Artistic portrait of Primavera Sound 2026: the 10 recommended

BarcelonaThe rejuvenation of Primavera Sound was evident in 2025, especially among the headliners: Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan, born in 1992, 1999 and 1998, respectively. Furthermore, the choice distinguished the festival because it managed to gather three of the most coveted artists of the moment. Tickets sold out in January, five months before the event. The headliners of the 24th edition, which takes place from June 3 to 7 at Parc del Fòrum and the marine platform, considerably raise the average age, especially The Cure and Gorillaz, and among the notable names there are those who connect with the audience that is closer to retirement than to their first salary, such as Massive Attack and My Bloody Valentine. Robert Smith, the leader of The Cure, was born in 1958; and Damon Albarn, the helmsman of Gorillaz, in 1968. This is balanced by the third headliner, Doja Cat, born in 1995, and who makes a festival exception on a European tour of pavilions (arenas, in the music industry terminology). Tickets sold out in February, four months before the event.

As usual, more than 200 groups and artists will perform on the three central days of the festival, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. There will also be an electronic epilogue on Sunday culminating with Carl Cox, and a prologue on Wednesday with concerts by Guitarricadelafuente, Ouineta, Yard Act, and Wet Leg. The festival maintains the distribution of performances across some fifteen stages, including a new one sponsored by Disney, and expands the space dedicated to restrooms in the marine platform area, where the two main stages are located: Estrella Damm and Revolut. Below, a dozen groups and artists that allow for one of the possible portraits of the artistic offering of Primavera Sound 2026.

Doja Cat

The North American singer/rapper Doja Cat makes her debut in Catalonia as the Thursday headliner of Primavera Sound. She arrives at a great artistic moment, thanks to the album Vie (2025), a commendable treatise on disco pop, and a good synthesis of the pop from Planet her (2021) and the hip-hop from Scarlet (2023). Doja Cat's concert is on Thursday from 11:30 PM to 1:30 AM on the Revolut stage.

The Cure

Few bands reach five decades of life with as much to say as The Cure. The band led by the British Robert Smith begins in Barcelona a very extensive festival tour that will inevitably generate a wave of nostalgia, but not only that: the repertoire of must-haves has been expanded with songs from Songs of a lost world, the magnificent album they released in 2024 and with which they won two Grammy awards. The precedents are quite encouraging, both the apotheosic three-hour performance at Primavera Sound in 2012 and the concerts in 2016 and in 2022 at Palau Sant Jordi. The Cure perform on Friday from 10:15 p.m. to 0:45 a.m. on the Estrella Damm stage.

Gorillaz

Damon Albarn must be one of the artists who most frequently visits the Parc del Fòrum. At the helm of Blur, he performed at Primavera Sound 2023, precisely when he had released the solid The ballad of Darren. In 2025, he passed through Cruïlla as part of the Africa Express project. And now he returns to Primavera Sound with Gorillaz, the adventure he launched in 1998 to travel beyond britpop. He presents the material from The mountain (2026), a journey around the world that begins with Indian sounds. The album features collaborations from Bizarrap, Trueno, Anoushka Shankar, Sparks, Idles, Johnny Mar, and Omar Souleyman, among others, and also includes posthumous contributions from musicians like Tony Allen and Mark E. Smith, as well as the actor Dennis Hopper. Gorillaz perform on Saturday from 1:15 AM to 2:45 AM on the Estrella Damm stage.

Massive Attack

The Bristol group, which was quite a regular at Sónar, was set to debut at Primavera Sound in 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic thwarted that debut. An illness prevented them from performing in 2022. Finally, the stars have aligned and Massive Attack will be at the festival defending a dual legacy: on one hand, their status as trip-hop pioneers and creators of two of the best albums of the nineties, Blue lines (1991) and ProtectionThe Primavera Sound 2025 had a difficult to forget encore at Sala Apolo:

Ròtula

The Primavera Sound 2025 had an unforgettable coda at Sala Apolo: the impactful performance by the trio Kneecap, a political vindication of the Irish language wrapped in rowdy hip-hop and an urban rave spirit that amplified what they proposed on the album Fine art (2024). Their support for Palestine has caused them legal problems in the United Kingdom and the impossibility of playing in countries like Hungary and Canada, but also the solidarity of musicians like Paul Weller and Massive Attack. Loyalized last year at the Barcelona festival, they are repeating, but now at the Parc del Fòrum to present the album Fenian (2026), which includes collaborations from Palestinian rapper Fawzi, Irish singer Radie Peat (from the group Lankum) and poet Kae Tempest. Kneecap perform on Saturday from 3 am to 4.15 am on the Occident stage.

