Autumn of concerts

Autumn offers an intense season of music at different venues, auditoriums and the Palau Sant Jordi (with the two Madonna concerts finally reconfirmed after hanging by a thread for a few weeks) but, for the moment, no concerts will be held at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium for the rest of 2023 or throughout 2024, due to Barça playing their home games there this season.

After a spate of concerts in early September, including Juanes, Lewis Capaldi, Puerto Rican Rauw Alejandro, the distinguished Elvis Costello in a duet with Attractions pianist Steve Nieve, and Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, who open the Millennium Festival at Poble Espanyol, there will be the opportunity to see Led Zep front man Robert Plant, who presents a project called Saving Grace at the Forum Auditorium on the 12 Sep, and the modfather Paul Weller, who plays at Razzmatazz on the 18 Sep, as well as the first concert in 15 years in Barcelona by the Canadian singer-songwriter Feist (19 Sep, Razzmatazz) and the return of the incombustible Echo & The Bunnymen (29 Sep, also in the old Zeleste). Benjamin Clementine (19 Sep, Apolo), Joaquín Sabina (27 and 29 Sep, in the same venue) and Hombres G (30 Sep, also on Montjuïc, with tickets already sold out) are other concerts in a month in which a new edition of the Barcelona Jazz Festival will also be held (Woody Allen at the Tivoli Theater on the 18 and 19) and we see the returns of the elegant Joe Henry (14 Sep, Parallel 62) and The Dictators (21 Sep, Upload) and a twenty-first century band that guarantees a party: The Pine Hill Haints (22 Sep, 62nd parallel).

Finally, as always in September, music lovers will have the BAM and La Mercè concerts on their agenda from the 22 to the 25, as well as El Mercat de Música Viva de Vic (from the 13 to the 16 Sep, with La Ludwig Band, Clara Peya and The Gramophone Allstars Big Band) and the Cerdanyola Blues Festival (from the 29 Sep, with programming not yet announced).

October begins with the Blink-182 reunion tour on the 4 Oct at the Palau Sant Jordi, where former One Direction member Louis Tomlinson (6 Oct) will also perform that month; Vanessa Martin (7 Oct); the first solo tour of Hauser, a member of 2Celllos (10 Oct); the Catalan Aitana (12 and 13 Oct, the former already sold out), and the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the famous Rock & Ríos by the Granada-born musician (28 Oct). October’s agenda also includes concerts by the always fun The Hives (4 Oct, Razzmatazz), the Riders of the Canyon by Joana Serrat from Vic (5 Oct, La Nau), the Argentinian Babasónicos (5 Oct, Razzmatazz) and Elliott Murphy (7 Oct, in a concert celebrating 50 years of Sala Apolo), as well as Long Ryders (American rock classics of the 80s, at Upload on the 8 Oct), Desakato (farewell concert the day before at the Sant Jordi Club), Il Divo (12, Forum Auditorium), Teenage Fanclub (18 Oct, Paral·lel 62), the now classic double act of the Americans Rubinoos and the Catalans Suzy & Los Quattro (20 Oct, Razzmatazz), Él Mató a un Policía Motorizado (22 Oct, in the same venue), Bebel Gilberto (26 Oct, L’Auditori), Blind Guardian (26 Oct, Razzmatazz), Gilberto Gil (28 Oct, Forum Auditorium) and Weyes Blood (31 Oct, Apolo).

The month of November starts strongly, with two Madonna performances at the Palau Sant Jordi, which were in danger of cancellation due to the illness the singer suffered this summer but were reconfirmed mid-August. The two Catalan events on the Celebration Tour have been sold out for some time. On the same days that the voice of Like a Virgin performs, in Barcelona you can see Love of Lesbian (1 and 2 Nov, Razzmatazz), Sleaford Mods (1 Nov, Apolo), Pokey LaFarge (1 Nov, Apolo 2) and the more jazzy Joshua Redman Group with Gabrielle Cavassa (2 Nov, Palau de la Música). Then there is the return of the American female blues duo Larkin Poe (7 Nov, Razzmatazz) and a tribute concert to the group Big Star with the only one of its members still alive, drummer Jody Stephens, joining forces with Mike Mills (REM), Pat Samsone (Wilco) and Jon Auer (The Posies), on the 15 Nov at the Apolo venue.

The Jazz Festival, in November, will host concerts such as Donny McCaslin (6 Nov), Michel Camilo with Marco Mezquida (7 Nov), The Bad Plus (8 Nov), Ron Carter (9 Nov), Richard Bona with the Liceu Big Band (9 Nov) and Sergio Mendes (17 Nov). The Piñata cycle will also take an important leap forward with concerts such as those offered by Billy Cobham and Mark Guiliana (19 Nov), Makaya McCraven (21 Nov) and La Delio Valdez (25 Nov), all at Paral·lel 62.

Meanwhile, Cruïlla de Tardor has announced performances such as those by the African Fatoumata Diawara (22 Nov, Paral·lel 62), Joan Miquel Oliver (who will present his new album on the 25 Nov at Razzmatazz) and 31 Fam (25 Nov, Sant Jordi Club). November will also see Joan Isaac’s anthological concert at the Palau (28 Nov); the four performances in a row, each focused on a different album, by Els Catarres (from 22 to 25 Nov), and the first of Els Pets’ end-of-tour recitals at the Apolo (27 Nov, with a second date four days later). Also on the agenda are Surfin’ Bichos (16 Nov, at Apolo), Alan Sparhawk’s tour after the dissolution of the group Low (17 Nov, La Nau), The Jesus & Mary Chain (17 Nov, Apolo), Nick Waterhouse (26 Nov, La Nau) and Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies (29 Nov, Apolo).

With many concerts still to be confirmed for the last month of the year, there will be the opportunity to see the joint tour of Ariel Rot with Kiko Veneno (1 Dec, Palau de la Música); Raphael’s return to Sant Jordi with a new album (2 Dec); the second visit of Greta Van Fleet, the new hope of rock, to the Sant Jordi Club (3 Dec), and the visits, also to the Montjuïc pavilion, of Jason Derulo (6 Dec) and Morad (7 Dec).

MUSIC