People living next to Santiago Bernabéu venue say gigs – including those by Taylor Swift – are ruining their lives and are taking action

People living next to Santiago Bernabéu venue say gigs – including those by Taylor Swift – are ruining their lives and are taking action.

Although best known for the past eight decades as the home of Real Madrid, the ground, which has just undergone a five-year, €900m (£756m) refurbishment, has over the past four months been hosting a series of high-profile concerts.

If the gigs have helped put the Bernabéu on the map with visiting singers such as Taylor Swift, Luis Miguel and, for four consecutive nights this week, the Colombian star Karol G, they have driven local residents to despair. Some have taken to referring to the stadium as a torturódromo, or torture-drome.

Fed up with decibels far exceeding legal levels, fans camping out in parks, drunk people urinating in doorways and the blocking off of residential roads, an association representing those living around the Bernabéu in the Chamartín neighbourhood is taking legal action against those responsible, including Madrid city council.

“It’s just hideous – you can’t move your car, you can’t take the dog out, and you’re having to prepare yourself mentally because it’s awful,” says De Pontevès. “It also creates health problems – lots of us are suffering from more frequent headaches, stress, anxiety and depression.”

  • @[email protected]English
    20•4 months ago

    The solution is obvious, but there must be some money changing hands unseen to prevent it from happening

    • @[email protected]English
      2•3 months ago

      You’re pointing at two separate la Liga team’s home stadiums though. And as the article said, the Santiago bernabeu has been there 80 years. Two derby rivals sharing a stadium is beyond unthinkable, especially with two of the three biggest teams in Spain. They also need a place to train every single day. And the games often happen at the same time, across town.

      This is a new problem since the refurbishment. The problem isn’t the location. The problem is the concerts. These locals haven’t been complaining about the football fans because they’re all almost certainly part of that group. But not everyone wants to see concerts or listen to them through their apartment walls.