The event will unfold, under the slogan ‘Celebrating life’, eight days of concerts and extra-musical activities from August 16 to 23, 2025 in Benicàssim

Shaggy, Burning Spear, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Tarrus Riley, Steel Pulse, Misty in Roots, The Wailers, Morgan Heritage, Third World, Ky-Mani Marley… Rototom Sunsplash launches the first, substantial preview of its 30th edition, which will be celebrated this summer in Benicàssim (Castelló), from August 16 to 23, 2025.

More than 60 names join this ‘Celebrating life’ that embraces the three decades of life, and good vibes, of the international reggae festival. Artists who have inspired and continue to inspire the trajectory of Rototom Sunsplash, along with others who are reformulating the reggae scene to continue growing. A transversal staging that can be enjoyed for eight days on the different stages of the concert venue in Benicàssim. From the Main Stage to Lion Stage. From the Dub Academy to the DanceHall or the Jamkunda Stage. This is how this celebration of life will sound at Rototom Sunsplash 2025.

Shaggy – two-time Grammy winner and nominated eight times for the most relevant awards in the industry – syncs with Rototom’s 30th in a date that’s also symbolic for his career: the 30th anniversary of the release of Boombastic, the track that catapulted him and projected him into the international mainstream. A popularity to which stellar collaborations have also contributed, such as the one captured with Sting on the album Just One Lifetime.

Anniversaries merge in this edition. 2025 is a milestone year for Rototom Sunsplash’s trajectory and for the figure that forms the backbone of the community created around it. In the year when Bob Marley would turn 80, the festival announces the return of the reggae legend’s band, The Wailers. The Marley saga also jumps into this 30th edition with Ky-Mani Marley to honor his father’s musical legacy on stage.

If there’s one name linked to Rototom Sunsplash since its beginnings, that’s Burning Spear, one of the world’s greatest exponents of the most mystical reggae. He has probably been the festival’s greatest inspiration, following his show in 1993 at the Gaio di Spilimbergo nightclub (Italy) where the reggae macro-event was born a year later.

The markedly roots profile of the 2025 lineup, which encapsulates and projects the messages of peace, unity, and brotherhood that contribute to this ‘Celebrating Life’, is also driven by artists such as the Ivorian Tiken Jah Fakoly, one of the most influential, assertive, and viral African voices, as evidenced by one of his most recent and moving performances: the one starring alongside a choir of 850 people interpreting ‘Plus rien ne m’etonne’ (‘Nothing surprises me anymore’) to denounce, without mincing words, the territorial division of African nations for political and economic reasons.

Misty in Roots represents another significant name in the festival’s history: it was the first international reggae show organized by Rototom in February 1992, and a catalyst for the passion for the genre that the musical event continues to champion today. A cult band, totally independent and unaffected by the canons imposed by fashions and trends, the British formation celebrates its 50 years of career “faithful to its roots style.

Another of the most famous reggae bands from the United Kingdom also celebrates 50 years of trajectory: Steel Pulse, which jumps into the lineup to immerse the audience in the immersive experience provided by their assertive lyrics and a show that moves away from classic linear formats. In top form five decades later, Steel Pulse promises another authentic spectacle in Benicàssim.

Cimarons, a pioneering band in the European reggae scene, completes this British trident. Formed in London in 1967 by Jamaican immigrants, it helped popularize and project Afro-Caribbean culture in Europe. He lands at this 30th edition to premiere his new album, produced by the most respected Spanish producer on the international scene, Lone Ark (Roberto Sánchez), with a special show featuring Lone Ark himself and his four-piece horn section.

The Meditations also move within the roots reggae genre. This summer will be the band’s first performance in Spain since Rototom’s arrival at its current location in Benicàssim in 2010. With their eclectic mix of reggae, funk, and soul, the Jamaican band Third World, led by Cat Coore, returns to the festival with their high-quality musical show. The show Dub Side Of The Moon (2003), featuring dub versions of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of The Moon album, will be staged once again by the American musicians’ collective Easy Star All-Stars in their only Spanish date.

The first artistic preview for this 30th edition confirms, within the more contemporary style, established names from the reggae scene such as Jamaican artist Tarrus Riley, who arrives with his band, directed by saxophonist Dean Fraser; and Morgan Heritage, with the addition of the promising voice of young Jemere Morgan patenting the legacy of the Jamaican band.

The festival announces Rasta artist Taj Weekes (from the island of Saint Lucia), symbolizing the union of reggae with positive messages and social commitment: the activism of his organization helping children in the Caribbean has earned him the title of UNICEF Champion for Children in his country. Another reggae artist with a positive message is Kumar Fyah, former lead vocalist of the band Raging Fyah and talented singer-songwriter, who will present his new solo live project.

