The new Sant Jordi Club will become the first large venue in Spain designed to elevate the experience of live music and medium-scale shows
The goal is to offer the highest possible technical, acoustic and visual quality while prioritising sustainability and the audience experience. With flexible capacities ranging from 3,500 to 9,000 spectators, it fills a gap in Barcelona’s current cultural offering
With a total investment of €70 million, the new Sant Jordi Club is coming into its own and will emerge as a new national standard-bearer for live music and culture
Barcelona is launching the transformation of the Anella Olímpica as part of the New Montjuïc project presented by Mayor Jaume Collboni at the start of 2025. The first phase of this transformation will be the renovation of the Sant Jordi Club to turn it into the first specially designed large-scale venue in Spain. With 16,500 square metres, the new Sant Jordi Club will be able to host flexible events with capacity numbers ranging from 3,500 to 9,000, an option unlike anything else currently available in Barcelona. This transformation of the Anella Olímpica in general and the Sant Jordi Club will specifically benefit local audiences, who accounted for over 80% of eventgoers at the Anella in 2024. Specifically, 40% of audience members were from Barcelona and its metropolitan area, while 43% were from the rest of Catalonia.
The transformation of the Sant Jordi Club will be carried out through an international architecture contest and will involve a planned investment of 70 million euros, funded entirely by BSM’s business profits.
“Today we’re kicking off the transformation of the Anella Olímpica,” said First Deputy Mayor and BSM Chair Laia Bonet in statements to the media. “After several years, we’re starting to renovate and modernise the Anella, and we want the new Sant Jordi Club to be much more than a concert venue; we want it to offer something completely new for the city, with first-class technical infrastructure.”
The commitment to transforming Montjuïc, presented by Mayor Collboni last February in his “L’alcalde respon” talk, seeks to turn the mountain into a major metropolitan park and green lung for the city, culture and sport, with the renovation of Plaça d’Espanya, Fira, the gardens and the Palau d’Esports, in addition to the Anella Olímpica. This transformation will be accompanied by enhanced public transport at a site now to be served by the L2 metro line, which will connect the city centre to the airport through Montjuïc and La Marina.
1. The current context: record-breaking years at the Anella Olímpica
After two consecutive record-breaking years (2023 and 2024), with over 2 million people attending over 170 events, the Anella Olímpica (Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, Palau Sant Jordi, the Sant Jordi Club and Esplanada Olímpica) is taking action to ensure that Barcelona continues to be a global leader in offering the best experiences at concerts, sports events and other large-scale cultural, entertainment and corporate events.
Of the 2.2 million visitors in 2024, 40% were from Barcelona and its metropolitan area, 43% from the rest of Catalonia, 10% from various parts of Spain and 7% from other countries around the world. These figures back up the Anella’s approach as a model of public-private management in making diverse, high-quality, accessible culture a key part of improving city residents’ quality of life. This initiative, then, is a by-Barcelona, for-Barcelona project that also has its sights set on the rest of the world.
2. The live music sector today: growth and globalisation
Due to the rise of streaming, the live music sector worldwide is currently seeing a major increase in demand and is undergoing a profound process of globalisation.
In this context, the Anella Olímpica is embarking on an ambitious transformation process so that Barcelona can address this growing public interest and continue to be a global leader for live music and large-scale cultural and sports events.
In our global world, culture is cementing its role as a cornerstone of social cohesion, encouraging critical thinking, creativity, empathy and innovation. Music in general, and live music in particular, have become the world’s most cross-cutting, multicultural, intergenerational and wide-reaching cultural phenomena.
In Catalonia, the music industry generates €857 million annually, 82% of which comes from live music. The sector is made up of 379 companies that provide over 4,000 jobs.
3. Barcelona’s positioning: the Anella Olímpica’s value proposition
The new Anella Olímpica is reinforcing its role as a city venue hosting the best shows all year round and for all audiences.
With more accessible connections from the rest of the city, including the L2 metro line reaching the top of Montjuïc, the Anella seeks to go beyond its reputation as a venue bringing the city the best national and international live music and sports to become an everyday setting where Barcelona residents can have a walk, play sports and exercise, as well as enjoy the city’s culture and food with new offerings.
Based on a management model driven by public leadership and public-private partnerships, the new Anella aims to bring the best national and international shows to the people of Barcelona and Catalonia, in a world in which cities are competing to attract top events across a range of sectors.
At the same time, the Anella aims to continue being a platform for projecting local talent to the world, highlighting its close relationship with over 40 local and international event promoters who make each year’s line-up possible.
The Anella has already hosted major international concerts, including Coldplay, Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé and the world’s first socially distanced live music concert during the pandemic. It’s also seen Estopa, Rosalia, Bad Gyal and many other major names rise to fame. And it’s looking forward to much more.
In 1992, Barcelona showed the world that it can make even the most ambitious dreams come true. The Anella Olímpica was the grand stage for that Olympic dream. Now, over thirty years later, it is once again putting itself at the service of city residents, local talent and international figures.
4. The transformation of the Sant Jordi Club, an auditorium designed for live music
The first space transforming its value proposition is the Sant Jordi Club, which will become the first large venue in Spain designed to elevate the experience of live music and medium-scale shows.
It will feature first-class technical design designed to guarantee impeccable acoustics, maximum comfort, universal accessibility, energy efficiency, versatility of use and, ultimately, the best experience possible not only for the audience, but also for all people who use it: artists, event promoters and technical teams.
With a surface area of 16,500 m2, the new Sant Jordi Club will double its current capacity, offering the flexibility to accommodate 3,500 to 9,000 audience members – an option unlike anything else currently available in Barcelona.
To carry out this physical transformation, Barcelona City Council, through BSM, will launch an international architecture contest to convert the Sant Jordi Club into a specially designed venue for live music and medium-scale shows.
The space will also have its own architectural identity in harmony with the Anella Olímpica as a whole, especially the Palau Sant Jordi. Created by architect Arata Isozaki, this venue is an internationally recognised Barcelona landmark renowned for its heritage value.
Ultimately, the goal of the competition is to find innovative architectural designs that prioritise the audience experience and environmental sustainability.
5. Calling all creatives everywhere
The international competition will be launched on 17 July, and submissions will be accepted up to 30 September 2025. With a €70 million investment, funded entirely by BSM, construction work on the new Sant Jordi Club will begin in mid-2027 and is expected to be completed in 2029.
The project seeks to bolster the Anella Olímpica’s position as a leading venue for live music, sports and other medium- and large-scale events, while also strengthening its connection with the city and the local community. This transformation is part of a series of projects to make Montjuïc and the surrounding neighbourhoods a new urban focal point, green lung and hub for the best cultural and sporting events for all audiences.
