“It is with great sadness that we inform you that we have just been notified by the Valencia City Council and the General Directorate of CACSA that today we cannot celebrate the second day of the Festival de les Arts.” This is the beginning of the statement released this Saturday by the organization of the Festival de les Arts, which held an eventful day yesterday in the City of Arts and Sciences of Valencia and which will no longer take place today, June 6. The reason is that, during the first day, the festival violated the noise ordinance.
The singer Leire Martínez interrupted her concert yesterday after protests from the public who were barely listening to her performance. The acoustic problems are caused by a dispute between the Valencia City Council and the neighbors, which has led to the decision to limit the volume to 85 decibels during the day and 80 at night. Martínez apologized, assured that the artists are the most affected by these measures and left the stage with his band for a few moments. Previously, in the Karavana and Éctasis concerts, which were presented in other spaces of the venue, the audience had already noticed the low volume. The attendees, between screams, had asked for it to be heard louder.
Despite complaints from attendees about low sound, the City Council has prohibited the celebration of the second day due to excessive noise on the first day. Today Triangulo de Amor Bizarro, Two Door Cinema Club, Dorian and Belén Aguilera were scheduled to perform.
The situation comes from a court ruling issued in March that forced the City Council to take measures to protect the residents of the area from the noise pollution generated by large festivals.
According to the organization, after observing the non-compliance with the acoustic limits during the first day, the City Council and the venue’s management decided to prevent the celebration of the second day. The promoters claim that they tried to look for alternatives and apply corrective measures, but they received notification of the cancellation just minutes before the doors opened. They have also announced the refund of tickets and the corresponding part of the season tickets.
Knowing the impositions on sound, the festival worked during the previous months to be able to carry out this 2026 edition. “During this time we have kept two parallel lines of work open. The first of these lines has been to try to maintain the festival in the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, finding a balance between the rest of the residents and the celebration of the festival in the best possible conditions. To this end we have held numerous meetings with CACSA and with the Generalitat Valenciana with the aim of guaranteeing the continuity of the event in its usual location, respecting the rights of the neighbors and the enjoyment of our public,” they point out from the festival.
“The second line of work consisted of looking for alternative spaces that would ensure the celebration of the festival if this first route did not prosper, visiting spaces such as La Marina de València or the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Cheste. This desire to find solutions is demonstrated by the transfer of other events of our promoter, such as Love The 90’s and I Love Reggaeton, to the Estadi Ciutat de València. However, it causes us enormous sadness and frustration to see that, throughout this process, we did not “We have had the opportunity to hold a meeting with the Mayor’s Office of the Valencia City Council, nor with those responsible for the City Council to jointly study possible alternatives that would guarantee the future of the festival in the city. Given this situation, we were forced to continue working until the end to make the celebration of Festival de les Arts viable in its usual location.”