Barcelona Online | What was on in Barcelona

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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)...

May 30
Corte Inglés Fun Run
The 32nd 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.

27-29 May
Primavera Sound
The Primavera Sound is one of Barcelona's top annual music festivals.

The 2009 line-up included My Bloody Valentine, Aphex Twin, Yo La Tengo, Bloc Party, Jarvis Cocker, Neil Young and Sonic Youth... and for 2010 we have Pet Shop Boys, The Charlatans, Sunny Day Real Estate, Broken Social Scene, Gary Numan, Marc Almond etc.

Whatever happened to people like Julie Felix?

17-20 May
BDigital 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 15-16
Bike Show'10
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 three editions, we'll be back in 2010, with a professional bike industry fair; competitions of all kinds and various other events.

9 May 2010
F1 Grand Prix Catalunya
Motor-racing comes to car-crazy Barcelona -- or just outside Barcelona, at any rate -- for the fourth race of the new season.

The motorcyle GP takes place at the same venue June 4.

6-9 May
Comic Fair
The 28th 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...?!

30 April-9 May
Barcelona Asian Film Festival
Taking place largely at the CCCB, this will be the eleventh 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 -- and even watch cricket actually being played in parks and on vacant lots. Details on the site are currently rather sketchy, but if you like Asian cinema, well worth going to.

•Languages: English, Spanish and Catalan

April 23
Sant Jordi (St George's Day)
St George is the patron saint of Catalonia, and on the 23rd you will find people selling roses on literally every street corner, and bookstalls set up with roughly the same frequency.

As a gentleman you are supposed to give your lady a rose, the rose being said to have sprung from where the dragon's blood fell; as a lady you are supposed to give your knight-in-shining-armour a book. The book comes either (a) from the fact that April 23rd also happens to be the date of the deaths of both Shakespeare and Cervantes and (b) is thus World Book Day or (c) from the fact that it's a golden opportunity to flog some books.

It has become a little commercialised, but it's still a cute tradition and, to judge from the throngs on the Ramblas, a very popular one.

15-25 April
Barcelona Open Tennis
April brings the Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell, aka the 58th "Trofeo Conde de Godó", and the foregone conclusion that Rafa Nadal is going to win it again (as he has done for the last five years).

•Languages: English, Spanish and Catalan
•We liked: Rafa Nadal's appearance fee for 2010: 400,000€
•Not so hot: The day tennis has a proper anti-doping commission in place

15-18 April
International Tourism Show of Catalonia
The big trade fair in Barcelona in April is the annual "Saló Internacional del Turisme a Catalunya".

March 21
Barcelona-Sitges vintage car rally
March sees the 52ndt 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 Parc de la Ciutadella on the Saturday morning, or be in the Plaça St Jaume on the Sunday, before the rally starts at 11.00.

Well worth it!

November 11-December 13
World Press Photo Exhibition
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.

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...

October 18-November 27
Barcelona's International Jazz Festival
Supposedly one of the best in Europe (but then that does tend to get added to just about everything that is on in Barcelona), with this year's program (the 41st edition of the Festival) including Wayne Shorter (October 28); Jimmy Cobb (November 7) and Marcus Miller (November 11).

Concert venues include the Auditori, the magnificent Palau de la Música, and two of the city's best club venues, Jamboree and Luz de Gas.

November 27-29
Salon del Hobby
Not one to miss if you've got kids... If they (or you) are into any of "model making, dioramas, miniatures, collecting, radio-control, educational games, dollhouses, electric railways, painting techniques, handicrafts" etc, the Hobby Fair is a thrilling day out.

You'll have to queue to get in, queue to play with the Scalextric, will probably lose the kids a couple of times and end up with a wretched headache but, come on Dad, the kids had fun!

October 29-November 1
ArtFutura
The eighteenth edition of ArtFutura, a digital art and new media festival, includes a wide range of workshops, conferences, performances, special presentations and audio-visuals.

October 29-November 1
XV Manga Festival
The La Farga de L'Hospitalet trade fair centre, just outside Barcelona, hosts a hugely popular offshoot of Barcelona's main (June) Comic Fair.

End of October
Escalada de Montjuic
Since 1963, and with past winners including Merckx (only six times), Rominger, Chiappucci and Jalabert, professional cycling had come to Barcelona for a spectacular one-day, end of season event, racing up and down the mountain that gives Barcelona its magnificent backdrop.

Regrettably, no sponsor was found for 2008 and no date has been announced for 2009.

October 17-18
Walk Barcelona
The International Walk in Barcelona, organised by the "International Marching League" (sic) involves non-competitve walks with a choice of 10, 20 and 30 km over the weekend. A great way to discover Barcelona - with some great views of the city from Collserola.

Until July 31
Open air cinema
On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, for a lamentably short period, there's open-air cinema, the film starting at 9.00pm, under the walls on the fort on Montjuic (free bus service from the Plaza España). The 2009 programme includes Scorsese, Hitchcock, Almodóvar, the Coen brothers... Bring your picnic supper along beforehand and enjoy 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

June 6-7
Barcelona Extreme Sports Festival
If "skateboard, BMX, inline, FMX, urban jibbing and wakeboard" are your thing, don't miss the Barcelona Extreme Sports Festival, at the Parc del Fòrum.

•Languages: English, Spanish and Catalan

25 May-7 June
Jewish Film Festival of Barcelona
As well as the Asian Film Festival, Barcelona also has a Jewish Film Festival, which reaches its 11th edition this year.

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

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

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