I must confess I’ve been putting off my review of Sonar, worried I just couldn’t do it justice.
Sonar was fabulous: So good I’m not worried about missing Glastonbury this weekend. So good I’m not bothered about going to Ibiza this year. That good you ask? Let me explain…

1) Sonar’s music policy. In a word: wicked. It’s pretty diverse, ranging from this year’s nu-rave big hitters (New Yong Pony Club, Simian Mobile Disco, etc) to the bratty hip hop of the Beastie Boys, but it’s fair to say it concentrates on house / techno and the more credible end of things. So, unlike other festivals, you don’t have to immediately discount half the stages because they’re playing trance, funky or hard house, say. This also means you don’t have the hordes of chavs or posers you find in Ibiza, just ‘proper’ music fans.


2) Sonar’s location. Barcelona is a fucking cool city. The weather was hot and dry, so no wallowing around in mud as with Glastonbury. Plus forget staying in a tent and traipsing miles to the nearest stage. We had all mod cons in our apartment (comfy beds, a shower and flushing toilet!) and were a short stroll from the daytime events. Being a city, Barca has brilliant shops, but it also has great beaches. And you don’t need to be a culture vulture to be interested in the Olympic park or Gaudi’s fantastic architecture.

If you’ve endured London’s tube system, you’ll appreciate their Metro – it’s not only regular and air-conditioned, but plays soothing music and is rose-scented! Not that we discovered this for ages because cabs are actually affordable! As are decent food and drink. And there’s always some enterprising soul who’ll try to sell you a beer on the street whatever time of day or night.

3) Sonar’s atmosphere. Generally Spanish people are really friendly and this seemed to rub off on everyone there. We made loads of lovely new mates and saw all sorts of crazy characters: The homeless man who, instead of a dog on a string, had a tiny, fluffy RABBIT! The old guy riding a bicycle – complete with a sidecar containing his dog!

Of course, nothing is perfect and there’s some room for improvement. Trying to decipher those oh-so-stylish Sonar maps… Trying to find out about and get to various after/beach parties… Said parties getting shut down by the police (how very Ibiza!)… The scrum outside Sonar By Night got me thinking of Hillsborough and the sound inside such a cavernous venue was never going to brilliant... Trying to catch a cab back from out of town events…


But I can honestly say the main drawback is the strength of the line-up – you can’t hope to see a fraction of all the DJs and acts…

You’ve got Sonar by Day which runs all afternoon and evening in a complex just off the Ramblas in the city centre. Unless you’re an industry type, this is fairly chilled out: people sit on the astro-turf in front of the outdoor stage or shelter from the sun at the covered areas or in the cinema. It’s mainly lesser-known names here but I did catch James Holden getting what appeared to be the first cheer of the day. It’s also the place to find more experimental music - I backed out of one room when the feedback from a saxophone got a bit much.


Then Sonar by Night is held in a seriously big venue out of town. Imagine a massive stadium where you’d expect to see a big name rock band – but the feeling is of an old-fashioned rave. The sheer scale of the main hall was overwhelming with three video screens down each side so we could actually see the acts… and then there were three other areas almost as big! We didn’t zig-zag between the “rooms” much because of the distances involved but we caught the greying Beasties, the crowd-pleasing DJ Mehdi, a bit of a tribal Timo Maas, a strange Japanese act who seemed to be doing semaphore with fluorescent tubes and Richie Hawtin - whose more banging tunes worked better than minimal in that environment.


On top of three Days and Nights of Sonar events, there are all the unofficial off/anti-Sonar events going on at the city’s clubs and beaches. Even on the Thursday night there were at least three clubs I fancied (off the top of my head: Soma, Freerange and Get Physical). We went to the beautiful open-air (“atmospherical fun club”) Terrazza which lived up to its hype by having a great vibe while being located in a faux-fortress village!

After Saturday’s Om party (with Mike Monday and Jesse Rose), the crowd carried on partying by banging out rhythms on the metal sign outside – at least until security arrived! And despite our difficulties getting to the M_nus and Kompact beach parties, we had a hoot messing around on the sand which makes a change from the usual dingy basement!

Other highlights not already mentioned: randomly meeting Ricardo Villalobos and Luciano in Placa Catalunya; getting an entire queue of people chanting “Tom” to attract a mate’s attention; my Smiley (Sonar’s 2007 icon) bag getting loads of attention; and Lars aka Funk D’Void inducing female swoons by holding his kids in an Athena poster pose.


More here

WOW, what a superb review Sara, after reading that im not even gonna bother doing one myself as you've pretty much covered everything with great detail and summed up virtually how i felt about the whole Barcelona / Sonar experience.

All im going to add to this lot is ROLL ON NEXT JUNE. :-D

As ever, a great write up Sara - been wanting to go to Sonar for a while now, it's definitely about going to the festivals abroad now for me - my Glasto days are very much over plus everyone seems so young these days....or perhaps i'm just getting older?!!
Anyway, hope to catch up with you soon xx

Believe me you will not be dissapointed pixie - FACT.

it doesn't compare :-P

I went to Sonar and i am still trying to comprehend just how amazingly fucking brilliant it was!

The music was incredible,

Barcelona is beautiful

Roll on next year!!!!

The thing is that its not just about Sonar when you get out there during the Sonar week festivities, there must be literally hundreds of parties, events, shows, clubs shindigs happening all at once that you just have far too much choice of stuff to attend and do.

Do i sense some tensions here daph ?

the only bad thing is that even if ur out for 24 hours and had the best time ever, there is so much else happening that theres always something ur gonna miss out on

i stayed in the sonar day and night complex most times, wish i wud have ventured to the beach parties

the raum event line up looked absolutely amazing!!

Time to get right on one then girl. ;-)

he he you would make quite a few people laugh by saying that mate. You got me all wrong. he he he. ill be front row centre for romboy and bodzin on sat night and i was in ibiza with sara last year!
By the way Sara! Sounded and looked like you had an amazing time! ill see ya out and about soon?

You got me all wrong

I don't think i have actually, ive seen the events listed on your profile and it seems you have taste.

That ok mr horsey?

It'd be better if you were buying me tickets as well hun.

oh yes come to think of it, ill be in oz for nye and summerdays on new years day! You been?

sure have, Oz is wicked especially around that time of year, i really need to get back out there in the next year or two tbh.
Where abouts in Oz are you originally from ?

OI! Stop talking Oz & Maldives and start talking Barca!
Calvin - you checked out a couple of different clubs from us and the Anti-Sonar afterparty - do tell!!

Sowwie..*cowers into corner*

Yeah i suppose i should really....

Horsey started it

Meh, thats it blame the poor old nag why don't you, i think you'll find that YOU actually started it miss !

I was in the maldives last week, which was particluarly good too........

Sounds great but it'll have to wait another few years if my trravelling plans for 2008 come to fruition!

What you got planned then Jules, something special ?

A lil bit of a round thw world adventure, starting with India in Janaury!!!