Alternative Music Takes Centre Stage for Primavera Sound ‘26

Alberto Orive
Oct 7
2 min read

Earlier today Primavera Sound dropped a video featuring archival footage from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, a key moment in its host city’s history. With its 24th edition, the music festival reveals a new lineup that reclaims its alternative, diverse nature while maintaining its well-earned blockbuster status.

The first thing that jumped out to us was the appearance of Alt legends old and new with the inclusion of The Cure and Gorillaz (who will have dropped their new record “The Mountain” ahead of their set). While the festival’s penchant for virality shone through last year in its Pop Holy Trinity headliners, this time around, they show love to indie-electronic fans with the only The XX show available outside of the American desert.

Rhythm and blues makes a major comeback into the Catalonian capital’s biggest music event, sporting an experimental edge. Dijon is slated to perform, hot off his sophomore album “BABY!” and a slew of credits on the new Justin Bieber LP, he’ll bring his singular guitar playing and cacophonous production style.

Raspy vocals and vintage sonics are also in the mix with the inclusion of Ravyn Lenae. British heavyweight Blood Orange returns to the beachside stages after the release of his most melancholy project yet: Essex Honey. We can only hope he’s scheduled at sunset for a good crying session before the party gets started.

Primavera also continues to bet on the future of Pop music. It’s notable that relative newcomers PinkPanntheress and Addison Rae received top billing, alongside heavyweight Doja Cat. Another staple of PS is to put its international audience onto the Spanish scene. Spanish singer-producers Rusowsky and Ralphie Choo have made waves in the past couple of years and now get a chance to show off their eclectic sounds to the most international stage there is in Spain. Finally, it’s not Primavera without a healthy serving of punk and electronic music. Viagra Boys and Ninajirachi are must-see sets for fans of each genre, respectively.

Primavera Sound takes place in Barcelona on June 3 through 7, tickets go on sale September 29th.

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