Barcelona will turn into a vast open-air music venue from September 23 to 27 as La Mercè 2026 presents 109 free concerts across sixteen stages and fourteen locations. The programme ranges from major popular acts such as La Pegatina, Els Catarres, Miki Núñez, Buhos and Els Amics de les Arts to more exploratory projects, orchestral performances, flamenco, rumba catalana, jazz, electronic music and emerging artists selected through BAM and Acció Cultura Viva.
The celebrations begin on Wednesday, September 23, with a broad mix of Catalan, international and experimental music. Pol Batlle and Portuguese songwriter Luísa Sobral will perform at the Teatre Grec, while Sabor de Gràcia and Arp Frique & The Perpetual Singers take over Avinguda de la Catedral. Shanghai, the guest city for this year’s festivities, will also make its first musical appearance through the Shanghai Conservatory of Music Jazz Ensemble and the Shanghai Restoration Project at the Jardins del Doctor Pla i Armengol. BAM will spread across Plaça de Catalunya, Rambla del Raval and Moll de la Fusta with Bia Ferreira, Brama, Imarhan, Humana Taranja, Sunflowers, Maria Reis, KIW & Mourad Belouadi, La 126 and Juventude.
Thursday’s programme focuses strongly on flamenco and institutional ensembles. María Terremoto will appear at Avinguda de la Catedral before the premiere of La Barcelona Flamenca, one of five productions created specifically for La Mercè 2026. ESMUC and Xamfrà will perform in the Jardins del Doctor Pla i Armengol, while the Orquestra i Cor del Gran Teatre del Liceu will bring a major classical programme to the district headquarters in Nou Barris.
Friday will be one of the festival’s busiest nights. Nacho Vegas and La Paloma are scheduled at the Teatre Grec, while the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra will perform at Avinguda de la Catedral. Maria Jaume, Markos, Els Amics de les Arts, Els Catarres and Teràpia de Shock will fill Avinguda de Maria Cristina, while the Bogatell beachfront hosts an ELS40 programme with Aina Machuca, Enol, Sexenni, Miki Núñez and Buhos. Elsewhere, Fuensanta and Marina y su Melao will perform at the Jardins del Doctor Pla i Armengol, and the OBC will appear in Nou Barris.
The BAM programme on Friday will move between hip-hop, post-punk, club music and global sounds. Plaça de Catalunya will feature Daoud, The Slates and Sandré; Rambla del Raval will host Restinga, Uzi Freyja and Queer Falafel x Mad Monkey; and Moll de la Fusta will welcome Les Testarudes, Isla Kume and Islandman. Azucarillo Kings will also appear at Passeig dels Til·lers.
Saturday, September 26, will concentrate many of the festival’s largest and most varied concerts. Ana Rossi and Brazilian clarinettist Joana Queiroz will premiere Lo que se sabe invisible at the Teatre Grec, joined by Antonio Mazzei, Guillem Aguilar and Marcelo Woloski in a work connecting folklore, improvisation, electronics and natural landscapes. Def Mama Def will follow later that night.
At Avinguda de la Catedral, Colombian rock veterans Aterciopelados will share the bill with Maika Makovski. Maria Cristina will host Ivan Herzog, Banda Neón, Paula Koops, a surprise artist and Leire Martínez, while the Bogatell stage will bring together Al·lèrgiques al Pol·len, La Pegatina, another act still to be announced and Svetlana. The latter’s irreverent electropop will close one of the festival’s most openly festive nights.
BAM will continue across several venues on Saturday. Minibús Intergalàctic, Ypnosi and Sandra Monfort will perform at Plaça de Catalunya; I AM ROZE, TĀRA and TootArd at Rambla del Raval; and Gala i Ovidio, Poncelam and La Valentina at Moll de la Fusta. The Antiga Fàbrica Estrella Damm will host Carmen Aciar, Angela Blackburn, Jovedry, Admire, Cristina Len and Bofirax.
Fabra i Coats will also become an important part of the programme through Acció Cultura Viva. Peperina, Grup de Ties and LECOCQ will perform at Ateneu l’Harmonia, while María Cielos and AGOST will appear on the Fabra i Coats stage. The project celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2026 and continues to work through a community-based model connected to neighbourhood groups and the social and solidarity economy.
The final day, Sunday, September 27, will move towards more intimate and collaborative performances. The Liceu Blam Collective will play at the Jardins del Doctor Pla i Armengol, Marco Mezquida will lead a symphonic concert with Vozes in Nou Barris, and Carola Ortiz will present Havaneres i sons de mar at Plaça de Sant Jaume. Tumbakin and Giulia Valle will perform at Passeig dels Til·lers, while the Antiga Fàbrica Estrella Damm hosts Arar, Mala Freixura, AL-V, Asra3, MERCÈ and Maig.
The city’s musical programme will end with the Piromusical, which moves to Bogatell beach this year because of construction work at the Fira de Montjuïc. Scheduled for 10 pm on September 27, the show will combine fireworks, music and the seafront setting, with the soundtrack to be selected by a well-known Catalan band that has not yet been revealed.
Beyond its major names, La Mercè 2026 is designed as a portrait of Barcelona’s musical diversity. Its programme includes eleven album presentations, five original productions, three projects from Shanghai and a renewed BAM under the artistic direction of Marta Mei and Aina Pociello. With almost half of the projects led by women, the festival also reinforces its commitment to a more representative, plural and contemporary public programme.
Sixteen stages will host pop, rock, flamenco, rumba, electronic music, jazz and new productions created especially for Barcelona’s main festival.