Guerra de Bandas de Actual: how to enter by 31 October for a shot at €2,500 and a gig at Actual 2028

The deadline is Saturday 31 October. Until then, the Guerra de Bandas de Actual is accepting entries for its 13th edition: ten acts will play in Logroño from 2 to 4 January 2027, as part of Actual 2027, and the winner will return a year later as part of the Actual 2028 line-up.

Actual is Logroño's winter festival, combining concerts with performing arts and exhibitions during the first days of January. Its band competition began in 2013 and received 131 entries last year. This is what the rules say and what you should have ready before sending anything.

What you win: €2,500 and a slot on the Actual 2028 line-up

The jury prize is not a cheque but a contract: a gig paid €2,500 on one of the main stages of Actual 2028, with the winning band announced in the programme like any other artist. The organisers present it as one of the best-endowed competitions in Spain. In 2015, when Repion won, the contract was worth €2,000.

The money comes in two instalments, always against an invoice: €500 on winning and €2,000 after the gig. If Actual keeps its usual early-January dates, almost a year will pass between the final and payment of the bulk of the prize. The prize cannot be transferred to another band and the jury may decide not to award it.

There is a second prize of €300, decided by the audience voting in the venue during the gigs. At the last edition it went to Fabio Laseca, a musician from La Rioja.

Who can enter and what the rules require

The competition is nationwide: bands and solo artists building their careers from anywhere in Spain can take part. Any style is welcome. Previous Jury Prize winners are excluded, as are bands penalised for not turning up at previous editions; having been a semi-finalist or finalist does not stop you from trying again.

Before putting your press kit together, check four conditions:

• At least 30 minutes of original material. In the semi-finals each set lasts 15 minutes, and in the final, 30. The jury may penalise anyone who goes outside those limits, even with disqualification.
• The ability to issue invoices, as a company, an association or through any other legal arrangement, in order to receive prizes and grants. You must first provide your tax ID (CIF) and, where applicable, your VAT exemption. For a new project, this is the requirement that can involve the most paperwork, and it is better to sort it out before January than once the prize has been won.
• Waiving payment of royalties. The rules require this of all participants, and if anything needs to be handled with the SGAE, it is each band's responsibility.
• Track record. The rules say it counts in your favour, and the competition's organiser, Enrique Cabezón, explained at the launch that they are looking for solid projects with some experience behind them. A newly formed band with no gigs under its belt will find it harder.

How to enter, step by step

1. Prepare a press kit with the project's biography, gig history and the recordings released so far.
2. Include links in the press kit where the pre-selection jury can listen to you: website, Bandcamp, social media or any other platform.
3. Use the contact details of an active band member. The organisers do not deal with relatives or managers, and may exclude from the final stage a band whose details do not belong to any of its members.
4. Email it to guerractual@gmail.com before the end of 31 October, which is the method set out in the rules. The competition's official page also has a form asking for name, email, phone number, band details and a field to upload audio, video or images.
5. Read the full rules before sending: entering means accepting them, and the jury's decision is final.

The rules do not set a date for announcing the selection. For reference, last year the ten semi-finalists were announced on 11 November.

Ten acts selected, two semi-finals and a final at the Sala Fundición

The jury, made up of music critics, professional musicians and people from teaching and from cultural management and promotion, will choose ten participants from all the press kits. They will play at the Sala Fundición in Logroño: the semi-finals will be on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 January, and the four finalists will return to the stage on Monday 4 January. The organisers will tell each selected band the day, time and requirements for confirming attendance. In 2026, five bands played in each semi-final and two went through from each night.

For the live shows, the organisers provide sound and lighting technicians, a PA system, monitors and a full drum kit that must be used. Each band brings its own backline, which will only replace the shared equipment in exceptional cases and with the approval of the technicians and organisers.

Bands travelling from 120 kilometres or more from Logroño receive €150 towards petrol and can stay the night of their gig at the organisers' expense, and meals are also covered. It is a contribution, not full coverage of the trip: a band coming from far away should do the maths before confirming.

Confirming and not turning up has consequences. A band that fails to appear without good reason will not be able to take part in the next five editions.

Twelve editions of winners, from Repion to Chicarela

The official list of winners starts in 2013 and records no editions in 2022 or 2023. These are the jury prize winners:

• 2013: Bamboo Bebop. 2014: Inocua. 2015: Repion. 2016: The Owl Project.
• 2017: Tipitako. 2018: Bware. 2019: The Royal Flash. 2020: Debruces.
• 2021: Superfuzz. 2024: Psycho Rebel Front. 2025: Exuvia. 2026: Chicarela.

Repion is a good example of how far a winner can go. They won in 2015 as a pop-rock band from Cantabria, in a final at the Plaza de Toros de La Ribera in front of around 4,000 people, according to the organisers, and the prize was a contract for the Actual 2016 line-up. Today their name appears on line-ups such as Vive Linares Fest 2027. Their career is not explained by the competition alone.

The latest winner, Chicarela, is a rock power trio from Navarre who are already the first act confirmed for Actual 2027. At the launch of this year's call for entries, their singer and guitarist, Javi Zurbano, summed up what they took away: ‘the biggest prize was playing two days with the venue packed’.

Any style is welcome, but the last three jury prizes have gone to rock bands: the psychedelic rock of Psycho Rebel Front, the stoner of Exuvia and the rock of Chicarela. That does not shut the door on other acts. In 2026 the indie pop of Clara Olóndriz and the electro-pop of DJ Moderno Live reached the semi-finals, and Clara Olóndriz made it to the final.

The last three editions received 120 entries in 2024, 130 in 2025 and 131 in 2026. With those figures, more than nine out of ten applicants do not make it to the live stage.

In Cantera, ModoFestival's section dedicated to emerging music, there is also room for calls for entries that can serve as a first big stage. If you have a project that is starting to get going, email us at hola@modofestival.com with your Spotify link, your bio and your upcoming gigs. Selection is editorial and nobody pays to be featured.

Sources: official page and rules of the Guerra de Bandas de Actual 2027 and Actual press release of 11 August 2026, consulted on 22 October 2026; official page of winners and participants; Actual press office release of 5 January 2015, on Repion's win; nuevecuatrouno, on the 2026 semi-finalists and final; Repion's page on ModoFestival, on their upcoming festivals.