“It is with great sadness that we inform you that we have just been notified by the Valencia City Council and the General Directorate of CACSA that today we cannot celebrate the second day of the Festival de les Arts.” This is the beginning of the statement released this Saturday by the organization of the Festival de les Arts, which held an eventful day yesterday at The City of Arts and Sciences of Valencia and will not take place today, June 6. The reason is that, during the first day, the festival violated the noise ordinance.
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Singer Leire Martínez interrupted her concert yesterday after protests from the audience who could barely hear her performance. The acoustic problems are caused by a dispute between the Valencia City Council and the residents, which has led to the decision to limit the volume to 85 decibels during the day and 80 at night. Martínez apologized, assured that artists are the most affected by these measures, and left the stage with her band for a few moments. Earlier, at the concerts of Karavana and Éxtasis, which were presented in other areas of the venue, the audience had already noticed the low volume. Attendees, amidst shouts, had asked for it to be louder.
Despite attendees’ complaints about low sound, the City Council has prohibited the celebration of the second day due to excessive noise on the first day. Today, Triangulo de Amor Bizarro, Two Door Cinema Club, Dorian, and Belén Aguilera were scheduled to perform.
The situation stems from a court ruling issued in March that forced the City Council to take measures to protect residents of the area from noise pollution generated by large festivals.
According to the organization, after the acoustic limits were found to be breached during the first day, the City Council and the venue management decided to prevent the celebration of the second day. The promoters state that they tried to find alternatives and apply corrective measures, but received notification of the cancellation just minutes before the doors opened. They have also announced the refund of tickets and the corresponding portion of season passes.
Knowing the sound restrictions, the festival worked to be able to hold this 2026 edition. “During this time, we have maintained two parallel lines of work. The first of these lines has been to try to keep the festival in the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, finding a balance between the rest of the residents and the celebration of the festival in the best possible conditions. To this end, we have held numerous meetings with CACSA and the Generalitat Valenciana with the aim of guaranteeing the continuity of the event in its usual location, respecting the rights of the residents and the enjoyment of our audience,” the festival states.
“The second line of work consisted of seeking alternative spaces that would ensure the celebration of the festival if this first path did not succeed, even visiting spaces such as La Marina de València or the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Cheste. This willingness to find solutions is demonstrated by the relocation of other events by our promoter, such as Love The 90’s and I Love Reggaeton, to the Estadi Ciutat de València. However, it causes us enormous sadness and frustration to see that, throughout this entire process, we have not had the opportunity to hold a meeting with the Mayor’s Office of the Valencia City Council, nor with City Council officials to jointly study possible alternatives that would guarantee the future of the festival in the city. Faced with this situation, we were forced to continue working until the end to make the celebration of Festival de les Arts viable in its usual location.”
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