This weekend on Gran Canaria: Pablo Alborán, the San Lorenzo drag gala and the club night

The highlight of the weekend: Pablo Alborán

The night to go out for this weekend is Friday at the Gran Canaria Arena, where Pablo Alborán stops with his Gira KM0, the tour behind his seventh studio album. It is his only date on Gran Canaria this summer — the following evening he is already playing Santa Cruz de La Palma.

Born in Málaga in 1989, Alborán has been one of the most-played voices in Spanish pop since «Solamente tú». His blend of pop, flamenco inflections and ballads about love, loss and hope carried him from early YouTube uploads to Latin Grammys, a Goya and an Ondas award. People who have seen him live tend to describe the closeness to the audience above all: a lot of piano, a lot of voice, not much stagecraft.

It is not a solo bill. Sharing the stage is the Argentine cumbia orchestra La Delio Valdez, more than ten musicians strong, who carry the festive half of the night. The concert starts at 9pm and is opened by Daniel Kleylein, a singer-songwriter from La Palma who became known after «Got Talent España» with a song of his own about the 2021 volcanic eruption.

Tickets run through tomaticket.es. The floor is split into zones — Golden with front stage and soundcheck access, Early Entry for priority into the pista, and general pista. Front stage and pista are unnumbered standing areas, so anyone wanting to be near the barrier should arrive early.

The island stays dry for it. Las Palmas sits at 26 to 27 degrees this weekend with cloud over the city, while the south runs far hotter — up to 36 degrees on Saturday under a cloudless sky, with the heat letting go only late and the nights staying warm. No rain anywhere in the forecast: the kind of evening where people linger outside after the show rather than heading straight for the next club.

Friday 7 August

Pablo Alborán. Gran Canaria Arena, Las Palmas. The highlight of the weekend (see above), tickets through tomaticket.es.

Merengue Fest in San Lorenzo. The fiestas laurentinas are running in the north of Las Palmas, listed for years as a Fiesta de Interés Turístico de Canarias. Friday belongs to merengue from 9.30pm, with Grupo Arena and the orchestras Furia Joven and Armonía Show. Free entry, as on every night of the programme.

Candlelight at the Gabinete Literario. Considerably quieter, and lit by candles: at 7.30pm the Gabinete Literario on Plaza de Cairasco hosts an edition of the Candlelight series, this time an ABBA tribute arranged for strings. About an hour, tickets around 30 euros, doors 45 minutes before the start.

Beyond that the village fiestas carry on across the island. In El Carrizal near Ingenio the verbena for the Buen Suceso runs until three in the morning, Firgas is in the middle of its San Roque fiestas, Agaete continues the Fiestas de Las Nieves after the Bajada de la Rama, and there are programmes in Santa María de Guía, Teror with Lo Blanco and Miraflor, and Artenara with the Fiestas de La Cuevita. All free.

In the south the Feria de Artesanía Gran Canaria Verano Sur opens at the Maspalomas lighthouse on Friday — the 19th edition, daily from 5pm to 11pm and running until 16 August. That covers all three evenings of the weekend, with music between the stalls: the quiet opening act before the night starts.

The south has its own Friday programme away from the big stages: at Bar De Lantaarn in Playa del Inglés, Christopher Burke sings from 9pm — the Belgian pop and dance singer who plays island stages regularly through the summer.

Then the club night begins: the bars of Vegueta and Triana fill up, and in the south the drag shows get going in the Yumbo Centre. The addresses are further down.

Saturday 8 August

The San Lorenzo drag gala. Saturday evening is the queerest of the weekend, and it costs nothing. At 10pm the Plaza de San Lorenzo stages its Gala Drag Queen, hosted by Yanely Hernández, with performances from the Comparsa Kisamba, Kevin Ramos and Dunia Santana, and from Drag Hefesto, the reigning drag queen of the Las Palmas carnival. The Noche de la Reinona with Línea DJ takes over afterwards and pulls the evening well into the night.

Así Sonaba Tardeo Festival. A first for Gran Canaria: a tardeo that starts in the afternoon and runs into the evening at Finca Pepito Guerra, built around the dance anthems of the nineties, the two thousands and the twenty-tens. Jose AM is on the decks alongside Ulises Acosta, Dimas Pérez and Paco Medina. Over-21s only.

