With the arrival of autumn, Barcelona once again dresses up for its main festival. Concerts, shows, large-scale installations, gegants, castellers, correfocs and yes, this year, Piromusical with the Magic Fountain in operation. La Mercè arrives with a program full of proposals that once again combine tradition and latest trends, spreading through neighborhoods throughout the city.
Although the city has been warming up for days, the official start of the festival will be given by actress Emma Vilarasau. The protagonist of Casa en Flames now stars in the city's proclamation, where she began to forge herself as an actress, with an event at the City Hall on Tuesday afternoon.
Once the proclamation is over, there will be no stopping the party: gegants and dance and fire groups will head to the City Hall; the Estació del Nord will become a stage for street shows; numerous concerts will begin to resonate in Plaza Catalunya and beyond, and the sky will be tinged with colors with the international pyrotechnic festival at the Espigó del Gas.
La Mercè has prepared unexpected surprises, such as a kidnapping of a 47 bus with the actors of the filmFrom then until Sunday the 28th, the city will not slow down. No less than 107 concerts, 80 street art shows and 55 popular culture performances will shape a Mercè that invites Barcelonians to celebrate their city. They will do so in 26 spaces spread across eight of the ten Barcelona districts, and with Manchester as the guest city.
The varied program includes highlights such as concerts by Mushka, Rigoberta Bandini and Lia Kali on Friday in Bogatell or, in another register, Maria Arnal at the Teatre Grec on Saturday. The musical program will also include artists such as Tarta Relena, Space Afrika, Pussy Riot and Ladilla Rusa on Tuesday on various stages; the Liceu BAM Collective and a tribute to El Pescadilla on Wednesday; Suu, Buhos, Figa Flawas and the Liceu Orchestra and Choir on Saturday; Sidonie, The Tyets, Marlena and Doctor Prats on Saturday, and the ESMUC Band and habaneras on Sunday. From urban pop to experimental, symphonic and jazz music, La Mercè arrives loaded with proposals for every Barcelonian.
And the celebration goes far beyond music. Circus, dance, and theater will be featured in six city spaces: the Port Olímpic, the Trinitat park, the Estació del Nord park, the Aqüeducte de Ciutat Meridiana park, the Joan Maragall gardens, and, new this year, the Fòrum park, which replaces Montjuïc Castle ---with several spaces under construction--- as the main space for the circus.
La Mercè has prepared unexpected surprises in these spaces, such as a gigantic figure created by set designer Marc Salicrú that emerges from the ground in the Estació del Nord, or a hijacking of a 47 bus with the actors from the film. The vehicle will arrive in Torre Baró to then descend with a batucada to the Parc de l'Aqüeducte, where Andreu Buenafuente, Sílvia Abril and Tortell Poltrona will welcome members of Pallassos sense Fronteres before starting a day of circus and a tribute to Marcel Barrena's film.
Another highlight will be, of course, popular culture. Sardanes, gegants, fire beasts, correfoc, castellers, falcons and ball de bastons will once again be the unmovable essence of La Mercè. This year, the festival will debut two figures: Manchester will present a beast and a geganta. Catalan artisans and the British company Global Grooves have been in charge of shaping them, inspired by bees, symbols of the guest city. All this accompanied by another regular of the main festival: open doors at museums and city facilities, which will offer free days and even workshops and guided tours.
The grand finale will be the Piromusical, which this year recovers the Font Màgica de Montjuïc as its central element. After being closed for nearly three years due to drought and after updating all its hydraulic infrastructure, the fountain is finally ready to dazzle again with its water and light shows. Its debut with the Piromusical will be hand in hand with Estopa: the Muñoz brothers have been in charge of choosing the soundtrack with which the city's sky will shine to bid farewell to its main festival.