Madrid Gets Ready for Shakira: What You Need to Know Before the Concert

Madrid is about to enter Shakira season. The Colombian superstar has arrived in the capital ahead of the European finale of her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour, with 12 concerts at Iberdrola Music between September 18 and October 11.

But before the music starts, there is one thing every concertgoer should plan carefully: how to get there and, more importantly, how to get home.

With around 57,000 people expected at each show, Madrid City Council has prepared a special mobility operation for Villaverde. Traffic restrictions and limitations on parking will be in place around the venue, making the car one of the least convenient options for reaching the so-called Shakira Stadium.

Leave the car at home

If you are heading to one of the concerts, public transport is the recommended option. The volume of people expected around Iberdrola Music means that finding a parking space close to the venue will be difficult, while traffic restrictions are expected to affect the surrounding area.

Madrid is reinforcing its public transport network for the residency, including additional Metro services. Free EMT shuttle buses will also be available, particularly helping concertgoers get away from the venue after the shows.

In other words: plan the journey before arriving, allow extra time and avoid relying on a car or last-minute parking.

The dates are spread across four weekends: September 18, 19 and 20; September 25, 26 and 27; October 2, 3 and 4; and October 9, 10 and 11. Each night, approximately 57,000 people are expected to converge on Villaverde.

A stadium built for four weeks

The scale of the residency explains the extraordinary mobility operation. A temporary Shakira Stadium has been constructed inside Iberdrola Music specifically for these performances. The wider project occupies approximately 30 hectares and is expected to receive more than 600,000 visitors over the course of the residency.

The infrastructure itself has been created at remarkable speed, roughly one month and is designed to disappear once the final concert is over.

But the temporary city surrounding the stadium is part of what makes this residency different.

More than a concert

Shakira has turned her Madrid stay into a much broader cultural project with ES LATINA, a celebration bringing together music, fashion, literature, gastronomy, art and dance.

Its centrepiece, Macondo Park, takes its name from the fictional town at the heart of Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. The temporary cultural space will extend the experience beyond the concerts, creating a meeting point between Spain and Latin America.

For four weeks, Villaverde will therefore become more than the location of Shakira’s Madrid shows. It will be the temporary home of an entire cultural universe.

The essential takeaway

Going to see Shakira?

Don’t make parking your plan.

With tens of thousands of people arriving for every show and traffic restrictions around Iberdrola Music, public transport and the free EMT shuttle services will be the easiest way to navigate the residency.

Shakira is already in Madrid. The stadium is ready. Now the city is preparing for twelve nights, and one very busy journey home

Words: @annaamaso