The Iberdrola Music in Villaverde will host six Shakira concerts next September. The installation of a temporary stadium – the “Shakira Stadium” – is planned, with a size of four hectares and capacity for about 50,000 people (20,000 on the track and 30,000 in the stands).
The Government Delegate in Madrid, Francisco Martín, has asked the mayor of the capital, José Luis Martínez Almeida, not to authorize massive events in this space “as long as the adequate conditions of accessibility, mobility and safety that a city like Madrid must guarantee to those who attend these types of shows.” The Delegate has been requesting this for some time due to “recent precedents” that motivate us to advise against “the use of this space for events with massive influx of public.”
It asks for “responsibility” from the city council, from whom it demands that either mobility, access and security in the space be improved or its transfer to other locations where the safety of attendees can be guaranteed. “Ayuso and Almeida have to take the safety of those attending large events in the Community of Madrid very seriously. It cannot be that they are now facilitating that in a space like Iberdrola Music, where they themselves said no fan phenomenon events could be held, now a series of concerts that have exactly those characteristics will be able to be held,” Martín said in an audio sent to the media. “They themselves recognized, after the mobility and security problems recorded at Mad Cool and at the Harry Styles concert,” that this space was not prepared for such events.
The letter points out that, despite admitting knowledge about this, there has not been “much more determined action on your part to prevent us from facing the same problems again.” It also points out that “in the institutional meeting held in 2024 at the Government Delegation”, administrations and organizations involved confirmed that “relevant deficiencies” continued to exist in terms of accessibility, mobility and organization of entry and exit flows, incompatible with the celebration of large events in safe conditions.”
The Government Delegate concedes that, in his opinion, it is also important that Madrid, as a “reference capital”, maintains its position as the venue for major musical events; but that it is “precisely for this same reason” that “these meetings must take place in spaces that offer sufficient guarantees,” with security conditions “at the level of a major European capital.”
It does not call, however, to move the event, since it indicates that it still exists. time frame to “implement improvement measures” in order to ensure adequate access, orderly mobility and, in general, satisfactory security conditions. “With time in between,” he requests “to condition the Iberdrola Music if they want to hold these events there,” proposing that, if this cannot be carried out, the concerts be moved to other spaces in the city “that are enabled to hold events in safe conditions such as those that all attendees deserve.”
According to Francisco Martín, “nothing has changed” at the Iberdrola Music in Villaverde since that Harry Styles concert that, in 2023, ended up resulting in risk and chaos situations for attendees when leaving the venue. “Crossing a garbage dump, a police horse on the ground, 0 control at the entrance, little security, 0 visibility, the M-45 collapsed by cars parked in the ditch,” he described in a tweet an assistant. Another user seconded it: “There was tides of people walking in every direction and pushing” trying to find a way to get out of the place.
A man, father of an assistant, then recounted in The World how “the girls” had “crowded next to the road” when leaving the event, so, in his opinion, the fact that no accidents occurred was “a miracle.” Marconi’s neighbors described a similar situation: “Everything is blocked, there is people walking anywhere putting their lives at risk. We are so shocked that we have no words,” described one neighbor. “There is a tremendous mess,” said another, who also saw clearly that “those responsible for moving this concert to this area must reflect and think about the one they have formed. This space is not prepared for an event of this magnitude”.
Since that concert, several editions of Mad Cool have been held at this venue. It is because of this that Borja Carabante – the delegate of Urban Planning, Mobility and Environment of the City Council – maintains that the space “is viable”: “The infrastructure and mobility, “The venue has extraordinary quality to be able to host this type of concert,” he told the media.
