History music show: worth it?

The short answer

Yes, if you want one large, colourful evening for a mixed group. The show is a stage production with a cast of singers, musicians, dancers and acrobats, costume changes and an audiovisual montage, set in an auditorium on Avenida de las Américas. It is not a concert by one band, not a dinner show and not a late-night club act. The booking page rates it 4.7 from 983 reviews and says all ages can attend. The sections below cover the details that decide it: children, seats, dates and what the ticket leaves out.

The setting: a resort built for visitors

To see why a large stage show sits in this corner of Tenerife, look at the place. Wikipedia describes Playa de las Américas as a purpose-built holiday resort, built in the 1960s a few miles from the fishing village of Los Cristianos. The Arona municipality around it had about 2,000 people in 1901, lived mostly from fishing and farming, and now counts tourism as its largest employer. A venue that hosts shows for visitors, and for residents too, fits that history.

What the show is

Turismo de Tenerife, the island's tourism board, describes History as a trip through time that recreates the most climactic moments in the history of music, with classic and contemporary choreography, well-known film scores and popular songs from Broadway musicals. It says thirty performers from as many as fifteen countries take part. The booking page goes further and bills the show as the biggest in the Canary Islands, which is the promoter's description and not something this guide can confirm. The page adds the line The Evolution of Music to the title.

What you see and hear

Per the booking page, the show runs from the Middle Ages to today, and it names Mozart, Beethoven, Caruso, Elvis, the Beatles, Queen, Abba and Pink Floyd, with film and Broadway music. Turismo de Tenerife's page lists most of the same names. Treat the names as an outline of the evening rather than a setlist: programmes change between seasons and no piece is promised on a given night. The guide to the eras says what each name stands for.

• The Middle Ages and chant
• Mozart and Beethoven
• Caruso and the opera voice
• Elvis and rock and roll
• The Beatles, Queen, Abba and Pink Floyd
• Film scores and Broadway songs

Read next: The eras in the music show

Is it good for children?

The booking page says all ages can attend, and Turismo de Tenerife's events page shows a separate children's ticket category. That makes it an easy family choice in the south resorts. Two practical points matter more than the age label. The show is listed at two and a half hours, which is long for under-fives at the end of a day in the sun, and some reviewers mention queues for seats. Arrive early, plan the walk or ride home, and look at the age options in the calendar before you pay.

A late evening with children

A show of two and a half hours is a big ask for a young child, so it helps to plan the day around it. Keep the afternoon quiet, feed everyone before you go, and bring whatever helps your child settle in a seat. Older children and teenagers, who will know some of the songs, are the audience the music-history format suits best. If your child tires easily, sitting near an aisle may help, which is another reason to arrive early.

What the reviews say

The booking page's 4.7 comes from 983 reviews, and its value-for-money score is also 4.7 out of 5. Reviews describe a talented cast, music from several decades and strong choreography. The complaints are practical, not artistic: some guests wish the seats were allocated, which would cut the queues, and some mention sightlines. If your party cares about sitting together, arrival time matters more than anything else you can control. Read the pattern, not one review: praise tends to be about the cast, the costumes and the choreography, and criticism tends to be about queues and sightlines. Both are things you can plan around by arriving early and checking the booking page for your date.

What the booking page lists

Four terms matter most before you pay. The show is listed at two and a half hours. Its page says all ages can attend and lists wheelchair access. The ticket is for entry only, with no food or drinks. And cancelling is free if you do it at least 24 hours before the show. Read each of them again on the booking page for your date, because that page, not this guide, is where the current terms for your booking are set.

What the ticket leaves out

What the ticket buys is entry to the show. It carries no food or drink, so plan dinner before or after. The Pirámide de Arona stands in the Mare Nostrum Resort area of Playa de las Américas, which Wikipedia describes as a purpose-built resort with bars, nightclubs, restaurants and attractions, so eating nearby is not hard. Getting to and from the venue is up to you as well, and the guide to getting there covers buses, taxis and walking.

Read next: Getting to the Pirámide de Arona

Dates: check before you plan

The show pauses at times and does not run every night. Event listings for an earlier season gave specific dates rather than a nightly run, so dates change between seasons. Do not build a holiday around a night you have not checked. Open the booking calendar for the dates you can travel, pick the one that suits, then arrange the other days around that date. If nothing fits your dates, the Teide sunset trip is the other big evening on the island. If you are flexible, two or three candidate dates give you the best chance of a seat, and the calendar will show which are open.

Read next: Music show or Teide at sunset?

The venue

The Pirámide de Arona is listed on Avenida de las Américas in Playa de las Américas, in the Arona municipality. Hello Canary Islands calls it a hall that hosts events, exhibitions and shows, with the latest audiovisual technology, and the conference organiser EuChemS lists it within the Mare Nostrum Resort, at the Cleopatra Palace Hotel. Sources disagree on the seating capacity, so this guide gives none. The show is listed as wheelchair accessible.

How it compares with other evenings

A music-history show is a different evening from a dinner show, where a meal is the centre, and from a concert, where one act plays one programme. Here the cast changes costume and style as the story moves through the eras, and the ticket is for the seat and the show alone. Next to a night on the volcano, it trades a night sky for a roof and a seat, which many families will prefer.

Read next: Music show or Teide at sunset?

Who this isn't for

Look elsewhere if you want a dinner show, because food and drinks are extra. It is not a concert in one genre, and it is not a quiet evening: a cast of this size with amplified music and costumes is built to be bright and loud. Anyone who needs a particular seat position should read the voucher and arrive early. If you would rather spend the evening outdoors under a night sky, the Teide trip suits you better.

Read next: Music show or Teide at sunset?

Who it suits

Families with school-age children, groups of friends with mixed music tastes, couples who want an easy evening that needs no planning beyond a ticket, and parties with a wide age range, since the music runs from the Middle Ages to rock and film themes. It also suits visitors staying in the southern resorts who want something in the evening that is close to their hotel and sits indoors. It is also a reasonable fallback when the weather turns, because the show is indoors and does not depend on the sky.

Booking

Open the calendar on the booking page to see open dates, then pick the one that fits. Free cancellation applies on the booking page until a day before the show. Your voucher carries the entry steps and the start time, so have it on your phone at the door. Check the age options for each member of the party before you pay, and keep the confirmation with the voucher so that it is easy to find at the door.