Barcelona Online | What was on in Barcelona

>> Ages ago | Just missed it | On this month | Coming up

On this page we include what was on in Barcelona some time ago. If you've have missed it, note that nearly all of these are annual events, so you might want to take a look at them if you are coming to Barcelona next year.

You might also check our "coming up" page (link above)...

Until September 7
Magnum. 10 Sequences
Though we've been a bit rude about the CCCB (Montalegre 5), there are some great exhibitions on there too, and the Magnum show ("How Cinema Inspires Photographers") is well worth seeing.

The Patrick Zachmann section, The cinema of Shanghai in the 1930s, which contrasts the photos Zachmann took with the 1930s movies is particularly amazing.

Until August 31
Reuters: The State of the World
At the Palau Robert (Passeig de Gràcia, 107) there is a small, but superb exhibition of the work of Reuters photographers. Don't miss the one of the kid in Gateshead covering her ears as she's sick of listening to Toni Blair!

The exhibitions at Palau Robert are always well worth visiting.

>> Reuters exhibition website

15-21 August
Festa Major de Gràcia
Gràcia, once separated from Barcelona by green fields, is now one of its more bohemian districts, much loved by those into ethnic restaurants and spending the day lounging on café terraces as well as being home to Barcelona's punks and squatters. It is also home to one of the more vibrant street festivals, with 600 events (dance, theatre, music...) over 9 nights.

The neatly designed site has the basic information about what's on...

•We like: The annual competition to decorate the streets
•Too hot: Barcelona in August
•Languages: Catalan only

25 June - 2 August 2008
Grec Festival
The Grec is one of Barcelona's major annual festivals, with events including music, theatre, dance and circus...

Tickets can be booked online (via Telentrada), but obtaining tickets and information is probably going to be much easier from the ticket and information office at the top of the Portal de l'Àngel, in the south-east corner of the Plaza Catalunya.

June 30 - August 1, 2008
Open air cinema
On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, for a lamentably short period, there's open-air cinema, the film starting at 10.00pm, under the walls on the fort on Montjuic (free bus service from the Plaza España). The 2008 programme includes David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises, the excellent El Laberinto del Fauno, Tarantino's Death Proof and Ratatouille. Bring your picnic supper along beforehand and get some live jazz to go with it. A cool way to spend a hot summer night.

•We liked: The walk round the castle walls afterwards in the moonlight
•Not so hot: Some of the films on the programme... But hey, I'm going for the picnic
•Languages: English, Spanish, Catalan

Summer festivals
Every year the Únicas Festival (June 2-July 7) brings outstanding female singers to the incomparable setting of the Palau de la Música. This time round we have Marianne Faithfull (June 2), Sinéad O'Connor (June 11) and Suzanne Vega (July 7), with Mayte Martín, Haris Alexious, Ani Choyin Drolma and Sor Marie Keyrouz, and Ute Lempter completing the billing.

July 18-19 at the Parc del Fòrum, we have the Summercase Festival, with the Sex Pistols -- who have got together again for the 30th Anniversary of "Never mind the Bollocks" -- the big draw. Others appearing will include Blondie, Primal Scream, The Verve, The Breeders, The Stranglers and M.I.A.

June 23
Sant Joan - Midsummer's Eve
Barcelona goes wild on St Joan, drinking cava, the local sparkling wine, consuming a rather boring coca de St Joan, a dry cake with candied fruit of various kinds on top, blasting off the annual budget of a small developing nation in fireworks and partying on the beach till dawn and the Guardia Urbana come along. Reliable sources -- aka a local freebie rag -- tell us that 28 tonnes of rubbish were collected this year the next morning.

The fireworks are something else. You remember Apocalypse Now? Walking the streets on the night of the 23rd is about like that. Wild!

More about Sant Joan on the official BCN site - what's on, how to make coca... Why, you can even build your own rocket!

Motorcycling, 8 June
Spanish Grand Prix
The official Spanish Grand Prix site has full information on the Montmeló circuit (about 20 km outside Barcelona) and how to get there (train).

Details on our Barcelona sports page.

27 May-8 June
Jewish Film Festival of Barcelona
As well as the Asian Film Festival (see above), Barcelona also has a Jewish Film Festival, which reaches its 10th edition this year.

Until June 7
Barcelona Guitar Festival
The 19th edition of Barcelona's "Festival de Guitarra" starts April 3, with a concert by Jorge Drexler at the Palau de la Música.

Hightlights include Noa (12 April); Paul Anka (13 April); Milton Nascimento and Jobim Trio (29 April); the flamenco cantaor José Mercé (26 April); Joe Satriani (6 May); Luis Eduardo Aute (23 May) and Al Kooper (30 May).

Venues include the Palau de la Música, L'Auditori, Luz de Gas and Bikini, with a total of 24 concerts running through until June 7.

May 27-June 1
Barcelona Fashion Week
Barcelona likes to think itself as always at the height of fashion and its Fashion Week, the Pasarela Gaudí is its big annual event.

