Anger in Spain over upcoming Taylor Swift concerts at Real Madrid stadium as locals say the Bernabeu hosts too many ‘unbearably’ loud gigs ‘with poor acoustics’

Neighbors in Madrid fear the newly renovated Santiago Bernabeu football stadium will turn into an ‘event dream’, with 15 shows planned for the summer months.

The show of the season, however, will undoubtedly be Taylor Swift’s, with the Blank Space hitmaker’s performances taking place over two days later this week as she makes her next stop on the European leg of her critically acclaimed ‘Eras ​​Tour ‘.

With just a few days to go before the big show, excitement is mounting among Swifties in the Spanish capital.

But the enthusiasm is not shared among residents of the Bernabeu district, located in Madrid’s Chamartin district.

They claim that recent concerts have been unbearably loud, with some saying the noise exceeds the allowable decibels.

Local resident Patricia Barnuevo, 24, said concerts “turn out to be more harmful than expected.”

‘It means that there is a larger audience, that noise comes from the surrounding area every day and that it moves away from the roots of the stadium itself.’

‘It was built to create a community for Real Madrid fans and football supporters, and now that traditional aspect of it is being removed.’

She added that new songs are being presented due to the increased frequency of concerts at the stadium, with daytime sound checks disrupting class times for students in the surrounding schools.

Barnuevo also said that the local environment is not prepared for the magnitude of the Eras Tour phenomenon.

“People are afraid, myself included, what will happen because if a lot of people come together it could cause a lot of overcrowding.”

An X account under the username @Ruido_Bernabeu, created by a resident, claimed that an Alejandro Sanz concert earlier this month reached 84.9 decibels.

According to the Spanish news channel La Vanguardia, the limit for a residential area at night in Madrid is 50.

Also, people who attended the few concerts held at the Real Madrid Stadium so far have pointed out that the acoustics are poor.

However, Tito Ramoneda, of promoter The Project, said the Bernabeu will not generate bad acoustics.

“There’s a matter of equipment configuration, of sound concept, of the artist and band knowing what they want to sound like and quality equipment… The litmus test will be Taylor Swift. And I’m sure it will sound like a joke.’

The stadium will host more concerts after Real Madrid football club signed a 20-year deal with the Legends group and the Sixth Street investment fund in 2022 for the use of the venue as an events and leisure space, for which it will receive €360. million.

As summer predicts several stadium shows, residents are asking for a solution.

However, Barnuevo hopes that the changes made to the Bernabeu when it was renovated in 2023 will have left it well-equipped to deal with music fanatics.

“The construction that has been done is for this purpose, and change is part of this process, but hopefully residents’ concerns will be heard and our feedback taken into account.”

This comes just days after Swift’s Eras Tour in Lisbon descended into chaos on Friday when angry fans tore down a fence after waiting for hours in the sweltering heat.

It was reported that 200 fans broke through the security gates and entered the stadium, scaring the security staff.

Before the concert, huge lines of fans could be seen outside the arena due to the delay, while frustrated fans began shouting at staff, “Let us in!”

The gates were scheduled to open at 4:00 PM for those with standard tickets, but it was reported that fans would not be allowed in until 4:45 PM.

Rock band Paramore opened the concert after 7:00 PM, but the tickets stated that the show would start at 6:00 PM.

Temperatures in the stadium were also very high: 66 degrees when Taylor finally took the stage at 8 p.m.

Before the concert, security had a strict rule that no bottled water was allowed into the arena.

However, as fans had to wait for long periods in the heat, they made a last-minute change to allow water bottles into the open-roof stadium.

According to USA Today Entertainment, Taylor took the stage and did not apologize to fans for the delay or wait, and her team reportedly did not respond to an email when asked about the late start.

Instead, she thanked her fans by saying: ‘This is the first time I come to Portugal, and this is how you welcome us,

Swift returned to her £1.4 billion Eras Tour in style earlier this month as she unveiled new The Tortured Poets Department outfits on stage in Paris.