“Welcome to the magical world of Shakira, one of the greatest musical events in history.” The director of the concert promoter Live Nation Spain, Pino Sagliocco, appealed to euphoria in the press meeting this Wednesday to define what is being built around the Colombian singer’s concerts in Madrid, a residency with 12 shows, between September 18 and October 11.
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The presentation was on the stage where everything will happen, which the Colombian has called Macondo Park (in reference to the place where One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez takes place), located in the Iberdrola Music space, in the Madrid neighborhood of Villaverde (south of the capital), the same place where the Mad Cool festival is held.
There was anticipation to see the jewel of this Macondo, a stadium built expressly to host the concerts. In reality, it is an amphitheater composed of three large blocks occupied by seats to accommodate 26,318 people out of the 55,000 who will attend each day. If the stands are viewed from the center of the floor, the panorama looks really striking.
The rest of the 220,000 square meters (equivalent to 30 football fields) are made up of colorful tents dedicated to various activities. This morning, staff with machinery worked intensely to have everything ready by Friday, the day of the first concert. It smelled of glue and synthetic material. Some olive trees planted in pots warned us that there were living beings in the enclosure.
Carpeted in bright colors, everything looks like a shopping center about to open. Waiting to open the doors, it is sensed that the concept of Latinidad that Shakira wants to express is based on a well-intentioned cultural concept, devoid of any social or political claim. “The important thing is that this has been done out of love,” Sagliocco summarized.
The two-hour recital by the author of Pies descalzos will form the culmination of the daily party. The doors will open every day at 3:30 p.m., and not at 12:00 p.m., as had been announced. The singer defends her proposal: “Spaniards are Latinos and Americans are Latinos, two shores of the same culture. We share language, memory, gestures, after-dinner conversations. The Atlantic, between us, ceased to be an ocean a long time ago. It is a bond.”
There will be eight pavilions dedicated to music, literature, gastronomy, fashion, music… Among so much cultural claim, the artist’s business projects sneak in, who takes advantage of the event to promote, for example, her hair beauty brand.
The singer stars in the Shakira Museum, with “objects loaned by her.” A “book club of the books that have inspired Shakira” will also be programmed.
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Relevant Spanish and Latin American chefs (one of the most involved is the Sevillian Rafa Zafra) will provide their star dishes, and the literary section will feature Rosa Montero, Lydia Cacho, or Elísabet Benavent. A “little Macondo” with activities for children will even be set up.
The concerts in the tents will also host important names of the new Spanish pop, such as Amaia or Guitarricadelafuente, capable of filling pavilions of 15,000 spectators on their own. A good opportunity also to discover live performances by artists rarely seen in Spain, such as the Argentine Louta, the Portuguese Maro, the Mexicans Santos Bravos, or the Colombian Aria Vega. Flamenco will be represented in an exclusive tent. Among others, guitarist Yerai Cortés and singer Ángeles Toledano will perform. A lot of quality on that side. After each concert (which will always be on weekends, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) the audience will be bid farewell with a show from the Barandilla Carnival Dance School. The doors will close around midnight.
Regarding neighborhood protests about noise and discomfort, already recurrent especially from Getafe even with Mad Cool, which is held in the same place, Sagliocco stated: “Everyone should be happy because we are energizing the areas of Villaverde and Getafe. Music cannot be demonized. It would be sad if music were called into question.”
The organizers avoided talking about money. “Obviously, this is a business and a lot of money has been invested,” said Javi Tomás, from Live Nation, who joined the hyperbole of the moment by defining the residency as “the greatest feat in music, carried out by the greatest artist of the moment.”
To achieve this, “10,000 workers have worked on the project over the last 16 months.” And although there are still tickets left (“residual,” according to the promoter), it is expected to sell, adding up the dozen days, 600,000 tickets. 80% will be Spaniards and Latin Americans and the rest from different parts of Europe, especially France.
Before the meeting with journalists, Shakira was visiting the place, “very attentive to the details.” The colors of Macondo will begin to be seen in 48 hours.
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