On a latest Friday evening, a couple of dozen 20-somethings piled into Sidecar, a well known live performance venue in downtown Barcelona.
The small area, with a low vaulted ceiling, was solely half-full, however onstage, the singer Íñigo Merino and his band have been decided to indicate their viewers an excellent time. The crowd sang alongside to Merino’s catchy pop songs, which he interspersed with anecdotes, jokes and private tales.
“Music was only a pastime, however once I wrote this tune I began pondering ‘Why not give it an opportunity? It might be one thing stunning,’” he informed the gang, to cheers of “Bravo!” Then he launched into “El Último Portazo” (“The Last Door Slam”).
Barcelona is thought world wide for its nightlife, and large festivals like Primavera Sound and Sónar — which begins Thursday and runs by Saturday — draw a whole lot of hundreds of holiday makers to the town annually. Yet small and medium-sized live performance venues are struggling.
The Association of Concert Venues of Catalonia, a commerce physique, estimates that previously 20 years, 220 nightlife venues have closed in Barcelona and the encompassing metropolitan space. In a metropolis of 1.6 million individuals, the full estimated capability of its 198 music venues is lower than 50,000, the venues affiliation says.
And native musicians say they’re operating out of locations to play.
The variety of guests to Barcelona soared previously twenty years, leading to complaints about noise and overcrowding from residents. Under the left-wing mayor Ada Colau, the town has prioritized locals’ high quality of life, limiting the variety of tourist-related companies, together with nightlife venues, that may open in lots of components of city.
“The metropolis doesn’t difficulty licenses to arrange new live performance venues, and the prevailing ones are beneath menace and disappearing,” mentioned Carmen Zapata, the supervisor of the venue affiliation. “Barcelona has 4 music colleges, and many musicians graduate yearly, so we want small and medium-sized venues to soak up this complete scene.”
Thanks to its climate and seashores, the town has turn out to be a well-liked location for music festivals. Last summer time, 5 large festivals occurred within the metropolis. Those occasions, which have been attended by greater than 800,000 individuals, acquired funding from City Hall and the regional authorities of Catalonia. Festivals like which can be in a position to pay artists a lot greater charges and demand exclusivity within the area, typically even for Spanish artists.
“Spain by no means had a really established tradition of live performance venues like in different nations, and now it has turn out to be a rustic of festivals and mega-festivals,” mentioned Coque Sánchez, who runs Freedonia, a nonprofit music venue within the Raval neighborhood. “We additionally know that there at the moment are artists who go straight from Spotify to performing in festivals, with out passing by live performance venues.”
Sidecar, the live performance venue, celebrated its 40th birthday this year and is beloved by locals for its programming of principally Spanish and Catalan indie-rock bands. But like many different stay venues in Barcelona, it additionally places on membership nights, with D.J.s fairly than bands, to be able to survive. Fátima Mellado, who’s answerable for manufacturing and programming at Sidecar, mentioned internet hosting live shows was not a sustainable enterprise mannequin.
“We are enthusiastic about stay music, however no person does this as a result of they make some huge cash,” Mellado mentioned.
In the neighborhood of Gràcia, the venue Heliogàbal has been reserving rising bands since 1995. The acts which have carried out in a tiny nook of the bar embody Rosalía, the Barcelona singer who went on to turn out to be a world pop sensation. She performed at Heliogàbal in 2015, two years earlier than she launched her debut album.
“We have by no means wished to develop as a result of we want this small format,” mentioned the proprietor, Albert Pijuan. “It’s a totally totally different expertise. You get goose bumps since you’re so shut.”
Despite its reputation over twenty years, the venue virtually closed down in 2016 when it acquired hefty fines for staging live shows with no license. It survived because of a City Hall initiative referred to as Espais Cultura Viva (Live Culture Spaces), a brand new venue classification that makes it authorized for current bars, eating places, bookshops and different small venues to host stay music performances — however solely till midnight, and provided that they meet a sequence of necessities, together with soundproofing.
“The purpose is to legalize these venues which can be offering a cultural service,” mentioned Daniel Granados, a cultural official in City Hall. He mentioned round 25 institutions had signed up because the program was launched in 2019.
Pijuan mentioned he had invested a whole lot of hundreds of euros in soundproofing and different upgrades to Heliogàbal, round half of which was funded with subsidies from the town and regional governments. The venue additionally has industrial sponsors, which assist it keep afloat, and has even began internet hosting daytime live shows throughout “vermut,” the normal pre-lunch apéritif hour. But he mentioned these measures weren’t sufficient to ensure the venue’s future. “We can’t perceive why we’re nonetheless struggling after 28 years of getting proven that our mission is engaging,” he mentioned.
Pijuan mentioned he felt that having supported so many native musicians of their careers, venues like his ought to obtain extra recognition and authorities assist. “When posidonia disappears, there is no such thing as a life left, the ocean is lifeless,” he mentioned, referring to a protected Mediterranean sea grass that prospers off Catalonia’s coast. “Small venues play this function within the musical ecosystem.”
Content Source: www.nytimes.com