In partnership with Bilbao BBK Live

Words: Lisa Wright

Celebrating its landmark 20th anniversary year, Bilbao BBK Live pulled out all the stops for its 2026 edition. Returning to its stunning home, way above ground level on the scenic slopes of Mount Cobetas, the Basque Country’s biggest music weekender has always proved a magnet for music’s most creative A-listers, with everyone from The xx to Depeche Mode and Gorillaz taking top billing in previous years. Kicking off the party on day one of the 2026 festival, FKA Twigs and David Byrne carried on that tradition in exemplary fashion with a pair of boundary-pushing shows for the ages.

This year’s festival also featured dance stages nestled deep in the woods, a surprise set from Spanish rock heroes Alcalá Norte played under the towering Bilbao BBK Live sign and a huge headline turn from Calvin Harris while rising stars Hemlocke Springs and Radio Free Alice nipped at the heels of the headliners. Even a smattering of summer rain only added to the free spirit of the evening. Here’s what went down as Bilbao BBK Live opened its doors for 2026.

FKA Twigs turned Mount Cobetas into a throbbing, ‘Eusexua’-fuelled club

Poles, harnesses, a giant bed, and more immaculately toned buttocks than you’ve seen this side of the Olympics: put it all together, and you could only be watching an FKA Twigs set. Multi-disciplinary artist Tahliah Barnett may have spent her career stretching the boundaries of what a pop star can be – turning her live shows into spectacles of movement and high art that transform any arena into her own immersive universe. But with last year’s immaculate studio LP ‘Eusexua’, the London-born star made an album born to be turned into a late night, throbbing set piece.

Defined by Twigs as a transcendent state of euphoric lust and connection, NME‘s five star review praised how “it celebrates late-night decadence and the ability to indulge in your inhibitions without restraint”. Emerging first on a heavenly white, draped bed before being joined first by a muscular angel, and then a series of writhing, contorting counterparts – each sporting variations of Twigs’ cherry red hair – it began an hour of pure visual hedonism and debauchery; surely the sexiest show that Bilbao BBK Live has ever seen.

FKA Twigs performs at Bilbao BBK Live 2026. Photo credit: Sergio Albert

On the juddering glitches of ‘Drums Of Death’, nearly-naked dancers contorted themselves around chairs. Re-emerging in a chainmail headdress and metal bra, Twigs placed a dominant boot on a dancer’s back during ‘HARD’ as he dropped down into push ups. A few songs later and she was riding him like a horse. It was all super-charged and lustful; a bacchanalian vision of sex and beauty and indulgence. But, shot through with Twigs’ crystalline vocals, moments like ‘Eusexua’’s title track showed the vulnerability and humanity at the heart of what she was trying to say. Here, Twigs began spotlit in the centre of the stage before being steadily illuminated by reflecting mirrors held by her dance company; a vision of that exact late-night communion that she speaks of.

As a pure visual feat of powerful bodies at the peak of strength, it was jaw-dropping. As a delightfully uninhibited, horny party in the middle of a field, Twigs was probably responsible for more than a few illicit hook-ups in Bilbao last night. ‘Eusexua’ came, it saw, and it conquered.

David Byrne turned political messages into a party of positivity

It was an unlikely one-two to hop from FKA Twigs’ visual orgy to the San Miguel stage, where David Byrne was holding court with what’s almost certainly sure to be the most joyous, wholesome hour of the weekend. But there were perhaps more parallels between the two artists than you might expect. Both had brought entire companies of performers with them, and both expanded the possibilities of how to present their music to a live audience in ways that felt truly original.

Bringing the next evolution of the choreographed yet uniquely free-spirited show that began with 2018’s game-changing ‘American Utopia’ tour to Bilbao BBK Live, the Talking Heads’ frontman’s 2026 iteration added a storytelling element that used kindness as its most powerful tool. Entering with his group of all-red-clad dancers, vocalists and band members – the latter wearing their instruments in a portable format so they too could move freely around the stage – the screen read: “Congratulations humanity, we made it”. The world, of course, may be far from healed but over the course of his set, Byrne presented his own utopia – an alternative reality full of big-hearted hits and positive energy that felt like an emotional balm to a fractured society.

