The noise battle on the coronary heart of the Bernabéu

Final 12 months, tens of 1000’s of ‘Swifties’ – Taylor Swift followers – thronged Madrid to observe back-to-back live shows on the Spanish capital’s well-known Bernabéu stadium, residence to Actual Madrid, who received Europe’s Champions League last lower than 24 hours later, on 1 June.

The mega-concert was one among dozens of high-profile gigs staged on the newly renovated stadium in 2024 to spice up the membership’s income.

However the undertaking was brief lived. In September all gigs have been cancelled after residents dwelling inside earshot of the music filed a authorized grievance over the noise.

Now, 9 months later, Spanish pop singer Aitana is the newest artist to modify venues from the Bernabéu to the Metropolitano Stadium – residence to rivals Atletico Madrid – because the court docket case rumbles on.

“In each live performance it’s precisely the identical,” says Enrique Martínez de Azagra, president of the neighbours’ affiliation. He and different locals say the sound from live shows like Taylor Swift’s has change into an excessive amount of.

“It’s inconceivable to undergo this sort of noise and it impacts our well being, it impacts migraines, insomnia and coronary heart assaults and it’s a prison offence in our legal guidelines,” provides Enrique.

In Madrid, the noise ranges measured by the neighbours exceeded 90 decibels repeatedly throughout the live shows.

Ian Marnane from the European Atmosphere Company says that in Europe any degree of 55 decibels or above is taken into account to be dangerous, and continued publicity can result in elevated blood stress and heart problems corresponding to strokes. There are additionally hyperlinks between noise publicity and diabetes.

Enrique says there’s a important distinction between the noise from the live shows in contrast with that from soccer matches. He and most of his neighbours have lived within the space for many years. Lots of them are life-long Actual Madrid supporters and are on committees that characterize the pursuits of the membership.

“Soccer is a sport that lasts two hours, kind of. The noise is regular. Solely when there’s a aim, the eagerness surges,” says Enrique. The issue he sees with the live shows is that they spew repeatedly excessive ranges of noise for lengthy durations of hours at a time.

To cut back their publicity to those excessive ranges of noise, Enrique and his neighbours took Actual Madrid to court docket.

Sports activities journalist Felippo Maria Ricci believes they’ve a powerful case.

“The Bernabéu is true within the coronary heart of Madrid. The neighbours who dwell there have good positions and know the suitable individuals,” says Felippo. “This battle for the live shows may be fairly lengthy however in the intervening time Actual Madrid is dropping this battle.”

The neighbours say the town authorities is hesitant to resolve the difficulty because it advantages from the tourism and the cash the live shows generate. Based on native media experiences, vacationers coming for the Taylor Swift live shows alone spent about €25m (£21m; $28m).

Filippo says that the £1.1bn renovation to make the stadium multi-purpose was supposed to offer an enormous monetary enhance to Actual Madrid.

In addition they signed a contract with a US firm promoting the industrial rights to the stadium.

“They spent some huge cash to develop a brand new system for the pitch, to take it off once they have the live shows,” says Filippo. “Now all this new tremendous system is sort of ineffective, in the intervening time, all that cash is gone.”

Ed Sheeran, Think about Dragons and AC/DC are among the many acts enjoying on the rival Atlético stadium this summer time.

Madrid Metropolis Council, the Mayor’s workplace and Actual Madrid haven’t responded to requests for remark by the BBC.

Actual Madrid has beforehand stated it’s attempting to sound proof the stadium. Based on native experiences the membership employed a specialist firm and home windows have been put in within the skywalk space.

Once I put to the neighbours that Actual Madrid is attempting to soundproof the stadium, they chuckled. Enrique works as an engineer and thinks it’s “fairly inconceivable to soundproof the stadium”.

Whereas the Bernabéu’s roof can shut, the stadium isn’t utterly closed, as there’s an open hole between the roof and the facade all the best way across the stadium.

The neighbours say they aren’t in opposition to all live shows.

“We have had live shows up to now, however annually,” says Pablo Baschwitz, a lawyer and one of many neighbours campaigning for change.

He remembers live shows with music legends corresponding to Frank Sinatra and Julio Iglesias on the Bernabéu – however says having 20 live shows scheduled per 12 months is simply an excessive amount of.

From the roof terrace of one of many neighbours’ flats the proximity to the stadium is apparent to see.

They level to a well being centre that they are saying struggles to precisely measure sufferers’ blood stress at instances as a result of the sound waves from the live shows disturb the readings of their machines.

Pablo says the live shows aren’t the one drawback – there are additionally rehearsals and sound checks throughout the day which disturb the area people, together with colleges.

Luis Jordana de Pozas lives proper throughout from the stadium, and a number of the noise measurements have been taken on the inside and outside of his flat.

On his terrace overlooking the Bernabéu, he explains how newly added metallic plates on the stadium’s exterior have amplified the sound, and exhibits me recorded movies of the “insufferable” noise.

In Madrid, the facades of the homes across the stadium are lined with banners. Draped from their home windows, balconies and terraces the neighbours put their protest posters on show, studying “conciertos no” (no live shows) and “ruído no” (no noise).

