Links to useful open mic/jam session guides to Madrid:
Open Mic Madrid is a page with just a couple of listings as I consult it. So not good. But not much else available.
Brad Spurgeon’s findings on Open Mics in Madrid:
Wednesday – Collage, Calle Mancebos 2, Madrid, +34 911 53 22 10. A classic open mic with a great sound system for the spectators, although when I played at this Collage open mic, the sound was less good for the performers’ monitoring. But that matters little at a fabulous open mic in a setting to dream of. You think you’ve come to the wrong bar when you enter this quiet ground floor area…but then downstairs you find a vast, vaulted brick room with another bar at the back and a nice big stage. Very intimate, nevertheless, and the MC is good. Usually just two songs per performer.
Thursday – Triskel Tavern, San Vicente Ferrer 3, Madrid, +34 915 23 27 83. An absolute classic of an Irish pub in a very cool part of Madrid – full of bars and music venues – the open mic takes place in another world, the world of the cellar, which does NOT look like an Irish pub. With its icy ceiling, and dark bricks, it looks a little like a Gothic cellar of some kind…. But the kitty-cornered stage is large, and a wonderful feel in front of the benches of the listening area – there is another room off to the side – and the attendance for this open mic in terms of both the spectators and the performers, was excellent. The only problem, and it is not a small one, is that at least when I attended this Triskel Tavern open mic the chatter is amongst the loudest and most disrespectful I’ve experienced at an open mic. It got quieter towards the end of the evening, though, so if you are looking for an audience to listen, going up late is not a bad thing here, although the crowd is by then much smaller.