La Mercè 2025 in Barcelona: program, concerts, Piromusical…. (COMPLETE GUIDE)

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One more year, Barcelona is getting ready to celebrate La Mercè, its main festival in honor of the Verge de la Mercè, one of its two patron saints. The festival will last five days (with one working day in between), from September 23 to 28, and the city is already preparing to host all the activities that are scheduled: concerts, popular culture shows, workshops for the whole family, sporting competitions…

La Mercè 2025 will continue to retain some of its traditional events, such as the Piromusical, the Cursa de La Mercè and the Pregó, which will kick off the four days of the festival. However, there are also some new features and changes, from the new stage in Plaça Catalunya, which is maintained from last year, to the new poster, which this year will become another “stage” of the festival.

So that you don’t miss out on the novelties or, in general, anything else about this festival, we tell you everything you need to know about La Mercè 2024.

When is the Festa de La Mercè 2025?

The official date of La Mercè is Tuesday 23 September to Sunday 28. On the 24th, the official day, there will be a holiday, Thursday 25 will be a normal working day and then the festival will resume from Friday. and the events of the festival will be extended for four days during the previous weekend, from Friday September 20 to Tuesday 24.

The poster of La Mercè 2025: the first poster that will “come true”.

The poster for La Mercè has traditionally been a tool used by Barcelona’s city councils to reflect their identity and mark a declaration of intentions that, graphically, symbolizes the changes of government in the city. This year, La Mercè 2025 is no exception, and the City Council has recently unveiled the poster for the city’s main festivities.

As every year, it has raised controversy, although perhaps less than in previous years. The relevant thing about this poster, a sort of fair or circus cart that gathers all the arts that can be enjoyed during the city’s main festival, is that this year the poster will “come true” in Plaça Sant Jaume, where the cart that was built to take a picture of this poster will be built. We explain everything in the article.

Emma Vilarasau, pregonera of La Mercè 2025

Barcelona already has a town crier for the festivities of La Mercè 2025: Emma Vilarasau, one of the great ladies of Catalan theater and television, will be in charge of inaugurating the celebration with the traditional proclamation from the balcony of the City Hall.

Trained at the Institut del Teatre and with complementary studies in Paris and seminars with masters such as John Strasberg, Vilarasau has starred in more than fifty productions since 1982. Among them are titles such as La infanticida, Un tramvia anomenat Desig, Agost, Els dies feliços, Medea and La cabra, o qui és Sylvia? His career ranges from classics to contemporary drama, always with an overwhelming stage presence.

Manchester, guest city of La Mercè 2025

The 100 free concerts of La Mercè 2025 (Música a La Mercè, BAM…): Pussy Riot, Queralt Lahoz…

From September 23 to 28, Barcelona will vibrate with music in every corner of the city. La Mercè 2025 will offer more than 100 free concerts, the result of the joint programming of Música Mercè and BAM – Barcelona Acció Musical. Local and international artists from more than 20 countries will occupy 16 outdoor stages spread over 14 urban spaces, ranging from the Teatre Grec to Bogatell beach.

This year, Manchester is the guest city, and it does it with force: groups like Children of Zeus, Porij, Space Afrika or an unprecedented collaboration between Queralt Lahoz and Werkha -born from an artistic residency at Fabra i Coats- are just a sample. The latter also marks the first international co-production in the musical history of La Mercè. And it will not be the only one.

And it will not be the only one. The Música Mercè program , directed by Gisela Sais and being the most evenly distributed to date, also includes own productions of great caliber, such as the tribute to Cuban music with a tribute concert to Marta Valdés at the Teatre Grec.

More concerts on Bogatell beach

Estrella Damm will inaugurate the musical program of La Mercè on the Bogatell beach with an exceptional line-up on September 26th: Mushka, Rigoberta Bandini and Lia Kali. An event that will place the female talent in the center of the scene and promises to become one of the most vibrant moments of the festival of Barcelona.

In addition, on September 27th and 28th, the Antigua Fábrica Estrella Damm will become the meeting point for intimate musical proposals with a Catalan identity, framed within the BAM – Barcelona Acció Musical.

Free entrance to Tibidabo

For the first time, the Tibidabo amusement park joins Barcelona’s biggest festival, La Mercè, opening its doors on September 24.

The Filmoteca joins La Mercè

The MNAC. Photo: Shutterstock

If La Mercè is the exaltation of the spirit of Barcelona’s village festival, few things more village than having the doors of the house open to anyone who wants to cross them.

As every year, about fifty municipal buildings and museums will open their doors, and buildings such as the Poble Espanyol or the MNAC have launched special promotions for the Mercès of the city.

For the festival, many of the city’s museums and monuments will open their doors free of charge, so that the people of Barcelona can add culture to the festival. The most iconic is perhaps the Sagrada Familia, which in 2023 raffled 15,000 tickets to visit it for free for the festival, but there are also viewpoints such as Glòries, which also opened, and virtually all museums in the city.

