Colombia’s most important musical event will return to the heart of Bogotá in March. Find out who’s on at Festival Estéreo Picnic 2025, from headliners to local legends.
The lineup for Festival Estéreo Picnic 2025 (March 27-30) has been announced and tickets are already on sale here. They start from COP$500k for a single day, with four day passes starting at COP$1.8m and going up to COP$3.7m for full VIP. Prices will rise closer to the event.
As usual, the festival is a genre-spanning and eclectic mix of names, from maverick metalheads to Disney stars from different generations and pretty much everything else you could imagine in between. Festival Estéreo Picnic 2025 caters for every musical taste.
The 2024 edition took place in late March and was a roaring success. For the first time, the country’s most important musical event came to the heart of Bogotá. That was a game-changing moment for both the city and the festival.
If you’re in Bogotá around late March 2025, put this in your diary – and if you’re not, it makes a good reason to visit the city. It’s an incredibly well-run festival that attracts the beautiful people and the in crowd. While the headliners might be famous names, there’s a lot of gems hidden further down the schedule. You’ll find new favourites on the bill and have a hell of a time while you do so.
Colombia has a rich musical heritage with much to celebrate from the past, but what’s often overlooked is the creativity and dynamism of the current scene. While traditional music is still popular, Colombia has leading lights in techno, rock, hip hop and rap as well. These are often highly idiosyncratic and fiercely local scenes, putting their own spin on their genre.
The sad decline of Rock al Parque post pandemic means that Festival Estéreo Picnic 2025 will be by far the biggest deal in the musical calendar next year, with only the (also excellent) Festival Cordillera providing any sort of competition.
Whether you’re going for a single day to see a specific artist or digging in for four freaky days of hedonism, it’s going to deliver. And now it’s in the centre of town, almost all the logistical problems have been knocked on the head.
It’s hardly a secret that Colombians know how to party – and Festival Estéreo Picnic 2025 will be testament to that. Thursday is usually a fairly chill day, but with a hardcore of cool kids staying late, whereas Friday sees those same kids really tear it into the wee hours. Saturday and Sunday attract much bigger and more mainstream parties.
Things start slowly, with plenty of opportunity to get right to the front for bands up until sundown or a little later. From there, it gets more hectic until the big performers finish up around midnight. Then, the tents and smaller stages are the places to be – drag acts, burlesque, DJs and surprise acts will keep you buzzing until sunrise. Or find a tree to mong out under.
Leading local lads/ladies
While the big name headliners shift a lot of tickets, the festival plays a key role in giving local acts a valuable platform to build their careers. Sadly, they often play to small crowds as bogotanos drag their heels in arriving to the parque but music lovers will find plenty of interesting sounds in the mid-afternoon.
Armenia are a criminally under-appreciated rock group that are worth arriving early for on Thursday. They have a solid local following, so it should be a good atmosphere. In a similar vein on Saturday are LosPetitFellas, another band that absolutely nail life in la nevera.
Arde Bogotá have a bombastic sound that suits the biggest of stages, even if it’s early day emptiness. Balthvus are funky and chill – perfect if they’re on in a blazing afternoon sun. Similar vibes too, from Oh’LaVille and Juliana Quedate Otro Día.
More urban vibes come from the other side of the Magdalena with paisas Julianna and Granuja. Then there’s Motherflowers’ tropicalia, who we’re counting as local, although they hail originally from Venezuela. From Cali comes trap heavyweight Pirlo.
Lunalé has a delightfully light voice that floats on stripped-down melodies, as does Gabriela Ponce. We’ve nothing but love for the strength of both Briela Ojeda’s voice and lyrics – she’s performing with La Muchacha under the name Las Mijas and is not to be missed while Ela Taubert is a more traditional soft-rock balladeer.
A very different Ela, Ms Minus is an ethereal techno pixie who absolutely ripped her stage apart in 2022 – expect her to do the same again. Melov are less abrasive minimal techno if you’re on a comedown.
Funk Tribu has completely transcended the local scene and is a global superstar, but he’ll get a rapturous homecoming so we’re counting him here. The same goes for Noise Mafia – another Colombian making waves internationally.
Traditional music isn’t to be sidelined either – Bogotá based cumbia fiend Felipe Orjuela is performing with Gato e’Monte on Friday and his own project the following day. Pacific music is Colombia’s most vibrant and interesting right now, so check out De Mar y Río to hear a whirlwind with wickedly wonderful woodwind.
The headline acts at Festival Estéreo Picnic 2025
Kicking things off on Thursday are irony enthusiast Alanis Morissette and Shawn Mendes for a day best described as eclectic. Foster The People are a little further down the bill, along with PabloPablo from Madrid. Moustachioed maestro Benson Boone makes it a good day for singer-songwriters.
Of course, the Estéreo Picnic party really gets started on Friday, which this year is when the rockers come to town. Alt-metal legends Tool share top billing with, errr, Justin Timberlake. Incubus and your old new favourite band The Hives are more heavyweight support, with techno pioneer Richie Hawtin providing the party music for later.
The weekend proper sees things go more grab-bag mainstream with The Black Keys headlining on Saturday for rock fans. Nathy Peluso will keep Latin b-boys and girls happy and there’s plenty of interesting electronica in the shape of Justice and Charlotte de Witte. Wrapping things up is the eccentric St Vincent. Also playing are the Hermanos Gutiérrez, from (checks notes) Switzerland.
Closing things out on Sunday is Olivia Rodrigo, alongside Aussies Rüfüs Du Sol touring new album Inhale/Exhale. Chilean chartreuse Mon LaFerte always goes down well in Bogotá, and the relentlessly upbeat Cariño from Spain are worth a watch. Dublin’s finest Fontaines D.C. will be great. Then of course, there are the herds that will surely flock to Caribou.
With such an array of talent, this really is not a festival to miss. You might be able to catch some of the big foreign names elsewhere, but there’s so much on the bill that you won’t easily be able to see outside Colombia. Plus, it’s easy to get home now.
Festival Estéreo Picnic 2025 runs from March 27-30 in Parque Simón Bolívar, Bogotá. Tickets range wildly in price from COP$500,000 to COP$3,700,000 depending on access and days.