Summer festivals are slowly but surely starting to appear around Europe, as the premiere annual season for open air gatherings kicks off its dances, to the appreciation of many music fans. Needless to say, Barcelona isn’t standing still, as outdoor gigs take over the urban cultural spotlight throughout May, June, and July.

In fact, our last instalment visited one of Catalonia’s largest annual musical events, Guitar BCN, which stretches over an impressive six months. Meanwhile, the second weekend of a very pleasant month of May saw the first edition of a brand new independent punk rock event taking the streets of Poblenou, a neighbourhood we’ve also already explored.

Appropriately named Poblenou Goes Punk, the debut of this all-Catalan free festival took place on Saturday 12 May at the Casal de Joves Can Ricart, a charity space right in the heart of the post-industrial district. It’s yet another great DIY initiative stemming from this productive musical hub, and the hope is for it to continue to evolve with new editions and creative discoveries in the years to come.

In this regard, a few of the bands booked on the Poblenou Goes Punk line-up have already generated quite some buzz in the regional punk scene, leaving us mouthwatering for more. They are very much worth delving into – we recommend you check out the Terrassian The Ramones-meet-Beach Boys Panellet and festival headliners The Demencials. 

This month we made it to a highly-anticipated Friday night gig by Madrid-based up-and-coming punk rockers Los Nastys. Playing the flashy and stylish Poble Espanyol de Montjuïc nightclub venue Sala Upload on 18 May, the four-piece presented their new garage studio album ‘Música Para El Amor y La Guerra’ – out on their hometown imprint El Volcán Música last March – as part of a smaller Spanish tour.

Sala Upload was one of the few outstanding clubs on our list hosting underground live music in town, so the headlining gig by these Madrileños felt like the perfect occasion to go check it out first hand. The 500m² multi-purpose venue sits on top of stunning mount Montjuïc, west of the main city center, as part of the Poble Espanyol open-air architectural museum, which recreates traditional Spanish villages through hundreds of building replicas.

Those of you unfamiliar with Los Nastys should know that they come from very much the same Madrid garage-punk revival scene of groups like Hinds, who are currently turning a lot of heads in the music industry. This group of punk rockers has been quite productive for the better part of the past five years, and is composed of brothers Luis and Fran Basilio (vocals and guitars), bassist Omar Montalvo, and Argentinian drummer Luli Acosta Quintas.

The band have released ten different efforts between singles, EPs, and albums. Their latest LP follows their 2016 surf rock full-length project ‘Noche de Fantasmas con Los Nastys’. They are generally known for their playful, slackerish, fuzzy, noisy, and lo-fi interpretation of modern garage-filled punk rock. For their headlining gig, Los Nastys chose to be accompanied by charismatic and controversial Barcelonian trap rapper Cecilio.G.

The support act-headliner pairing was without a doubt an interesting choice on the promoters’ side, and this appeared to be clear right from the initial moments of the show, with a huge scene and aesthetics cross-over, mixing young trappy kids embracing rap with streams of hipster-looking alternative wannabes.

While Cecilio.G’s set might not necessarily be of interest to our readers, it’s nonetheless worth noting how the Barcelona native’s opening show – started with significant delay – was actually quite ‘punk’ indeed, with the cloud-rap MC delivering a raucous and abrasive vocal performance over potent gnarly and splashy hi-hat beats, as well as a good chunk of the audience enjoying their moshing rituals over his tunes.

In a weird way, Cecilio.G as the opening act turned out to be a fitting premise to the main course, eagerly awaited by a half-empty Sala Upload main room, perhaps dissuaded from reaching an indoor space atop of a hill outside of town by an otherwise warm and pleasant Friday night. Yet, for those who were there, the vibe and atmosphere was thrilling and electric enough, as the four nicely-dressed members of Los Nastys took to the stage at around 11pm.

The punk rockers seemed at home from the very first notes – both artistically, as they connected so well with the fans in the audience, and physically, as they championed the restricted Sala Upload stage as if it were their usual practice space. Notwithstanding the long-lasting rivalry that still exists between Madrid and the Catalan metropolis, the youngsters tried to convey the impression of playing a hometown show, spearheaded by the humble and passionate guitarwork of the Basilio bros and their full, riveting delivery.

However, the overall reception of Los Nastys’s live performance revealed a somewhat subpar sound and aesthetic, barking a little too much up the noisy and overly reverbered/delayed tree. Song sections were at times unrecognisable, disguised as coarse lo-fi frying sonic mantels, infecting guitars and main vocals especially. Surprisingly enough, the Madrid quartet were at their best when hitting really hard, both instrumentally and vocally, with a special mention to bassist Omar’s outstanding job on background vocals.

Sala Upload’s amplification system and the general stepped layout of the main room didn’t help with transmitting a more distilled sound to the audience. To be fair, it didn’t appear very remediable at source, even though some might view this as a conscious stylistic choice. Yet for this night, it felt a bit too far-fetched to consider it as such, with Los Nastys’ entertainment saved by their passionate and energetic presence as musicians on stage, as well as their clever mix of faster, punchier cuts and slower ballads.

All things considered, this evening at Sala Upload represented a timely concert, simultaneously hip-hop and sub-culture, raw and authentic, transcending styles and scenes. It proved that open air events aren’t the only thing worth attending for live music fans in the summer festivals season.

Fins la pròxima vegada!

Interested in learning more about the Catalan music scene? Check out the articles below for an exploration of Barcelona and its…
– Primavera Sound open air
– Summer festival scene
– Razzmatazz venue
– Sidecar Factory Club venue
– Rocksound BCN venue
– Spanish music excellence
– Sala Apolo venue
– OpenMusic Project initiative
– Sala Monasterio venue
– Bikini Barcelona venue