A once-in-a-lifetime experience or a public nuisance? The big debate over Shakira’s stadium in Madrid

On paper, everything is going smoothly: more than 500,000 tickets have been sold in record time, with all 11 concerts expected to be sold out. If everything goes as planned, Shakira will turn the Iberdrola Music venue—located in Madrid’s Villaverde district—into a tribute to Latin music this coming September (on the 18th, 19th, 20th, 25th, 26th, and 27th) and in October (on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, and 11th). She’ll do so in partnership with Live Nation, the promoter that owns Ticketmaster.

It is shaping up to be an unprecedented spectacle in the form of a parallel city that will host a festival open 12 hours a day, featuring food, music, and all kinds of activities. The venue will bear the most symbolic name possible for a Colombian artist: Macondo Park, a reference to Gabriel García Márquez’s novel One Hundred Years of Solitude. “These concerts will be something never seen before in Spain,” Shakira herself recently stated.

But it’s not all good news. The City Council of Getafe — a municipality of 180,000 people located just south of the Spanish capital, bordering Villaverde — and the residents of the latter district are ready to voice their objections regarding a location that, in their view, is not equipped for events of this scale. Sara Hernández, the mayor of Getafe, has requested a meeting with the promoter to ask them to “show some empathy toward Getafe.” Live Nation has confirmed to this newspaper that the meeting will take place after Easter.

This isn’t the first time Hernández, of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), has met with a promoter to raise concerns: it also happened with the Mad Cool music festival, for example. With the memory of the problems that festival brought to the town still fresh in her mind, Hernández expresses her main concern: “The number of major events has increased by 425%, rising from four to 17 confirmed days so far for 2026 at this venue.”

The mayor said she wants to learn firsthand about the mobility and security plans that the Madrid City Council has not yet provided, as well as to convey to the organizers the “serious disruption and direct impact” that she says this major event will have on the daily lives of Getafe residents.

“We ask the regional premier [of Madrid] and the mayor of the capital to empathize with Getafe. We ask them to reflect sincerely: what would you think if, less than 400 meters from your home, a concert venue for half a million attendees were set up, with streets blocked off preventing you from entering your homes or workplaces? “This venue has been built right next to our neighbors’ windows,” stated Hernández, who also demanded to be included in the committees that grant the licenses for events bordering neighborhoods in her municipality.

Residents, for their part, claim that the disruption caused by these types of events is so severe that many workers in the area are often forced to do remote work to avoid having to commute to their workplace due to the serious traffic disruptions. According to neighborhood associations, many people are forced to temporarily leave their homes during these major events to avoid the noise.

In response to the criticism, Live Nation has defended the venue’s suitability. Company officials stated a week ago at a press conference that the venue “works very well” for events like Mad Cool. “Musically, it will be the same, but it will be a global-scale event and a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” they said. They also explained that the event will be well-organized, highly secure, and will have all the necessary technical certifications. “We would never hold an event that wasn’t approved by engineers and technicians,” they concluded.

The architect in charge of the project, Agustín Pérez Torres, a partner at the BIG architecture firm, explains that the temporary stadium designed for Shakira will be a highly sustainable structure conceived to offer a Latin American experience “that goes far beyond the technical aspects.” With a capacity for 50,000 people—30,000 seated and 20,000 standing—he explains, the project will seek to represent the identity and community spirit of the Latino world, drawing inspiration from visual elements such as Shakira’s costumes and using recycled fabrics to create a space that extends the experience beyond the stands. Although it shares technical similarities with structures created for artists like Adele, Pérez emphasizes that this project is unique and far more ambitious, incorporating giant screens not yet seen in Europe that can be assembled in just two days.

Pérez also highlights the importance of minimizing disruption to residents and acknowledges that the main challenge lies in respecting and responsibly representing the Latino world authentically.

However, for now, nothing has allayed the concerns of the Getafe Norte neighborhood association, which is part of the Stop Mad Cool Platform. “All these events—just as in previous years with Mad Cool, Reggaeton, HarryStyle, and the Coca-Cola Experience, and those announced for this coming July—all permitted and subsidized by the Madrid City Council and the regional authorities of Madrid [both run by the mainstream conservative Popular Party]—have had a very negative impact on the quality of life in the area, especially in key aspects such as noise, mobility, access to homes, pollution, and parking availability,” says its spokesperson over the phone.

One of the residents’ biggest concerns is the mobility plan. At similar events, such as Mad Cool itself, the massive influx of attendees caused congestion on the roads leading into and out of the neighborhood, resulting in significant traffic jams and disruptions to normal traffic flow. “This situation effectively blocks access to garages and homes, preventing residents from entering or leaving normally, as well as the elimination of bus routes such as the 443 as it passes through the neighborhood. It also causes a parking crisis throughout the area,” the residents explain.

“We have rights enshrined in the Constitution, and a lawsuit is currently pending because noise and traffic limits have been consistently violated at every festival. Furthermore, access points have been blocked, yet events continue to be held. This isn’t just about Shakira. The Iberdrola Music Festival must be shut down,” the neighborhood association demands. The debate is on. For now, there are already 11 dates scheduled with the Colombian singer. And 500,000 tickets sold.

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