September: La Mercè, the big festival
La Mercè is Barcelona's festa major: around September 24, the city programs four days of concerts, human towers, correfocs, giants and fireworks, with BAM as the night soundtrack.
La Mercè, around September 24
The program spreads the party free across the city: human towers in plaça Sant Jaume, giants through the old town, square concerts and the closing fireworks over Montjuïc. The official calendar drops in September.
The correfoc and the piromusical
La Mercè's correfoc — people running among fire-breathing devils — is the most intense moment; the closing piromusical, fireworks synchronized to music over plaça de Espanya, the most spectacular. Old clothes and a cap for the first.
BAM and neighborhood festa
BAM programs free emerging-music concerts across the festival days, and the neighborhoods add their own acts. The whole city is in the street: the best week of the year to visit.