After a marathon twentieth edition – two weekends with an avalanche of concerts that left you dazed – Primavera Sound returns to the usual format of a weekend in the Parc del Fòrum, Primavera a la Ciutat apart, of course. It will take place from June 1-3, 2023 with headliners such as Depeche Mode, Blur, FKA Twigs, Kendrick Lamar, Skrillex, Halsey, Calvin Harris, Pet Shop Boys, New Order and Rosalia, among many, many more.

We have just celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Olympic Games and yes, that’s right, they changed many things, but this 2023 we also celebrate the 30th anniversary of Sónar, the festival that put Barcelona on the map of world electronic music, when many still thought it was a thing of four modern people. Can you believe it? Neither do we, because it cannot be that thirty years of avant-garde music have passed so quickly and because this means that we are already in that distant future that we were trying so hard to imagine.

And what does this future look like?

It’s been 20 years since The Libertines debuted with ‘Up the bracket’ and they are celebrating with a new album and headlining the Vida Festival, which returns to the Masia de Cabanyes in Vilanova i la Geltrú from June 29 to July 1, 2023. The Londoners, British representatives of the garage music revival of the early 2000s, lead a lineup that has already confirmed other international artists such as Suede, Whitney, Spiritualized, Julieta Venegas and Jorge Drexler, and also closer to home, such as Xoel López, La Casa Azul and Queralt Lahoz.

Fans of Catalan music will be able to see the sun rise again in the early morning of July 2 in Canet de Mar. This year there are several artists repeating from last year such as Stay Homas, Miquel del Roig and Suu, in addition to those who are already classics of the festival as Els Catarres and Buhos, and new additions such as Joan Dausà, The Tyets and 31 FAM.

Chris Isaak, Fito Páez, Zahara, Gustavo Santaolalla -who scored the soundtrack of ‘The last of us’- and Soft Cell are some of the artists confirmed by the former Jardins de Pedralbes festival, which in what would be its eleventh edition is now called Alma – Festival Jardins de Pedralbes after having to move to Poble Espanyol. From July 10 to July 27, 2023.

If you are thinking about summer and you are in the mood for sun, party and, above all, lots of music, this is your festival. For the fifth consecutive year, the Reggaeton Beach Festival returns to Barcelona and this year it will be held on July 22 and 23. The Fòrum Beach hosts a weekend party to enjoy the most popular singers in the urban music charts. At the moment, Ozuna, Sech, Eladio Carrión and Arcángel are confirmed.

The Porta Ferrada Festival, the dean of festivals in Catalonia and one of the classics of the summer on the Costa Brava, celebrates its 61st edition during the months of July and August in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, with great international and local figures such as Wilco, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals, Xavier Rudd, Ludovico Einaudi, Blaumut, Niña Pastori and Jorge Drexler, among others.

The Mas i Mas Festival, the festival that fills Barcelona’s August nights with music, celebrates its twentieth anniversary with 162 performances in different venues such as the Jamboree, the Tarantos/Sala 2, the new Sala 3 of the Jamboree, and also at the Palau de la Música and Paral-lel 62. As always, jazz is a strong point of the festival, with names like Jerry Bergonzi, Bill Charlap, Michael Kanan, Jordi Rosssy and many others, but also highlights such as Hip Horns Brass Collective and the program in tribute to the 50th anniversary of the Sala Zeleste and Laietana music, as the tribute to guitarist Jordi Bonell that will serve as closing.

Daylight electronic music lovers are in luck. Brunch Electronik celebrates this year’s festival in three days from August 11 to 13, two in the Parc del Fòrum and one in the Joan Brossa Gardens in Montjuïc. And it does so with a luxury line-up: electronic heavyweights such as Jeff Mills, Marco Carola, Nina Kraviz, Carl Cox and Underworld, and pop groups such as Hot Chip and Playback Maracas headline a line-up designed to dance from 3 pm to 3 am.