Barcelona’s Primavera Sound 2026 is just around the corner, returning to the Parc del Fòrum on June 4-6. After booking Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, and Charli XCX in 2025, this year’s headliners lean more classically indie, with the xx, Gorillaz, My Bloody Valentine, and Massive Attack topping the bill. Yet I have to qualify that by saying the xx’s headlining set is slotted between Addison Rae and Skrillex, while Massive Attack’s performance will be followed by Doja Cat, which is just one of the reasons there’s no festival quite as delightful as this one. For the past few years, we’ve been highlighting several acts worth seeing at the event, not including some of those names at the top of the poster. (If you’re going to this festival, you probably don’t need to be told to catch Geese or Cameron Winter, either.) Here are five must-see acts from each day of Primavera Sound 2026.
June 4
Father John Misty
Father John Misty is cooking up something. The acclaimed singer-songwriter hasn’t announced a new album for 2026, but he’s dropped two singles, ‘The Old Law’ and, most recently, the fantastic ‘The Payoff’. Whether or not he debuts new material at the festival, Josh Tillman is quite the showman, and there’s no dud in his catalog; his latest record, 2024’s Mahashmashana, was full of sprawling, apocalyptic tunes. Despite following his career for well over a decade, I’ve never caught him live, so I’ll try to prioritize him over any schedule conflict that inevitably arises.
oklou
An oklou performance in broad daylight would be wonderful. An oklou performance deep into the night would be pure magic. No matter where the organizers slot her in, the French artist’s set is not to be missed; her music is understated yet transportive, and clips from her appearance at this year’s Coachella proved she has no issue bringing it to life in a festival setting. (If you’re hoping for an underscores guest spot, though, she’s unfortunately not on the lineup this year, which I bet is going to change in 2027.) Warm up by revisiting 2025’s marvelous choke enoug and checking out her recent Tiny Desk performance.
caroline
oklou opened for Caroline Polachek on her Pang tour, and it’s weird that the two left-of-center pop artists have yet to collaborate on record. What’s weirder is that caroline, the UK post-rock ensemble who delivered one of the best albums of 2025 with caroline 2, actually did get Polachek to sing on their second record. They were also a big force behind the acclaimed debut solo record from ex-black midi member Cameron Picton, My New Band Believe. And like the band they opened for, Black Country, New Road (who’ve played the festival enough consecutive times to warrant a break from it this year), they’re a shapeshifting live entity whose ambient symphonies are bound to surprise no matter how exacting their recordings are.
Panda Bear
Just over a year ago, Panda Bear returned with Sinister Grift, a collection of some of his most radiant, mesmerizing, and immediate songs to date. It’s also Noah Lennox’s first solo record to feature all of his Animal Collective bandmates. As he detailed in our inspirations interview, he worked on the record in his own studio in Lisbon, Portugal, so heading to Primavera isn’t as much of a trip as it would be for AnCo’s other members. In another sense, though, hearing his playfully disarming songs live should be quite the trip.
Skullcrusher
Skullcrusher’s 2022 Quiet the Room remains one of my favorite ambient folk records, and last year, she returned with another beautiful collection, And Your Song Is Like a Circle. It went somewhat overlooked, and while I haven’t returned to it in full too many times, I keep going back to the live videos she released during the rollout, especially for ‘Dragon’. Hearing Helen Ballentine’s intimately disarming songs live and raw is something else; I guarantee you’ll leave with the feeling of breathing a different air.
June 5
Amaarae
Amaarae has knocked it out of the park with both of her most recent records, Fountain Baby and Black Star. She may not be on the same level of fame as PinkPantheress, but the fact that she’s playing the festival on the same day guarantees that more people will be introduced to the Ghanaian-American singer-songwriter as a result. We might even get the live debut of their Black Star collab ‘Kiss Me Thru the Phone pt 2’, which is enough reason to get excited. I doubt there’ll be a sultrier performance during the whole festival.
Rilo Kiley
Rilo Kiley reunited last year for their first shows in 17 years. “It couldn’t have happened any sooner,” Jenny Lewis said at the time. “It feels like now is the time to share that joy and love with each other and with everyone else.” That energy was palpable, and the shows garnered great reviews; those who missed them still have a chance of seeing the band this year, and Primavera – a festival known for honouring reunion tours – is one of their few stops. And to quote the classic song that serves as the tagline for the tour: “Sometimes when you’re on, you’re really fucking one.”
