Dusk in Malasaña

Looking towards Gran Via as night falls.

Dusk

Sala BarCo

Madrid half emptied for Easter – and walking around the centre of town over the weekend was very pleasant as the rushing and bumping and elbowing that normally occurs was absent. It also meant most of the cafes, bars and nightclubs weren’t packed to the rafters (as is usual), so myself and four friends took the opportunity on Friday to make a proper night of it in our old hunting ground of Malasaña.

We started with drinks and tapas in plaza de San Ildefonso at Restaurante Conhache. Too cold to sit at the outside terrace, which was deserted, we went inside, which was also deserted. This is almost unheard of as Conhache is the only drinks establishment in the square and is thus SUPER popular. We reveled in the space. For dinner (at a suitable Madrileño time – i.e nigh on midnight) we went to Madrid Madriz, a popular cafe close to metro Tribunal. Again, this can be a very popular spot because it’s cheap, stays open late and the food is served fast – food like burger and chips, sausage and chips, bacon egg and chips, spam and chips. No, that last one was a fib, but you get the idea.

Suitably prepped, we headed off into the maze of old, narrow streets that make up this zone. My companions were all old-hands at the Malasaña scene and knew exactly where they wanted to go. We had ‘copas’ and a boogie at five different places, some of which are covered in the Madrid Nightclubbing section of my main website blog, but for this entry I just wanted to write about a new establishment for me, Sala BarCo.

Located on calle del Barco (geddit?) and open most nights it’s best known for live concerts on the funky-jazz-blues side of things, with some flamenco fusion. But after 1.00am (and we arrived at 0200hrs) it’s DJ time, playing funky hip-hop with a latin tinge. 8 euros to get in but you get a drink with that. The crowd were 20s to 30s and cool. I mean this in the sense that I didn’t see any coke-heads (rare in this part of town) and dressed casually but fashionably. Plus, they were digging the music, which again is rare because at times, and I say this with a deep love of the people, most Madrileños are more interested in the sound of their own voice than the entertainment, whatever entertainment it may be.

Again, because of the holidays, the place was not full which meant we had lots of room and getting to the bar was easy. Maybe this lack of crush influences my thoughts about the place, because I thought it was great. My compadres told me that it can be absolutely rammed at weekends and I’m not sure that I would like that. One other thing in its favour – it has the best acoustics and best sound equipment I have heard in years. The ceilings have been properly covered with sound insulation materials and the speakers, amps, mixing desks etc. were top drawer. Clear, crisp top notes, profound and well formed bass – it really augmented the experience.

Trawling around YouTube I found loads of videos of concerts at Sala Barco, but i thought this one (below) was quite cute. You gotta dig the Spanish accent singing Dr. Feelgood!

Tribunal

More graffiti, this time on a permanent kiosk stationed in Tribunal, in the Malasaña district of Madrid.