Spanish rapper sells out Madrid stadium in presale
Spanish artist Dellafuente has sold out a one-off show at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium just in the presale.
The trap star reportedly shifted all 75,000 tickets within an hour for the 15 November date, organised by promoter and music management company MAAS to celebrate Dellafuente’s decade in the music industry.
Affordable ticket prices of €32-65 have been credited for helping make the Granada-born singer-songwriter the first domestic independent artist to sell out the recently renovated home of the UEFA Champions League holders. The concert will be Dellafuente’s only remaining concert of 2024.
Real name Pablo Enoc Bayo, the 32-year-old previously sold out three shows at Granada Sports Palace in 2022 and two nights at Madrid’s WiZink Center in 2023, where he was joined by fellow Spanish rapper Morad. He also attracted 15,000 people to a secret free gig on Granada’s Explanada del Paseo del Salón last month.
The Bernabéu will also welcome Karol G from 20-23 July, with the Latin superstar becoming the first artist to fully sell out four consecutive nights at the Spanish stadium.
“We have been working discreetly, but continuously, with Real Madrid to reach an agreement that allows us to reduce the noise”
Earlier this summer, it hosted two nights of Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, as well as shows by Luis Miguel, Duki, Manuel Carrasco and Vintage Culture.
However, Público reports that all major concerts at the stadium held up to the end of May had exceeded noise limits set by municipal regulations, leaving promoters facing fines of up to €20,000 in the most serious cases.
Following protests by local residents, Real Madrid and the city council reached an agreement in June to install noise barriers and limit the number of concerts at the venue to 20 per year.
“Measures had to be taken to guarantee the residents’ rest and peace of mind,” said Madrid mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida. “The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium is also important for everything it can contribute to the city of Madrid. We have been working discreetly, but continuously, with Real Madrid to reach an agreement that allows us to reduce the noise.”
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Barcelona-Madrid rivalry extends to live music
The famous football rivalry between La Liga giants Barcelona and Real Madrid is spilling over into international touring following the refurbishment of the latter’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
Home of the 14 times European champions, the Bernabéu (cap. 65,000 for concerts) reopened for music bookings last year following an extensive renovation. It will host the sole Spanish date of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour on 30 May and three nights with Karol G from 20-22 July, as well as performances by Duki, Manuel Carrasco, Luis Miguel (two shows) and Aitana.
The venue has both a retractable roof and pitch – enabling it to stage live music shows all-year-round (the Aitana show is scheduled for 28 December).
Elsewhere, Civitas Metropolitan Stadium – home ground of Real’s city neighbours Atlético Madrid – has three upcoming shows by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and two concerts by Metallica, plus dates with Estopa and Morat, bringing the number of stadium gigs in the Spanish capital in 2024 to an unprecedented 16.
FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou is currently out of action due to renovation, with work expected to be completed in 2026. However, the club’s temporary home – the city’s 56,000-cap Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys – attracted nine concerts in 2023, including the likes of Coldplay, Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé and Madonna. It has four shows announced for 2024: Springsteen (two nights), Rammstein and Estopa.
Nouvelles du Monde notes that Barcelona’s proximity to the French border has traditionally boosted tourism, but Madrid now benefits from its peninsular centrality.
“Madrid is becoming more competitive, and even more so this year with Barça at the Estadi”
“Madrid is becoming more competitive, and even more so this year with Barça at the Estadi,” Live Nation Spain president Pino Sagliocco tells the publication, while Tito Ramoneda, president of The Project, declares “a new era begins”.
Doctor Music’s Neo Sala, however, notes that although the Madrid stadiums have “much improved their infrastructures”, that is “not decisive for international tours, in which other factors must be taken into account account: geographical, strategic and technical”.
The Bernabéu hired former Live Nation Spain partnerships director Rocio Vallejo-Nágera in 2023 as head of large events and concerts.
“We are treating it like a new stadium,” she told IQ last year. “Up until now, there have been some concerts here – Bruce Springsteen in 2016 and the Rolling Stones in 2014 – but it hasn’t really been a big thing to do at the Bernabeu. It wasn’t built for football, not music, because the production tunnels were too narrow, etc. So we’ve changed that, and that’s why I’m here.
“I think in the past 10 years, Madrid has become one of the main cities for global tours. Some years ago, maybe Barcelona was a little bit more blooming, but I think Madrid is taking its place in the international touring agenda as a main place to visit.”
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Real Madrid’s Bernabéu reopening for live music
Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium is “open for business” for live music bookings as its extensive renovation nears completion.
Former Live Nation Spain partnerships director Rocio Vallejo-Nágera came on board last month as the European football giants’ head of large events and concerts. She will oversee the opening of the newly refurbished venue, which has been operating at reduced capacity, before the end of the year.
Speaking to IQ, Vallejo-Nágera says the four-year project will be finished by December, with an official reopening event planned for the end of 2023. The stadium will have both a retractable roof and pitch – enabling it to stage live music shows all-year-round – while its capacity for concerts will be around 65,000.
“We are treating it like a new stadium,” she says. “Up until now, there have been some concerts here – Bruce Springsteen in 2016 and the Rolling Stones in 2014 – but it hasn’t really been a big thing to do at the Bernabeu. It wasn’t built for football, not music, because the production tunnels were too narrow, etc. So we’ve changed that, and that’s why I’m here. We’re open for business”
Vallejo-Nágera, who will be a panellist for ILMC’s The View from the Top panel at 2pm on Thursday 2 March, worked on projects such as Ballantine’s True Music Festival and Joker Festival, Dcode Festival, Download Madrid and Elrow Town during her time at Live Nation.
“In the past 10 years, Madrid has become one of the main cities for global tours”
“Because I come from the music industry, all the Spanish promoters already know me,” she says. “We’re already working on dates for 2024, so it’s super-exciting.
“The stadium is going to be unique and very special. Since it’s a retractable pitch, we can do concerts every other week when we don’t have in-house [football] matches. We can have a match on a Sunday and then have a concert just a few days later. Of course we have to respect the football calendar, but apart from that there is no limit. Madrid is in a great place at the moment.”
The Spanish capital is also home to the Metropolitano Stadium, home to Real’s local rivals Atletico Madrid, and Vallejo-Nágera says the city boasts a thriving live music scene.
“I think in the past 10 years, Madrid has become one of the main cities for global tours,” she says. “Some years ago, maybe Barcelona was a little bit more blooming, but I think Madrid is taking its place in the international touring agenda as a main place to visit.
“Maybe before, Spain was a country you could leave out of a global tour, but you wouldn’t do that now, I think we have become one of the main markets for global tours. And it’s not just American or British artists anymore – Latin music is growing so much and that works very well in Spain, and local acts are now filling arenas.”
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