The line-up for this 20th anniversary takes the form of a celebration, in a combination of a selection of great classics, new ideas for dance music and the festival’s usual experimental spirit. Around 130 artists will be included in a line-up for which will be finalized in the coming weeks. Sónar reinvents the uses of an emblematic space, shortens the distance between Sónar by Day and Sónar by Night and maintains its centrality and its status as an urban festival with its new location for Sónar by Day in Fira Montjuïc.

The weekend of the 15 and 16 of February sees the 1st Sónar Reykjavik, which is the first stop on an international route that will continue in SonarSound Tokyo (6 & 7 April) and Sónar São Paulo (24 & 25 May), culminating in the showpiece event in Sónar Barcelona (13.14 & 15 June).

In the festival’s 20-year history, Sónar has hosted more than 1.2 million visitors and has presented more than 7,000 artists from the world of music and disciplines such as audiovisuals, digital creation and multimedia art.

The new venue for Sónar by Day:  a commitment to the future

The festival is moving its daytime headquarters to the pavilions at Fira Montjuïc in Plaça d’Espanya, an emblematic location in the city centre. This change reaffirms the festival’s pioneer personality and redesigns the spaces of Sónar by Day.  The new location will enable to rejuvenate the presentation of its daytime venue, with very large spaces that facilitate optimal circulation both of the attendees and the professionals.

Sónar by Day keeps its 4 stages (SonarVillage by Estrella Damm, SonarHall, SonarDôme and SonarComplex), all of which have increased capacities in their new locations.  The new Sónar by Day is significantly nearer Sónar by Night, which is still at its usual venue in the Fira Gran Via area in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, and consolidates its four-stage format, (SonarClub, SonarLab, SonarPub and SonarCar, located next to the bumper cars). The distance between both venues with the Sonar buses is only 10 minutes.

A celebratory line-up

Sónar is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a big birthday party.  On one side, the essential benchmarks like Kraftwerk (with their 3D show), Pet Shop Boys, Derrick May, Matthew Herbert dj, or Laurent Garnier.

Artists who are the perfect guests at a party featuring dance at centre stage: Lindstrom & Terje, Skrillex, Diplo, Paul Kalkbrenner, Justice djs, Modeselektor djs, Major Lazer, Soulwax, TNGHT or Seth Troxler among many others.

And finally artists with their own approach and modernizers of established approaches: AlunaGeorge, Karenn, Jamie Lidell, Liars, Francesco Tristano, Fatima Al Qadiri, Delorean or Mykki Blanco.

Over 1.2 million visitors in 20 years

In the festival’s 20-year history, Sónar has hosted more than 1.2 million visitors, from all over the world, with a gradual increase from the 6,000 participants at the first event to the stable average of 80,000 in the last ten years. The landmark of 100,000 visitors was reached in 2012.

In these two decades, the festival has presented more than 7,000 artists, including groups, soloists, djs and artists from the world of music and disciplines such as audiovisuals, digital creation and multimedia art. It has always tracked down the most stimulating and relevant ideas on the Spanish and international scene, without forgetting the historical benchmarks that paved the way for subsequent generations.