Bairro Alto – Local tips (music venues)

I am a man of relatively simple tastes, give me good conversation, a cold beer and good music and I will be happy. Now Bairro Alto is chock full of excellent bars which undoubtedly offer the first two but I have always felt that with a few exceptions (usually venues for live music) people don’t really go there to listen to music but I like my indie music, I just can’t help myself.

Indie music and Bairro Alto is a very simple equation – Café Suave. Located at the beginnings of Bairro Alto, avoiding the need to circumvent the crowds, this place offers a decent area inside to grab a seat and possibly even move your body along to the music, if that is your kind of thing.

DJs to look out for there are Fernando and Sophia who play a great mixture of indie music, from new hits to the classics, and they also seem to be having the most fun there so there are no sulky DJs in Suave!

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Café Suave | Bars, Music
R. Diário de Noticias 2 | Bairro Alto
22:00 – 02:00 daily

So many bars in Bairro Alto, why go to Capela? Owner and resident-DJ Pedro is one of the main embassadors of Elektropop in Lisbon. Music never comes second place in Capela.

Maybe that is why, when everybody has left Bairro Alto for the clubs at around 03h00, Capela is just getting fuller and fuller! Late dinner at Império dos Sentidos or Pap’Açorda (both are located next door) and then off to Capela. My ideal Friday night!

NEWSFLASH: Lisbon’s evil mayor has decided to move closing hours from 04h00 to 02h00! In the weekends (Sat & Fri) closing hour is at 3h00. I am still getting used to it and so is Capela’s owner, Pedro. Although he already started serving tapas early in the evening in order to attract more people and the beer got cheaper!!

Well, we will probably have to start our pilgrimage a bit earlier

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Capela | Bars, Music | Bacardi Limon € 4.00
Rua da Atalaia 45 | Bairro Alto | +351213470072
20:00 – 02:00 daily

I came across Heidi quite by accident on the chilliest of Lisbon nights, when a hot glass of glühwein really hit the spot. With only a Swiss flag hanging outside to betray its provenance, a visit to Heidi is disconcerting to say the least. One moment you’re standing on a gritty Bairro Alto street and the next you’re nestled in a cozy, Alpine cottage!

Fashioned in a manner that I can best describe as Chalet-ho!, this little bar comes complete with wood paneling, a grassy wall lining sprouting teeny flowers (edelweiss?), a tree trunk table and a myriad of quirky objets which Heidi herself may have used to entice Peter away from his goats. And, lest the concept still remains dubious, the DJ spins from a balcony of carved pine balusters identical to that of a typical Swiss cottage, and a large-scale mountain landscape spans one of the walls. If all this doesn’t provoke the urge slap on some lederhosen and yodel, I don’t know what will.

Owners Marc and Sindi are warm and welcoming. Old hands at the nightlife business in Switzerland and France, they fell in love with Lisbon and decided to bring a bit of Alpine cheer to this fair city. With a third, female element in tow – a Heidi of sorts – the bar opened in October 2009, and stays open every night of the week.

Cheese and cold meat “tapas” are also available for nibbles.

Allez hop!

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Heidi Bar | Bars, Music | Glühwein € 3.50
Rua da Barroca 129 | Bairro Alto
Mon – Thu 18:00 – 02:00, Fri – Sat 18:00 – 02:45, Sun 21:00 – 02:45

I secretly want to be a rock star. I wish I were Debbie Harry. But alas, in the roulette of life I wasn’t prized with a singing voice or particularly keen musical ability, and the only thing I share with Debs is the colour of my hair. Still, music is in my blood, and I do enjoy sweating out the frustrations of my shattered dream to good beats on a dance floor. This is one such place.

First and foremost, the music kicks ass. As Lisbon’s first real alternative bar and dance club, it opened its doors in the late 80s to wide praise. Since then, an ever-growing nighttime landscape has given rise to a crop of bars of a similar mindset, although Incógnito is not only still around but remains a Mecca for excellent alt-rock and retro pop beats to stroke those indie sensibilities.

The place is split into 3 levels – the ground floor has some seating (including a groovy, red eco-leather sofa) and curiously odd art-house movie clips are projected on one wall; a narrow mezzanine houses the main bar, and both overlook the dance floor on the basement level.

It gets packed in there, especially after bars shut in Bairro Alto at 02:00, and a line usually forms at the entrance. Official closing time is 04:00, though it’s closer to 05:00 on weekends. And be warned, smoking is allowed and the air does get thick in there by the middle of the night.

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Incógnito | Bars, Music
Rua dos Poiais de São Bento 37 | Bairro Alto | +351213908755
Wed – Sat 23:00 – 04:00

Located right at the top of Bairro Alto, your perserverence in tracking this shop down ill certainly be rewarded if you are a fan of the more avant garde forms of electronica and indie music.

Sharing its premises in Lisbon with a lovely boutique clothing shop (no suggestion here that it gives the girls something to do whilst the guys browse records!) Máteria Prima offers the very best of the slightly weird and wonderful of the music world – from classics (like Aphex Twin and Autechre) to latest releases (The xx and Atlas Sound).

As well as having a great selection of vinyl and cds, which the shopkeepers are only too happy to let you sample before you buy, the shop has a great catalogue of Portuguese and foreign music and art magazines.

If your wallet (or luggage) isn’t going to extend to a bit of music shopping Máteria Prima is also an excellent place to find out the latest in concerts, clubs and art and the shop is also stocked full of the latest flyers.

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Máteria Prima | Music, Shopping
Rua da Rosa 197 | Bairro Alto
Mon – Fri 14:00 – 20:00, Sat 14:00 – 21:00

I am perhaps a little biased when it comes to writing about O Século because it was here that I held my first club nights in Lisbon.

O Século is one of those rare places in Lisbon that is not quite a bar in the Bairro Alto style yet it still keeps that cosy feel. There are places to sit and eat and somewhere to dance as well as comfy seats to lounge afterwards. O Século is a space which allows people to display their talents in the fields of music, film or art.

During the day the space serves light snacks and drinks but after dark O Século is the perfect place for a party.

Turning up to O Século on the spur of the moment means that you could find yourself in the midst of live music, an art exhibition opening, a kizomba party or, if you’re lucky, my very own BurnTheJukebox night.

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O Século | Bars, Music
Rua do Século, 80 | Bairro Alto | +351213243759
Until 02:00 daily