And on the twentieth anniversary of its first edition, the Anti-Karaoke returns! Next Thursday, August 1 at 9 p.m. (doors open at 8:30 p.m., for 10 euros advance entry) the Sala Bóveda in Poblenou (Roc Boronat, 33) will host the regular return of this party to the night of Barcelona.

Why come back now? Arieff, missing from theater and nightlife for years, explains that she has been able to return to the ring because now she has perspective.

"I got burned-out doing Anti-Karaoke. It was physically and mentally very demanding. And I needed a break." During the pandemic, she immersed himself in Vipassana meditation and "got rid of things that were bothering me. Now I'm strong like Rocky Balboa, and I can do those karate kicks again and jump around on stage."

The AK's operation will be the same as always: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" she says. She as the master of ceremonies, and the staff who will sign up to sing any of the songs from a large list that has been renewed with 40 songs. "I have added new songs, from Tom Waits or Pixies to mega-rancid music like Camilo Sesto, which I love and have discovered here" (he says this last sentence in perfect Catalan. In fact, the entire conversation takes place in Catalan, Spanish and English at random). The move to the Bóveda room will add "a more dynamic and theatrical component, because in fact the stage is much larger than in Sidecar," he believes. The party also returns to Madrid, at the Sala El Sol, on October 9, to celebrate the venue's 45th anniversary.

There is also a component of nostalgia in the return, of course. "Look at La Paloma. It's older people dancing, but the time they dance they rejuvenate. Yes, I'm saying what all the old rockers say, but it's true," he reasons. In the impasse of AK's hiatus, from 2016 until now, we have witnessed the coronation of trap and reggaeton as new pop music, a situation for which it does not feel too fond. "A study objectively showed that a lot of current music is very boring. But rock never will be! You just have to watch videos of kids on TikTok listening to Steely Dan and they freak out!" During the pandemic, he continues, "people from northern Europe wrote to me who had only come once and there was not even singing, just an audience. And they asked me if it was still being done, and because of all this I felt that it was worth continuing."

Does the AK have a star-system? Some "very beloved ones" have died, and Arieff already has the feeling that "every day alive is a loan and we must take advantage of it." So if you return to the party, you will surely find classics like the indescribable Dani el Mutante ("Dani the Mutant"), or perhaps even the bizarre Hombre Perro ("Dog Man"): a retired camera operator from the porn industry who, when he was more than 60 years old, made his sadomasochistic fantasy come true by walking around the bars of Barcelona in a leather thong, a chain around his neck, and acting like a dog. "Well, maybe he won't show up. If he has to come on all fours to Poblenou he could hurt himself!" she laughs.

The next Anti-Karaoke sessions in the Sala Bóveda will be on September 5, October 24, November 14 and December 5.