Photo Credit: Geek7

Nou Mestalla? Meh. Agora-Shmagora. The most highly anticipated upcoming construction (at least in our household) has suddenly become Valencia’s new casino, to be situated on Cortes Valencianas, close to the Palacio de Congreso.

According to Las Provincias, the new casino — run by the same group who owns the nearby Casino Monte Picayo — will have a modern design, and two floors. The top level will be the games room, and below will be a cafeteria and bar. This will be the first and only casino in the city. I’m sure we will certainly be there frequently.

Gambling in Spain is legal and liberalized. As anyone who has experienced the madness of the Gordo lottery knows, Spaniards love to gamble — whether on the lottery, sporting events, card games or in casinos. I’m sure the casino will be greeted warmly by Valencia’s citizens… and it’s proximity to the new football stadium give people plenty of reason to visit this (not especially beautiful) corner of the city.

- Casino Blog

So far we’ve covered a couple venues where you can see Flamenco in Valencia. But if you’re a fan of Tango, it’s a bit tougher to find. If you know of a place, please leave a comment.

We went for the Tango night at the Magarota (location), which they do every Thursday night starting a 11pm. Magarota is a neat little bar on Calle Murillo worth visiting if you get sick of the same old places on Calle Caballeros.

In the video above you can enjoy Carlos de la Peña from Argentina.

- ABC Bed & Breakfast Valencia

Sala El Loco (location) is one of the top concert venues in the city. In addition to music, they feature theater and comedy acts.

This Friday night, you can check out the Friki day of pride party, for just a €5 entrance. “Friki” is the cute Spanish translation of Freak. Bands like Rajoy Division and Ligres will be performing for what’s sure to be an interesting crowd.

If freaks aren’t your thing, still make sure and check out the other events on their funky website. Their concerts and events are pretty eclectic; the emphasis seems to be on “cool”.

Location on our Valencia Map

Scottish rockers Franz Ferdinand are going to headline the 2009 MTV Winter festival, which will be held at the Ciudad de las Artes & Ciencias on February 24th!

Sweet!! They’ll be touring Spain in support of their upcoming album, “Tonight: Franz Ferdinand”. They’re one of the best bands of recent years, and are supposed to be excellent live.

More than 35,000 people showed up for last year’s edition of the free festival, which featured The Cure (pfah), HIM (meh) and From First to Last (huh?). MTV Winter 2009 is already better, and the other acts for the are still unannounced. We’ll be sure to fill you in once we know more. Exciting.

To get you in the mood, here’s Franz Ferdinand’s video for Michael, a song which I like to imagine they wrote just for me…

MTV Press Release (in Spanish)

Jeff Tweedy in Valencia from Valencia Blog on Vimeo.

Last night, we went to see Wilco’s frontman Jeff Tweedy put on a solo show at Heineken Greenspace (location), one of Valencia’s top concert venues. It’s the first rock concert I’ve been to since moving here 6 months ago. Well, we did see Dover’s free show during Fallas for about 5 minutes, but I’m not counting that.

Wilco are one of America’s best bands and are incredible live. Solo, Tweedy was a lot more mellow than in one of his band’s raucous, high-energy shows. It was just him and an assortment of about 8 guitars on stage — no other accompaniment. The track list he chose was like a greatest hits tour through his career. He played songs from all of Wilco’s albums, and even one or two from Uncle Tupelo (arguably the founders of alternative country).

Greenspace as a venue was good, if not great. It’s quite large, and this was too intimate a show for such a spacious area. It wasn’t nearly full, which turned out to be a good thing, given the heat and utter lack of air circulation. Poor Tweedy was completely drenched in sweat during his entire performance.

This was the first stop of his tour through Spain; he’s also appearing in Mallorca, Altea and Murica. If you’re a fan of Wilco, you really should go. It’s a shame Valencia doesn’t attract more high-profile international acts… any ideas why?

Wilco’s Website
Location of Greenspace on our Valencia Map

We wrote about the T-Shirt Festival a couple weeks ago, and the line-up has just recently been announced. Looks pretty exciting… Primal Scream, <<rinôçérôse>> and Groove Armada are all appearing.

<<rinôçérôse>>

It looks like there will be three stages. Here’s the full lineup:
escenario XL
Primal Scream, <<rinôçérôse>>, Najwajean, Fangoria, Jet Lag, Poet in Progress, Polar, Erick Morillo, Groove Armada (dj set), Fedde Le Grand, Mark Knight, Todd Terry

escenario M (Defected in the House)
The Shapeshifters, Sandy Rivera, Copyright, TFC, Roog (Hardsoul), Simon Dunmore, Shovell (live on percussion)

escenario S (Playboy Cabaret)
Jay-J, Danny Marquez, David Gausa, Southmen, Simone, Geena

Jet Lag

2-day tickets cost €94, and the festival takes place on the 19th and 20th of September.

More Info at the Official Website
Our Earlier Post about the Festival

Every Tuesday night, there is a Flamenco session at Radio City (location). We went this week, and had an excellent time.

I’m not an expert in Flamenco (and in fact, before I bought a Camarón de la Isla album 4 weeks ago, I had never really listened to it at all), but I think the performance in Radio City was pretty great. The performers all seemed to be a part of the same, extended Gypsy family. There were two singers, an older matriarchal figure & a younger one who looked as though she was giving birth, so pained was her expression while singing. Two guitarists provided the accompaniment — a grizzled, older dude who didn’t look up even once, and a much more lively & handsome younger man. ¡Gitano que guapo!

The musicians were fun enough to listen to (“fun” might be the wrong word — whatever it was they were wailing about cannot have been happy), but the highlight came when the dancers took the stage. First, a tall and very skinny guy stomped about, whipping his jacket from side to side and whipping himself into a frenzy. It was intense. At the apex of the dance he suddenly stopped and stared into the crowd, and at the same time the matriarch let loose with a wild gypsy howl — awesome.

And the second dancer, a woman, was even better. Every muscle was taut while she danced, and the tall guy was clapping the whole time for her, keeping the beat, yelling “Olé” and “Guapa” every once in a while. It really seemed as though the whole clan didn’t care whether an audience was there or not.

It must be said, though, that this was a stage performance, during which the audience was asked to remain quiet — not one of the wild, participatory sessions that can be found in Seville or elsewhere in Andalusia. Still, it was an incredible time.

The price is €7 and includes a drink. The show starts at 23:00, but show up a half-hour beforehand to ensure you get seats. There’s no need to buy tickets beforehand. As always, make sure to check the website of Radio City, to verify that this information hasn’t changed.

Link: Radio City
More information on Flamenco in Valencia, at ValenciaValencia.com
Location on our Google Map

My very first night in Valencia — just hours after I had arrived and signed the contract for our new apartment — I was invited out for dinner, by a guy in my building. I was exhausted, but agreed to meet him and his friends for pizza.

After getting a few glasses of wine in my system, I was feeling better and agreed to go out for a drink after dinner. This is how I ended up at my first gay bar in Valencia: North Dakota Western Bar.

Although it’s close to where we live, I’m not sure how often Juergen and I are going to stop in. The main reason is that it caters to bears — at least, that’s what I assumed from the fliers advertising a Mr. Bear 2008 pageant the next evening. I have nothing against that subculture, but it’s not really my scene (I’m more of a ‘cub’, if anything). Still, the bar was cool and I appreciated the American West decor. A fun first night out in the city.

Link: North Dakota Western Bar
Location on Our Valencia Map