Page 198 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Spain

196  BARCEL ONA

Amusement Park the Phenomena cinema, you Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
In summer, Barcelona’s giant can catch cult classics, from and James Morrison. Club
amusement park on the Casablanca to The Big Lebowski. sessions go on until dawn in
summit of Tibidabo (see p182) It’s worth knowing that the some clubs, including Razz
is extremely busy and is usually prices for movie tickets are Club and The Loft, next door.
open till the early hours on lower for weekend matinées. This trendy venue also holds
weekends. Getting there by Some cinemas offer midnight rock and jazz concerts several
tram, funicular or cable car and early­hour screenings. nights a week.
is even more fun. Barcelona boasts an archi­
tectural masterpiece to host
Live Music: Rock, Jazz visiting bands: Arata Isozaki’s
Film and Blues
flying saucer, Palau Sant Jordi,
Directors such as Alejandro In terms of popular music, on Montjuïc, houses extrava­
Amenábar (The Sea Inside and Barcelona may not compare gan zas like Disney on Ice, the
Agora), Catalan writer and to London, whose endless Rolling Stones and Madonna.
director Isabel Coixet (My Life clubs, pubs, stadiums and One of the city’s most popular
Without You and Elegy) and, of music emporiums make it one smaller venues is Sala BeCool,
course, Spain’s bad boy of film, of the best places for live music. which puts on live bands
Pedro Almodóvar (All About My However, it doesn’t do too and club nights focused
Mother and The Skin I Live In) badly, given its size. The city on electronic music.
have revitalized Spanish cinema. attracts a star­studded cast that For a touch of glamour,
Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina ranges from pop stars such as Luz de Gas is a glitzy ballroom
Barcelona (2008) brought the Kylie Minogue and Madonna that oozes old­fashioned
city to an even wider audience. to contem porary jazz musicians atmosphere with its lamp­lit
Today, Barcelona has become such as the Brad Mehldau tables and chandeliers and
the venue for many indepen­ Quartet, hip­hoppers, rappers hosts concerts and club nights.
dent film festivals. The biggest and world groove mixers, For something completely
event of the year is the country singers and good different, visit El Cangrejo,
International Film Festival in old­fashioned rock­and­rollers. which has barely changed in
Sitges, which is held in October. Barcelona has a clutch of decades and remains papered
Most cinemas dub films in tiny, inti mate venues, inclu ding in posters and photos of the
Spanish or Catalan, but there the cellar­like Jamboree, inimitable Sara Montiel, a
are an increasing number of attracting a number of jazz Spanish sex symbol during the
VO (original version) venues heavyweights as well as 1950s and 60s, and is popular
that screen Hollywood block­ more experimental outfits. with a curious mixture of
busters as well as independent Later on it becomes a club. tourists, drag queens and
art­house movies. Another good bet is the characters from the Raval.
The Icària Yelmo Cineplex is Jazz Sí Club, a more obscure
the town’s biggest multi screen destination but much beloved
VO complex, built around a by aficionados of the genre. Flamenco
US­style mall, with a variety of It doubles up as a jam session Aside from the Ciutat
fast­food eateries and shops. space for students from the Flamenco Festival in May, one
The Renoir Floridablanca, on nearby music school. The of the best places to catch a
the edge of El Raval and the narrow, crowded and smoky flamenco show is El Tablao de
Eixample, screens a range of Harlem Jazz Club is one of Carmen, a stylish restaurant
European and international the city’s longest surviving serving both Catalan and
movies, usually with Spanish clubs for alternative and lesser­ Andalucían dishes. The venue is
or Catalan subtitles. In Gràcia, known jazz troupes. named after Carmen Amaya, a
Verdi and Verdi Park feature One of the two major venues famous dancer who performed
good independent movies, for pop and rock maestros is for King Alfonso XIII in 1929,
with an interesting selection Bikini Barcelona’s very own in the very spot where it now
of foreign films. Escape the Studio 54. It opened in 1953, stands. Various dinner and
summer heat at outdoor film preceding the New York icon by show packages are available.
screenings held in the gardens a year. This veteran of the scene, Another good place is Tablao
next to the Castell de Montjuïc which is open from midnight Cordobés, in La Rambla since
(see p177). A band plays before onwards, is still going strong 1970 and decorated by the
the film, and there are also beer with a robust line­up of big­ restorers of the Alhambra in
stands. You can rent deckchairs, name bands and a cocktail Granada. You can have dinner or
and many people bring a picnic. of different club nights. The a drink while watching a show.
The two­screen Méliès is other, Razzmatazz, arguably For a less formal ambience,
a gem showcasing art­house the city’s most important live Los Tarantos (above Jamboree)
movies, Hollywood classics, music venue, has played host is an atmos pheric nightspot
B&W horrors and anything by to big­name pop bands such with live flamenco and Latin
Fellini or Alfred Hitchcock. At as the Arctic Monkeys, Noel music every night of the week.

196-197_EW_Spain.indd 196 26/09/17 11:01 am
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