Tears, laughter, and a torrent of applause defined the farewell tour of Joan Manuel Serrat. Across the last eight months he has carried stories from every corner of the globe, and this week he wrapped it all up with three intimate concerts in Barcelona, the city that witnessed his very beginnings and the rise of a career that spans decades.
The farewell journey ends where it started, in the city known for its many faces and as the place where Serrat was born 78 years ago, started his professional life 58 years ago, and inspired countless songs that have traveled far beyond borders.
Since revealing a year ago that he would bow out with a ceremonial tour, fans across his homeland and beyond have awaited the final chapters of a career that touched the lives of many. The plan was sweeping: concerts across countries where friends and followers are gathered, culminating in Barcelona.
Info on the first of these final shows placed the opening date at Tuesday, December 20, with the final act scheduled for Friday, December 23. Just four days later, on the 27th, Serrat turns 79, gifting the audience one last memorable milestone on a calendar already heavy with sentiment.
It has been a year since he announced retirement, and the truth remains hard for many fans to accept: the songs that have soundtracked personal moments will no longer be performed live. The weight of that reality has not eased with time, and Serrat has acknowledged the emotional challenge of stepping away from the stage while continuing to nurture music and memory alike.
Nevertheless, the artist plans to keep walking through streets he loves, greeting friends, and perhaps composing new pieces or recording new material. He has explained that the decision to leave is not born of an inability to keep performing but of a deliberate choice to set his own expiration date on the scene.
As he noted in Madrid, the farewell is not about vanity but about control—about choosing the moment to bow out with dignity and purpose. December 23, 2022, marked more than just a date; it signaled a philosophy that his concerts would carry a spirit of optimism, asking audiences to set aside nostalgia and melancholy in favor of a cheerful farewell.
Nostalgia inevitably colored many performances, especially in Barcelona, where Serrat’s poetic lyrics and intimate melodies invite recollection. The live experience offered listeners moments that recall personal memories, with songs like Mediterráneo, Lucía, and Aquellas pequeñas cosas returning for one last time in front of a devoted crowd.
The repertoire for El vicio de cantar 1965-2022 spanned a little over twenty songs, carefully selected from a pool of around 70, shifting nightly to reflect mood and moment. Some evenings began with Dale que dale or Mi niñez and closed with Penélope or Fiesta. On Catalan dates, Serrat also introduced regional pieces such as Temps era temps or Paraules d’amor, signaling the potential for surprises in Barcelona’s listening rooms.
The tour first drew breath at the Beacon Theater in New York on April 27, where Serrat aimed for Fiesta to close the show, only to be coaxed back for an encore of Esos locos bajitos as an impassioned audience demanded more. From there the journey carried him through Miami, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Spain, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay, a voyage that sold out quickly and saw dates multiply before reaching a total of 74 concerts, with 45 in Spain alone.
Five extraordinarily moving performances included anecdotes about Serrat’s long relationship with Argentina, a city that hosted more concerts than any other. Argentina, in particular, has become a second home in the maestro’s touring map, a place where the connection with listeners has remained deep and enduring.
On the eve of his return to Barcelona, Serrat reminded audiences that his farewell concerns the stage rather than the people or the country. The love that unites fans across borders remains the thread that binds this farewell to a broader human story—an ending that preserves lifelong affection for the artist and for the songs that shaped so many lives.