This weekend on Gran Canaria: Granca Live Fest with Maroon 5, Alejandro Sanz and Aitana

The highlight of the weekend: Granca Live Fest

This weekend belongs to the Estadio de Gran Canaria. For four nights the Granca Live Fest turns the football stadium into the island's biggest stage — and Friday to Sunday is the peak.

When the gates open at 5pm and the sun slips behind the stands, a warm summer night around 24 degrees is on the way: dry, with the cloud cover the city wears on most July evenings.

The line-up reads like a cross-section of Spanish-language pop with a few international names. Friday brings the Dominican bachata and merengue star Juan Luis Guerra, Saturday pairs Alejandro Sanz with Aitana, and Sunday hands the close to the US band Maroon 5 — with Lola Índigo, Danny Ocean, Dani Martín, Grupo Frontera and Canarian acts in between.

Day tickets and passes run through tomaticket.es; on festival days the early walk to the stadium pays off, as the crush at the entrance builds towards evening. And anyone without a ticket finds the night carries on in the city anyway — the clubs fill as soon as the concerts end.

Friday 3 July

Granca Live Fest — day two. The first weekend night belongs to Juan Luis Guerra: the Dominican, four decades deep in bachata, merengue and bolero, heads the Friday bill. Around him play Lola Índigo, Danny Ocean, Omar Courtz, Carlos Rivera, Conjurer and Wendy Ruiz.

Gates at the Estadio de Gran Canaria from 5pm.

Canarias Jazz & Más — opening. The same night, the 35th Festival Internacional Canarias Jazz & Más gets under way. Its Gran Canaria opening is in Arucas: on the Plaza de San Juan, the Moisés P. Sánchez trio with «Where light begins», followed by US fusion band Yellowjackets.

After the last encore, the club night begins. The bars in Vegueta and Triana fill up, the Moma Club gets going on Playa de las Canteras and Fortuni in Santa Catalina.

The addresses are further down.

Saturday 4 July

Granca Live Fest — the big night. Saturday packs in the most names: Alejandro Sanz, one of the most decorated Spanish artists of all, shares the evening with Aitana, Dani Martín and the norteño band Grupo Frontera, plus Agua del Chorro, Dani Calero and Quique Serra. Gates again from 5pm.

Canarias Jazz & Más in the south. Saturday brings the festival to the Explanada by the Faro de Maspalomas — open air, a few steps from the promenade: the Freddie Hendrix Jazz Brigade led by Sylwester Ostrowski, then Canarian bassist Charlie Moreno with his funk project Powafunk.

Saturday traditionally carries the strongest club night of the week — and with the festival crowd in town, all the more so. In Las Palmas and in the Yumbo Centre.

Where, is further down.

Sunday 5 July

Granca Live Fest — closing night. The finale brings the international headliner: Maroon 5, Adam Levine's US band, closes the festival, alongside Canarian talent in Monkey Faces, Click&Roll and Toni Bob. Because this concert crowns the weekend, the gates open later, at 6pm.

Canarias Jazz & Más by the lighthouse. The festival carries on at the Faro de Maspalomas on Sunday too: the José Vera Bello Quintet and, to close, Ghost-Note, the US band from the Snarky Puppy circle.

Otherwise Sunday on Gran Canaria is traditionally a day for the seafront promenade and the chiringuitos rather than the big stage. In the south, though, the Yumbo Centre runs on Sunday evening too — the drag shows take no weekly break.

Las Palmas: the clubs

Las Palmas weekend nightlife spreads across three districts. In Vegueta and Triana, the old town, the bars around Calle Mendizábal, Plaza de Santa Ana and the Monopol terraces fill up from late evening.

The best-known venue in the quarter is The Paper Club on Calle Remedios: a 400-capacity hall with a terrace, its programming swinging between indie gigs, tribute bands and DJ nights. Alongside it the big mainstream club Alboroto with indoor and outdoor floors, La Biblioteca Vegueta — a club set in a library — and, for the quieter cocktail, the rooftop La Azotea de Benito on Plaza de las Ranas.

Along Playa de las Canteras, the night runs by the beach. The Moma Club is the address for electronic music and techno with an alternative crowd — open until 6am on Fridays and Saturdays.

