festnoise | Music & Festivals

Although I've been living in Berlin for years, I was born and raised in Madrid. Despite this, I had never been to the Mad Cool festival before. What's more, in spite of the impressive line-ups that the festival has had since its first edition, the mere idea of going to the festival has always made me very lazy. And that's because it's in Madrid where I started going to concerts, and from where I got used to travelling if you wanted to go to a festival because in Madrid there simply weren't any, and when there were, they certainly didn't last long. Some will remember that failed festival with great line-ups too called Summercase. There are many theories as to why festivals never really took off in Madrid but that’s maybe a topic for another article. However, this year I finally decided to give a chance to the festival and attend its fifth edition.

The first thing I should probably say is that the festival, despite its huge size, was very well organised. Certainly better than I expected. Everything seemed to work very well and the management of the large number of performances by a simply impressive line-up of artists, needless to say, was also carried out with millimetric precision. To Caesar what belongs to Caesar.

That said, if you're from Madrid you'll know that in summer you don't want to be in Madrid. The city empties out and the streets look like they’re going to melt. And you with them. The sun simply never gives you a break. The fact that the Mad Cool site is located on an inhospitable plot of land halfway between the city and the airport raised doubts for me, among other things because of the impact of the sun. Mad Cool is an urban festival, although it is not in the city. But because of its urban character, and because it starts in the middle of the week, it has a schedule halfway between the usual Spanish and European festivals. That is to say, it ends late (3am), but not so late as to avoid the heat and sun for half of its performances, as happens at other Spanish festivals. That's why, in its well-kept infrastructures, I missed shady spaces and vegetation. I don't like the sponsors of the Madrid festival either. Brands also contribute to defining the personality of a festival. And I personally don't like the fact that electricity companies, banks and an endless number of questionable brands were so present. Although that, of course, is just my personal opinion.

That this edition of Mad Cool was a success, no one can deny it judging by the amount of people who came to the venue every day, or at least to the first four days (Sunday was the least visited day with 20,000 spectators). And although, as I said, everything went well, you could tell there were a lot of people there. Probably too many. And it was precisely the return home of all those people that generated the biggest criticism of the festival. Because even when the festival and its site were good, leaving the festival and returning home was a nightmare. Public transport was clearly insufficient, which was difficult to understand given the infrastructures available, and thanks to its exclusive agreement with the festival, Uber was able to set up its fleet of cars by the venue exit inflating prices to as much as €100 to take you into the city centre (from the airport, which is further away, there is a flat rate of €30 for a journey that takes just 25 minutes). As a result, despite being an urban festival, the return trip home was a journey of several hours for many people, or a financial outlay that is difficult to sustain.

Parcels at Mad Cool 2022. Photo by Paco Poyato

About the music of a festival that clearly wants to be Coachella, I'll just say that the 2022 edition may have had one of the best line-ups I can remember. If not the best. And its artists were up to the task, leaving performances for history that have been covered massively by the foreign press, which shows the magnitude of this festival. The daily musical offer was overwhelming and if I had to highlight some performances, I would single out Incubus, a headliner announced at the last minute who made us forget QOTSA, the band they came to replace. Nor can I fail to mention Parcels, a band that in Spain still doesn't have the recognition it deserves and which, on the other hand, does in the rest of the world, and which gave a memorable performance in Madrid. These are just two examples but there were many. If you were not there, just google it or do like I did and visit Madrid next year. At least once is worthwhile.

More info about the festival in it’s official website.

Cover photograph by Paco Poyato