Off-Sonar Photo Diary
Alice Greaves sees what else Barcelona has to offer during Sonar week.
Sonar festival is a big, glorious celebration of electronic music, set during the daytime in various venues smack bang in the middle of Barcelona, and at night in a vast hangar-stroke-exhibition centre outside the city. The weekend ticket provides you with access to more than enough music and raving for the weekend; a rigorous musical itinerary that can be adhered to with military precision to capture every moment of the festival.
But there’s a whole lot else going on around Sonar. Many labels and artists not performing at the festival throw parties in the city anyway; chuck a flip flop down La Rambla (the main tourist street) and chances are you’ll hit a DJ. Plus, there’s the whole of Barcelona to get stuck into - the beach, broad sweeping avenues lined with cafes, cozy tapas bars tucked away, parks, the food market and so much more. So, this year, I decided to forego Sonar itself, and set myself free to see how much fun could be had without the safety of a festival ticket. Kind of like Bear Grylls, but with more techno.
Arriving in the city on Thursday afternoon, and the festival hoards have already descended. Placa Catalunya and La Rambla are a hive of activity. The supermarket is full of people pushing trolleys of Sangria, Cava (two Sonar staples) and the odd token banana or vitamin drink. People are already queuing to exchange their tickets for passes. There’s always a bit of a party spirit in the queue, which is good as it can easily wipe off half a day of party time. But there’s no queuing for us – breezing away from La Rambla, we head to the first of two afternoon parties on the rooftop of Hotel Silken Diagonal. The hotel, famed for its modern architecture and interior design, is located next to the stunning Agbar Tower - think London’s The Gherkin if it lit up with loads of neon colours at night.
Mobilee and Beatport hosted two events on the rooftop, alongside Rekids on Thursday and Mothership on Friday. The Hotel Diagonal parties are traditionally the industry ‘off-Sonar social’, partly because of the amazing setting – open air decking on the tenth floor roof, angular swimming pool, views all over Barcelona stretching from the mountains to the sea, Function One soundsystem, guestlist of dance music’s bold and beautiful. Looking around, half of the crowd are taking it in their stride, the other half are frantically sending photo messages to friends back at home.
Both afternoons start off pretty relaxed, with drinks by the pool, the DJs playing a more laid-back set, and lots of catching up. A couple of brave souls go for a dip.
Matthew Dear took the pool party theme seriously, wearing a striped ensemble reminiscent of an old fashioned bathing suit – and was getting a lot of admiring glances.
By the late afternoon, it’s a full on rave though – with the crowd cheering every record, beats echoing out over the city, Beatport beach balls being chucked off the roof to the bemusement of pedestrians below, and the party spilling out into the lifts, lobby, and various hotel rooms.
Anja Schneider was the star of Friday’s party – whipping the crowd up against a backdrop of builders working on the development behind, as the evening light slowly turned orange. At 9pm the hotel turfs us out, no doubt to the relief of any residents who found themselves packed in a lift with revelers heading for the 10th floor. Everyone scatters, heading for food and the night’s parties.
Friday morning, and while most festival goers are recovering from an evening spent drinking and listening to techno by, well, drinking and listening to techno, I’m off for an amble instead. Barcelona is such a beautiful city, it’s a shame to only see the airport, apartment and the inside of clubs. Turn any corner and you’ll find street art, beautiful architecture, a park, or art installation. You can wander without agenda and turn up little gems on each street.
Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia cathedral is a soaring celebration of nature and religion intertwined, and the perfect place to pay penance for the excesses of the night before.
As the light begins to fade, it's all about finding a table and enjoying al fresco drinks, eats, and good chats.
Friday night was the biggie in terms of off-Sonar parties; it’s a gladiatorial head-to-head from the biggest names at various clubs spread across the city. Innervisions are fielding Dixon, Âme and Henrik Schwarz at Be Cool, a fantastic little basement club in the north west. Sven Vath is entertaining The Loft at Razmatazz. Kompakt boss Michael Mayer leads the attack at Nitsa. 2020 Vision host La Terazza. And, in a massive club, label and DJ all-you-can-eat buffet, Raum are organizing a party with stages hosted by Get Physical, Cadenza, Desolat and Monza. We start making plans involving multiple taxis and meeting points – then decide for simplicity’s sake just to go to Raum, pictured above.
