We broke the news on Friday that Florentino Pérez has given in and closed the Bernabéu for concerts due to legal pressure but also because of the artists’ demands. The president of Real Madrid and powerful owner of ACS has had enough and has thrown in the towel (temporarily) after several months trying to convince Almeida and the neighbours around the stadium that the noise and the fuss that is created by events such as those held by Taylor Swift or Becky G are compatible with the law. Conclusion: the current Bernabéu is a sports infrastructure that does not serve macro musical events without breaking the law.
Not even all the power of the magnate who successfully runs the white club has been able to carry out the project of holding concerts at Concha Espina. Florentina has a fortune of more than 1.8 billion euros, making her the fifth richest person in Madrid and number 13 in Spain. But the businessman has had to cancel all concerts at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium. However, we are told that this is only a parenthesis.
Without any specific dates confirmed, we are informed that the lockdown will extend at least until the summer of next year. This means de facto suspending the shows already scheduled, such as the concert by the Korean Music Bank, while the concerts by Dellafuente, Aitana and Lola Indigo have been postponed without an official date. Atlético de Madrid has already said that they are not anyone’s second choice and refuses to put their stadium to replace the La Castellana stadium. Aitana, very affected, has asked for forgiveness from her fans after the cancellation of her concerts and has said on her social networks that the dates are postponed to June 27 and 28data that have not been corroborated by Real Madrid. The countless complaints from the neighbourhood associations have been able to defeat the all-powerful Real Madrid, forced by judicial pressure, but also by the demands of the singers, whose sound needs are incompatible with the noise limits set by law. Last weekend, the Aventura concert was a failure because the group of the King of Bachata, Romeo Santos, was the victim of protests and shouts from his fans, enraged because after paying their entrance fee they could barely hear the music because of the extremely low volume, due to the limiters installed to avoid noise outside the stadium: it could not be heard inside either.
Justice has already claimed one merengue victim: a criminal offence
The first legal victim among the ranks of Real Madrid is none other than Florentino’s right-hand man and the club’s general manager, Jose Angel Sanchez, and the Real Madrid Stadium itself. This is not the only blow that the 15-time European champion has conceded: the concession for the car parks that the white club is building has been cancelled, although the ruling has been appealed by the City Council. Almeida has also been singled out by the neighbourhood’s residents.
It was on July 24 that the judge of the 53rd Court of Instruction in Madrid admitted the complaint filed by the Association of Neighbours Affected by the Bernabéu against the company of the white club and against its sole administrator, José Ángel Sánchez. The plaintiffs accuse the Real Madrid Stadium of alleged environmental crime under article 325 of the Penal Code. The shows and concerts held since April 26 have exceeded the noise emission limits established by municipal regulations and there is no evidence that any measures have been taken at the stadium to prevent this. At least, effective ones. Emilio Butragueño, head of Institutional Relations at Real Madrid, tried to reach an agreement and buy time to put a stop to the noise limits until the end of the year. The club installed an absorbent awning on the roof, screens on the sides, among other measures, but none of them work.
The next stage for the Real Madrid general manager after his indictment will be to appear before magistrate Mónica Aguirre de la Cuesta in October. Until Jose Angel Sanchez sits down to explain himself to the judge, any event that violates the law can be used against him.
The residents also filed a complaint against the Mayor of Madrid and the Councillor for the Environment for limiting the fines to 20,000 euros, an amount that the plaintiffs consider ridiculous in relation to the profits and volumes handled in multi-million euro agreements, so that they would be fines that “are profitable” to pay. However, the judge left out both Almeida and Borja Carabante as she did not consider this “reduction” in the amount of the fines to be a crime of prevarication, although the residents also announced an appeal against this decision.
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