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Sitges Festa Major 2026: Amparanoia, La Sra. Tomasa, Joan Garriga and three nights of Barraques lead the music programme

The coastal town’s celebrations combine a packed three-day Barraques festival with rumba, reggae, electronic music, swing, traditional orchestras and late-night parties for Sant Bartomeu and Santa Tecla.

🗞️ Published: 14 August 2026 · Updated: 14 August 2026

Sitges is getting ready for its Festa Major 2026, a celebration that stretches across two major periods of the local calendar: Sant Bartomeu, from August 19 to 26, and Santa Tecla, from September 18 to 23. Music is woven throughout both festivities, from traditional gralla and cobla concerts to rumba, reggae, electronic music, swing, DJs and large open-air dances. The official programme places particular emphasis on the town’s own musical identity, combining local performers with established names from the Catalan and Spanish scenes.

The biggest concentration of contemporary live music actually arrives just before the official Sant Bartomeu programme, when Barraques de Sitges takes over La Fragata from August 14 to 16. The three-day event offers one of the strongest bills associated with the Festa Major this year, with more than a dozen live acts and DJs overlooking the Mediterranean.

Friday, August 14 opens with Yay Sound System – Bicisound at 7.30 pm before El Pa de Cada Dia begins the live programme at 8.30 pm. One of the evening’s biggest draws follows at 10.30 pm with Joan Garriga i el Mariatxi Galàctic, the project led by the former Dusminguet frontman and one of the most recognisable figures in Catalan mestissatge. At 12.30 am, Amparanoia takes over the stage, bringing Amparo Sánchez’s long-running fusion of Latin rhythms, rock, reggae and socially conscious songwriting to Sitges. The night closes at 3 am with BKT Brass Band.

The programme becomes even broader on Saturday, August 15. Family-oriented project El Pony Menut opens at 7 pm, followed by OKDW at 8.15 pm and La Sra. Tomasa at 9.45 pm. The Barcelona band has built its identity around an energetic mix of Latin music, electronics, funk and contemporary urban sounds, making its appearance one of the highlights of this year’s Barraques.

Later that night, Sr. Fong performs at 11.45 pm, followed at 1.45 am by Chalart58 & The Soul Adventurers featuring Matah and Sr. Wilson, pushing the programme towards reggae, dub and sound-system culture. DJ CEBA will appear between bands and take over completely from 3.15 am.

Sunday, August 16 brings a more explicitly reggae- and bass-oriented finale. Belén Natalí opens at 7 pm, before High Paw & Morgana Souljah at 9 pm, Rudymentari at 11 pm and Vandal from 1 am. Together, the three Barraques nights make La Fragata one of the key musical spaces of the entire Festa Major, and not simply an additional warm-up event before the traditional celebrations begin.

Music continues when the official Sant Bartomeu programme begins. On Wednesday, August 19, after Zoë Puighibet delivers the Festa Major opening speech in Plaça de l’Ajuntament, local group La Caleta will perform at 11.15 pm at La Plaça, in the Torreta area. The concert is conceived as the first real party of the official festivities, with guitars, handclaps and rumba versions designed to turn the square into a communal dance floor.

The following night offers a very different kind of performance. La Principal de la Bisbal arrives at La Fragata on August 20 for a major Festa Major concert and dance beginning at 9.30 pm. The historic ensemble will first present a 60-minute concert before moving into a two-hour dance set mixing traditional Festa Major repertoire with more contemporary songs. At La Plaça, meanwhile, Catalan drag performer Jèssica Pulla brings a show that combines humour, popular Catalan references and queer performance.

Another of the more unusual musical proposals is Glòria Ribera, who performs at La Plaça at 10.30 pm during the Festa Major communal dinner programme. Ribera revisits the provocative world of 1920s Catalan cuplet, approaching the repertoire with humour, political irreverence and a deliberately contemporary perspective. The evening also includes music from Two Dell DJs.

On Saturday, August 22, the Ateneu Popular de Sitges hosts its Festa Major vermouth from midday with a performance by Tremendu and music from Les Pitjor Impossible DJs, adding another informal daytime option to a programme that moves constantly between traditional celebration and contemporary nightlife.

Sant Bartomeu ends with Brou, DJ Trapella and a sardana farewell
The main Sant Bartomeu celebrations culminate on August 24, when the town’s traditional dances, religious procession, musicians and fireworks dominate the streets. Once those ceremonies are over, the Festa Major returns to the dance floor. From midnight on Passeig de la Ribera, Brou will play a late-night set of popular covers before DJ Trapella takes over the party.

The following morning is not exactly designed for sleeping in. The traditional Vermut de Sant Lli begins at 11.30 am in the Jardins d’El Retiro, with music from local DJs. Sant Bartomeu’s extended programme finally reaches its musical conclusion on August 26 with a sardana closing party on Sant Sebastià beach, featuring the Cobla Jovenívola de Sabadell, followed by fireworks.

Santa Tecla brings swing, havaneres and another all-night finale
The Festa Major returns in September for Santa Tecla, with music once again accompanying the traditional programme. On September 12, the Jardins d’El Retiro host a dinner and dance with Orquestra Mil Notes Grup, while the main Santa Tecla weekend begins with several concerts on Saturday, September 19.

That afternoon, the Agrupació Musical Suburband gives the Festa Major band concert in the gardens of the Hospital de Sant Joan Baptista. At 8 pm, Senyor Graham performs at the Jardins d’El Retiro with a programme of swing standards; the official programme describes him as “the Sinatra of Sitges”. Two hours later, the Girona-based female trio Les Anxovetes brings traditional havaneres to La Plaça, accompanied by the customary serving of rom cremat.

Santa Tecla finally ends with another late-night party after the patron saint’s procession and final traditional dances. From midnight on Passeig de la Ribera, Les Reines del Mambo will perform a set of versions before Muerta Sánchez DJ closes the 2026 Festa Major celebrations.

Alongside these larger events, Sitges maintains the music most closely tied to the Festa Major itself: gralles, cobles, sardanes and the sounds that accompany the town’s giants, fire beasts, dances and processions. Earlier in August, the programme also includes L’Alegria de Sitges, the Cobla Sitgetana and a special gralla concert by La Trinitat, while a Festa Major jazz concert by Retrio reworks traditional melodies through jazz.

The result is a music programme that feels particularly Sitgetan: rather than separating concerts from the Festa Major, contemporary bands, DJs, orchestras, rumba, reggae and nightlife sit alongside cobla, gralla and havaneres. For almost six weeks, from the first Barraques concerts in mid-August to the final Santa Tecla party in September, music becomes another thread holding together one of the most distinctive traditional celebrations on the Catalan coast.