The coronavirus has posed a dark future for Madrid's economy and business. But where some begin to see a bit of light, the concert halls only appreciate darkness. The invoices accumulate and the return to full activity is still a long way off. So far that from the association La Noche en vivo, in which 55 of the main musical spaces are located, they already look at September .

“We have lost the best part of the season which is spring. When we can reopen, it will be July with Phase 3 because we belong to nightlife and summer is dead, "says the manager of the association, Javier Olmedo, in conversation with EL MUNDO, who estimates that the losses of these rooms will be three million euros at the end of June , that is, one million for each month that the coronavirus has forced to keep them closed, according to the figures they now manage.

This is the future that haunts a business that in the city of Madrid hosts some 17,000 concerts a year and, therefore, will lose at least 3,000 to 4,000 due to the coronavirus . "If a room is closed, it will not be possible to recover and we are the first step for the emerging gangs," says Olmedo.

Not even the Madrid Indigo Drone concert last Friday in the Moby Dick room, the first Covid post in Madrid, for 30 people, encourages the sector's hopes. "It is more a nod to the artists than anything else because you have the bars closed and the profits do not exist," says the managing director of La Noche en Vivo, where the room itself is framed.

And even more complicated are the perspectives of the spaces that live from tourism. The tablao flamenco Casa Patas , one of the most recognized in the center of the capital and whose viability was based on the fact that three quarters of its clientele were foreign tourists, has already closed and may not be the last of the members of La Live night. "We hope we can resist as best we can, but we have to continue paying the bills and it is not easy," says Olmedo.

From the Culture area of ​​the Madrid City Council, according to the municipal sources consulted by this newspaper, work is underway to modify the regulations for these spaces framed in the Census of Local Members of Cultural Heritage . A work that would focus especially on the special noise protection zones of the Centro district where part of these rooms are located.

"It is very important that from the Madrid City Council we support during the months of transition to these rooms so that they reopen as soon as possible and do so with all security measures," said delegate Andrea Levy last Thursday, after meeting with the representatives of these concert venues.

In accordance with the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • Coronavirus
  • Descaled
  • Covid 19
  • Madrid
  • Andrea Levy
  • LOC

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