Nasty Mondays

Nasty Mondays is one of the best club nights in Barcelona, and it is without a doubt the most rocking party on a Monday night, by a long margin! Normally Monday isn't considered a typical night to hit the town, but I think it is just this that makes it so special. This a place for hardcore partiers, a diverse mixture of people where the main aim is to get drunk and go wild to great music and ambience, the name is a mystery but the "Nasty" part probably comes from the hangover that this party gives you! You will feel like shit for the whole week, but as they say, no pain, no gain! And this gig is well worth the price of a headache.

The History

To really grasp the philosophy behind this scene it's important to talk about how the whole thing started. In 2004 Sören Manzoni and Max Ochoa, who are both skaters, surfers and collectors of vintage Americana, joined forces to produce something unique. With all of their combined interests they decided to throw a party where good music, rock and roll and improvisation was the norm. As time went by the 'fiesta' got bigger and bigger and eventually ended up in one of the biggest nightclubs in Barcelona, Sala Apolo, and even ended up in New York, where they have a once a month guest spot. Nasty Mondays has secured it place in the Barcelona club scene and close to 1500 people go there every week.

Sala Apolo: The Venue

This place is really well situated, Calle Nou de la Rambla 112 and is accessible by different forms of public transport. You can take the Metro system using the green or purple line and the station is Paral-lel, it is impossible to miss as the entrance is about a hundred meters away (you will probably see the queue). The event starts at 24:00, and I would recommend going early if you don't want to spend 2 hours queuing up! This place gets real busy, real quick! If you get there around half past twelve you should be in the doors in about 5 minutes. If you look young you will probably be asked for id, I would recommend that you take it along with you anyway so you don't get turned away. Dress code is pretty relaxed within reason, as long as you are presentable (if you turn up in flip flops, Bermuda shorts and a football shirt you don't deserve to get in!).

The entrance fee is 14€ and you get a free drink, not too bad at all! Once you are inside, the club itself is divided into various rooms, the first that you will encounter is where different DJs play hip hop, house, electro, etc and if you like this type of music it's well worth hanging around for. If you go up the stairs you will get to the place where the party got its name! The main room where Nasty Mondays gives it its all is like an old theatre, there is a high balcony with a view of the dance floor and the stage is elevated where the DJs are mixing up a storm. On the stage itself, where Sören and Max are living their particular dream, drinking Jack Daniels and dancing around with beautiful semi naked girls flashing the crowd,

Sometimes as a bonus you get the 'Shitty Sessions', which is a photo session run by my compadre Sebas Romero. This takes place directly behind the DJs.....and as the name suggests it's pretty wild (more about Sebas in another blog entry,) The bars are always packed, so expect a wait for your drinks, a word of advice, in Spain they mix the drinks STRONG! So be careful the amount you drink, as it's easy to get carried away and get proper pissed! The dance floor gets really crowded as well, particularly in front of the stage where it resembles a mosh pit! This is also the place where smokers chance their arm by smoking, playing hide and seek with the bouncers (there is no place for smokers to go).if you smoke and like a gamble go for it, have never seen anybody get caught, but the bouncers are not the friendliest bunch (in the words of a friend of mine, they are "dicks"). The staff are generally efficient and reasonably polite, minus security who I have never heard say please or thank you. But this is a small price to pay for a wicked night out! NASTY MONDAYS MUSIC.

The music.

What would a night out be without amazing music? The music here is a really eclectic mix, with everything from Elvis to Rage Against the Machine, right up to modern indie hits and electropop, here are just a few of the groups and songs you can expect:

1) Electric Six- Gay Bar

2) Alien Ant Farm - Smooth Criminal

3) The Rakes-1989

4) The Sounds- Hit Me!

5) Empire Of The Sun- Walking on a Dream

6) Franz Ferdinand - Love Illumination

7) Django Dngo- "WOR"

8) The Ramones- Rockaway Beach

9) The Black Keys- Gold On The Ceiling 

10) Switches- Drama Queen

11) Young the Giant- My Body

12) Friska Viljor- Boom Boom

13) The Hives- Tick Tick Boom

14) AC/DC- You Shook Me All Night Long

15) Alice Cooper- Poison

16) Mando Diao- Dance With Somebody

17) Mumford & Sons- I Will Wait

CONCLUSION If you live in Barcelona or are on holiday looking for a rad place to party you can't miss it! Even though you will wake up in Tuesday wishing you were dead, you have to check it out. A truly unique experience that raises the bar for club nights...and don't forget your Raval Eyewear sunglasses, you will definitely need them when you leave the club to go to the 'after'!