The city’s most prestigious (and expensive) festival, Sónar (19th-21st June, tickets up to €200), which provides ‘advanced music’, traditionally announces a conceptual highlight. 2008 focuses on female performers; the eclectic list includes 80s electro-pop duo Yazoo, former Sónar acts such as Goldfrapp and Roisin Murphy, French singer Camille and usual disco-suspect Miss Kittin. Sónar claims to re-invent itself every year, but with so many repeat performances the latest edition is in danger of not fulfilling the organisers’ promise.
Summercase swaps its performers via aerial bridge between Madrid and Barcelona over a single weekend. Forced to put-back its dates to 18th/19th July in order to avoid a brutal punch-up over artists with the UK’s top event T In the Park, the move may have backfired as the festival is struggling for headliners. Furthermore, whilst a few highlights such as the Sex Pistols and The Verve have confirmed, Summercase faces its toughest competitor by going up against Spain’s most renowned summer event, FIB Benicassim (17th-20th July). The FIB managed to launch the kind of scoop which we’re still anxious to hear from the Barcelona festival: an extremely rare Leonard Cohen performance.
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