Bilbao BBK Live has always felt like the slightly smug friend in the festival group chat, the one who casually drops in that they’re “just heading up a mountain overlooking a whole city for the weekend” while everyone else is arguing about tent pegs.
Set on Mount Kobetamendi just outside Bilbao in Spain, the festival marks its 20th anniversary in 2026 with a line-up that sees big names sit alongside left-field curveballs and the kind of discoveries that make you feel like you’ve done your homework even if you absolutely haven’t. Across 9th–11th July, it’s another reminder that BBK isn’t trying to be everything to everyone, it’s trying to be exactly right for a very specific kind of music fan. You know, the one reading this.
Below, a handful of artists worth building your weekend around, or at the very least circling aggressively on the clashfinder and pretending you always planned it this way.
Bb trickz
If BBK is about tapping into what’s next as much as celebrating what’s now, Bb trickz feels like a no-brainer. Since breaking out with the viral chaos of ‘Missionsuicida’ and the rapid-fire releases that followed, she’s moved quickly from internet curiosity to one of the most talked-about names in Spain’s new wave. ‘80’z’ sharpened that further, blending afro-trap, drill and club sounds while she flips between languages and deliveries like it’s instinct. More recent releases have only doubled down on that unpredictability. There’s humour, there’s bite, and there’s a sense she’s always slightly ahead of the moment.
horsegiirL
Yes, she’s half-horse, half-human. No, that’s not the strangest thing about her. horsegiirL’s debut album ‘NATURE IS HEALING’, due in June, positions club music as something communal and restorative. Less “lose yourself” and more “find yourself, but while absolutely going for it.” Built on everything from euphoric house to gabber, and wrapped in a full conceptual universe, her sets feel like a rave with a thesis statement. You’ll dance, you’ll sweat, and you might accidentally have a small existential breakthrough somewhere near the speakers.
AMORE
If BBK has a sweet spot, it’s artists who treat pop like something to be stretched, twisted and gently broken, and AMORE sits right in that space. Her debut album ‘Top Hits, Ballads, etc…’ starts with pop and then quietly dismantles it, pulling in trip-hop textures, ambient drift and flashes of traditional Spanish influence. She produces everything herself, and the songs unfold at their own pace. Live, it's immersive: the kind of set where you wander in out of curiosity and leave slightly dazed.
La Paloma
For all the global names on the bill, BBK has always had a knack for spotlighting what’s happening closer to home, and La Paloma feel like a perfect example. The Madrid noise-pop trio have built their reputation quickly, pairing anthemic songwriting with lyrics that tap into that restless, in-between feeling of figuring things out. ‘Todavía no’ made them one of the defining bands of their generation, and newer material like ‘Un golpe de suerte’ tightens that focus without losing any urgency. This is the one where the crowd does half the work for them.
CMAT
Obviously.
David Byrne
Obviously: The Sequel.
Bilbao BBK Live takes place from 9th-11th July. Visit bilbaobbklive.com for tickets.