Slowdive
I mean, if I don’t have to tell you to go see My Bloody Valentine, I probably don’t need to do the same for Slowdive, right? Both shoegaze pioneers marked their 21st-century reunions with appearances at the festival, but while MBV have of course been absent for over a decade, Slowdive performed there again twice in recent years. I missed both of those performances but have seen them on two separate occasions prior to their darkly shimmering 2023 LP, everything is alive. That record was so good, though, yhsy I’m hoping I can prioritize them this time.
Viagra Boys
Viagra Boys’ best songs are as absurd as they are anthemic. I’ve never totally adored any of their records, but those highlights are irresistible, and the Swedish sextet seems like a “You have to see it live to get it” sort of band, especially having seen the reckless fervor with which Sebastian Murphy treats every performance. If you’re going to see any talky post-punk band on the bill, make it this one.
mark william lewis
mark william lewis is about to embark on a North American tour with Ivy Knight, our latest Artist Spotlight subject. After that, his first stop is Primavera Sound, where he’ll be performing his skeletal yet beguiling songs, hopefully after midnight. There’s a reason A24 picked the London singer-songwriter as the first artist to be signed to their record label, which released his self-titled record last year. His music is more understatedly cinematic than any of the day’s headliners, but you don’t need to be totally acquainted with it to be enchanted by it.
June 5
Dijon
The final day of the festival is going to be a packed one, and I’m going to start with the most obvious pick. Like many, I was amazed by Dijon’s 2025 record Baby, which established him as one of the most inventive artists working today. 2021’s Absolutely piqued my interest, and I was mesmerized by the live energy he brought to its accompanying live film. But what really excited me about seeing him at Primavera this year was catching his performance at Coachella; even through a livestream, it was spine-chillingly infectious. I hope his set doesn’t clash with any of the headliners, but I’m looking forward to the day he’ll take one of those spots.
Ninajirachi
I’m calling it: I Love My Computer is the best album of 2026 not released in 2026. Few albums have generated more hype this year than Ninajirachi’s August 2025 debut, and I can see it landing in best-of-the-decade lists from publications that didn’t even feature it the year it was released. (It also has one of the best album covers in recent memory, which she told us a bit about.) Which is why it’s almost as weird seeing her name on the second-to-last row as it is seeing Geese below Bad Gyal. Have you seen how delightfully exhilarating her sets tend to be? Have you seen her Coachella performance? And on the final day of the festival, it’s bound to be a late-night showstopper. Catch me writing notes on my laptop in the back row.
Anna von Hausswolff
Anna von Hasswolff’s 2025 album Iconoclasts was her sixth, but it was beloved by many who had never heard of the Swedish musician’s work before. It’s hard to imagine exactly how she will bring some of those idiosyncratic, transcendent, strangely groovy songs to the stage. Maybe Ethel Cain, who’s performing on the previous day, will join her for their collaboration ‘Aging Young Women’. Get in the mood by listening to her great Live at Montreux Jazz Festival record.
Gelli Haha
I’m spending more time with last year’s Switcheroo after being won over by Gelli Haha’s latest single ‘Klouds Will Carry Me to Sleep’, one of the best of 2026 so far. Not only is it going to be a colourful, bizarre, and maximalist performance, but some of the theatrical, clownish elements of her music are probably going to make a lot more sense in a live setting. A portal to the Gelliverse, if you will.
Grace Ives
I would point anyone who’s salty over the fact that Primavera didn’t book enough pop stars this year to Grace Ives, who put out an excellent record earlier this year called Girlfriend. Sure, Lorde isn’t returning to the festival this year despite putting out a better record than Solar Power (the record she supported in 2022), but Girlfriend is better than both that album and Virgin; let’s just say Ives is embracing the melodrama. (She was also recently announced as an opener for Olivia Rodrigo’s upcoming tour.) This year’s Primavera lineup is introvert-friendly all the way up to the headliners, and if that’s your type, trust me when I say that no one is doing pop music quite like Grace Ives.
