Mad Cool 2023

[Drums Please Fab]

 

[Dales]

13 hours ago, Drums Please Fab said:

which sites is she on. I want to read some rants.

Mainly Face Book groups. I know she reads the Mad Cool Festival English Speaking Fans page but when I took a few looks at it last year as it's public page all they did was moan, so stopped looking as other then transport I thought that edition was good.

Hope things improve today.

[Nathan Explosion]

1 hour ago, Drums Please Fab said:

The problem is it has no soul.

Dont let the astro turf and blue sky trick you. Just over the fence from the astro turf is weeds and rubble.

It feels very confined. You can't see anything in the distance.

As in at any given moment yesterday I could only see the roofs of the main stage and second stage. I was surrounded by walls of fences, portaloos, merch stands etc. You dont have a panoramic view of the site. It's labyrinthine in and around the entrance. you seem to be stuck in a queue for something you're not trying to queue for everywhere you walk.

 

Stages are in cul de sacs as opposed to a wide open space. 

 

The stage I was at last night was flanked by a 30ft wall of truck containers on one side and the bar itself to the back. One little rat run in. The bar was 7 deep with punters.

The blokes with the backpacks of beer couldn't pull a pint to save their lives. More head than Mia Khalifa.

 

Id hate to see harry styles fan base (presumably more younger teenage girls) being made queue the way we did yesterday for his gig there next week. 

at one stage in the queue I had to hunch down for a few minutes as the queue was routed under tree branches. like branches 5ft. off the ground. It was all so bizarre.

Tbh I was too busy watching the great performances and dancing in the super energetic & joyful crowds to worry about the lack of "panoramic views". Yeah the surroundings aren't the most picturesque, but festivals are about the music & the people. Yesterday had both in spades. Didn't have any issues with bars either - there's loads of em everywhere so we just went to another if one had a big queue. 

Absolutely agree queue was a bit of a nightmare, hopefully that was due to it being the first day so loads of wristbands to be collected. Fingers crossed for an improvement today and tomorrow. And something to sort out the toilet entrances would be good, slightly dreading that.

[Lionator]

I think the toilet issue could easily be solved by just making one entrance and one exit, the problem was being caused by people travelling in both directions. Also the toilets were fine during big sets so if you need to go I’d pop off for 5 minutes then. You’d like to think they’ll be able to adapt today but this is mad cool. 

[mapperuo]

1 hour ago, Drums Please Fab said:

The problem is it has no soul.

Dont let the astro turf and blue sky trick you. Just over the fence from the astro turf is weeds and rubble.

It feels very confined. You can't see anything in the distance.

I had to sign up just to reply to this 'complaint'. I went to Mad Cool last year which I felt was one of the best festivals I've been to and guess what.. the view beyond the fence was crap also, just sand but guess what, it doesnt matter your there to enjoy the stages not the view of someone elses land?

[yosoyyoberdi]

The queue to enter is the most ridiculous thing. There is no need for that. There are +50 entry gates with more than half empty at peak times while people queue for +2km. I jumped the queue with a few others who saw what was going on. We were lucky but some others doing the same ended being chase by police on horses! 

I feel sorry for people queueing for hours but there is no reason to do it. There is capacity for everyone showing at the entry. This is just poor management. Hopefully they fix it today.

[Drums Please Fab]

22 minutes ago, mapperuo said:

I had to sign up just to reply to this 'complaint'. I went to Mad Cool last year which I felt was one of the best festivals I've been to and guess what.. the view beyond the fence was crap also, just sand but guess what, it doesnt matter your there to enjoy the stages not the view of someone elses land?

Yeah I loved Madcool last year too. And you do have a point. I come accross as old man shouts at cloud.

By all accounts Villaverde is a sketchy enough place at the best of time.  Something I wasn’t aware of. 
 

I think you are taking my comments a little to literally. 
 

IFEMA is a convention centre. Its designed to host big events. You could see the Madrid skyscrapers to the left, the Real Madrid training ground as you queued to get in. Flights from Barajas taking off overhead. It felt Madrid.

This is an area of scrubland flanked by a motorway and DHL warehouses. With overhead power lines running through it in a few directions . 
 

it just feels very utilitarian. Very meh. 
 

Im in my late 30’s  With no kids. When I want a taxi I’ll pay the 40/50quid just to get home. I’ll shell out for a decent hotel. I’ve been to good festivals such as Primavera 4 weeks ago where I got out of a cab and was inside with a pint in my hand within ten minutes- no exaggeration.
 

Next year when festival season rolls round I won’t be thinking “yeah I fancy trapsing out to that industrial estate in the back arse of Madrid.

