It’s half five in the morning in late November and winter has arrived in London. Striding stridently against the icy winds towards Kings Cross station, my enthusiasm for such an early awakening is driven by the prospect of a weekend in more prosperous conditions. A train ride later and I’m dragging my feet through Gatwick customs, rubbing my eyes to pick out the gate number of the eight-something flight to the northern Spanish city of Bilbao. The sun is rising behind the darkened clouds as I leave the ground and float across France towards my destination at the heart of Basque Country.

The reason for my visit? There’s a few. The food, for one, promises to be a delectable mingling of the traditional and the avant-garde, with multiple Michelin Star restaurants on the menu across the next few days. Then there’s the art and the fashion, which I’ll be consuming myself deep within. The climax though, will come with a visit to the Bizkaia Arena for a sold-out night of pure vibrance and heady antics—elrow are in town. The 2010-founded Spanish party-starting company have become a totemic force in flamboyant hedonism; their iconic events pop up across the globe, take over festivals like Boomtown, and steer the helm towards a brighter future for nightlife in Spain and further afield. So, with an hour’s shut-eye on the plane and an array of colourful cords ready to captivate the locals into double-takes, I prepare to take in some culture.

Better weather, ay? Hardly. Bilbao greets me with a tempestuous drizzle as I find my hosts at the airport and head straight for a mouth-watering visit to a triple Michelin Star restaurant. The car ride is hilly but not long, and I take in the stunning mountainous scenery, peering beyond the blustery conditions into valleys of staggering natural eminence. We arrive at Azurmendi, our culinary muse for the afternoon, and are met by Pilar Lejero, the establishment’s visionary chef who recently was awarded the prize of best young chef in Spain, and is the protégé of the restaurant’s much admired founder, Patron Eneko Atza.

The doors are not yet open to the public for lunch, but we enter and head to a relaxed area for a conversation with Lejero whilst operatic music gently hums in the background. The building’s architecture is dazzlingly contemporary, with naturalistic light and minimalist interior, a broad reflection of Azurmendi’s ideological presence. The restaurant was first opened in 2005, and, as an “imperfect machine,” is consistently aiming to improve not only their food but also their environmental credo. During our 45 minutes or so together, which is translated and relayed back, the significant impact that Azurmendi has on modern Basque cooking and the wider Spanish culinary landscape is made apparent. It’s a viral spot, with over 100,000 followers on Instagram, and the team use their notoriety to help small local food producers. They adapt their menus to fit with what is in season—which is more erratic than ever with the quickly evolving climate crisis—and support the specific products grown in the region with their versatile dishes.

50% of the energy that Azurmendi uses comes from the solar panels on their roof, they use lemon shells to make decorative flowers, they create recycled soap…you could go on. Their engagement with environmental matters is outstanding, and much of the Basque community has followed suit in putting sustainability at the core of their cooking. They don’t claim to be trailblazers of such a movement, but their commitment and detail is a paradigm of what modern hospitality should be. And as for the impressive Lojero, she, inspired by her lineage and by her travels, leads a comprehensive team of mainly men, and marks a generational shift as one of the region’s key chefs.

It’s not just about the food, Azurmendi is an experience. And after the enlightening chat, I’m given the opportunity to see what all the fuss is about. Beginning with ‘Picnic De Bienvenida’—a spritely glass of vino and a dreamy set of amuse-bouches decorated in a picnic basket—we move into the kitchen itself for ‘La Mesa De La Cocina’, an assortment of out-there appetisers explained by one of the restaurants’ aimiable chefs. ‘El Jardin’ ensues, which is a trip to their floral-inspired room for an incredibly intriguing—for multiple senses—set of soupçons. Then, after an extensive tour through culinary and visual delights, we sit down for the lunch itself—if you can call it that. What follows is a sprawling and never-ending array of spectacular courses; breads, seafoods, salads, pasta, chocolate, ice cream and plenty of caviar, all far more experimental and gracious than my description does justice to, and accompanied by outstanding and eclectic wine-pairings. Extravagant yet refined, ultra-modernist but rooted in tradition, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever had the pleasure to partake in. I’d always found the idea of a restaurant being an ‘experience’ to be overtly pedantic, but here I’ve well and truly been made to eat my words. If you’ll pardon the pun.

