Barcelona is holding La Mercè 2025 with a programme of 107 concerts, 55 traditional culture performances and 80 street arts shows. The city’s annual festival offers an extensive programme of activities for all audiences, around 26 venues and spaces in eight city districts.

Poster by Lluis Danés

The poster for La Mercè 2025 uses a real piece of work by the director, producer and stage designer Lluís Danés, created with wood, metal and magic. This craft piece is inspired by the travelling theatres of bygone times, but updated and radical, highlighting the object, telling a story and inviting us to dream.

This year’s Mercè has its own song, La Mercè canta, an anthem created and performed by the author and composer Gemma Humet in the promotional advert, together with the Barcelona Municipal Band. The choreographer and dancer Ariadna Peya was also tasked with the movements for the characters in the advert.

Emma Vilarasau is the opening speaker

The lyrics to the song for La Mercè say “She is ours and she is us”, a statement which might equally apply to Emma Vilarasau, one of the great Catalan actresses in theatre, cinema and television. Hers is the voice that will invite us to enjoy the celebrations by giving the opening speech for this year’s Mercè.

Her theatre career has given us performances such as those in La flauta màgica, La infanticida, Un tramvia anomenat desig, Agost, Qui té por de Virginia Woolf?, Barcelona, Els dies feliços, La mare, Medea, L’oreneta and Tots eren fills meus. She has also been part of our lives thanks to successful series such as Secrets de família, Nissaga de poder, Majoria absoluta and Ventdelplà, while in cinema we have seen her shine recently in Casa en flames, and we still remember her in Els sense nom and La fossa.

Estopa tasked with choosing the sounds for the music and firework spectacular

La Mercè says its annual farewell again with the music and firework spectacular, with sounds chosen by Estopa, the brothers David and José Muñoz. The music they have chosen will round off the festivities for La Mercè, this year with the Magic Fountain in Montjuïc operating in all its glory now that it has been renovated.

The display in Av. Reina Maria Cristina on 28 September starts at 10 pm. This grand festive event is set to fill the space with fireworks, light and water, with a soundtrack chosen especially for the occasion. The show includes an exclusive premiere of the new collaboration between Estopa and The Tyets, the single Camila.

Manchester and its bees as the guest city

This year we’re joined by Manchester, one of the British cities that has been a cradle for great artists, a current leader on the music and arts scene and a city we share an industrial past with. We find its imprint in the Música Mercè programme with the performance from Queralt Lahoz and the multi-instrumentalist, producer and DJ from Manchester, Tom Werkha; a jazz pop and folk performance by Ríoghnach Connolly & Honeyfleet; the dance music of Porji and the committed songs of Chloe Slater. At the BAM we can hear Children of Zeus, one of the most respected artists on Manchester’s soul and hip-hop scene, and Space Afrika, two artists specialising in ambient electronic sounds.

Bees are a symbol of Manchester’s industrial and working-class past, combining this year with the tradition of beasts and fire in Barcelona’s festive imagery. Local Catalan craftspeople and Manchester’s Global Grooves company have combined to design and create of two new festive figures: the Giant Bee and the Beast Bee. The pair will be inaugurated during the festival and take part in the outstanding traditional moments of La Mercè, such as the opening ceremony and entourage (Toc d’Inici), the beast stroll (Passejada de Bèsties), the Parade (Cavalcada) and the Fire Run (Correfoc).

Mercè Arts de Carrer (MAC)

This year’s curators, Jordi Duran, Jordi Querol, Cristina Cazorla, Sergi Ots and Tortell Poltrona (Pallassos Sense Fronteres) have put together the programme combining circus, dance, theatre and music that brings together over seventy participating companies. Six iconic sites and venues will become centres for creation: the Port Olímpic, the Parc de la Trinitat, the Parc de l’Estació del Nord, the Parc de l’Aqüeducte, the Jardins de Joan Maragall at the Palauet Albéniz and, a new addition, the Parc del Fòrum, which becomes a gran stage for contemporary European circus with large-format shows such as The Genesis and Wild.

Manchester’s presence as this year’s guest city brings ten British companies, who will be sharing spaces with local artists in the Parc de la Trinitat and the Parc de l’Estació del Nord, the latter with a programme aimed at different types of audiences: children in the mornings, the general public in the afternoons and varieties for adults in the evenings. There’s also a bigger role for the Parc de la Trinitat, with three days of activities that include premieres, inclusive dance and immersive experiences such as Fire Garden. Other sites will be offering unique projects, such as the laughter of Pallassos Sense Fronteres in the Parc de l’Aqüeducte, with renowned artists such as Buenafuente, Eduard Fernández o Clara Segura; the intimate and accessible pieces in the Jardins de Joan Maragall with the new creation from Els Escarlata; and the Port Olímpic, consolidating its family character with circus, dance and participatory installations next to the sea.