The 30th edition coincides with the 15th anniversary of Rototom Sunsplash’s arrival in Spain, whose reggae scene is once again present with a variety of styles. In addition to Lone Ark’s show with Cimarons, the festival presents the premiere of the live band project Chalart58 & The Soul Adventurers. A show that Chalart58 (producer for Manu Chao, Fermín Muguruza, and Amparanoia) stars in alongside guests such as Roberto Sánchez, Matah, Sr. Wilson , Morgana Souljah and English singer Joe Yorke.

Lasai, an exponent of reggae and dancehall in Spain, joins for an unprecedented show with the American band Dukes of Roots, formed, among others, by Congolese Mermans Mo Faya Mosengo, artist of Playing for Change, and Fully Fullwood, legendary bassist for Peter Tosh. For its part, the state’s roots reggae will be represented by the vocal trio Emeterians, celebrating 20 years of musical career. The incredible voices of Brother Wildman, Sister Maryjane, and Maga Lion will be accompanied on stage by the Forward Ever Band and several special guests. The commitment to the Spanish reggae scene is completed in this announcement with Mango Wood. Their repertoire inspired by Jamaican compositions from the late 60s characterizes this Madrid-based band. The commitment to more contemporary Jamaican music styles and new trends within the reggae scene emerges seamlessly in this 30th edition of Rototom Sunsplash.

Vandal, co-founder of the British sound system Kaotik, confirms his presence at the festival with his unmistakable raggatek, a hardcore-jungle-reggae style in constant creative evolution. So does the renowned French dancehall singer Big Red, former member of Raggasonic and creator of the vapor-dub style. The 2025 lineup brings together from the UK Joe Yorke, an artist who runs his own label and has been causing a sensation in the reggae sphere in recent years with his extraordinary vocal style; the versatile Jamaican artist Nadia McAnuff together with the French The Ligerians; and the French female duo Mystically.

For the presentation of its 30 editions, Rototom Sunsplash continues to bet on musical styles that have emerged from reggae or fused with it, such as hip hop. This is the case of Chilean artist Ana Tijoux, one of the most influential figures in Latin American hip-hop, with work that combines music – a fusion of hip hop, Latin American folklore, reggae, and electronic – and social activism, addressing topics such as feminism, inequality, and human rights; and the band, also from Chile, Movimiento Original, one of the most influential in the Spanish reggae and hip hop scene, which, since its formation, has marked a before and after in urban music with a message of consciousness, love, and resistance.

From Catalonia, the six-piece group Maruja Limón explores rumba mixed with dembow, electronic, salsa, and pop, while the Alava ska-rock band E.T.S. (En Tol Sarmiento), a project that is multiplying its audience through its capacity for fusion and high-voltage shows, will recreate its particular festive, heartfelt, and danceable experience at the festival. An authentic celebration of life. There will also be cumbia, always present in recent editions of the festival, this year with the Argentine artist based in France La Yegros, dubbed the queen of nu-cumbia.

One of the peculiarities of Rototom Sunsplash is its sound system areas, which have become a representation that goes beyond the difference in musical styles, integrating the diversity of cultures and aesthetics. Thus, the lineup of the DanceHall stage confirms Warrior Sound and Silly Walks from Germany, and Spexdaboss from Canada, leading a diverse artistic cast that includes Xyclone, Dunrich World Sound, Ayanna Heaven, Team Damp, Dj Pepa, Royal Marx Sound, KGS, Kings Crown, Lars Vegas, Kangaroots, Vibes Star, Dhamiano, Sicily Rebellious, Jamafrican Crew, GC Sound, Dancehall Madness Experience ft Docta Rythm selecta, Dj Luiz Dubs, Selecta Nesta or Iration Selecta.

The Dub Academy will once again become a meeting point for sound system culture, featuring Channel One, Matah, the full crew of Moa Ambessa, Morgana Souljah, Roberto Sánchez ft Benjammin & Ras Tweed and Omega Nebula as a preview of many more names to be announced.

Jamkunda Stage is established as the space to connect with Afro-modern music, from afrohouse to afrobeat, afrotrap, afropop, and amapiano. A sonic journey piloted by the main collectives that are promoting these styles in the country’s major cities, and who will create authentic immersive experiences around music each evening at Rototom. Thus, this summer Jamkunda Stage incorporates into its lineup Zsongo (Madrid) and AfroBrunch (Barcelona), along with Oyofe Bissap Party (also from Barcelona) and Follow the Party (Bilbao), to which will be added AfroSplash from Valencia, AfroVice from Colombia and an afroset by Silly Walks from Germany.