Very full and more then a tad woozy, it’s time for a floaty car ride into Bilbao’s crux for a visit and guided tour of Alhondiga, a cultural and leisure hub designed by French visionary Philippe Starck in collaboration with Thibaut Mathieu. Our friendly tour guide walks us through an exhibition that includes KILMA, a cross-discipline work from leading contemporary art figures Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla that intersects sculpture, performance, video, audio and photography. We then pop in for a visit with brand H05, whose adaptable and utterly unique pieces blur trend and gender, and lead the undergrowth of Bilbao’s quietly flourishing fashion circumference.

It’s then back to the hotel to check in and freshen up, before heading out for some sangrias. The streets of Bilbao are littered with locals who crowd outside of homely bars, full of song and merriment. Despite eating my weight in fish eggs at lunch, I find room to munch on some wonderful octopus and black rice from an unassuming local restaurant. Fed and very watered, I hit the hay.

An early awakening the next day to enjoy the tasty continental breakfast makes way for a behind the scene glimpse of the setting for tonight’s festivities. The Bizkaia Arena is some way outside of Bilbao’s centre, and is a titanic, modern build big enough to hold 10,000 people. Sauntering in, I find construction well underway for tonight’s antics, with structures being erected, trapeze artists practising their routines high above the ground, and elrow’s co-founder Juan Arnau inspecting his temporary opus.

Juan and his sister Cruz founded elrow in 2010, the 40-year-old tells me as we nestle down in a quiet corner for a tête à tête. But the family’s party-starting legacy begets some years prior—160 or so, in fact. “My sister and I are the sixth generation,” he says. “My great, great grandfather started selling wine and taking cabaret girls from town to town. Since then we have seen the evolution of music, so it’s been an interesting journey. My parents introduced electronic music in Spain alongside the [Barcelona-based electronic music festival] Sonar guys. They would drive around Europe convincing famous DJs to play in Spain. We have the oldest club in Spain, Florida 135, which is the biggest techno club for 4000 people which has been open since 1942. For the last 65 years, my parents have been involved there three times a week every week. And they told us—this business is challenging, it’s complicated, it’s really hard to have a family. So in our case, our parents didn’t want us to be involved in this business as they know how difficult it can be.”

But for Juan and Cruz, who had not known anything but the highs and lows of nightlife, a career following suit was in their “blood.” What started as a local events company has traversed into one of the biggest dynasties of hedonism that Europe has ever seen. In 2018 they became global, and in 2019 threw 135 shows in 40 countries, despite some of those not recuperating profit, with the intention of building worldwide reputation. The risk paid off, and now the strategy has altered, with a milder 65 shows put on this year. But it’s still been their most successful year in terms of tickets sold; a measure of elrow’s metamorphosis. “Now the strategy is different because the brand is more well known globally so we are doing less shows but bigger. So it’s more exclusive and the complexity of the shows now is heavier than before, and when we do a show it’s more expensive—containers, materials, the team.”

And the crew for tonight’s extravaganza is a show of their growth, with 44 actors, 31 clowns, four puppets and one Txalaparta (a traditional Basque instrument) all required for the evening’s antics. I wonder what’s in store for the event; since 2018, elrow have worked alongside contemporary artists to effectively bring their worlds into physical reality, and tonight’s show is Kaos Garden, a collaboration with lauded Spanish artist and sculptor Okuda San Miguel. It’s a terrific cross-discipline notion, apropos for this epoch of creative liberalism, and a celebration of art, expression and electronic music, with elrow curating a line up in coalescence with the experience that will see the likes of Andres Campo and Ilario Alicante spin sets. “It needs to be uplifting,” Juan offers on the musical curation. “Elrow is not here to teach someone what to listen to, it’s here to give people fun.” Juan says. “That’s my mission—when people enter into elrow parties, I want them to be creatively impressed, but I want them to feel a part of the show, to have fun, disconnect, switch off from your problems. With the music and the artist, the journey and the narrative of the story has to work for everyone.”