Geese

The indie rock of Generation Z. Led by New Yorker Cameron Winter, Geese became one of the most curious phenomena of 2025 following the release of the album the album Getting killed and the good algorithmic work to position it on social networks and streaming platforms. Beyond the marketing operation, the album holds up thanks to a songwriting that glances at different traditions very much of New York: from The Velvet Underground to The Strokes, passing through Talking Heads. Geese perform on Thursday from 7:45 PM to 8:45 PM on the Occident stage. And Cameron Winter solo, the same Thursday from 6 PM to 7 PM at the Rockdelux Auditorium.

Addison Rae

A good example of pop culture from the third decade of the 21st century. North American Addison Rae was first a TikTok star catapulted to fame by the pandemic situation of 2020. Then she developed as a brand and, little by little, she was profiled as a singer and pop diva. A collaboration with Charli XCX preceded the first hit, Diet Pepsi (2024), a song that positioned her as Lana Del Rey's artistic niece. Musical ambition was consolidated with the hit Aquamarine and the album Addison (2025). Primavera Sound reserves a preferential spot for her on the Revolut stage on Friday from 9 PM to 10 PM, just after the concert of fellow North American Ethel Cain, who is returning to the festival where she played in 2024.

My Bloody Valentine

Pioneers of shoegaze in the eighties, the Irish band My Bloody Valentine maintain their status as benchmarks for articulated noise (and deafening volume) that they consolidated with the albums Isn't Anything (1988) and Loveless (1991). In two different periods, Kevin Shields, Colm Ó Cíosóig, Debbie Googe and Bilinda Butcher have turned concerts into unforgettable physical experiences. Those who were present at the concert at the Auditori del Fòrum of Primavera Sound 2009 know this well. My Bloody Valentine perform on Saturday from 10:05 PM to 11:20 PM on the Estrella Damm stage.

Viagra Boys

Punk-rock is not the most represented style in the history of Primavera Sound, but when it is, the choice is indisputable. This is the case of the Swedish band Viagra Boys, to whom the festival entrusts one of the wildest time slots, quite fitting with the sarcastic activism they preach on stage. They already performed there in 2022, and now they return a year after the release of Viagra Boys (2025), an album that would make Mark E. Smith, the late leader of The Fall, smile with happiness. Viagra Boys' concert is on Friday from 2:55 AM to 4:05 AM on the Occident stage.

Ósserp

Extreme metal always has a niche at Primavera Sound. It's probably not the best context for these proposals, but it's worth positively acknowledging that the festival has programmed bands like Midnight and Mayhem in previous editions. This year there are a few proposals of this type, such as the Americans Kylesa (experimental sludge-metal), Agriculture (Los Angeles black-metal) and Knocked Loose (Kentucky brutality metalcore). And, of course, the Barcelonans Ósserp, death-metal with grindcore attitude magnificently captured on albums like Els nous cants de la Sibil·la (2023). Beyond metal, extreme and industrial sounds will be scattered throughout the Forum by Einstürzende Neubauten, Merzbow and Melt-Banana. Ósserp perform on Friday from 7 p.m. to 7.45 p.m. on the Port stage.

Other possible paths

The unachievable lineup of Primavera Sound 2026 also allows for other paths by following the New York band Texas Is The Reason, precisely when the post-hardcore monument Do you know who you are? (1996) turns thirty; the Detroit techno legend Underground Resistance; the festival version of Bad Gyal's new show; the actress and model Cara Delevingne, in singer mode; the tropical art-pop of Puerto Ricans Buscabulla; the afrobeats of Nigerian Amaarae; the pioneer of vocal avant-garde Joan la Barbara; the ambient-folk of another legend, Canadian Beverly Glenn-Copeland; the inimitable folk-rock of Father John Misty; the French revelation Oklou; the indomitable club eclecticism of Yousuke Yukimatso; Skrillex's set...