Day one of Sonar, the self-described festival of “Advanced Music and Multimedia Art”, taking place June 17-19 in Spain’s vibrant coastal city of Barcelona, kicked off yesterday with this weekend’s first edition of Sonar by Day. Located in the heart of downtown Barcelona, Sonar by Day features a variety of artists across three different stages, representing the broadest spectrum of what is considered to be electronic music. Thousands of partygoers, including locals, Europeans and music fanatics from all over the world, attended this roaring celebration of music and art that represents the beginning of what promises to be an incredible and inspiring weekend.
While the array of incredible musical talent on display makes choosing favorites nearly impossible, there are a few some stand out acts that were a cut above the rest. We first checked out the UK’s infamous Pete Tong’s set in the open air SonarVillage, which was overrun with revelers enjoying the beautiful bounty of sunshine and outstanding beats. Unaffected by the fact that it was still only early afternoon, the space was already vibrating from a multitude of dancing feet. Hyped from the vibe of the joyous atmosphere, we headed to Caribou’s excellent performance, who played to a packed audience in the SonarDome. Their onstage unity and aptly cheerful set list of tracks chosen primarily from their newer album “Swim” made for the perfect late afternoon warm-up for the coming night’s events. Another noteworthy act was Broadcast, who’s visual backdrop of surrealistic video footage contrasted against a dark stage and hall created a beautiful aesthetic of wonder and almost melancholy.
After an actio-packed day, we started our night at FACT and Plat du Jour’s Hyperdub Off Sonar event at Club Mondo, featuring Cooly G, Ikonika, Darkstar, Kode 9, and more, with a special surprise appearance by the supremely talented Flying Lotus, who will be performing again at Friday’s Sonar by Night under the auspices of Mary Anne Hobbs’ stage. Hundreds of dubstep fans packed themselves into the dark, sweaty, and seriously energized Hyperdub party, where the artists proceeded to blow the roof off the place with a heavy onslaught of bass music. To nobody’s surprise, Flying Lotus’ set in particular was an outstanding combination of his own production set to a background of more traditional house rhythms, and naturally caused the crowd to go completely mental with aural joy.
Next up was Desolat’s Off Sonar party, featuring Loco Dice and Marco Carola, among others. This massive event also served as the opening night of Ghoa Beach Club, a brand new open air space right on Barcelona’s waterfront. Energy levels remained high and the bass kept thumping as the artists carried the crowd straight into the dawn, keeping the dancefloor packed and he partygoers begging for more as the music finally came to an end well in the morning.
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