Madrid venue vetoes Arena organizer from New Year party

As things stand, there will be no New Year’s Eve party on a grand scale in Madrid. Julio Torres, the businessman who runs the municipally owned La Cubierta de Leganés, a remodeled former bullring in the southern suburb of the capital, has said he is “ready to organize a party,” as long as it has nothing to do with the promotion company behind the tragic Halloween event that claimed the lives of five young women.

Diviertt, which is owned by Miguel Ángel Flores, was behind the Halloween party that descended into chaos due to a massive oversell of tickets. Flores had planned to stage Space of Sound in the Madrid Arena, which has been closed since the tragedy, on December 31. When a change of location to La Cubierta was mooted, Leganés Mayor Jesús Gómez vowed to do everything in his power to stop the event. He asked Torres’s company, ATE, which had a “pre-agreement” with Diviertt, to provide plans for the party. Tickets have already been put on sale for the event.

Torres noted that more than 1,000 events had been held there in the past 15 years and all had been inspected by the police and received “positive feedback.” The report also stated that La Cubierta’s owners have “very strict” security measures and that tickets for the party would not exceed 10,500. The venue has a capacity of 15,000 but ATE stated it would not exceed 12,000, including staff. It is thought that capacity at Madrid Arena on November 1 rose to almost double its limit of 10,600.

“Today, no agreement has been signed for the organization of Space of Sound,” Torres said Monday.