head home.
The new format will combine Sónar by Day, Sónar by Night, and Sónar+D in one location, promising expanded programming and activities designed to elevate the festival experience.
More details will be revealed at sonar.es and on the festival’s social media channels: @sonarfestival.