Five years on from my last visit to Sonar I found myself back on a Saturday night at the huge Barcelona Fira site to mark the 30th anniversary of the festival. I was left wondering where the time had gone as the 25th birthday event still seemed a recent memory. Of course, there had been a global pandemic in between that caused the 2020 and 2021 editions to be called off although I had been to some off-Sonar events in the intervening years.
The big draw early doors was Eric Prydz who would be performing his audiovisual HOLO show featuring giant 3D holographic images that have the appearance of floating in mid-air. I had seen him play a peak-time techno set at the festival 6 years ago but this year his performance had a different slant. A behemoth of a producer, he has taken things up a level still with this performance concept and he did not disappoint.
The incorporation of ever more powerful visuals into the dance music festival experience has continued apace in recent years. Tale of Us have been at the forefront with their Afterlife shows and the fusion of the audio and the visual is becoming increasingly popular, where it can add to the drama of key moments and enhance the overall total experience. However, with the omnipresent sea of camera phones in the foreground as festival-goers try to capture that perfect shot, critics would say it detracts from the crowd’s ability to be truly present in the moment. Patrice Baumel touched on this phenomenon last year in an interesting episode of Scuba’s ‘Not a Diving Podcast‘, articulating how the Afterlife parties are evolving to something away from the dance floor, becoming more of an audiovisual performance where the visual aspect and ‘instagramability’ is becoming a more and more important part of the concept than the aspect of closing your eyes, dancing and getting lost in the music.
With Prydz the visuals for sure added something to the sense of show. Cool tricks included a green monster-style image turning into far-reaching, pinpoint green lasers. And there were some big moments as the set came to its finale as he dropped the Prydz classic ‘Pjanoo’ and then closed with the Four Tet remix of ‘Opus’ – it is fair to say this tore the roof off after its 4-minute-plus build to the final drop.
Mochakk had the unenviable task of following on from Prydz and for me it was time to take a break and do some exploring to see what was happening on the other stages. The main other two are the SonarPub and SonarLab and both seemed more band oriented when I passed through (I would return to the Pub later on). Next, I wandered over to the Sonar Car – a circular arena that resembles a circus top from the outside. A few years ago Laurent Garnier played an 8 hour set in the Car but this time proceedings weren’t reaching such heights. On entering, the DJ was playing a terrible remix of Britney Spears – ‘Toxic’ so I promptly left. I gave the room another try a few hours later but the DJ was closing the set with a track that was borderline reggaeton. I also took a few moments to observe – and mock with my friend – the VIP set-up, with a footbridge and escalator taking people between VIP areas. It all looked pretty pointless to me – far better to be involved in the thick of it!
It was soon time to go back to the main room to see DC-10 regular Chloé Caillet play an enjoyable up tempo housey set. Always gold to catch someone new I haven’t seen before and she even dropped the classic ‘Love Story’ by Layo and Bushwacka towards the end.
Next up was Tiga playing back to back with Spain’s Cora Novoa, a set on more of an electro tip but covering the breadth of the house and techno spectrum.
Cora Novoa’s sound has certainly evolved since I first came across her on Henry Saiz’s Natura Sonoris label a good few years ago now. The set was fun but by now I was eagerly anticipating Richie Hawtin entering the stage at 5am.
A name synonymous with Sonar, Hawtin was making his 24th appearance at the festival having first played all the way back in 1996. I saw him for the first time at the 2004 event playing back-to-back with Ricardo Villalobos in a set that really set my love affair with Barcelona and Sonar going. Down the front it was fair to say the experience of his trademark minimalist techno was pretty intense. Perhaps he was playing harder than usual, or more likely it was due to the beast of a sound system where you can really feel the bass of the music hit your chest. That coupled by the fact there was no let up in terms of breakdowns!
Once Hawtin had finished it was time to head outside to the Sonar Pub. The outdoor stages are the best place to be for the last set for those dancing as the the sun comes up vibes. Here the honour fell to Spain’s Angel Molina to soundtrack these special moments.
This did mean largely skipping the indoor closing set from Belgian techno sensation and recent DJ magazine cover star Amelie Lens (that interview can be found here). Most of the crowd had, though, stayed as she served up high-octane techno beats until the bitter end.
And then all of a sudden it was 7am and time to head home. While for me this year’s edition didn’t quite hit the heights of the 25th anniversary when Garnier had bashed it out on the outdoor stage to close the festival (see blog here), it had been a top night once again!
Robin Thurston 
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