The day starts much earlier in San Lorenzo. At 11.30am the V Encuentro de Papagüevos brings together the giant figures from Guanarteme, San Isidro de Gáldar, Schamann, La Isleta and San Lorenzo, accompanied by the Banda Guiniguada, and at 12.30pm there is a children’s show with the clown Pepón and the group Jaleox.

Saturday evening in the south fills up in stages: the weekly karaoke night at Que pasa tío…? on Avenida de Tirajana starts at 7pm, the Canarian singer Noelia Vera performs at IL MIO CAFFÉ on Avenida de Italia from 8pm, and at 10.30pm Gio Box takes the stage at Café Bolle Jan in the CC Cita.

Inland the verbenas run longest: Firgas goes until two in the morning on Saturday, El Carrizal until three. And in Las Palmas, Saturday carries the strongest club night of the week anyway — where, is further down.

Sunday 9 August

Sunday is not a rest day in San Lorenzo but the eve of the Fiesta Mayor. It opens at five in the morning with bell ringing and a traca de voladores — a promise kept every year by the neighbours of El Ebro, and one that leaves nobody in the district asleep.

At 11.30am the Parranda de Guaguas plays at the San Lorenzo farmers market, the most relaxed item of the weekend: folk music between the vegetable stalls, free to walk into. In the evening at 9.30pm come the concerts by Reina de Sal and Los 600.

The real finish comes after that. At one in the morning on the night into Monday, San Lorenzo sets off its gran quema de fuegos artificiales with the volcán de voladores. The San Lorenzo fireworks count among the largest on the island and have been expanded again this year: the volcán de voladores grows from six launch points to eight, with 504 kilos of pyrotechnics in total, 46 kilos more than last year. Anyone planning to watch should plan a long Sunday evening.

Anyone heading up should count on the road closures. From 8pm the streets inside the village shut; from 9.30pm the approaches from Siete Puertas, El Zardo, Almatriche, La Tosca and Camino Viejo; from 11pm those from Tamaraceite and Ciudad del Campo — inbound only, the way out stays open throughout. Parking in the centre is banned from eight in the morning. Guaguas Municipales runs a dedicated line from the Santa Catalina interchange to San Lorenzo between 7.30pm and 2.30am, and taxis use a temporary rank beside the Centro Cívico from 2am. The city recommends public transport; traffic should be back to normal around 3am.

If you cannot make it up to San Lorenzo, you can still watch: the city streams the Gran Quema live. It starts at 00.45, a quarter of an hour before the first shot, on the Turismo LPA channels — Facebook (@LPAVisit) and YouTube (@TurismoLPA) — with several cameras around the village and on the Volcán de voladores.

In the south Sunday starts early and easy: from 11am Café Mozart 2 in the CC Anexo II hosts its Frühschoppen, a German-style late morning with live music — this time with Christopher Burke.

Otherwise Sunday on Gran Canaria traditionally belongs to 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 do not take a night off.

Las Palmas: the clubs

Weekend nightlife in Las Palmas 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 from late evening. The best-known room in the quarter is The Paper Club on Calle Remedios, a 400-capacity hall with a terrace whose programme alternates between indie gigs, tribute bands and DJ nights. Alongside it sits the big mainstream club Alboroto with indoor and outdoor areas, the Biblioteca Vegueta — a disco in a library setting — and, for a quieter cocktail, the La Azotea de Benito roof terrace on Plaza de las Ranas.

At Playa de las Canteras the night happens right on the beach. The Moma Club is the address for electronic music and techno with an alternative crowd, Fridays and Saturdays until morning. For live music try La Guarida and the Mojo Club next to the Auditorio Alfredo Kraus, with blues and band programming; the Sala Faro books concerts across the styles, and the Buenos Aires Jazz Café has something on most nights.

The third centre is Santa Catalina and the port area — a dense run of bars, discotecas and clubs that go until dawn. Fortuni draws the younger crowd, Thursday to Saturday from 11pm until around half five; the Chester and the Pacha on Avenida Sargentos Provisionales are among the long-running names. Few places charge admission — you pay for the drinks.

The south: Yumbo, CC Cita and the lifestyle scene

In the south of Playa del Inglés the Yumbo Centre is the island’s best-known night-time strip — four storeys, largely LGBTQ+ after sunset but open to everyone. Its signature is the drag shows, on every evening and at weekends too: Ricky’s Cabaret Bar plays around 10.30pm, the Sparkles Show Bar runs karaoke from 9pm and the big 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 rooms take over: Mykonos, the camper Tubos, Coco Loco and finally Mantrix, the largest club, open until six in the morning. The Six Pack Zone on Avenida Estados Unidos adds regular live music. Anyone who would rather have commercial dance charts than a drag show finds them at the nearby Kasbah Centre.