For now, whereas the case is in court docket, the music has stopped.

Final 12 months, tens of 1000’s of ‘Swifties’ – Taylor Swift followers – thronged Madrid to observe back-to-back live shows on the Spanish capital’s well-known Bernabéu stadium, residence to Actual Madrid, who received Europe’s Champions League last lower than 24 hours later, on 1 June.

The mega-concert was one among dozens of high-profile gigs staged on the newly renovated stadium in 2024 to spice up the membership’s income.

However the undertaking was brief lived. In September all gigs have been cancelled after residents dwelling inside earshot of the music filed a authorized grievance over the noise.

Now, 9 months later, Spanish pop singer Aitana is the newest artist to modify venues from the Bernabéu to the Metropolitano Stadium – residence to rivals Atletico Madrid – because the court docket case rumbles on.

“In each live performance it’s precisely the identical,” says Enrique Martínez de Azagra, president of the neighbours’ affiliation. He and different locals say the sound from live shows like Taylor Swift’s has change into an excessive amount of.

“It’s inconceivable to undergo this sort of noise and it impacts our well being, it impacts migraines, insomnia and coronary heart assaults and it’s a prison offence in our legal guidelines,” provides Enrique.

In Madrid, the noise ranges measured by the neighbours exceeded 90 decibels repeatedly throughout the live shows.

Ian Marnane from the European Atmosphere Company says that in Europe any degree of 55 decibels or above is taken into account to be dangerous, and continued publicity can result in elevated blood stress and heart problems corresponding to strokes. There are additionally hyperlinks between noise publicity and diabetes.

Enrique says there’s a important distinction between the noise from the live shows in contrast with that from soccer matches. He and most of his neighbours have lived within the space for many years. Lots of them are life-long Actual Madrid supporters and are on committees that characterize the pursuits of the membership.

“Soccer is a sport that lasts two hours, kind of. The noise is regular. Solely when there’s a aim, the eagerness surges,” says Enrique. The issue he sees with the live shows is that they spew repeatedly excessive ranges of noise for lengthy durations of hours at a time.

To cut back their publicity to those excessive ranges of noise, Enrique and his neighbours took Actual Madrid to court docket.

Sports activities journalist Felippo Maria Ricci believes they’ve a powerful case.

“The Bernabéu is true within the coronary heart of Madrid. The neighbours who dwell there have good positions and know the suitable individuals,” says Felippo. “This battle for the live shows may be fairly lengthy however in the intervening time Actual Madrid is dropping this battle.”

The neighbours say the town authorities is hesitant to resolve the difficulty because it advantages from the tourism and the cash the live shows generate. Based on native media experiences, vacationers coming for the Taylor Swift live shows alone spent about €25m (£21m; $28m).

Filippo says that the £1.1bn renovation to make the stadium multi-purpose was supposed to offer an enormous monetary enhance to Actual Madrid.

In addition they signed a contract with a US firm promoting the industrial rights to the stadium.

“They spent some huge cash to develop a brand new system for the pitch, to take it off once they have the live shows,” says Filippo. “Now all this new tremendous system is sort of ineffective, in the intervening time, all that cash is gone.”

Ed Sheeran, Think about Dragons and AC/DC are among the many acts enjoying on the rival Atlético stadium this summer time.

Madrid Metropolis Council, the Mayor’s workplace and Actual Madrid haven’t responded to requests for remark by the BBC.

Actual Madrid has beforehand stated it’s attempting to sound proof the stadium. Based on native experiences the membership employed a specialist firm and home windows have been put in within the skywalk space.

Once I put to the neighbours that Actual Madrid is attempting to soundproof the stadium, they chuckled. Enrique works as an engineer and thinks it’s “fairly inconceivable to soundproof the stadium”.

Whereas the Bernabéu’s roof can shut, the stadium isn’t utterly closed, as there’s an open hole between the roof and the facade all the best way across the stadium.

The neighbours say they aren’t in opposition to all live shows.

“We have had live shows up to now, however annually,” says Pablo Baschwitz, a lawyer and one of many neighbours campaigning for change.

He remembers live shows with music legends corresponding to Frank Sinatra and Julio Iglesias on the Bernabéu – however says having 20 live shows scheduled per 12 months is simply an excessive amount of.

From the roof terrace of one of many neighbours’ flats the proximity to the stadium is apparent to see.

They level to a well being centre that they are saying struggles to precisely measure sufferers’ blood stress at instances as a result of the sound waves from the live shows disturb the readings of their machines.

Pablo says the live shows aren’t the one drawback – there are additionally rehearsals and sound checks throughout the day which disturb the area people, together with colleges.

Luis Jordana de Pozas lives proper throughout from the stadium, and a number of the noise measurements have been taken on the inside and outside of his flat.

On his terrace overlooking the Bernabéu, he explains how newly added metallic plates on the stadium’s exterior have amplified the sound, and exhibits me recorded movies of the “insufferable” noise.

In Madrid, the facades of the homes across the stadium are lined with banners. Draped from their home windows, balconies and terraces the neighbours put their protest posters on show, studying “conciertos no” (no live shows) and “ruído no” (no noise).

For now, whereas the case is in court docket, the music has stopped.