Raum’s party is 10 minutes from the city, in Barcelona’s suburbs, at the enormous Velodromo de Horta stadium. Cyclists and athletes were replaced for the night by slightly less fit but no less enthusiastic clubbers. A stage was set up on each side of the arena, with Get Physical boys M.A.N.D.Y headlining the outdoor stage, and Loco Dice and Luciano headlining the indoor marquee-covered dancefloor on the other side. Playing back to back, and with matching nautical t-shirts and fetching beards, Luci & Loco were obviously who everyone had come to see – with cheers rippling through the crowd for the entirety of their set.
It’s not Sonar week without some kind of transport-related drama. For the festival itself, this usually means exiting the night party (held several kilometers from the city) at chucking out time, and facing the dilemma of how to get home. There’s myths of a Shangri-La like local bus stop nearby, but if you can’t find it, it’s a day-of-the-dead trek back towards town, hoping for a taxi or bus to rescue you. You will trade your first born child, or dignity, or whatever, for water and comfortable shoes at this point. But avoiding Sonar isn’t a guarantee of avoiding pavement pounding. There are plenty of beach parties to get lost on the way to, lots of parties up at the top of the city to attempt to walk to with only a street name and number as guidance (no mean feat given that some streets run the whole length of the city). Taxis invariably zoom past with their yellow ‘taken’ lights winking smugly. In full on self-sufficiency mode, this year I actually brought a map along. And I marked on it in advance where all the parties were. This caused severe (deserved) piss-taking for the first two days. But it got everyone safe to the Metro once the Raum party closed and we were stranded miles from home on a deserted street at 7am. I’d like to say that I was quietly smug at this point. But I wasn’t. I was shouting “Yeah bitches, who’s laughing at the map now!”
Saturday evening was my last night. I’d been fine with this concept when booking the flight back, but the reality of missing both the Phonica and Secretsundaze parties was making me whinge, which was getting boring for everyone I was with. So I decided to pack as much into the remaining 12 hours as possible. First up was the second of 2020 Vision’s bashes, held at the brand new Broadbar. It was the launch of Greg Wilson’s 2020 Vision mix album, and he was joined by Ralph Lawson and Reverso 68. The perfect example of an off-Sonar party - in London, they would never had let a gang of ravers, three days into their weekend, into a venue as nice as this.
Then straight onto my final party of the weekend – Resident Advisor at Macarena with Martyn, Conforce live, and Detroit legend Daniel Bell. Macarena is a brilliant little venue, it used to be a flamenco club and still retains the hedonistic air. In fact, it had everything you could ask for in a party space. DJ booth right in the middle of the dancefloor? Check. Staff supplying a constant stream of Mojitos? Check. Killer soundsystem? Check. Door team and owner who just laugh and get involved when you start a bread fight? Check and check.
Martyn was my highlight of the weekend. Usually one of the dubstep crew, for tonight’s party he was playing a set of deep, driving house, flavoured with Detroit flashes. Setting the tone with Mr G’s awesome ‘U Askin’, with its menacing groove and sirens firing up the dancefloor, then finishing with Pepe Bradock’s lush ‘Deep Burnt’, rendering us Mojitos held high and grinning at strangers, it encapsulated the whole weekend’s spirit into two hours.
Ignoring the flight home (sat next to two very drunk, loud clubbers with poppers all over their face), the weekend was a glorious riot of food, parties, a bit of culture, good music with good people, at parties generally small enough to have character and flair. There wasn’t any longing to join Sonar itself – more an enjoyment that nothing was scheduled and that I could go anywhere at any time. Festival? What festival?
Additional photos from Fosy and Lisa Loco
Published: Mon, 7/07/2008
