The noise battle at the heart of the Bernabéu

Last year, tens of thousands of ‘Swifties’ – Taylor Swift fans – thronged Madrid to watch back-to-back concerts at the Spanish capital’s famous Bernabéu stadium, home to Real Madrid, who won Europe’s Champions League final less than 24 hours later, on 1 June.

The mega-concert was one of dozens of high-profile gigs staged at the newly renovated stadium in 2024 to boost the club’s revenue.

But the project was short lived. In September all gigs were cancelled after residents living within earshot of the music filed a legal complaint over the noise.

Now, nine months later, Spanish pop singer Aitana is the latest artist to switch venues from the Bernabéu to the Metropolitano Stadium – home to rivals Atletico Madrid – as the court case rumbles on.

“In every concert it is exactly the same,” says Enrique Martínez de Azagra, president of the neighbours’ association. He and other locals say the sound from concerts like Taylor Swift’s has become too much.

“It is impossible to suffer this kind of noise and it affects our health, it affects migraines, insomnia and heart attacks and it is a criminal offence in our laws,” adds Enrique.

In Madrid, the noise levels measured by the neighbours exceeded 90 decibels regularly during the concerts.

Ian Marnane from the European Environment Agency says that in Europe any level of 55 decibels or above is considered to be harmful, and continued exposure can lead to increased blood pressure and cardiovascular disease such as strokes. There are also links between noise exposure and diabetes.

Enrique says there is a significant difference between the noise from the concerts compared with that from football matches. He and most of his neighbours have lived in the area for decades. Many of them are life-long Real Madrid supporters and are on committees that represent the interests of the club.

“Football is a sport that lasts two hours, more or less. The noise is normal. Only when there is a goal, the passion surges,” says Enrique. The problem he sees with the concerts is that they spew continuously high levels of noise for long periods of hours at a time.

To reduce their exposure to these high levels of noise, Enrique and his neighbours took Real Madrid to court.

Sports journalist Felippo Maria Ricci believes they have a strong case.

“The Bernabéu is right in the heart of Madrid. The neighbours who live there have good positions and know the right people,” says Felippo. “This battle for the concerts can be quite long but at the moment Real Madrid is losing this battle.”

The neighbours say the city government is hesitant to resolve the issue as it benefits from the tourism and the money the concerts generate. According to local media reports, tourists coming for the Taylor Swift concerts alone spent about €25m (£21m; $28m).

Filippo says that the £1.1bn renovation to make the stadium multi-purpose was supposed to provide a huge financial boost to Real Madrid.

They also signed a contract with a US company selling the commercial rights to the stadium.

“They spent a lot of money to develop a new system for the pitch, to take it off when they have the concerts,” says Filippo. “Now all this new super system is quite useless, at the moment, all that money is gone.”

Ed Sheeran, Imagine Dragons and AC/DC are among the acts playing at the rival Atlético stadium this summer.

Madrid City Council, the Mayor’s office and Real Madrid have not responded to requests for comment by the BBC.

Real Madrid has previously said it is trying to sound proof the stadium. According to local reports the club hired a specialist company and windows were installed in the skywalk area.

When I put to the neighbours that Real Madrid is trying to soundproof the stadium, they chuckled. Enrique works as an engineer and thinks it is “quite impossible to soundproof the stadium”.

While the Bernabéu’s roof can close, the stadium is never completely closed, as there is an open gap between the roof and the facade all the way around the stadium.

The neighbours say they are not against all concerts.

“We’ve had concerts in the past, but once a year,” says Pablo Baschwitz, a lawyer and one of the neighbours campaigning for change.

He recalls concerts with music legends such as Frank Sinatra and Julio Iglesias at the Bernabéu – but says having 20 concerts scheduled per year is just too much.

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

They point to a health centre that they say struggles to accurately measure patients’ blood pressure at times because the sound waves from the concerts disturb the readings in their machines.

Pablo says the concerts aren’t the only problem – there are also rehearsals and sound checks during the day which disturb the local community, including schools.

Luis Jordana de Pozas lives right across from the stadium, and some of the noise measurements were taken on the outside and inside of his flat.

On his terrace overlooking the Bernabéu, he explains how newly added metal plates on the stadium’s exterior have amplified the sound, and shows me recorded videos of the “unbearable” noise.

In Madrid, the facades of the houses around the stadium are lined with banners. Draped from their windows, balconies and terraces the neighbours put their protest posters on display, reading “conciertos no” (no concerts) and “ruído no” (no noise).

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