On the weekend of the 8th – 10th of April, the Portuguese capital will be hosting its first edition of Sónar Festival, which promises to be one for the ages
When you think about Sónar Festival, the first thing that comes to your mind is probably Barcelona. Like it should, as 28 editions of the festival placed the Catalan city on the worldwide map of electronic music. It’s no news, though, that satellite editions of the festival have been popping up all around the world and the next one to open its doors it’s going to be Sónar Lisboa.
The first Portuguese edition of Sónar will take place in Lisbon from the 8th to the 10th of April and will include more than 70 shows across 4 different emblematic venues. The number, the variety and the uniqueness of the locations is probably one of the biggest news for Sónar fans and one of the factors that is expected to make this experience truly unique (besides you know.. the amazing music!).
The first venue to open its doors, the Hub Criativo do Beato, is nowadays a center of innovation for creative and technological companies built where once stood the southern wing of the Portuguese Army industrial complex. Located in the Fábrica do Pão de Factory Lisboa, the Hub will be the basecamp of Sónar+D and where the festival will kickstart on the afternoon of Friday the 8th.
Expect 3 days filled with virtual reality, artificial intelligence and visual arts combined with talks, workshops, demos, meetings, networking, exhibitions, debates and immersive experiences to explore this year’s main themes of Our Planet and Humanity.
Once the Hub shuts its doors for the day on Friday evening, Sónar by Night will take over three venues across the city: the Pavilhão Carlos Lopes, the Centro de Congressos de Lisboa and the Coliseu dos Recreios.
The Pavilhão Carlos Lopes, located in the heart of the Parque Eduardo VI, was designed for the 1922 International Exhibition of Rio de Janeiro and then dismantled and transferred to Lisbon in 1932. It has since then been a popular venue for a variety of events and will play a central role for the festival, housing both by Day (Saturday and Sunday) and by Night (Friday and Saturday) shows.
On Friday night Dixon, Elkka DJ set, Switchdance, Thundercat live and Trikk will be taking care to turn the place upside down.
Meanwhile, at the Centro Congressos de Lisboa (CCL), one of the city’s largest event venues born with the ’98 Expo and located close to the river Tagus, thousands of techno-addicts will be raving to the music of Aril Brikha live, BLEID, Charlotte de Witte, Héctor Oaks, Marum, Nkis, Phoebe, Photonz, Richie Hawtin, Stingray 313 live, Vril b2b Cravo, Violet live and Yen Sung. If you like high BPM, acid, rave and minimal sounds, it will be tough for you to move from the CCL.
The last venue of Friday Sónar by Night will be the Coliseu dos Recreios, a stunning concert hall which dates back to 1890, located in the emblematic Arroios neighborhood. Arca, Dj Lycox, Dj Marfox, Dj Nigga Fox live, Nídia and Total Freedom will be in charge of what can possibly be the most niche and refined proposal of this date.
Saturday the 9th, the musical program of Sónar by Day starts and its home for the following 2 days will be the Pavilhão Carlos Lopes.
The early hour shouldn’t deceive you: bring your dancing shoes because you’ll be moving your feet! The disco and house-powered vibe of Honey Dijon, the sounds from across the Globe of Nicola Cruz, the timeless French-touch of The Blaze, the power and verve of India Jordan… in addition to the acts of Ana Pacheco, Discos Extendes Crew, IAMDDB live, Ka§par live, Percebes Cru DJs and Poté DJ set. The energy within the Pavilhão Carlos Lopes will be through the roof!
While the Pavilhão Carlos Lopes will be hosting its last shows, the Sónar by Night program will enter into its second and final day. If you couldn’t make up your mind on what to see on Friday, well… wait for Saturday!
At Pavilhão Carlos Lopes: Dengue Dengue Dengue live, DJ Shadow, Enchufada Na Zona, Gafacci, Kampire, Pongo and Shaka Lion.
At Coliseu dos Recreios: Bicep live, Chloé Robinson, Floating Points, Helena Guedes, Leon Vynehall live, rRoxymore live and Rui Vargas.
And let’s not forget about the Centro de Congressos de Lisboa: Acid Alice, DJ Lynce, DJ Stingray 313, Dust Devices live, Ellen Allien b2b Dr. Rubinstein, FJAAK live, Lewis Fautzi, Nina Kraviz, Otsoa, Partiboi69 and Valody.
There’s so much on the plate, that wherever you’ll go, you will be enjoying incredible shows! One definitely not to miss is Bicep live. The live show of the Irish duo is something that everyone should see at least once in life. At least once, anytime a new album comes out. And the last one, Isles, is dated 2021.
Although, two techno queens such as Ellen Allien and Dr. Rubinstein “dueling” with their infinite collection of vinyls is also something that is really tickling the fans’ curiosity.
For the ones used to the “classic-Barcelona-schedule”, the festival would now be finished. On the way out, pretty much everyone would be talking about their favorite act and looking forward for the next edition. But as told before, this Lisbon debut is far from ordinary and its cherry on top of the cake is a third session of Sónar By Day: the setting is what we can now call our home in Lisbon, the Pavilhão Carlos Lopes, and the closing duties are entrusted to artists of the caliber of Anah, Cruz, EU.CLIDES live, Evan Baggs, Jayda G, Moulinex & Xinobi, Noia, Overmono DJ set, Pedro da Linha b2b Riot, Polo & Pan live, Tiago Marques, Torres and Zé Salvador. If you were planning to rest on Sunday, you’ll have to make different arrangements!