Igualada will celebrate its Festa Major 2026 from August 17 to 25, with music taking over the city alongside the traditional events surrounding Sant Bartomeu. This year’s programme spreads the concerts between Parc Central, Plaça de Cal Font, Plaça de l’Ajuntament, Plaça de la Creu and the Amfiteatre de les Comes, with a line-up that moves easily between mainstream Catalan pop, rock, metal, jazz, electronic music and traditional Festa Major orchestras. The programme itself singles out Els Amics de les Arts and La Fúmiga as two of the major musical attractions of the week.

Music begins on Monday, August 17, following the official opening speech by journalist Antoni Bassas. Dr. Jazz Friends will perform in Plaça de l’Ajuntament, taking the audience back to the sound of New Orleans, Chicago and New York in the 1920s, with traditional jazz and Dixieland inspired by figures such as Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet and King Oliver.

The programme continues on Wednesday, August 19 with two very different concerts. At 8 pm, the Orquestra Simfònica de l’Anoia performs at the Teatre Municipal Ateneu with a programme devoted to well-known music from musicals. At 10 pm, the Cobla Marinada takes over the cloister of the Escola Pia with a modern approach to sardanes, traditional dances and music written for cobla.

Thursday night introduces the first major late-night party of the Festa Major. After a concert by the Banda de Música d’Igualada at the Teatre Municipal Ateneu, MIMUS arrives at Plaça de Cal Font from 11 pm until 3 am. The Barcelona party brings together current and older-school reggaeton in a session designed squarely for dancing rather than sitting down and listening.

La Fúmiga brings its farewell tour to Igualada

Friday, August 21 is when the musical programme really shifts up a gear. The evening begins at 8 pm with the Banda de Música d’Igualada in Plaça de l’Ajuntament, performing an outdoor programme that moves from waltzes and boleros to swing and pasodobles. At 11 pm, two concerts start almost simultaneously: Mallorcan band Brindis brings its energetic take on 1960s pop and rock & roll to Plaça de Cal Font, while local group The Options performs rock versions of hits from the 1980s through to the 2010s at Parc Central.

At 12.30 am, La Fúmiga takes over Parc Central in what is likely to be one of the most emotional nights of the week. The Valencian band has announced that 2026 will mark its final farewell from the stage, with only ten dates planned in Catalonia as part of the closing tour. Igualada therefore becomes one of the stops on a particularly limited final run for a group that has become one of the most popular names in the contemporary Valencian and Catalan festive music scene.

At the same time, Plaça de Cal Font turns towards disco with Studio 54, a show built around dancefloor classics such as the music of Chic, Gloria Gaynor and the Bee Gees. The party there continues from 2 am with DJ Kastik, who returns to Igualada for an electronic session running until 4 am.

Els Amics de les Arts and a full night of rock and metal

Saturday, August 22 is arguably the busiest night of the entire programme. Parc Central hosts Kimsy i els Socis at 10.30 pm. The Anoia-based musicians give Kimsy’s songs a fuller live-band treatment that mixes rock, hip-hop, afrobeat and pop. At midnight, the same stage welcomes Els Amics de les Arts, who continue celebrating two decades together with a special 2026 tour. Their set is expected to draw on songs including Jean-Luc, Ja no ens passa, Louisiana o els camps de cotó and more recent material such as Citant Mercè Rodoreda.

Plaça de Cal Font will meanwhile host FEMiNIT, a double bill featuring female-led bands. Akelarre performs at midnight with a set built around pop and rock hits, followed at 2 am by Les Gamberres, whose line-up of drums, guitars, bass, vocals and brass is designed for a more direct Festa Major party atmosphere.

For anyone wanting something much heavier, Saturday also brings the Igualada Rock City’26 Festival to the Amfiteatre de les Comes. The night opens at 9.30 pm with INDAR, an emerging female band blending progressive and alternative metal. Valencian punk-rock group Deaf Devils follows at 10.30 pm, before Swedish dark-rock band Lucifer at 11.30 pm. The closing set comes at 1 am from Def Con Dos, who will celebrate the 30th anniversary of their album Alzheimer with their characteristic mix of rap, rock and metal.

Petit de Cal Eril and La Ludwig Band for the Sant Bartomeu eve

Sunday, August 23, the eve of Sant Bartomeu, mixes traditional Festa Major music with some of the most interesting names on the Catalan independent scene. The evening begins at Parc Central with a special Flaixbac Tardeig hosted by Carles Pérez from 7 pm, while the Orquestra Internacional Maravella gives its Festa Major concert at 8 pm in Plaça de l’Ajuntament.

At 11 pm, Miquel del Roig plays Plaça de Cal Font with the stripped-down formula that has made him a familiar presence at festivals and town celebrations across Catalonia: one man, one guitar and a constantly changing mix of his own material, popular songs and topical lyrics. Nearby, the 12th RRRREC Festival begins at Plaça de la Creu, where Petit de Cal Eril performs at 11.30 pm. The band returns to the stage with ERIL ERIL ERIL, a twelve-song album that continues Joan Pons’ characteristically difficult-to-classify exploration of pop and psychedelic sounds.

Midnight opens several parallel parties. The Orquestra Internacional Maravella turns its earlier concert into a Festa Major dance at Plaça de l’Ajuntament, while Parc Central hosts the six-hour Flaixbac Va Parir Tour 2026, running until 6 am. At 1 am, La Ludwig Band performs in Plaça de Cal Font. The group arrives with its fifth album in six years, a thirteen-song record moving between pop, rock and folk and continuing the band’s distinctive combination of sharp writing and dry humour.

The RRRREC Festival also continues after midnight with Turmell at 1 am in Plaça de la Creu. The trio presents Sambassassina, a record blending rock, progressive rhythms and a more harmonically adventurous approach. Back at Cal Font, local DJs BAAT and LYMO close the night from 2.30 to 4 am with current hits, urban music and commercial electronic sounds, while DJ Lia Jensen takes over Plaça de l’Ajuntament at 3 am.

The music does not disappear once the main weekend is over. On Monday, August 24, Sant Bartomeu itself, the programme includes a 7 pm havanera concert by Ultramar at the amphitheatre of Parc de l’Estació Vella, accompanied by the traditional rom cremat. The group brings more than two decades of experience to a repertoire combining classic havaneres with original arrangements and compositions.

Traditional music also remains present throughout the Festa Major, from cobles and the Banda de Música d’Igualada to the music accompanying giants, dances, processions and the Sant Bartomeu celebrations. The programme ultimately reflects the character of the festival itself: several different Igualadas coexist during the same week, and the music moves with them, from La Fúmiga and Els Amics de les Arts to Def Con Dos, Petit de Cal Eril, La Ludwig Band, orchestras, DJs and the sounds of the city’s popular culture.

La Fúmiga’s farewell tour and Els Amics de les Arts are among the biggest concerts of this year’s Festa Major.