Add the terrace bars along the promenade, such as the open-air Tao terrace in Garden City with commercial music.

The third hub is Santa Catalina and the port area — a dense run of bars, discotecas and clubs that go until dawn. The club Fortuni draws the younger going-out crowd here, Thursday to Saturday from 11pm to half past five.

On this festival weekend the district also catches the crowd looking to carry on after the concerts. Few venues charge entry — you pay for the drinks.

The south: Yumbo, CC Cita and the lifestyle scene

In the south, the Yumbo Centre in Playa del Inglés is the island's best-known going-out hub after sunset: four storeys, largely LGBTQ+ but open to everyone. Its signature is the drag shows — every night, weekend included.

At Ricky's Cabaret Bar the show starts around 10.30pm, at the Sparkles Show Bar karaoke runs from 9pm and the show from 11pm, alongside Chez Funny Boy's, Buddies, Centre Stage and Terry's. The evening starts on the terraces — Spartacus, Eiffel, Voulez Vous, Gran Café Latino or Adonis.

After midnight the dance venues take over: Mykonos, the campier Tubos, Coco Loco and finally Mantrix, the biggest club, open until 6am. For commercial dance charts rather than a drag show, they are a few steps away in the Kasbah Centre.

The CC Cita sits in the heart of Playa del Inglés, just a few steps from the Yumbo, and is the centre of the south's lifestyle and swinger scene. In the basement is the Swingers Club Secret, the largest of its kind — reggaeton and Spanish house, more than 500 guests on a good night.

The Fun4all is more relaxed, with several playrooms and its own BDSM room. In the same centre are HOTSPOT Gran Canaria, the Comeback Bar, Plan B, Tantra and the Majestic GC with Mario's Bar.

In the neighbouring CC Sandía the 2x2 Swingers Club has its place. All of these ask for proof of age; the crowd is mixed and the tone discreet.

The cruise and fetish scene has a tradition of its own, mostly in and around the Yumbo Centre. The Cruise Bar has been going since 1994, alongside Tom's Cruising Bar, the Strong Construction on the Yumbo's ground floor and, on the first floor, the fetish- and cruising-oriented NOXON, plus The Factory and, further south, the Zoo Men's Cruising Bar.

For something calmer, the Sauna Enjoy Maspalomas on Avenida de Tirajana offers the classic sauna. Proof of age applies here too.

For live music, the south has its own addresses. The Tipsy Hammock Bar on Paseo Costa Canarias plays until 2am, the Café Mozart 2 and Al's Bar sit side by side in the Gran Chaparral Centre, the beach bar Dunes & Tunes is in Maspalomas, and by the Meloneras lighthouse the Café del Mar looks onto the Plaza del Faro.

A quieter alternative to the big dance venues, with concerts and guitar music into the night.

FAQ

Where do I get Granca Live Fest tickets?

Day tickets and passes for the four festival nights run through tomaticket.es and the official festival site. The gates at the Estadio de Gran Canaria open at 5pm on Friday and Saturday and at 6pm on Sunday for the Maroon 5 close.

Arriving early helps, as the crush at the entrance builds towards evening.

How late are the clubs open?

In Las Palmas, clubs such as Fortuni run from 11pm until around half past five in the morning; the Moma Club on Playa de las Canteras goes until 6am on Fridays and Saturdays. At the Yumbo Centre in the south the drag shows run all evening and Mantrix until 6am.

The principle everywhere: arriving early is pointless, the night is long.

What is on in the south beyond the drag shows?

Around the CC Cita lies the lifestyle and swinger scene, with clubs such as the Swingers Club Secret and Fun4all, plus the cruise and fetish bars in the Yumbo and the Sauna Enjoy Maspalomas — all with proof of age. For live music, head to the Tipsy Hammock Bar, the Café Mozart 2 or the Café del Mar in Meloneras.

Is the festival suitable for children?

The Granca Live Fest is a stadium concert for an adult and teenage audience; for minors the organiser's entry rules apply, and small children are out of place there. The family-friendly part of the weekend is more the Playa de las Canteras and the promenade by day.