Sónar survived a torrid edition held in mid-July in 2019. This is outside of their usual dates (the weekend before Sant Joan), already warm in Barcelona. The sun is always the protagonist in the daytime part of the festival, when the t-shirts are superfluous and the sunglasses are embedded in the face helped by some sticky drop of sweat.
With the climate crisis raging and relentlessly, Sónar was getting used to seeing images that were repeated year after year. Apart from someone allergic to sun cream who was betrayed by his reddish skin, the large dance floor in front of the biggest stage of the Fira de Montjuïc used to be occupied in the hottest hours by not enough euphoric attendees. The public met under large awnings placed on the sides and the square meter of shade was at the same price as the flats in Barcelona. The image was ugly. Also -and above all- for the artists themselves. “It is not lost on us that it is getting hotter and hotter,” said Ricard Robles, co-director of the festival, at the festival presentation. Around 25 acceptable degrees marked the thermometer on the afternoon of this Thursday.
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For all this, Sónar presents in its 30th anniversary edition a new arrangement, striking above all for its main stage (main change), with the aim of creating “better climatic conditions”. An immense colored awning now occupies almost the entire track. Like a giant tent in which you dance and enjoy yourself, but now without the essential sun cream (perhaps now replaced by deodorant since the considerable body temperature is concentrated under there). This has also meant a change in orientation of the main stage.
Some of the organization’s other decisions to beat the heat have been, primarily, that of delaying the start of the concerts by two hours (from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.)change the area for eating to an interior and increase the water points in the enclosure.