Shakira returns to Spain in fire, tears and ‘Waka Waka’

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By Jennifer Wilson - usagevpn.com
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Shakira’s Madrid Return Blends Spectacle, Reflection and a Career-Spanning Set

Usagevpn.com – Shakira returned to the Spanish capital on Saturday 18 September with a concert shaped by towering flames, water imagery, costume transformations and intensely personal reflections. At 20:49 local time, the Colombian singer emerged at Madrid’s stadium venue for a two-hour performance featuring 25 songs and drawing together material from every stage of her three-decade career.

The show formed part of the Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran tour, named for her 2024 album and twelfth studio release. Its songs have been widely associated with the aftermath of her separation from former footballer Gerard Piqué, but the Madrid concert expanded beyond recent events, revisiting the pop, rock and Latin music tracks that established her international profile.

From new songs to early breakthroughs

Shakira opened with “La fuerte,” her collaboration with Bizarrap, before moving into “Girl Like Me” and a combined performance of “Las de la intuición” and “Estoy aquí.” The latter was the song that first brought her broad international recognition.

After the opening sequence, she addressed the crowd with evident emotion.

“Good evening, Madrid, I can’t believe I’m here.”

She then referred directly to the changes in her personal life since her previous time in Spain.

“You’ll be thinking, the face I left with and the face I’ve come back with.”

Her message continued with a declaration of resilience and connection with the audience.

“There is nothing like a she-wolf being reunited with her pack.”

The concert moved between the reggaeton-influenced sound of her latest work and some of her best-known crossover hits. “Te felicito,” featuring Rauw Alejandro on its recorded version, and “TDG,” associated with Karol G, appeared alongside “Don’t Bother” and “Can’t Remember to Forget You,” her collaboration with Rihanna.

Projected visuals of fire and water accompanied the set, while frequent wardrobe changes reinforced the show’s theatrical design. Other songs in the first half included “Copa vacía,” “La bicicleta,” “La tortura,” “Hips Don’t Lie” and “Chantaje.” The latter marked the close of the concert’s first hour.

A candid moment in the second half

The later section began with “Loca” and a more intimate statement from the performer. Speaking about family separation and the possibility of rebuilding, Shakira told the stadium:

“When a family breaks apart, as mine did, you feel as if you have lost your compass, until you realise that you can get through it and start to see single life as an opportunity.”

That reflection led into “Soltera,” staged beneath an oversized letter S. The sequence connected the newer album’s themes of independence and change with the wider emotional arc of the evening.

For longtime listeners, the concert also made room for songs from the start of Shakira’s recording career. “Ojos así,” “Pies descalzos” and “Antología” brought the focus back to the music that defined her early years, long before her later global pop collaborations and stadium-scale productions.

Spain, she explained, remains central to her own history.

“The most important years of my life I lived here, in Spain. It was here that I became a mother. You saw me arrive, fall, get back up and return. Thank you for walking with me for more than 30 years.”

The statement gave added meaning to a concert built around return: a return to Madrid, to familiar songs and to an audience that has followed her through major personal and artistic shifts.

“Waka Waka” and a fireworks finale

As the evening approached its conclusion, “Waka Waka” filled the venue. The song, already one of Shakira’s most recognisable anthems, has also taken on a new connection with the 2026 World Cup. The final number was “BZRP Music Sessions #53,” delivered amid bursts of confetti and fireworks.

The performance took place at Macondo Park, a venue named after the fictional town created by Gabriel García Márquez in One Hundred Years of Solitude. The site opened on Friday at approximately 17:00, though entry began around an hour and a half later than planned.

Designed as part of the Es Latina project, Macondo Park uses coloured artificial turf and contains eight pavilions exploring different expressions of Hispanic and Latin American culture. The setting turned the concert into more than a single-stage event, placing Shakira’s performance within a broader cultural programme.

Before the headliner appeared, Guitarricadelafuente performed on one of the site’s stages. Maro, Virtual Diva and Santos Bravos also took part in the pre-concert programme, each expressing admiration for the Colombian artist.

Madrid residency continues through October

Macondo Park is scheduled to remain open until 11 October, following the twelfth and final Madrid concert. Across the residency, Shakira’s set brings together songs that trace a career from singer-songwriter beginnings through global pop stardom, while allowing her recent work to speak openly about rupture, recovery and self-determination.

In Madrid, those themes were not presented as distant ideas. They were woven into a performance where high-energy dance songs, older fan favourites and personal comments all carried equal weight. Fireworks and stadium spectacle provided the ending, but the concert’s defining note was Shakira’s acknowledgment of the long relationship between her life, her music and Spain.

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