"Moda Barcelona's" next big event is June's "BCN Bridal Week".

The Flash-built site is decidedly uninspired.

•We liked: Dressing up when we were kids...?
•Not so hot: "Fashion shows require a direct personal invitation from the designer". Er... Guess that means I'll not be going, then
•Languages: English, Spanish, Catalan

29-31 May
Primavera Sound
The Primavera Sound is one of Barcelona's top annual music festivals, and takes place this year at the Forum 2004 site (they've got to do something with it!).

The 2008 line-up includes, er... a bunch of names I confess I'm not altogether entirely familiar with: Portishead, Public Enemy and, er, Devo, Dinosaur Jr, Nick Lowe, the F**k Buttons, Vampire Weekend, DJ de Mierda, the Pissed Jeans...

Whatever happened to people like Julie Felix?

19-21 May 2008
Internet Global Congress
For four days in May, Barcelona becomes the "Internet world capital", the IGC site modestly claims. The event offers a wide range of papers and plenaries on Internet-related matters.

The site carries full information on the congress, its different plenaries and parallel sessions, as well as information on the "village" where you will be able to get your hands on some of all that technology.

•We liked: The vast, apparently all-inclusive range of its themes
•Not so hot: €300 a head for the four days unless you qualify as a student - and that was the 2004 edition!
•Languages: English, Spanish, Catalan

May 18
Corte Inglés Fun Run
The 30th edition of this 11 km run, sponsored by Spain's largest department store, one of the world's largest fun runs with over 50,000 participants.

The route takes you from Plaça Catalunya out to Plaça Espanya, up Montjuic, into the Olympic Stadium and back down to Plaça Catalunya for the finish.

25 April-4 May
Barcelona Asian Film Festival
Taking place largely at the CCCB, this will be the tenth edition of one of Europe's top Asian film festivals.

Why an Asian film festival in Barcelona? Well, for one thing Barcelona is now home to a large number of Asian immigrants. Why, if you go down to bars in the right areas of town, you can even catch the Test Match on satellite TV. Details on the site are currently rather sketchy, but if you like Asian cinema, well worth going to.

•Languages: English and Spanish

17-20 April
Comic Fair
The 26th edition of Barcelona's International Comic fair - comic, as in Spiderman, that is - takes place in the Fira de Barcelona this year. The site itself is a little disappointing, with little more of interest than the basic information.

•Languages: English, Spanish
•We liked: The actual fair
•Not so hot: A site design that makes next to no use of comic characters...?!

April 11-13
Bike Show BCN 2008
In 2006, Barcelona held its first ever "participative event" for the bike world (that's the kind that you have to pedal and get hot and sweaty, not the brrrom-brroMMMM variety) at the Palau Sant Jordi.

Following the success of the first two editions, we'll be back in 2008, with a professional bike industry fair; competitions of all kinds, including the International Catalan Mountain Bike Cup / Massi Grand Prix on a circuit around Montjuic; and various other events.

March 30
Barcelona-Sitges vintage car rally
March sees the 50th edition of the Barcelona-Sitges vintage car rally. The winner depends on the car itself, not the time required to cover the 45km involved, with extra points going for dressing up appropriately.

To see the cars, go to the Plaça Marquès de la Foronda (on Montjuic, just up from the Plaça Espanya) on the Saturday morning, or be in the Plaça St Jaume on the Sunday, before the rally starts at around 11.30. Well worth it!

October 11-November 17
World Press Photo 2007
The truly outstanding World Press Photo exhibition [website], at the CCCB, includes some of the breathtaking images taken by photojournalists around the world in the last year.

Shown, right, the World Press Photo of the Year 2005, Mother and child at emergency feeding center, Tahoua, Niger, 1 August, Finbarr O'Reilly (Canada, Reuters). Copyright protected, used by permission.

Locking the world's leaders up inside on a starvation diet for a week or so would surely fix quite a number of the world's problems...

June 7-August 19
FotoPres'07
At the CaixaForum we have an exhibition of the work presented for one of Spain's top professional photograph prizes.

B-Estival and SummerCase
July brings two big festivals, the B-Estival at the Poble Espanyol (July 4-26) [ website ], with concerts including Youssou N'Dour (July 18), Carlinhos Brown (July 25), and George Benson & Al Jarreau (July 26);; and the Summercase Festival [ website ] at the Forum (July 13-14), with concerts by The Chemical Brothers and P J Harvey, among others.

Dates for 2008: B-Estival, unknown; Summercase, 18-19 July.

May 9-September 26 2004
Forum 2004
Officially, the "Universal Forum of Cultures" is an event that was going to "move the world", according to the propaganda, that was. The statistics suggest that the world didn't buy it. More information on our Forum 2004 page.

The Forum, thankfully, is not an event that will be coming back.

What's on in Barcelona

>> Ages ago | Just missed it | On this month | Coming up