Barcelona is running out of its usual refuges. That feeling that the city is changing faster than we can process has returned after two pieces of news, albeit at different paces, confirmed a worrying trend: medium-sized venues and spaces of cultural resistance are in danger of extinction. This time it’s Karma, a pillar of the Gothic Quarter, and La Deskomunal, the self-managed heart of Sants.
Two ways to experience the night, two ways to close
The news about Karma has come as a shock because there has been no time for goodbyes. After almost 50 years as the temple of rock and indie music in the Plaza Reial, the nightclub founded in 1978 has announced its immediate and definitive closure. There will be no last drink, no last song by The Smiths under its vaults. The closure of Karma follows in the footsteps of Sidecar, marking the end of an era for a square that is gradually losing the venues that gave it its own identity in the face of mass tourism.
On the other hand, the situation in Sants has a different but equally bittersweet nuance. La Deskomunal, the cooperative venue that was born in 2020 to demonstrate that another way of managing culture was possible, has also set a date for its closure. However, in this case, they have opted for a “scheduled farewell.” Its managers have announced that they will close their doors for good at the end of 2026, which leaves us a whole year to enjoy its concert program and restaurant before the “grand farewell” that they are already planning.
The curious, and at the same time dramatic, thing is that La Deskomunal is leaving at the height of its popularity. According to its managers, the decision is not motivated by a lack of support from the public, but by what they describe as suffocating administrative pressure. Despite having all the necessary documentation in order, constant inspections and municipal fines have ultimately undermined the viability of the project, a symptom that many other small venues in the city have been denouncing for some time.
Goodbye to Barcelona’s nightlife?
These two closures, although they occur in different neighborhoods and under different circumstances, paint a picture of Barcelona that is increasingly complicated for live music. While large festivals and macro-discos seem immune, venues that nurture the local scene and alternative genres are facing a lethal cocktail of real estate speculation, changes in leisure habits, and municipal policies that, instead of protecting the cultural fabric, seem to be pushing it to the outskirts or, quite simply, into oblivion.
We can take comfort in the fact that La Deskomunal still has some life left in it for this year and the next, but the void left by Karma in the city center is already an open wound. Barcelona is losing its temples, and with them, a little piece of that roguish soul that made us feel that the night still belonged to us.