Challenges, especially in the years that have followed the pandemic and with the continued dominance of socialising online, come thick and fast for the events industry. Yet for Juan and elrow—whose triad of tenets are to “transgress, surprise and innovate”— listening to the customer whilst manifesting their own sui generis is paramount to the continuance of their prosperity. “One thing I learnt from my grandfather,” Juan says before trotting off to aid in preparations. “Is that trend that keeps changing, and we are no one to judge. There is no wrong or right. You have to take them and evolve with them if you want to survive. That’s how we have survived for 160 years. You have to adapt and you have to see what they are going to want in the next three to five years. You try to offer them what they are going to love.”

Leaving the venue—for the time being—I’m whisked off to the workspace of my new favourite brand, H05, to find out some more about their origin story. The company is seven years old, began with the key figureheads meeting as university, and is a trans-disciplinary sanctum of fashion, ceramics design and sustainability. They see their clothes and accessories as more than a singular item—pieces can be worn in various different styles, as a dress, top and trouser for instance, and there’s an open workshop available for the local community to come and witness the making of the ethically produced products firsthand. As unique as any hybrid store I’ve seen, I’m in complete awe, but have to bring myself quickly to my senses for the next new companion.

Verde Prato, an experimental folk artist from a nearby town Saint Sebastian, joins us for lunch. She’s an intriguing, rich character and a cutting-edge creator, whose musical background lies on the local band circuit, until being encouraged to pursue a solo artistic identity. She sings in her native tongue; the local Basque dialect which was only made an official vernacular in the 1970s. It is “a special language,” she feels. “We have very different Basque dialects, and I think you can feel free when you’re writing in Basque.” An oscillation of traditional Basque folk with grainy synth-led electronica, her sonic approach is off-kilter and oddly endearing, concocted through a self-defined “very chaotic” process. Prato’s sophomore EP, “Adoretua” released in 2023’s spring, is paragon to her appeal; a hazy, imperfect and emotionally searing work, and well worth checking out below…

Lunch is a symphony of flavours once again. This time, Waman are the hosts; a highly revered staple of Bilbao’s culinary zeitgeist. An amalgamation of Basque ingredients and Peruvian cooking, the multi-layered taster menu is full of boundary pushing textures and idiosyncratic flavours, with more fine wine to steady the ship. From Waman’s, it’s back to the hotel for some rest, and a period of free time that stretches across the afternoon and into the evening, when I’ll be off to elrow’s bonanza. So, what to do with my time alone in Bilbao? Visit the legendary Guggenheim Museum? The Museum of Fine Art? Or be so adventurous as to trek an hour to the beach?

I’m drinking a pint in Pub Molly Malone, a friendly Irish watering hole, and watching Tottenham beat Manchester City 4-0. Evening well spent if you ask me.

Fast forward a few hours, and elrow awaits. The Bizkaia Arena is a hell of a lot busier than it was 10 or so hours ago, with thousands of partygoers transfixed in delirium. The place is a Tumblr-wet-dream of acid-house euphoria; gaudy maximalism surrounds and engrosses, with inflatable toys, scripted actors, flashy light shows, thumping bass drums and Okuda’s animated artwork plastered all over the walls. It’s the kind of place that brings out your inner child…until you’re handed a shot of vodka.

I’m no lover of clubbing, but I do enjoy my time there overall, lasting around three hours before sneaking off back to the hotel. The music is affable but not overly engaging, as Juan told me it would be. The crowd are giddy throughout though, and the timbre is unique and kaleidoscopic. To me, a reclusive renaissance man, the whole thing brings a glorious emptiness with it. But to the masses, this is life at its most vivid. And the masses are what keeps the lights on, right?

The next morning, I’m packing my toothbrush and heading back to the airport with a heavy head but a light conscience. Although Bilbao is a city I hadn’t put too much thought into visiting before this trip, I’m immensely glad that I had the opportunity to. Its gorgeous architecture, stunning cuisine and diverse creative culture are up there with the best in Europe, and the Basque community and their individuality has been a joy to learn about. As for elrow, they’ll continue on their quest to lead the nightlife industry towards calmer shores, with huge augmentations planned in 2026 in Ibiza specifically—watch this space. For now, Juan and his team will go on transgressing, innovating and surprising. “I don’t have the secret, I don’t have the magic formula,” his words from the day before ring through my thoughts as I board my flight back to London’s inclemency. “It’s just a matter of testing and trying.”