Sónar says goodbye to the reunion and full normality after two years of drought and pangolin and if you had to choose a single moment, just one, to summarize what this XXIX edition has been, nothing better than the anecdote shared by Sergio Caballero, co-director of the Barcelona event, during the festival balance press conference. “On Thursday there were people who came and kissed the grass,” he celebrates. “There was even a request for a hand,” adds Caballero.
It is with this type of public that Sónar has not only recovered old sensations, but has also registered the second best mark in its history. In total, 122,000 attendees, 15,000 more than in 2019 and just 4,000 less than in 2018, a round year when the festival celebrated its silver anniversary.
Now, with the 30th anniversary on the horizon (the appointment, on June 15, 16 and 17, 2023), those responsible for this great electronic Valhala claim to feel, in addition to being satisfied, recharged and renewed. “We do not have the feeling that it has been a festival that takes up the 2019 one, but rather that it is a recharged and renewed Sónar, with new proposals and also a new audience”, highlights Enric Palau, co-director of the event.
In fact, as significant or more significant than the 122,000 attendees is that the festival has abandoned its usual registers to lean towards the side of the local public, a true rarity in these times of festivals with an international vocation and voracity without borders.
In this case, Sónar closes with a 30% foreign audience and 70% Spanish, a figure that could be explained by a poster without too many international stars but that the management prefers to celebrate as a reflection of the “commitment to the city and the territory” of the festival. “Rather than attributing it to something specific, we celebrate the roots in the local community,” emphasizes Ricard Robles, another of those responsible for the festival.
