Barcelona nightlife and bars

Barcelona nightlife , is one of the attractions that this city has to offer for those who visit and travel to Barcelona.

El Cangrejo drag cabaret

One of Barcelona’s most emblematic night spots, El
Cangrejo was the city’s original drag cabaret, attracting
a mixed bag of characters from the streets of the
Barrio Chino in the lower Raval. This area earned itself
a reputation as the city’s most depraved neighbourhood
in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and El
Cangrejo fits right in with that atmosphere of libertine
bohemia – a place of “cheap love and rough brandy”,
as Spanish writer Camilo José Cela described it.
Housed in a dungeon-like bar in the dark recesses
of the barrio, El Cangrejo’s flavour is part Jean Genet,
part Pedro Almodóvar. Barcelona’s celebrity drag
queen Carmen de Mairena performs most nights,
along with an entourage of glamorous lady-boys.
Expect outrageous costumes, empassioned boleros
(Spanish love songs), Gloria Gaynor mime-alongs and
plenty of cheeky repartee with the crowd.

Palau Sant Jordi rock on a grand scale

Designed by the Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, the
futuristic Palau Sant Jordi looks like a cool white
flying saucer. With a capacity for 17,000 within, it is
the venue of choice for big-name acts such as Bruce
Springsteen, U2 and Phil Collins, with the occasional
heavy metal band thrown in to test the sound system.

Teatre Lliure radical drama, modern dance

Barcelona’s Teatre Lliure is fast gaining a reputation
as the best in town thanks to the vision of director
Àlex Rigola. The programming includes some Englishlanguage
productions and contemporary dance, alongside
Catalan and Spanish theatre. Performances on
Wednesday nights are presented with English subtitles.

Teatre Grec starlit open-air theatre

Barcelona’s only open-air theatre springs to life each
summer, between June and August. This is when the
annual Festival del Grec takes place, presenting
classical and world music, as well as drama and
dance. The festival’s venues are scattered right
across the city, but nowhere beats this theatre when
it comes to moonlit magic – if you have the chance to
see anything here, take it. Built in the late 19th
century in imitation of a Greek amphitheatre, Teatre
Grec is set amid a verdant wood on the slopes of
Montjuïc. It is an absolutely enchanting spot to see a
ballet or listen to a classical concert.
The festival is currently one of the most important
summertime events on the Barcelona calendar,
attracting a host of theatre productions, international
musicians and dance companies.

Tinta Roja true tango

Tickets available 1 hr before each performance
There is but one proper tango bar in the city and this
is it: a former textile factory that has been converted
into a venue that smoulders with sexiness. It is run
by two dancers who used to perform in Argentina,
and they give the place its authenticity, as do the
faded posters and collected artifacts of their days in
the South American limelight.
Beyond a small, intimate bar, a corridor opens onto
a Moulin-Rouge-style theatre, complete with swinging
trapeze, red velvet curtains, gilded picture frames and
the kind of deep, comfy sofas you could disappear in.
There are performances of some sort – tango usually,
though not exclusively – most Thursday, Friday and
Saturday nights. The theatre also plays host to fringe
companies staging wacky productions, as well as a
varied array of dance and musical spectacles.

Razzmatazz live music and DJ sets

Tickets available from agencies or
on door, depending on event; check website
With five distinct spaces – each more groovy than the
last – “Razz” has become as much a destination for
travelling music fans as the Sagrada Familia is for
culture junkies. The musical spectrum for live acts
ranges from the edgy sophistication of Elvis Costello
to the unabashed drum-thumping of Megadeth.
If a jam-packed repertoire of live music doesn’t
take your fancy, the club rooms probably will. Razz
Club attracts a who’s who of DJs, including The
Chemical Brothers, The Glimmer Twins and Howie B.
The techno and electronica in the Loft Club thuds and
whirs for hard core aficionados, while the vibe in
Lolita is more chilled and intimate. The Pop Bar is a
sugar-coated playroom for the fashion set, while the
Temple Beat Room adds yet more variety to what
most agree is an unstoppable party machine. Enjoy.

Barcelona nightlife has plenty of bars to everyone that enjoy to go out at night.

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