The 2023 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival marks the return of the festival without restrictions, after the years affected by the impact of the pandemic. The carnivals of Gran Canaria’s capital adapted and maintained their connection with the public and their international reach. However, this year’s programme allows the street celebrations to get back into full swing. Day and night. And with a full schedule of free concerts.

Carlos Baute and Carlos Vives in Santa Catalina

The theme of these celebrations focuses on the iconic New York club Studio 54 and the extensive soundtrack provided by the Disco music of the 70s, although the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival always has a space of its own for Latin and contemporary rhythms. As far as the Daytime Carnival is concerned, in Santa Catalina Park, where the festival stage is set up every year (hosting the main galas and contests), the programme includes several events in the winter sun, ideal for dancing and partying.

After the Murgas and the Comparsas competitions, and the Children’s and Grand Dame galas, Santa Catalina will host its first Daytime Carnival on Tuesday 21 February, Carnival Tuesday, with several popular local groups livening up a day that will conclude with the prestigious International Body Painting Contest on stage. It will be a foretaste of more high-profile musical events in that same space.

On Saturday 25 February, after the Grand Parade of Carnival Groups, the Venezuelan singer-songwiter Carlos Baute will give a keenly awaited concert in the park (10 pm), which will mark his return to the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival. The following morning, Sunday 26, music will be heard again in Santa Catalina with another powerful performance by local bands from 1 pm, once the famous Dog Carnival has finished.

Finally, once the Studio 54-themed Carnival has crowned its Drag Queen on the last weekend of the programme, Carlos Vives will be the star of the closing event of the festivities in Santa Catalina, on Sunday 5 March, in a concert scheduled for 3 pm (after another Daytime Carnival, this one in San Telmo). This will be the prelude to the Burial of the Sardine, which brings the events to an end with a parade from Santa Catalina to Las Canteras Beach.

Two stages next to Las Canteras

At the same time, the Carnival Nights will have an extensive repertoire of performances in the Plaza de la Música, located next to the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium, an emblematic cultural icon of the city, named in honour of the immortal tenor (a native of Las Palmas), whose figure can be seen in an imposing sculpture, right next to it, that dominates the western end of Las Canteras Beach. There, at the end of the beach and in the shelter of the Auditorium, the Studio 54  carnival has two stages set up for the concerts: Disco Salsa and Dance Urban.

From Friday 10 February to Sunday 5 March, the Plaza de la Música will be the central night-time location for the festival’s dancing and music, with performances from 9 pm to 3 am. On Carnival Tuesday, 21 February, the space will also host a Daytime Carnival, with music from noon onwards.

So the Plaza de la Música confirms the position it has acquired as the city’s musical location par excellence in recent years, when it has been hosting events such as the Festival Cero indie music festival and the new Senior Festival, focusing on an older audience. Other concerts and events have made this square an ideal place for entertainment aimed at a range of audiences. It also serves as a unique vantage point from which to enjoy spectacular views of the entire course of Las Canteras Beach along the nearby extension of its walkway. It provides what is required at the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival: a party very close to the beach.