Located in the Raval, this place is the place to go if you want to listen to good music in live. Moreover they offer very different kind of concerts.

Monday: jazz concert
Tuesday: Pop/rock/blues/funk jam session
Wednesday: jazz concert
Thursday: Latin concert
Friday: Flamenco concert
Saturday: jazz, latin jazz jam session
Sunday: pop/rock/blues/ funk jam session

The place uses to be kind of crowded so I would advice you to arrive in advance. All the concerts I have been there are really great and before the concert starts, you can have a beer at the bar situated just at the entrance of the place.

The atmosphere is dynamic, overwhelming and enthusiastic. A great place to spend a good night.

Details about this spot
Jazz Sí | Bars, Music | Entrance € 5.00
Calle Requesens, 2 | El Raval (area map) | +34933290020
21:00 - 00:00 daily

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Sssssh…maybe I shouldn’t mention it, but the Pipa Club is one of Barcelona’s best-kept secrets - a haven of calm amid the madness that can be Plaza Reial, just off Las Ramblas.

While tourists, preyed on by prowling gangs of bag-snatchers, queue interminably for a table at one of the over-priced restaurants dotted around the square, you can take yourself off for a drink in the quirky surroundings of the HQ for Barcelona’s pipe smokers’ club, discreetly tucked away in the corner.

After you’ve found the buzzer, and walked up three flights of stairs, you’ll enter a converted apartment to find the English-style ‘Sherlock Holmes’ pub, decked with portraits, film stills and posters of the great eccentric detective, and you’ll find a small cabaret-style stage and dance space, a dining-room and a pool-table room.

As you wander the linking corridors you’ll see a quirky collection of pipes in various stages of manufacture, including a pipe that once belonged to Dalí, and a collection of old tins, pots and packets of tobacco, and you’ll find a league table of local pipe smokers. Yes, pipe smokers meet here, in the members only lounge area, to charge their pipes and puff away, hoping to be the one whose bowl lasts longest and score the points that will put them at the top of the table.

But it’s not just pipe smokers who meet here - the club hosts a range of meetings and activities. There’s a regular program of jazz gigs and tango and milonga classes. The movie actor Javier Bardem has been known to call in to chill out, as do a good few quite well-known writers.

It’s a cool, friendly, comfortable atmosphere to meet up with friends for a drink, a smoke and a chat.

Details about this spot
Pipa Club | Bars, Music | Beer € 3.00
Plaza Reial 3 | El Barrio Gotico (area map) | +34933024732
Mon - Sat 18:00 - 03:00, Sun 20:00 - 01:00

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This place is located in an amazingly dirty and noisy street full of drunk daydreamers. But once you pass the gate you find yourself in a cosy and a little bit retro atmosphere either to eat at the restaurant, have a drink at the bar or hear good music and even dance at the lounge time.

I could not afford to have dinner there myself, but at lunch time they have a good menu at a price I would be able to pay once a month.

I personally recommend their home made desserts. Just like grandma’s!

Just when they close the kitchen, the dj session starts. It lasts until 03:00.

Details about this spot
Before | Bars, Music, Restaurants (lunch) | Beer € 3.50
Santa Monica 2 | El Raval (area map) | +34933013503
Mon - Wed 13:00 - 16:00, Thu - Sat 13:00 - 16:00 & 21:00 - 03:00

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One of the few centrally located places open for live performances of emerging bands in Barcelona!

It was opened in 1992, the year of the Olympic games, big hotels and huge impersonal malls. Fortunately it was also understood that the bohemian mood is something that gave the city its popularity.

In order to play there, bands must pass the filter of the bar manager, a frenetic indie music fan who is quite aware of his roll as a gate keeper for bands that have to struggle their way into this fortified jungle of commercial mass. No wonder there is a comedian representing the country in an international music contest!

Either a jam session or a concert, there is live music every night!

Details about this spot
Big Bang Bar | Bars, Music | Concerts € 3.00
Botella street 7 | El Raval (area map)
Tue - Sun 23:00 - 03:00

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One of those typical narrow streets of the Gothic quarter, starting at plaza nova in the cathedral avenue.