There will also be more festive options intended to bring us into contact with the Intangible Material and Cultural Heritage around us, taking advantage of the fact the Barcelona is about to host Mondiacult, the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development.

Mercè Music and BAM

Música Mercè and the BAM – Barcelona Acció Musical will showcase over a hundred performances by local and international artists from more than twenty countries. The programme features 16 stages open to the public, free of charge and spread across 14 venues throughout the city, including the Teatre Grec, Rambla del Raval, Plaça de Sant Jaume, Moll de la Fusta, the Bogatell beach and Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina. From Maria Arnal to The Tyets and Pussy Riot, the musical line-up brings together acts like Tarta Relena, Mushkaa, Rigoberta Bandini, Niño de Elche, Ladilla Rusa, Mama Dousha and many more.

Gisela Sais, responsible for the Música Mercè programme, has put together a list of artists that achieves the greatest degree of parity to date, backing Barcelona’s commitment to social and cultural plurality. Highlights include a tribute to Marta Valdés at the Teatre Grec, the special havanera sea shanties of Óscar Sánchez and Marbis Manzanet in Pl. Sant Jaume.

Artists from Manchester include com Porij, Honeyfeet, Children of Zeus and Space Afrika, plus a shared artistic residency between Queralt Lahoz and Werkha.

And the BAM, programmed by L’Afluent, continues to back avant-garde work that today entails a contemporary revision of roots sounds. Locations such as Plaça de Catalunya, the Moll de la Fusta wharf and Rambla del Raval will be hosting performances by artists such as Σtella, Villano Antillano, Lido Pimienta, Kiddy Smile and Anna Andreu.

Finally, the BAM – Acció Cultura returns to Sant Andreu with a dozen projects from the open call, and the city is set to consolidate its backing for emerging talent with the Sona9 competition and the participation of local music schools.

Traditional culture

Besides the key moments such as the opening ceremony and entourage (Toc d’Inici), the beast stroll (Passejada de Bèsties), and the Fire Run (Correfoc), the Parade (Cavalcada) has a new route this year, starting in Pl. Catalunya and taking in iconic points such as Fontanella and Via Laietana before ending up in Pl. Sant Jaume.

The programme also stands out for commemorating two historic events; the 75^th anniversary of the Obra del Ballet Popular, who are celebrating the occasion with a meeting of traditional dance groups from all over Catalonia to pay homage to traditional dance, and the 75^th Sports Sardana Competition, the longest-running popular culture activity to be held during consecutive years at La Mercè, bringing together the finest sardana dancing groups. The festive agenda also features the Xambanga, which takes a circular route setting off from and returning to Pl. Sant Jaume, and including a special show by Marcel Caselles, plus the participation of traditional culture organisations which again put the spotlight on dance, music and fire for the city’s annual festival.

Terra i Gust: The Sustainable Food Festival is back

From 26 to 28 September, the Parc de la Ciutadella will once again host Terra i Gust, the Sustainable Food Festival as part of the La Mercè celebrations. This year’s programme offers activities for all ages, including cooperative games for children about reducing food waste, and a workshop where participants can discover the aromatic plants native to our region and build a vertical garden. Adults can attend talks, debates and workshops covering topics such as food sovereignty, the benefits of eating locally sourced fish, food waste and zero waste.

Terra i Gust has become a can’t-miss event, both for professionals championing cuisine that respects the environment and the local area, and for those committed to adopting transformative consumption habits. It’s a gathering place for the community to rethink how we approach food and work together to build a healthier, greener city.

La Mercè reaches museums

Barcelona’s museums and heritage facilities are joining in with La Mercè by offering a wide range of free activities from 23 to 28 September. Museums all around the city will be holding open days and organising family workshops, guided tours and artistic actions, putting culture in the spotlight too for the city’s annual festival.

La Mercè sport

Two weeks before being held, all the number bibs available for the 47^th edition of La Mercè Fun Run had been reserved, with 14,000 runners set to take part.

The traditional Fitness Festival is back again on 24 September too, with all 3,000 available places taken.