Author: Rap Hooks

The 24th edition of the Primavera Sound festival — coming a full quarter-century after a much more modest version of the festival initially debuted in 2001 — went down this week in Barcelona. While a handful of acts (including buzzy indie-rockers Wet Leg) officially kicked off the fest on Wednesday (June 3), and a few more (ending with legendary house DJ Carl Cox) will see it out on Sunday (June 7), the crux of the festival transpired over June 4-6, with three days of genre-and-globe-spanning artists adding up to one of the richest festival experiences currently available anywhere on the map.

Unfortunately, the first of those three main days got largely washed out, as the rains came in early evening and lasted till early morning. The weather resulted in messy conditions and great confusion, with poor communication between organizers, staffers and attendees, as nearly all the stages were at least temporarily suspended, and the night’s main-stage acts saw their sets suspended and ultimately canceled — including the trio of Wednesday headliners, U.K. trip-hop greats Massive Attack, U.S. pop-rap star Doja Cat and Spain rhythmic hitmaker Bad Gyal. (Several of the side stages ultimately reopened, with plenty of strong options remaining for those who stuck around.)

However, the festival rebounded with a drier and significantly less dramatic Friday and Saturday, as the second and third full days went on essentially without a hitch, bringing the stunning variety and consistently high quality of artists for which the festival has become renowned. Addison Rae, The Cure and Skirllex headlined the Estrealla Damm and Revolut main stages on Friday, while My Bloody Valentine, The xx and Gorillaz closed them out on Saturday. And the final full day also included a special treat on the Occident stage courtesy of pop superstar Olivia Rodrigo, who helped erase whatever memories still lingered of Friday’s disappointment with an exhilarating 11-song surprise set, including a returning guest from the previous night’s spate of headliners.

Below, see 10 of our favorite moments from the three (well, two and two-thirds) full days of Primavera Sound Barcelona 2026.

“SURPRISE, BARCELONA!” Olivia Rodrigo proclaimed after the first song of her Primavera Sound 2026 set on Saturday night (June 6). Well… yes and no. Yes, Rodrigo’s performance was an unannounced part of the festival until just hours before her 10:20 p.m. local-time performance, with the pop-rock superstar revealing the news herself on her Instagram as the fest’s third full day was kicking into gear on Saturday evening.

But no, it wasn’t totally a surprise: Rodrigo had been hinting at a Primavera appearance on her socials earlier in the weekend, and eagle-eyed festival attendees noted a conspicuous gap in the Occident stage schedule for Saturday night where a surprise guest could have easily slotted in. And at a press conference earlier that day, the festival organizers even confirmed that a surprise set was in the offing for the fest’s final full day from a major artist, though they played coy about the exact who, where and when.

Beyond that, even, Rodrigo’s appearance made total sense for her in both short-term promotion and long-term legacy senses. Rodrigo has a new album to promote, of course, with third LP You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love arriving this Friday (June 12), and a surprise appearance at one of the globe’s buzziest and most-revered fests to debut a new song — one of the few moves she hasn’t already deployed on this promo cycle — is a great way for her to stay top-of-mind heading into her release week.

And Primavera is one of the few remaining festivals that a pop star like Rodrigo can claim to have “always wanted to play” and actually have it make sense that it’d be true. Aside from its unique location by the water in Barcelona, Primavera has remained intentional and discerning enough in its lineup curation over the years that an appearance there still connotes a certain level of cred. The fest maintains a continuity of cool across the generations, to the point where not only can a contemporary pop star like Addison Rae and a 50-year-old alt-rock band like The Cure appear back-to-back on the Estrella Damm main stage on Friday night and have it feel logical, but Rodrigo can make a surprise Saturday appearance that coincides with a competing set from ’90s shoegaze legends My Bloody Valentine, and it can result in a true conflict of interest for a considerable percentage of the attendees. (This writer may have been among them.)

But speaking of The Cure, there was of course another reason why Rodrigo’s appearance at Primavera Sound 2026 made particular sense, as was revealed 2/3 of the way through her set: She was about to reach the final level of her recent artistic infatuation with Robert Smith & Co. The dalliance began last summer, with Rodrigo bringing Smith out to perform signature Cure hit “Just Like Heaven” with him at Glastonbury, and has continued in various forms through the first two Pretty Sad singles, and now reaches its summation with “What’s Wrong With Me,” the quasi-surprise Rodrigo-Smith duet debuted by the duo during the former’s quasi-surprise performance. If anyone had remaining doubts about Rodrigo’s alt-rock bonafides, such an cosign from one of the genre’s godfathers at a modern indie institution like Primavera just might finally do the trick.

Of course, the Primavera set itself also likely helped there. With only 50 minutes on a relatively smaller stage to work with, Rodrigo and her band stripped away most of the pop star-level production and theatrics — as well as most of the ballads — of her usual show, for a leaner, meaner setlist and sound that focused on her ability to rock any stage she’s on with the high-kicking athleticism of Gwen Stefani, the emotional intensity of Hayley Williams and the overall magnetism of both. You couldn’t quite say this was her indie club set — even in such relatively tight quarters, her natural pop star luminescence always shines through a little too bright for anyone to confuse her with, say, Karly Hartzman of Wednesday. But it did feel special to such a big-scale arena-filler in a slightly scrappier state, and even the slow songs Rodrigo performed on Saturday punched with a little extra ferocity.

Whether or not her set came as a total surprise to fans in attendance, it won’t be one they forget any time soon, and may even go on to be one of the moments that ends up defining this album era of Rodrigo’s. Here were the five most memorable moments from Rodrigo’s Primavera sound performance, as well as the full setlist at the end.

Billboard wrapped day two of its second annual Billboard Country Live on Friday (June 5), with fans packing the main floor and two upper levels to hear music from several established hit makers and rising artists at Luke Combs’ Category 10 in downtown Nashville. 

Tucker Wetmore, who earlier in the week was honored with Billboard’s Rising Star award, brought an effervescent energy, laid-back charm and plenty of hits to his headlining set. Presented by Under Armour, Country Live’s Friday lineup also featured Kaitlin Butts, Something Out West, Alana Springsteen, Stella Lefty, Braxton Keith, Ashley Cooke, Priscilla Block, and Alexandra Kay—as well as a surprise guest or two.

Each artist’s set blended their own music as well as a range of unexpected cover songs. Throughout the day and night, the crowd sang along heartily, and in keeping with the building’s long history of line dancing, some in the crowd did start line dancing periodically. Meanwhile, hosts Lauryn Snapp and Carissa Culiner kept the crowd’s energy high between sets. 

The Thursday night lineup featured The Red Clay Strays playing a headlining set, while the rest of the lineup included The Band Perry, Chase Rice, Carly Pearce, Ty Myers, Corey Kent, Lanie Gardner, Drew Baldridge, Hunter Hayes, and The Grimm. 

The evening also included a surprise appearance by influencer Chantel West Coast, who may need to change her name to Chantel Nashville soon. After performing her tune, “Tennessee,” she admitted she was “slightly sick of L.A…. I feel like I’ve found my voice in country music… Tennessee has been calling me.”  Based on the reception she received, she’d be welcome.

Below is a roundup of the evening, which also included an afterparty featuring Country Nights.