Popular culture for everyone

Cavalcade of gegants during the Festes de la Mercè 2019 in Barcelona. /Carles Palacio

Let’s remember, La Mercè is that festival that a city of the 21st century dedicates to a saint of the Middle Ages. Barcelona’s main festival is also the exaltation of Barcelona and Catalan popular culture.

From the gegants and capgrossos, through the Correfocs, els Dracs, les Bèsties and les Sardanes, during La Mercè secular and popular culture takes to the streets, with a program that includes centuries-old traditions, such as the initial procession of the giants precedes the mayor’s proclamation, which officially kicks off the festival. Traditions with a centenary aroma that remind us that Barcelona is a city full of history.

But as history moves forward and evolves, traditions have to do it with it and that is why, since 2022, the city walks its first inclusive gegant, made so that people with functional diversity can also join the party.

This year, in addition, the tradition has a double anniversary, since two historical milestones are commemorated: the 75th anniversary of l’Obra del Ballet Popular, which will bring together esbarts from all over Catalonia, and the 75th anniversary of the Concurs de Sardana Esportiva, the longest-running activity of the festival.

The correfoc of La Mercè will take place in Passeig de Gràcia, as in the last edition, and L’Espigó del Gas will also join the celebration of the festival with various proposals of light and fire.

Learn about the festival. Why is La Mercè celebrated?

Source: Shutterstock

Surely you know that legend that says that in La Mercè it rains because the other saint of the city, Eulàlia, cries for not being the favorite of the people of Barcelona.

But do you know why this is so? Did you know that Eulàlia was the first patron saint of the city and then La Mercè replaced her? These festivities are the ideal time to learn more about our patron saints, our festival and, in general, about the history of the city. So go ahead, read on and become an expert on the city.

The Piromusical of La Mercè where Estopa will be the protagonist

As every year, La Mercè 2025 will close with the iconic Piromusical on Avinguda Reina Maria Cristina. This year it will be on Sunday September 28, and we already have its protagonist: Estopa.

Brothers David and José Manuel Muñoz have prepared a repertoire that will pay tribute to their influences with songs by Los Chichos and Extremoduro, as well as including their own hits and a surprise: the premiere of a new song in collaboration with The Tyets.

The great duo from Cornellà will be in charge of choosing the music for the show that closes the big party in Barcelona, just as Rosalía did a few years ago.

📍 Avinguda Reina Maria Cristina

Drone show at La Mercè: date and schedule

La Mercè 2025 returns with one of the most anticipated shows: the drone show that will light up the sky of Barcelona under the title Onírica. It will be the third edition of this proposal created by Flock Drone Art, which has already become an essential part of the festival. In it, 500 drones will fly over the coastline of the city in a choreography of lights and music that will represent figures inspired by the identity, traditions and collective imaginary of Barcelona.

“Onírica” seeks to invite the public to dream, transforming the sky into a living canvas where past, present and future blend. This innovative and sustainable show has established itself as a magical alternative to fireworks. In 2025 there will be a single performance, on Friday, September 26 at 22:00, with a duration of 15 minutes.

Gastronomic plans during the Mercè festivities

Who said that La Mercè is all about parties and concerts? Eating can also be a good excuse to celebrate Barcelona’s Fiesta Mayor, and is that during La Mercè some places in the city create unique and special dishes in honor of the patron saint. From menus, to cakes, ice cream and street food, everything you can imagine!

Here we tell you which restaurants have prepared gastronomic specialties for La Mercè 2024. Don’t forget to go during these days, as they are exclusive to this festivity.

The sweet war to become the official dessert of the festival

Since 2022, two factions fight to become the representatives of the official dessert of La Mercè. On the one hand, the Gremi de Pastissers, which created a seasonal cake with fruit that was sold in bakeries in the neighborhood.

On the other hand, and while the first cake was being designed, three pastry friends (Christian Escribà, Oriol Balaguer and Eric Ortuño -L’Atelier-), had the same idea and created a La Mercè cake that is a kind of croquembouche (a pyramid of macarons) dedicated to the castellers.

In this war there is no acrimony or bad idea, and the only winners are the barcelonesxs and La Mercè, which this 2024 already has two cakes (like the city, with two patron saints) to choose how it sweetens these days.

Terra i Gust, the gastronomic festival of the main festival

Once again, the Terra i Gust fair will be the gastronomic spotlight of La Mercè, bringing together 14 restaurants that will offer tapas at 5 euros while promoting responsible and proximity gastronomy. This event is organized by the Ajuntament de Barcelona in collaboration with Slow Food Barcelona and AGT.

📍Parc de la Ciutadella

📅 From September 23rd to 28th.

Route through the restaurants with the most Barcelona food.

We all know how to define, more or less, Catalan, Andalusian or Chinese food, but… What about Barcelona food? We take advantage of the festivities of La Mercè to take a tour around the city in search of the food authentically from Barcelona, the one that has denomination of Barcelona origin, to pay with our stomachs the tribute that La Mercè deserves.