If you happen to be around, take a minute to go to Carrer del Bisbe.

If you are lucky enough and there is good weather, you find street artists at the two alleys that cross at the back of the cathedral (Carrer de Sta Ilucia and Carrer de la Pietat).

The best time of the day to get teased by the enticing sounds of a bandoneon or a harp player, the melancholic mood of an opera or tango singer, or the infectious melodies of a flamenco guitar player is the end of the afternoon.

Details about this spot
Carrer del Bisbe | Music, Relaxing
Carrer del Bisbe | El Barrio Gotico (area map)
Daily

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Sleep 8 hours a day, cook healthy, do the laundry, clean your house, and besides that work 8 hours a day, and still have a life to live … bull shit!

Unless you can find a way to make the days longer than 24 hours, there is no way to have a healthy and organized life and yet have time live it.

So forget about everything, just work to survive and seize every moment as if it was the last, and then rest and eat healthy during the weekends.

Hence as the Dalai Lama would say, just come to a jam session on any Tuesday in the Harlem and sing as if no one was hearing you, or come any other day to a concert and dance as if no one was watching at you, and then love as if you haven’t been hurt.

Details about this spot
Harlem Jazz Club | Bars, Music | Free Fri & Sa € 7.50
Comtessa de Sobradiel 8 | El Barrio Gotico (area map)
Mon - Thu 22:30 - 03:00, Fri - Sat 23:30 - 03:00

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Yes, the lotus theater is the new live music, plays and performances venue in the right part of Eixample district.

I went there excited like a child who is about to discover his new playground, but the surprise wasn’t that pleasant.

The place used to be a controversial erotic palace shot by the city council due to licensing problems and the new owners, knowing the lack of good stages for not massive concerts, managed to convert it into a live music bar, but didn’t change its outfit at all.

Hence after getting in you find yourself into a Moulin Rouge like brothel, but if the band playing is good enough you will be able to focus on the concert instead of on the exotic dancers on top of the bar and the stuffy atmosphere.

Details about this spot
Lotus Theater | Music, Bars | Beer € 5.00
c/ Bailen 22 | Eixample (area map) | +34902627987
Thu - Sat 00:00 - 04:30

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If you are a nighthawk, just wear your pair of vintage Chuck Taylor Converse sneakers and be yourself enjoying music with personality, other fellows willing to enjoy the black gold of the night life in Barcelona, dark atmosphere, drinks at good prices and keen bartenders.

The place to meet people and have short distance chats.

Details about this spot
Manchester Bar | Bars, Music | Beer € 2.00
Carrer de Milans 3 | El Barrio Gotico (area map) | +34663071748
20:00 - 03:00 daily

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Feeling down and need something to raise your soul above the social mall? Or just need a break from fashion cocktails, top 40 lousy music, fancy high heels and naughty party ragers?

Whether in spring, summer, autumn or winter, at the end of Portal del Angel when going down towards the Gothic Cathedral there is a magic corner with the proper acoustic atmosphere for street musicians to perform outdoors on any season without the need of expensive sound amplifying gear.

Be ready for getting enraptured by the groove of an authentic blues singer or the captivating tunes of a world music quartet.

Details about this spot
Portal del angel Street | Music, Relaxing | Free
Corner Carrer dels arcs & Carrer cucurrulla. | El Barrio Gotico (area map)
From morning to late night

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A playful atmosphere filled by Salsa, merengue, son, relish and good vibes and friendly people.

It would be impossible to leave Shango without a new friend. Even when there is a language barrier, everyone understands the musical language.

For those with two left foots and a clumsy understanding between them and the waist, there are salsa lessons on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 23:;00 to 00:00.

And if you’re in need of help to defeat shyness, they have a happy hour everyday just before: from 21:00 to 23:00!

Details about this spot
Shango Bar | Bars, Music | Beer € 2.50
Carrer d’En Groch 2 | El Barrio Gotico (area map) | +34662105165
Sun - Thu 21:00 - 02:30, Fri - Sat 21:00 - 03:00

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