In short
- The obituary is not a cancellation announcement: Sónar has neither confirmed nor denied its end and promised news “over the coming days”, which three days later has still not arrived.
- 17, 18 and 19 June 2027 have disappeared from its website, although these were the dates the festival announced at the close of the 2026 edition and nobody has cancelled them.
- Anyone who bought the pre-sale with the Flex option has until 1 March 2027 to request a full refund, so there is no need to decide anything this week.
- The move of the daytime programme to Port Vell is a report by La Vanguardia from which the festival has distanced itself: for now it is a hint, not an announced plan.
A black coffin bearing its name and two dates, 1994-2026. That is how Sónar greeted the morning of Tuesday 27 October on its website, on its social media and in full-page ads in several Catalan newspapers. Three days later, Barcelona’s electronic music festival has still not explained what its own obituary means, and anyone thinking about Sónar 2027 has more questions than answers. This is what can be taken as fact and what cannot yet.
What Sónar has published and what it has not said
The campaign is visual and carries no explanatory text. The sonar.es homepage shows only the slogan “Sónar is dead”, the years 1994 and 2026, a video of a wake and a book of condolences where visitors can leave their name, email and “a few words of farewell”. On Instagram, every post has disappeared except that video, according to the EFE news agency.
The only thing the organisers have said is that they neither confirm nor deny the news and that they will make a statement “over the coming days to provide news about the festival”, also according to EFE. As of 30 October, that statement has not arrived.
A genuine cancellation usually comes with explanations and instructions on how to get your money back, as Feroe did last week when it called off its second edition at the Poble Espanyol. Sónar has provided neither, which is why much of the press, from Crónica Global to El Periódico, reads it as the start of a rebranding campaign rather than a closure. It is a reasonable interpretation, but only the festival can confirm it.
The 2027 dates are no longer on its website
At the end of the 2026 edition, Sónar announced that the next one would take place on 17, 18 and 19 June 2027 in Barcelona, and its website still showed this in early October. With the obituary, those dates have disappeared from the homepage, as El Periódico pointed out on the 27th itself. No artists had been announced.
Being removed does not mean they have been cancelled: the festival has not announced any change to its dates, and its terms and conditions, still online, are still titled “Sónar 2027”. That is why the Sónar profile keeps 17-19 June as the latest official dates. That weekend is also the busiest of 2027, with five other festivals taking place at the same time, as explained in the 2027 dates when you will have to choose.
What happens to pre-sale tickets
On 22 June 2026, Sónar put three-day passes for 2027 on pre-sale, with no line-up: SonarPass at €155 and SonarPass+D at €170, with VIP versions of up to €295. These included a Flex option allowing cancellation with a full refund until 1 March 2027, as Crónica Global notes. The general conditions for Sónar 2027 still describe this “Flex Ticket” as the only ticket that can be refunded within a set period.
For those who bought it, the practical consequence is simple: there are more than four months to see what the festival announces before asking for the money back. Those who bought without Flex will have to wait for word from the organisers: with no cancellation announced, no refund procedure is open. General sale never opened and there are no 2027 tickets on sale.
Port Vell, a report the festival does not confirm
On 28 October, La Vanguardia reported that Sónar is considering separating day and night again in 2027 and moving the daytime programme, together with Sónar+D, to an as-yet-undefined area of Barcelona’s Port Vell, as reported by El Periódico. The festival distanced itself from the report and merely said that it will soon give details about its future.
There is context to this. In 2026, because of building works at Fira de Montjuïc, Sónar held both day and night at Fira de Gran Via in L'Hospitalet for the first time, and El Periódico notes that the long distances between stages took their toll on the daytime programme, which draws the smallest crowds. Even so, the organisers put attendance at more than 150,000 people. Until Sónar announces it, Port Vell is a possibility reported in the press, not a confirmed venue.
A year of changes before the obituary
The campaign comes at the end of an eventful year. In October 2025 its three founders, Enric Palau, Ricard Robles and Sergio Caballero, left the festival, and management passed to Belgian François Jozic, founder of Brunch Electronik, another festival owned by the parent group, Superstruct Entertainment. This month, according to Crónica Global, two figures linked to Sónar+D have left, and one of them, Antònia Folguera, has criticised a more corporate direction, further removed from experimentation.
Against that background, it is understandable that the obituary is being read as the end of an era rather than of the festival. The answer lies in the statement it promised: if it brings a new venue, name or dates, the Sónar profile will be updated the same day.
Sources: official Sónar website (homepage and Sónar 2027 terms and conditions), consulted on 30 October 2026, and an archived copy of its homepage from 5 October 2026; EFE news agency (27 October); El Periódico (27 and 28 October, the latter citing La Vanguardia); Crónica Global (27 October).
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