David Byrne performs at Bilbao BBK Live 2026. Photo credit: Sara Irazabel

He read out a quote from actor John Cameron Mitchell, that “love and kindness are the most punk things you can do right now” and declared love as “an act of resistance”. Later, during ‘Life During Wartime’, screens showing ICE raids and citizen arrests during pro-Palestine marches implicitly called for more empathy and understanding, while ahead of ‘Once In A Lifetime’, he urged that “despite our differences, despite the craziness, people love being with other people” to cheers from the crowd all gathered in agreement.

There’s a Mr. Rogers-style energy to Byrne these days; a 74-year-old icon using his platform for good, to try and teach the world to dance and sing and come together to the sound of some of the most timeless hits in modern music. On stage, the performers jubilantly danced and weaved around each other in simple but endlessly effective formations, sheer joy radiating out of every pore. It was impossible not to come away, as the final strains of ‘Burning Down The House’ rang out, with a little more hope in your heart.

The best of the rest

Opening the main stage, Australia’s Radio Free Alice – who recently inked a major label deal with Atlantic Records ahead of their forthcoming debut LP – sounded like a surefire bet to be climbing up the festival ranks over the next 12 months. With guitarist Jules Paradiso sporting an Athletic Bilbao football shirt, tracks such as last year’s ‘Chinese Restaurant’ positioned them in the sweet spot between the post-punk of Interpol and the jangly indie smarts of The Drums. Add in an obvious love for The Smiths and some distinctly Johnny Marr-indebted guitar lines and you’ve got the genre’s next big contenders.

Over on the pyramid-shaped Johnnie Walker stage, Folk Bitch Trio’s rich, harmony-laden offerings might be less obvious festival fare, but the fellow Aussies drew a respectable crowd for their late afternoon set. Armed with immaculate vocals that sounded as clear and intertwined as on record and playing with no drummer, they delivered the goosebump-inducing ‘Cathode Ray’ and ‘God’s A Different Sword’ all in line up front, like a strong, three-woman charge of vocal prowess.

Folk Bitch Trio perform at Bilbao BBK Live 2026. Photo credit: Maitane Campos

Later, on the Johnnie Walker stage, North Carolina’s Hemlocke Springs channeled sci-fi visuals and unshackled energy as she brought recent debut LP ‘The Apple Tree Under The Sea’ to Bilbao. Sporting purple hair and getting the heaving crowd warmed up for FKA Twigs with an unboundaried mix of rock, alt-pop and effusive charisma, a slightly awkward moment where she lost her cool at a stage tech was the only blip in an otherwise scorching set.

Watch out Christina, you might not be the only Aguilera seated at pop’s top table for much longer. Bringing a full production to the San Miguel stage featuring a prop pirate ship, a troupe of corseted and ruffle-knickered dancers, and a video of a galloping white stallion, the prize for the day’s most gloriously camp pop spectacular was undoubtedly won by Barcelona’s Belén Aguilera. Channelling Addison Rae’s school of girly, Agent Provocateur playfulness but throwing it into a wild sonic mix that somehow managed to sample both Moby and Phantom of the Opera, you can imagine Aguilera breaking out of Spain and sailing her ship into international waters before too long.

Belén Aguilera performs at Bilbao BBK Live 2026. Photo credit: Sara Irazábal

Rounding out the night, Calvin Harris is the definition of a safe pair of hands when it comes to a festival headliner. With enough white smoke canons to probably be visible from Madrid, DJ decks stacked up to the stage rafters and towering over the enormous main stage crowd gathered for his 1.40am set, and – of course – bangers for days, the Scottish superstar DJ closed the night with a massive party. From ‘One Kiss’ with Dua Lipa, to ‘We Found Love’ with Rihanna, Calvin might have been guest-free but who needs extra when the crowd know every word anyway.