On July 3, 2018, after overcoming vocal problems, Shakira performed at the then Wizink Center in Madrid. "Many times I thought I would never sing in public again," said the Colombian in front of 14,000 people. And the singer's fear almost became a premonition. At least in Spain. The singer from Barranquilla has never returned to perform in the capital since that night. Nor in Spain since she closed her two nights at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona three days later. Eight years that are about to end.
Shakira is back in Madrid, and it's nothing like 2018. Those 14,000 spectators will turn into around 650,000, with the construction of a stadium and a whole theme park dedicated to the artist, her origins, and Latin and Colombian cultures. The 12 concerts that will take place at the Espacio Iberdrola in the Madrid neighborhood of Villaverde over four weekends between September 18 and October 11 are the centerpiece of a complex designed to attract Latin audiences from all over Europe and across the Atlantic to a region that already has over a million residents from South America. One in seven Madrid residents was born on the other side of the ocean, and their numbers will increase over the next month.
The only chance to see the Colombian singer in Europe as part of her Women Don't Cry Anymore tour will be in Madrid. The 81% of the audience coming to Shakira's city, described by Live Nation's president in Spain, Pino Sagliocco, as a "musical Disneyworld," will be Europeans, mostly Spaniards, with 3% French, 2% British, and 1% Italian. This doesn't mean that those counted as Europeans don't have Latin American roots. And an additional 19% of the audience will travel across the Atlantic to attend the Colombian's shows.
For this occasion, a temporary stadium has been built to accommodate around 55,000 people - with some tickets still available after a recent capacity expansion - each night, featuring a wraparound screen brought directly from China. This is the starting point of a residency that also includes a theme park, Macondo Park, inspired by Gabriel García Márquez's literary universe, centered around the singer. Covering 220,000 square meters - 22 hectares - it will host a gastronomic space, an immersive museum, a fashion pavilion, a fan zone, book clubs, Macondito for children, flamenco performances by Yerai Cortés or Ángeles Toledano, and a second stage for Shakira's opening acts. Performers will include Amaia, Nathy Peluso, Guitarricadelafuente, Lia Kali, Louta, Maro, Santos Bravos, and emerging projects like Izatkm, J Noa, Nico, or Yapi.
"Madrid is Latin. Spain is Latin, there is no other place in the world where a site like this could be conceived. Here we want to celebrate the joy of living, and you will have 12 hours to do so. [...] From Friday onwards, Colombian, Mexican, Peruvian, Argentinean, Uruguayan, Brazilian, Portuguese, Italian, and English will be spoken here," highlighted Sagliocco during a press visit. Meanwhile, the final touches were being put on a space that will open its doors at 3:30 p.m., start its parallel activities at 4:00 p.m., feature Shakira's performance from 8:30 to 11:00 p.m., and close at 12:15 a.m. each night with a performance by a Barranquilla Carnival band as a farewell to the audience. According to the event organizers, these schedules could still be adjusted over the days to reach the initially announced 12 hours of activities.
Among them, a book club sponsored by Penguin Random House will discuss six books: One Hundred Years of Solitude (September 18-19) and Love in the Time of Cholera (September 20) by Gabriel García Márquez; A Good Girl by Elísabet Benavent (September 25-27); A Modern Family (October 2-4) by Julia Navarro; Women Who Run with the Wolves (October 9) by Clarissa Pinkola Estés, and I Love Myself, I Love You. A Guide to Developing Healthy Relationships (October 10-11) by María Esclapez. The Shakira Museum, sponsored by Amazon Music, will combine physical exhibitions with music and interactive technology to showcase the singer's history with her most iconic looks, vinyl records, awards, and key moments in her career.
The artists who will accompany Shakira during her 12 nights in Madrid have not been revealed yet, but names like Alejandro Sanz, born in the capital and Shakira's partner in the hit song "La Tortura," seem likely to appear. Her compatriot Maluma, with whom she will release their fourth song together, "Agua," is another rumored guest. The setlist for Shakira's performances has not been made public yet. Changes are expected compared to the setlist she has used in her Latin American tour, with songs like "Te Dejo Madrid" likely to be included. So far, the singer from Barranquilla has been mixing songs from all her stages and closing the shows with "Women Don't Cry Anymore," the song with Bizarrap that gives its name to this tour.
The influx of people from outside Madrid and Spain will have an economic impact on the capital. According to estimates provided by the organizers to Madrid institutions, this impact will be around 150 million euros, particularly affecting accommodation, restaurants, transportation, commerce, and entertainment. Other calculations reduce this figure to 100 million. According to Booking, accommodation searches in the region have increased by 56% compared to the same period last year. SiteMinder platform reports a 15% rise in hotel booking demand and nearly a 20% increase in room prices. Flight demand has surged by over 72% for passengers from Europe, with confirmed bookings growing by almost 84%, according to data from Kiwi.com.