A few steps further, in the heart of Playa del Inglés, sits the CC Cita — the core of the resort’s lifestyle and swinger scene. The biggest name is Swingers Club Secret in the basement: a sprawling room with reggaeton and Spanish house that holds more than 500 guests on a good night. Things are more relaxed at Fun4all, with several playrooms and a dedicated BDSM room. Add HOTSPOT Gran Canaria, the Comeback Bar, Plan B, Tantra and Majestic GC with its attached Mario’s Bar. Next door in the CC Sandía is the 2x2 Swingers Club. All of these are adults-only venues with age checks at the door; the house rules for couples and singles are set out on each venue’s website. In the same centre the Café Bolle Jan plays an entirely different card, with drag and live music evenings featuring Darcy & Friends, usually from 10pm.

The cruise and darkroom venues form a scene of their own. The Cruise Bar has been going since 1994, joined by Tom’s Cruising Bar, Strong Construction on the Yumbo ground floor, The Box on the second floor, NOXON on the first floor with fetish and cruising nights, The Factory and the Zoo Men’s Cruising Bar. A little further out, at the CC Jardín del Sol, are The Hole and the Hell Club. For something calmer, the Sauna Enjoy Maspalomas on Avenida de Tirajana is the counterpart. The same applies here: adults, ID at the door.

For live music without the club element, look to the bars along the coast. The Tipsy Hammock Bar on Paseo Costa Canarias plays until two, and Café Mozart 2 in the CC Anexo II has something on almost every day — at midday, in the early evening and again at 10pm. In the same centre That’s AMORE and the Ristorante La Piazza put on live music regularly, usually around 9pm. Then there is Al’s Bar in the Gran Chaparral Centre, Dunes & Tunes in Maspalomas, the El Senador Beach House on Paseo del Faro with daily sunset sessions, and the Café del Mar on Plaza del Faro in Meloneras.

FAQ

Who is the highlight of this weekend?

The biggest concert is Pablo Alborán on Friday at the Gran Canaria Arena in Las Palmas, on his Gira KM0 behind his seventh studio album — his only Gran Canaria date this summer. The strongest night after that is the drag gala on Saturday at 10pm in San Lorenzo, hosted by Yanely Hernández and followed by the Noche de la Reinona, with free entry.

Where do I get tickets for the concerts?

Pablo Alborán runs through tomaticket.es, with zones from general pista through Early Entry to the Golden ticket including front stage and soundcheck access; front stage and pista are unnumbered standing areas. The Candlelight evening at the Gabinete Literario costs around 30 euros. The fiestas in San Lorenzo, Firgas, El Carrizal, Agaete, Guía, Teror and Artenara need no ticket — entry is free, as it is in most clubs and bars.

How late do the clubs stay open?

In Las Palmas clubs such as Fortuni run from 11pm until around half five in the morning, and the Moma Club at Playa de las Canteras plays until morning on Fridays and Saturdays. In the Yumbo Centre in the south the drag shows run all evening, the dance rooms until dawn and the Mantrix until six. The rule everywhere on the island: arriving early is not worth it, the evening is long.

What is the lifestyle and swinger scene at the CC Cita?

The CC Cita sits in the heart of Playa del Inglés, a few steps from the Yumbo Centre, and is the centre of the resort’s lifestyle and swinger scene. It includes Swingers Club Secret in the basement, Fun4all with several playrooms, HOTSPOT Gran Canaria, the Comeback Bar, Plan B, Tantra and Majestic GC, plus the 2x2 Swingers Club in the neighbouring CC Sandía. These are all adults-only venues with age checks at the door; house rules for couples and singles are published on the respective websites.

What is on during Sunday away from the big stage?

Sunday in San Lorenzo starts at five in the morning with bell ringing and a traca de voladores for the eve of the Fiesta Mayor, the Parranda de Guaguas plays at the farmers market at 11.30am, and Reina de Sal and Los 600 follow at 9.30pm. At one in the morning on the night into Monday come the big fireworks with the volcán de voladores. In the south the drag stages of the Yumbo Centre take no night off on Sunday either.