Shakira made her long-awaited return to a Spanish concert stage on Friday (Sept. 18), opening a 12-date Madrid residency before 55,000 fans at Shakira Stadium, a temporary venue built specifically for the occasion.
The concert marked her first show in Spain in eight years, and the reunion carried the scale and emotion of an event designed to feel bigger than a single tour stop. Hours before Shakira appeared onstage, the scene around the venue was already in full motion, with fans lining up at food stalls and gathering around interactive activity booths as the stadium filled for the first night of the run.
The crowd leaned fully into Shakira’s visual universe. Fans arrived in purple wigs, coin-adorned scarves tied around their waists, wolf ears, masks and pieces inspired by Barranquilla’s Carnival, turning the opening night into a celebration that began well before the music.
“I can’t believe I’m here. It all feels like a dream,” Shakira told the Madrid audience as she welcomed them back. “Having you here again tonight, you don’t know how happy it makes me because it’s proof of the love and affection you’ve given me all these years.”
She also nodded, with humor, to the personal distance between her last Spanish concert and this return. “Everyone tells me, ‘Shaki, look at the face you left with and the face you’ve come back with,’” she said, laughing. “Things have happened in my life since the last time I saw you.”
That remark framed much of the night, as Shakira built the show around a career-spanning performance that moved through more than three decades of music. For nearly two hours, she danced almost nonstop, shifting between rock and reggaeton, highlighting her Lebanese roots and using multiple wardrobe changes to connect different eras of her catalog.
The audience reflected that same range. Longtime followers who have been with Shakira from the beginning shared the stadium with a newer generation of fans, many of whom sang her more recent material word for word.
The set included “Girl Like Me,” “Te felicito,” “TQG,” “Soltera” and “Hips Don’t Lie,” all of which drew loud participation from a stadium that rarely quieted down. One of the night’s most charged moments came with “Dai Dai,” the official song of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Shakira turned the performance into a local celebration when she shouted, “Spain, World Champion!”
The emotional high points were not limited to the stadium-sized hits. “Acróstico,” which Shakira dedicated to her children Milan and Sasha, visibly moved many fans in the audience. The show also featured a Madrid-specific addition: “Te Dejo Madrid,” which had not been part of the setlist at previous stops on the tour.
Before performing “Te Dejo Madrid,” Shakira looked back on her first visit to the city at age 19. She recalled falling in love with a Madrileño whom she jokingly described as “a true Iberian specimen: dark-haired, fun and cheerful,” while adding that he eventually broke her heart.
The opening night did not include surprise guests, despite expectations from part of the audience. That question now carries into the remainder of the residency, with 11 Madrid dates still ahead.
What Happens Next?
Shakira’s Madrid residency continues with 11 remaining shows at Shakira Stadium. After a first night built on nostalgia, spectacle and a direct reconnection with her Spanish fans, the unanswered question is whether any of the upcoming dates will bring the surprise guests some concertgoers were hoping to see on opening night.