Brunch Electronik decided to shake up the whole sphere of festival marketing this year by announcing their second wave line-up through a culinary collaboration with a multi-Michelin-star chef. Ben Tibbits heads to Barcelona to investigate.

The over-saturation that surrounds us is beginning to wear me down. A litany of news (factual or otherwise) is shoved down your throat in various formats across various platforms. Yet everything feels sort of the same. Devoid of deeper feeling. A rat race for attention. A spurge of mediocre marketing. Yikes. 

The festival industry isn’t much better. Yes, having a beautifully designed artwork pinpointing who’s performing helps, but with the pure multitude of options to sort through and often similar names gracing the line-ups, it can be difficult to decipher what’s worth your time. 

When an organisation approaches things with originality, it’s easy to take notice. And so, as an email arrived in my inbox discussing a mysterious trip to Barcelona to witness Brunch Electronik announcing the second wave line-up for this summer’s festival, my attention perked up. 

Although I’ve never attended Brunch, it is a festival that has always intrigued me. Held at Parc del Fòrum, the same location as the beloved Primavera Sound, the line-up is a haven of dance music – electric and eclectic, spanning sub-sounds and hosting DJs, producers and musicians from across the continent and further afield. The festival had previously already confirmed that the likes of Chaos in the CBD, Floating Points, Biig Piig, Miss Monique and Jamie Jones will be on board to get the party started on the Barca seafront on 7th and 8th August.

A second array of artists is set to be announced to join the already stacked entourage. But not through a social media post. Hosted by 3-star Michelin chef Jordi Roca, the festival is hosting an evening to announce and celebrate the communiqué – a night of cross-pollination between culinary and music culture. An ‘interactive edible event’, whatever that means. 

The prospect of this unique and unconventional second wave announcement was simply too distinct not to investigate. And so, as I step off a delayed easyJet flight on a breezy but mild Barcelona Tuesday afternoon in late February, I’m ready to witness some real innovation. 

First though, I’m late. I hop in a taxi to the Nobu hotel; my friendly driver tells me that it’s owned by Robert De Niro, which I haven’t fact-checked because I want to believe it’s true. It’s approaching 2:30pm, and there’s lunch at the hotel that began at 2pm, but I’m no good at rushing. I get myself checked in and have a quick freshen up before heading to meet the wider press party. 

The food is sensational. Nobu is renowned for its sushi (that, I have fact-checked) and the pantheon of options they have on offer is mouth-wateringly tasty. There’s some delicious fish to follow, before what looks like an insanely good piece of beef. As a recent pescatarian convert, watching those around me destroys some small part of my soul. I promise I’m not being performative – I do care about the animals. 

There’s no time for rest or chit chat. We’re hopping straight in a mini-bus to the venue – an undisclosed location somewhere in Barcelona. It’s sort of like a warehouse, decorated for the one-night-only event. It’s quite a cramped room – for now. From behind a red curtain, hands hold out beers and a very sweet but delicious cocktail (which sort of tastes like if a marshmallow threw up on an espresso martini). It’s quite funny, just seeing the little hands poking out from behind the curtain. I break the fourth wall and ask them where to put empties. They hesitate in responding before saying quietly, “anywhere; a table.” Feels ill-planned. Perhaps next time they could have empty hands sticking out from behind the curtains for empty glasses. (Note – I must find out the name of the hand company and write them an email.) 

After a short while of steamrolling drinks (life finds me perpetually double-parked), I’m ushered into the back of the building for a quick catch-up with perhaps the two key men in putting the night together. One being Francois Jozic, the CEO of Brunch Festival, and the other being, of course, Jordi Roca, the incredible pastry chef who counts himself the owner of three Michelin stars. 

There’s only one opening question to ask this unlikely pair of new friends and creative collaborators – how the hell did all this come about?! “We aim to be more than a music festival at Brunch,” Francois tells me as we find a quiet corner and sit down for a swift rendezvous. “Activity is really at the centre of our experience, and that includes our shows, our production, and of course our communication. I consider Jordi one of the most creative people I know in Spain, and I saw that he was really getting into electronic music this year, so I was like – ‘Fuck, this is a match, I cannot sleep on this.’ I sent him a DM and 24 hours later, I was at [Jordi’s restaurant] El Celler de Can Roca, having the most surreal meeting of my life. He said to me that we have 30 minutes, and we ended up sitting there for four hours, having amazing food, amazing conversations. And now we’re here, three months later.”

