Reggae’s global church held its annual gathering on the Mediterranean. Rototom Sunsplash staged its 31st edition in Benicàssim, Spain from August 16–22, 2026 under the motto “The Place to Be,” opening with a new Welcome Party on August 16 before the main programme ran August 17–22.

The scale explains the reputation. Reggaeville’s festival report calls Rototom widely considered the premier international reggae festival outside Jamaica, drawing an audience spanning more than 100 nationalities, with six stages and roughly twelve hours of programming a day — a full week of sound-system culture, heritage acts and new waves sharing one coastal site.

Day 2 set the tone. The Skatalites appeared with vocalist Alpheus — “Rototom is the festival of festivals,” he said — alongside Luciano performing “Give Praise” and “Messenger,” and Alpha Blondy & The Solar System closing with “Jerusalem,” “Cocody Rock” and “Peace in Liberia.” Queen Omega drew heavily on her Freedom Legacy album on Day 3, with “Fittest” especially well received, before Major Lazer Soundsystem closed the Sun Stage at what the report called the festival’s “highest fever pitch.”

The veterans and the new school shared the week evenly. Day 5 brought Israel Vibration backed by the Roots Radics and a high-energy Sun Stage set from dancehall star Shenseea. Protoje & The InDiggNation closed the Sun Stage on Day 6 with songs from his new album The Art of Acceptance alongside fan favorites “Who Knows” and “Kingston Be Wise” — his was the only set of the festival the organizers had no permission to livestream.

The final day closed with Greentea Peng, Lia Kali and Kybba, rounding out a week that also featured Reggae University sessions, the Social Forum, circus and family areas. Thirty-one editions in, Rototom’s formula holds: heritage and future on the same stages, in front of an audience that flies in from everywhere reggae is loved.

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