Moog Electronic Dancing Club Barcelona

Located at the heart of the old Chinatown, Moog, formerly Villa Rosa, is, almost one hundred years after its opening, a landmark venue on Barcelona’s nightlife scene, a place that is always at the forefront of its times, whether as a temple of flamenco bohemia or, after 1996, of electronic music. During the years before the Civil War it was one of the most famous venues in the city, and in the seventies it was part of the young underground scene. Since the mid-nineties it has been the main reference point for the techno music which is programmed throughout the year in the city. A venue that was famous during the twenties in the rest of Europe, and also for the last 14 years.

1915-1980’s: Flamenco bohemia

In 1915, a businessman named Michael Borrull opened a venue towards the end of La Rambla, the Villa Rosa, on a street in what was then known as Chinatown. What was initially supposed to be a gentlemen’s bar, in line with the nightlife of the area, eventually turned into a concert café dedicated to flamenco visited by some of the most important figures of the era, including Carmen Amaya. Throughout the first third of the twentieth century, it was one of the most popular places in the city; a place where you could enjoy a flamenco session and, in turn, try some of the tapas that were served until the wee hours of the morning. Famous people like the Russian ballet director Diaghilev went to the Villa Rosa on Arc del Teatre street, and it was considered an essential part of Barcelona’s nightlife.

After the Civil War and after becoming a bar for black marketers during the post-war years, it came into fashion in the sixties as a flamenco show room reserved for tourists; here you could see what is known as espanyolada, i.e. poor quality flamenco with all the clichés that suited the Franco regime. However, during the 70's, when La Rambla became the hub of what was then the most underground city in Spain, the concert café regained some of its grandeur with visits by the most unconventional young people of the moment. The decline of the old quarter of Barcelona during the 80's made activity at the Villa Rosa wane to the point of having to close it down. However, a group of seventies youths, including the Mas brothers never lost hope of reopening the venue and living it a fresh start.

1996-2010: A pioneer club

In 1996 techno music was booming in Barcelona when it had only been launched two years previously at the Sonar festival and the managers of the Mas i Mas group embarked on a triple challenge: the reopening of a historic venue with a new direction in a street that had just stopped being considered a deprived area and with a programme dedicated to a then-emerging genre, techno, that many still confused with music called maquina or bakalao. The club was named Moog, alter the engineer Robert Moog, inventor of the synthesizer that opened the door to electronic music. It was agreed that the club should open on the 21st of June, coinciding with the Day of Music, a celebration that had been held for just a few years in the city.

With the opening of Moog, the Mas i Mas group stood at the head of one of the most avant-garde music scenes in the city and helped spur on the electronic music genre, which, over the years, has become one of the hallmarks of musical activity in the Catalan capital. When Moog opened up there were few other venues offering techno music. Over time this venue in the Raval neighbourhood is one of the few clubs solely programming electronic music since the mid-nineties that has remained active. Nowadays, this club in our city remains at the cutting-edge of this music invented in the mid-twentieth century.

One of the most significant features of its reopening was the decoration of the premises, by the designer Kiko Solsona, who used materials such as iron and wood to design a ground-breaking and futuristic space, but also a functional one, without falling into the pseudo artistic extremes of certain designers of the moment, who created cold and uncomfortable spaces. The result was the reconstruction of a modern yet welcoming venue, divided into two parts: one on the ground floor, with a large dance floor and another on the first floor which was cosier and had a smaller dance floor.

The club managers decided to offer the best of electronic music on a national and international level from the moment the venue opened. And so, during the first months of the club’s life, Moog’s DJ booth was graced with the presence of disc jockeys like Oscar Mulero – who was an up and coming techno talent back then, and the now legendary John Acquaviva, Jeff Mills, Laurent Garnier and Ralph Lawson. In 1997, a DJ arrived at the club, a DJ who would eventually fill large entertainment venues with his provocative shows: Matthew Herbert. That same year, Acquaviva and Lawson revisited, debuts were made by up and coming Techno figures on the Barcelona scene like An Der Beat Barcelona and Robert X, and the so-called "underground sound of Barcelona", better known as USB burst onto the scene.

DJs such as Angel Molina, Sidereal, Oscar Mulero, DJ Omar, Dave Tarrida, Mark Ambrose, Tim Baker and the German Tobias Schmidt, representing the prestigious Berlin label Tresor-all featured on Moog posters during the last years of the nineties. In the past ten years, famous figures on the national, European and American electronic music scene have continued to play sets at Moog, like DJ Hell of the International DJ Gigolos collective, Chicks on Speed, Fisherspooner, Funk D'Void, Dave Clarkey, Donacha Costello, Detroit Grand Pubahs, Scan 7, Lady B and Screw U.

Currently, the club on Arc del Teatre street continues to host the best local and international electronic music names. Moog is a renowned venue in the world of electronic music, a place that was once a pioneer club and is now an electronic music classic in Europe.