First off we’d like to thank the PR and festival teams for hosting our crazy lot for the second instalment of Brunch Electronik. After three days basking under Barcelona’s balmy sun, vibing to one of the most delicious lineups of DJs we’ve come across in a long time and witnessing a Spanish rave in its element, we’ve come to two conclusions, Europe is outdoing us Brits in the rave department and day festivals can slap if done right.
Returning to this Spanish city for three days of perfectly curated dance music at the sea-front site of Parc del Fòrum, avant-garde electronic music festival Brunch Electronik brought the industry’s most elite selectors to Barcelona, with Dom Dolla, TRYM, Pawsa, Jayda G and The Blaze down to mix. Not only being the biggest festival in the city but also the most varied when it comes to electronic music, they cleverly put together a line up of well-known names alongside some new ear-bellowing acts that captured our rave-obsessed hearts.
Thursday
Our trip started with checking into the Nobu hotel, Brunch Electronik’s official festival partner, and trust us, the imposter syndrome hit HARD, after acclimatising to the atmosphere of the place, we nipped up to the rooftop pre-party party where festival goers were gearing up for the 2024 edition, before heading out to explore a bit of the city while we waited for the festival to open it’s doors the following day. We sunk right into the truly relaxing vibes of Barcelona from getting stuck into the sun and sea (something we don’t get much of here in the UK) taking a nighttime dip and wandering through the chattering streets until the early hours, by the time we arrived back at our room, Brunch Electronik was calling our names and our enthusiasm became unbearable.
Friday
Arriving on site on Friday afternoon after a well-deserved and all-catered for breakfast, we stepped straight into the atmosphere, bodies moving, beers flowing, a buffet of bangers available for sampling, crowds buzzed, and one thing became apparent, Barcelonians like their beats and parties hard, making our way through a sea of energetic dancers, we spotted Deborah De Luca in the middle of the Iconik stage’s circular decks, lights strobed from the set up as she spun her speedy techno tunes and had arms erupting into the air.
Making our way further into the site in search of something groovy we stumbled upon Jamie Jones who was in heat with his house heavy hitters, if you’ve ever experienced Jamie live or attended one of his renowned parties you’ll know just how rejuvenating his sound is and that you’re always guaranteed a good time. After a quick boogie, we stumbled up towards the rainbow Brunch Electronik sign for a quick toke on our spicy ciggies.
We sat, sparked up and looked out over the six stages spread across the expansive site, noting that despite its industrial setting the vibe was in fact very cushty. Looking over the full festival site gave us goosebumps, the sun slowly setting over the sea as the music bellowed across the concrete jungle of dance. In the distance we spotted big groups of people huddled in front of 20-something old-school TVs, (which we later learned broadcast your reflection) and a group of friends roaring as a huge fan sent a spew of cool mist into their faces (a mint refresh that all festivals should have on btw), each dancefloor emitting its own distinct hum.
Experiencing a nudge of FOMO, we made our way back down the hill in search of some music, about halfway down some reverberated wibbles pricked our ears and we detoured to the Open stage, a space we soon discovered was designated for underground DJs, and found local Barcelona based DJ Pilar Molinero controlling a small crowd of dancers on the steeped hill with her echoing vocals and wibbly wobs. There’s nothing we love more than finding underground acts amid big events like this, as much as we f*ck with a lineup filled with familiar faces (and well-deserving of the title) god-tier artists, we can’t recommend opening your ears and exploring new names and tracks enough cause when the post-festival blues hit on the way home there’s only one place we’ll be turning to relive the festival mems, our playlist!
The crowning jewel of the day was chart-trending Pawsa B2B Dennis Crus, we spent most of our night in a hazy backstage blur bouncing between capturing all the best bits and getting lost in the ungodly groove of the Golfos duo. Other raves couldn’t conceal excitement for Pawsa either, the vibes shouted with positivity and we stood waiting for him to drop his iconic singles that are truly lip-sync worthy. Licking up every tune they dished out from ‘Too Cool To Be Careless‘ to ‘Pick Up The Phone‘ as confetti popped and the energy pulsated we pulled ourselves away after their final tune and headed back to our hotel for the evening.
Saturday
After spending the day recovering in a haze and having a long siesta when dusk fell we were ready to go, geared up for a night of incredible names and atmospheric dance floors. Our transfer to the festival was lengthened by our eagerness to get lost on the dance floor for one more night, itching to arrive at the gates and start all over again. Making a quick beeline for Australian house DJ, producer, and remixer Dom Dolla on arrival, we slipped our way to the front of the decks, settling in for what would be a frankly mythic collection of consecutive fire-igniting drops including his new single ‘Girl$‘.
Finding ourselves overwhelmed by the abundance of must-see DJs playing, we caught a little of Vintage Culture’s set before making our way up to Rhythmik, a stage we hadn’t boogied at yet. As the festival hosts a pretty good selection of stages we found ourselves navigating from one to the other fairly easily. Walking distance is key when putting on a party but it’s a slippery slope as a sound clash is dire… Brunch defo mastered the balance between keeping trek times low and sound systems high. Working our way under Rhythmik’s slanted roof and ascending towards the decks, we soak in the atmosphere, the steep hill giving a 180 view of Barcelona at night, a beachy breeze and Salute’s fast soulful house bellowing from the speakers. Spinning the decks with a ciggie in hand ‘Looking For Love’ gets fists pumping and the faint vision of a golf buggy weaving its way through the edge of the crowd becomes clear, it’s Jayda G arriving for her set.
Taking a detour down to the Iconik stage, we got sucked into TRYM’s heavy build-ups and hardcore beat drops, catching flashes of black sunnies, silver chains and bodies moving in all directions between strobes. Fists pump and an electric energy ripples around the crowd, roars erupting as he teases the next track. The night closed with an iconic trio of The Blaze, Fatboy Slim and Jayda G…
To finish this insane weekend we soaked in the last sun-rays before our down-hearted journey back to the UK and enjoyed Nobu’s rooftop pool (or puddle as Iz called it). Before we wrap things up, we’d also like to highlight Brunch Electronik’s commitment to sustainability (we can boldly say it was the cleanest rave we have experienced), alongside their on-site steps the festival also runs a foundation called Social Fooding that tackles food hunger by collecting surplus food from collaborating restaurants and distributing it, through volunteers, to various associations and NGOs in the city. This meant we were able to dance until daylight knowing we were also benefiting the world in some way, a rarity when it comes to partying.
One big thank you is in need from the Broke team for a weekend of beats, beauty and Barcelona fun – we really needed the sun-filled escape and came back with our eyes and ears set on Brunch Electronik 2025, tickets to their roster of events can be found here and after our experience, we can’t recommend them enough!