Jordi, an inspirational man who lives with dysphonia, a neurological disease that means he’s become permanently vocally hoarse, is an innovator through and through. This collaboration with Brunch is just the latest in a line of industry-leading endeavours from the 47-year-old. “We thought about unifying all of the five senses,” he tells me about the idea behind the event, which has seen him concoct a different sweet soupçon for each new name to be announced. “We wanted to bring our two worlds together and try to think of a way to explain what’s happening today. To talk about the DJs that are being announced through my world and through my creativity. So today’s a complicity between music and taste, and how I see these artists. I tried to represent what we’re showcasing today – different kinds of artists, different kinds of music, different kinds of bonbons, different kinds of candies, different kinds of foods.”

As Francois alluded to, Jordi himself is making inroads into the world of electronic music, pursuing a side quest in DJing. For him, the two meld together seamlessly. “I’m going through men’s menopause,” he quips. “For me, there are a lot of similarities in how I create music and how I create food. There are parallels in being a DJ and a pastry chef. Creating a song is the same process as creating a dish – you have to have crunchiness and softness, all these different layers. And when I’m creating a song, I’m thinking about all of these things that inspire his creativity.” 

For Francois, this isn’t a collaboration to amass hype before the festival; in his mind, the festival has already started. Today is just the latest checkpoint, and a reminder – away from a phone screen – of the true essence of Brunch. “We think that the festival starts the moment we release the first line-up,” he says. “That’s when people start imagining – okay, this festival’s going to sound like this, we’re going to go see this artist and this artist: when are they playing, where are they playing? So the festival for us doesn’t start when the first act plays, it starts when you release the line-up. It’s a little bit sad nowadays, you just release things on Instagram, and it’s all about that and how many likes, etc. So I think it’s a great experience to get together, celebrate the moment, and have a little bit of a taste of what the festival is going to be like. It’s about getting in touch with each other, which is what you do when you sit down at a restaurant and have a meal.”

So, after this seminal innovation, what’s next? For Francois, it’s all about doubling down on Brunch’s progressive core. “We’ll keep spotting local artists,” he pinpoints. “And try to give the people the best experience that we can offer to them in one of the European capitals of electronic music. And hopefully keep in touch with the creative scene outside of music as we did today with Jordi here.”

And Jordi? “He’s going to Berghain,” Francois quips, answering for him as Jordi beams back at him.

I bid farewell to my new acquaintances and re-enter the party. After a few more drinks, the giant egg timer – a piece of imagery that’s been recurring throughout this year’s marketing campaign – that has loomed large in the room ticks to zero and the set of curtains open, unveiling what sort of looks like those revolving tables that you get in a sushi restaurant, but with a gorgeous, grassy landscape and small figurines of sofas, headphones, vinyl players and more. Jordi pops up in a hole in the middle, like an excitable jack-in-the-box. In the scores of little trays that move in circles, different sugary delights are unveiling different names in the line-up. The intention is that the food reflects the artist. If that’s true, Kaytranada tastes great. 

Alongside the Canadian mega-producer, who is undoubtedly a new pull for the festival, the likes of Jeff Mills, Cassius (Live), Luciano, SYREETA, BASHKKA b2b Sally C, NHYMPH and Yu Su (who takes the role of DJ for tonight’s gala) have all been confirmed to perform, among many others. There’s a focus on rising Spanish stars, as well as global favourites, crossing across electronic sub-styles in what’s undoubtedly one of the most compelling dance music line-ups of the summer ahead. 

After feasting on the edible line-up and a few more Estrellas, the press party moved off for some dinner, before calling it a night for the trip home tomorrow. It’s been a quick trip, but worth the travel, to see up close some true innovation in the festival sphere, and to meet the brains behind it. As music and culture become simultaneously more accessible and derivative, it’s refreshing to see creatives pushing forward and reinventing the norm. And, I mean, who doesn’t love Brunch? 

Tickets to Brunch Electronik here.

Words – Ben Tibbits