One of the ultimate bohemian plans is to have a drink at one of los bars and restaurants with live music in Madrid. Perfect when you want to surprise someone, celebrate something special or simply improve exponentially the weekend plans.
are they clubs, halls or pubs? The lines are blurred, but if jazz, blues or piano is playing in the background, it’s enough to dazzle music lovers who want to listen to live music playing while accompanying dishes and drinks.
1. Café Central
Since Down Beat magazine -prestigious American jazz publication- named it in 2002 as one of the best places to listen to jazz, Café Central has become a reference. Located in what used to be a century-old glassworks close to the neighborhood of the Letters whose building was built in 1908, a group of friends decided to create a place to listen to live music in Madrid, and although at first it was traditional music or author, currently also bet on other musical styles such as jazz or blues.
📍 Plaza del Ángel, 10
2. La Coquette
The most varied blues bands pass through La Coquette every weekend. Founded in 1982, it is one of the few spaces dedicated exclusively to blues music and its different styles in the capital. The ticket is free, but drinks are compulsory, and always accompanied by pipes, something not so usual anymore, because time seems to stop in this cave in the vicinity of the Opera.
📍 Calle de las Hileras, 14
3. Tatel
If you feel like going out in Madrid and feel as if you were in Scott Fitzgerald’s New York, in Tatel you will find a decoration inspired by the golden 20’s in the United States. While classical crooners, swing and jazz sound, the music and the fusion of styles works as a time machine, and Latin Jazz and the rhythm & blues liven up the atmosphere. Mediterranean cuisine brings you, however, back home.
📍 Paseo de la Castellana, 36
4. The Golden Fountain
The Golden Fountain, which inspires Benito’s first novel Pérez Galdós and where the cream of Spanish society has gathered for centuries, has gone through many names since its original founding in 1782. It is not clear if it was previously located just a few meters from where this Irish pub with live music is now, which today takes its name. Among paintings, letters, bottles on the wall and a motorcycle on the ceiling, this place is still part of the history of Madrid’s nightlife.
📍 Calle de la Victoria, 1
5. Toni 2
Toni 2 is the piano bar that has become an indispensable stop since the Transition. It is much more than a live music venue, here the most diverse people gather every night around the piano to sing in unison Raphael or Rafaela Carrá’s songs. Don’t judge, just join in.
📍 Almirante St., 9
6. El Despertar Coffee
Café El Despertar is the oldest jazz club in Madrid. This bar with live music has been programming jazz uninterruptedly since 1981 in the lavapiés neighborhood very close to the Doré Cinema. Specializing in burnt coffee, Irish coffee, caipirinhas or the best gin tonics, the Café is a small space where you can still breathe that authentic jazz club atmosphere.
📍 Calle de la Torrecilla del Leal, 18
7. La Canalla
La Canalla opened after the pandemic, partly because of the pain of the closing of La Fídula, and from the owners of this club of author’s music, a reference in Madrid. Thus was born this space for emerging artists that after two years has separated from the team of La Fídula to follow its own path. There is also a space for comedy, public and private events around its stage.
📍 Calle Pérez Galdós, 8
Among these bars and restaurants with live music in Madrid we have lost some of the most mythical ones, such as El Junco or La Fídula, but most have managed to survive the pandemic, and continue to be as crowded as ever every weekend.