MAZ Basauri 2026: Rufus T. Firefly and Maika Makovski on Friday, La Bien Querida and Fernando Alfaro on Saturday, and free gigs in the street

Two indoor nights at €12 and an afternoon of free gigs in the street: that is the shape of the fourteenth edition of MAZ Basauri, on Friday 6 and Saturday 7 November in Basauri (Bizkaia). Rufus T. Firefly, Maika Makovski, La Bien Querida and Fernando Alfaro play at the Social Antzokia, the town's theatre, and the rest of the programme takes to Calle Soloarte.

It is an autumn, theatre-based festival with no two-day pass, and it falls on the same weekend as Mira in Barcelona and Lion Rock in León. For anyone living in the Bilbao area, each night simply takes a day ticket and a short metro ride.

Friday 6: Rufus T. Firefly and Maika Makovski, with Reeler at 21:00

The first night opens its doors at 20:30 and gets under way at 21:00 with Reeler, winners of the main category of Rockein 2025, the band competition organised by Basauri Town Council. After them come Maika Makovski and Rufus T. Firefly, whose stage times have still not been published.

Rufus T. Firefly, the Aranjuez band of Víctor Cabezuelo and Julia Martín-Maestro, arrive with Todas las cosas buenas, their sixth album, released in 2025. It is not their first time in Basauri: the theatre recalls that in 2018 they came to MAZ as support for Sidonie, and now they return with their own name at the top of the bill. This autumn they have already played the Jardín de Invierno del Pilar in Zaragoza and are confirmed for SanSan in Benicàssim in March 2027.

Maika Makovski is celebrating twenty years in music with a live double album, recorded on 4 March 2026 at the Palau de la Música in Barcelona with guests including Christina Rosenvinge, Anni B Sweet, Howe Gelb and Mikel Erentxun. The anniversary tour visits twenty cities with her original band, and Basauri is one of them.

Saturday 7: Fernando Alfaro premieres “Convento Freak” before La Bien Querida

Saturday night opens its doors at 21:00 and kicks off at 21:30 with Fernando Alfaro, the voice of Surfin' Bichos and Chucho. He brings songs that have not yet been released: Convento Freak will be his first solo album since 2018, produced by Fernando Vacas, who plays with him in Basauri alongside Darío Garrido. The Social Antzokia is billing the concert as the first chance to hear those songs live, along with other tracks from his repertoire.

Then comes La Bien Querida, the project of Bilbao-born Ana Fernández-Villaverde, who has eight albums to her name since Romancero (2009) and released the latest, LBQ, in 2025. Her MAZ concert was scheduled for 2020 and was cancelled because of Covid, so the theatre presents it as unfinished business finally put to rest. Her stage time has not been published either.

MAZ Kalean and Txiki MAZ: the free events are on Saturday on Calle Soloarte

The non-ticketed part of the festival is concentrated on Saturday on Calle Soloarte. If it rains, the festival moves it to Plaza Solobarria, and AEMET's forecast for Basauri issued on Wednesday 4 gives very cloudy skies with light rain for Saturday, a 55% chance of precipitation and temperatures between 5 and 18 degrees: it is worth bringing a rain jacket and keeping an eye on the festival's social media in case the location changes. In the afternoon, MAZ Kalean:

• 17:30: Silkat.
• 18:30: Reeler, back again after opening Friday night at the theatre.
• 19:30: Monos, until 20:30.

In the morning, from 11:30 to 14:00, Txiki MAZ is for families: a workshop and DJ set with Juan Solo, stories set to music with Perli eta Koxkolo (Ongi etorri paradisura) and a concert by Nuria Culla at 13:15. The street programme finishes with half an hour to spare to get to the theatre, which opens at 21:00.

Tickets: €12 per night in advance and €15 on the door

There is no pass: each night at the Social Antzokia has its own ticket, at €12 plus fees in advance and €15 on the day of the concert at the box office. They are on sale through the theatre's online ticketing for Friday and for Saturday, at Kutxabank multi-service cash machines and at the theatre box office.

The theatre concerts are standing, as the seats are removed, and there is a bar serving beer, kalimotxo, water and soft drinks. There is no cloakroom, and a hand stamp lets you go in and out. As for minors, the festival website states that they can enter accompanied by a mother, father or guardian, and the Social Antzokia has an authorisation form on its website for 16- and 17-year-olds: it is worth checking it beforehand if you are going with teenagers.

What is still to be confirmed are the stage times for Maika Makovski, Rufus T. Firefly and La Bien Querida. What is certain is that they play after Reeler, on Friday at 21:00, and after Fernando Alfaro, on Saturday at 21:30. The festival's schedule page still lists them as “TBC”.

Getting to the Social Antzokia

The theatre is at Kale Nagusia, 2, in the centre of Basauri. The most direct option from Bilbao is the metro to Basauri station, Basozelai exit. You can also get there on the Renfe Cercanías Bilbao-Orduña line (Bidebieta-Basauri stop), Euskotren (Ariz stop) and Bizkaibus; by taxi, the festival estimates around 15 minutes from Moyua in light traffic.

Basauri is not the only event in the area over these weeks: the week before, BIME Live spread concerts across Bilbao, and at the end of the month Blackworks arrives at the BEC in Barakaldo. Everything else is in our listings of festivals in Bizkaia. And the series has an epilogue: on Thursday 12 November, at 18:30 and free of charge, the talk in Basque “Women and the music industry” at Marienea, co-organised by Rockein, Marienea and MAZ.

Sources: official MAZ Basauri website (schedule, tickets, artists and practical information) and concert listings at Teatro Social Antzokia, consulted on 24 October 2026; Basauri Town Council, on Rockein; MondoSonoro, 8 October 2026.