GRUTA 77–LIVE ROCK MUSIC MADRID

Video: Madrid band Crack In Austin playing at Gruta 77

I wanna rock ‘n’ roll all night, so if there’s one thing I miss about the States, it’s going out to see a live rock show until they kick your ass out. But alas, in my beloved España, bands tend to play early and end early – at which point the venue’s DJ takes over, transforming the joint into a discothèque.

For example, I went to see Jon Spencer Blues Explosion at a venue in the center awhile back. The show started at 8PM and was over by the Spanish dinner hour! Though I love almost everything about Spain, this, my friends, is bullshit.

When I go out to see a show, I want the show to GO LATE and “onay on the iscoday usicmay” please. Back home, when the sound guy says, “you got five more minutes to play”, it doesn’t mean that the DJ is about to come on – it means that the bar is going to CLOSE in five minutes!

So thank you Lord for Gruta 77, one of Madrid’s havens for live rock junkies like myself (there are a few others–don’t worry, I’ll review them as well if I ever get over my hangover from hanging out at Gruta 77 Saturday night).

In Gruta, which means “cave” in Spanish (yes, “cueva” as you learned in Spanish class does too – don’t get confused, they’re just harmless synonyms), blackness reigns: black walls, black leather jackets, black jeans, even black Mao.

What kind of groups play there? Well, let me just give you a list of bands that rocked the darkness – and if you don’t know them, maybe you should stay home watching PasaPalabra reruns.

The Hives (before they were huge)
Gore Gore Girls
New Bomb Turks
The Vibrators
The Gaza Strippers

I stopped by Gruta 77 Saturday night to check out The Scientists, one of my favorite bands of all time. The show was billed at 11:00 PM, started around midnight, and ended at about 3AM. Rock to ya drop, baby.

Well, we didn’t actually drop THERE per say… Thing is… my buddies wanted to check out a few discos…

Gruta 77
Cuclillo 6
Metro: Oporto
Tel: 91 471 23 70

Phillip Stark

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