On my mothers life , I left the venue last night and could not find a taxi. Maybe I went the wrong way but it all felt so thrown together.

And as someone alluded to earlier . Matty from the 1975 didn’t want to be there. He came out on stage. which was a tin pot, two bob stage in the corner and they were given an hour to play and he thought yeah f**k this. He even said at the end and I’m paraphrasing “We have to fulfill this festival obligation and then we will announce real shows in Spain soon, stop annoying me on Twitter asking” 

Im on my way out again this evening. Going to Tash Sultana, QOTSA and Black Keys. Missus has sacked it off. Won’t do it again. 
So im going solo tonight.

 

I missed Franz Ferdinand last night who I really wanted to see just to get the f**k out of the place.

Edited July 7, 2023 by Drums Please Fab

[Drums Please Fab]

Why post wristbands put to peoples houses and then have them queuing for 2km to get in with people who have no wristbands . It’s indefensible .

Moronic

[Lionator]

20 minutes ago, Drums Please Fab said:

Yeah I loved Madcool last year too. And you do have a point. I come accross as old man shouts at cloud.

By all accounts Villaverde is a sketchy enough place at the best of time.  Something I wasn’t aware of. 
 

I think you are taking my comments a little to literally. 
 

IFEMA is a convention centre. Its designed to host big events. You could see the Madrid skyscrapers to the left, the Real Madrid training ground as you queued to get in. Flights from Barajas taking off overhead. It felt Madrid.

This is an area of scrubland flanked by a motorway and DHL warehouses. With overhead power lines running through it in a few directions . 
 

it just feels very utilitarian. Very meh. 
 

Im in my late 30’s  With no kids. When I want a taxi I’ll pay the 40/50quid just to get home. I’ll shell out for a decent hotel. I’ve been to good festivals such as Primavera 4 weeks ago where I got out of a cab and was inside with a pint in my hand within ten minutes- no exaggeration.
 

Next year when festival season rolls round I won’t be thinking “yeah I fancy trapsing out to that industrial estate in the back arse of Madrid.

On my mothers life , I left the venue last night and could not find a taxi. Maybe I went the wrong way but it all felt so thrown together.

And as someone alluded to earlier . Matty from the 1975 didn’t want to be there. He came out on stage. which was a tin pot, two bob stage in the corner and they were given an hour to play and he thought yeah f**k this. He even said at the end and I’m paraphrasing “We have to fulfill this festival obligation and then we will announce real shows in Spain soon, stop annoying me on Twitter asking” 

Im on my way out again this evening. Going to Tash Sultana, QOTSA and Black Keys. Missus has sacked it off. Won’t do it again. 
So im going solo tonight.

 

I missed Franz Ferdinand last night who I really wanted to see just to get the f**k out of the place.

I’ll allude to NOS again but that venue is fairly similar, if not worse as it’s on the beach but they deliberately board everything up so you can’t even see the beach/water. 
 

I get that you didn’t enjoy it and I think your reasoning is legitimate, I’m guessing if you enjoyed the old site you must feel like you’ve lost a good thing but, yesterday was still a good experience for a lot of us. I’d say organisationally it reminded me a lot of All Points East. I do hope that they iron out the issues from last night today but I don’t think it was by any means awful. I actually thought the Region of Madrid stage was a nice place to watch music. 

Edited July 7, 2023 by Lionator

[yosoyyoberdi]

2 hours ago, Drums Please Fab said:

Yeah I loved Madcool last year too. And you do have a point. I come accross as old man shouts at cloud.

By all accounts Villaverde is a sketchy enough place at the best of time.  Something I wasn’t aware of. 
 

I think you are taking my comments a little to literally. 
 

IFEMA is a convention centre. Its designed to host big events. You could see the Madrid skyscrapers to the left, the Real Madrid training ground as you queued to get in. Flights from Barajas taking off overhead. It felt Madrid.

This is an area of scrubland flanked by a motorway and DHL warehouses. With overhead power lines running through it in a few directions . 
 

it just feels very utilitarian. Very meh. 
 

Im in my late 30’s  With no kids. When I want a taxi I’ll pay the 40/50quid just to get home. I’ll shell out for a decent hotel. I’ve been to good festivals such as Primavera 4 weeks ago where I got out of a cab and was inside with a pint in my hand within ten minutes- no exaggeration.
 

Next year when festival season rolls round I won’t be thinking “yeah I fancy trapsing out to that industrial estate in the back arse of Madrid.

On my mothers life , I left the venue last night and could not find a taxi. Maybe I went the wrong way but it all felt so thrown together.

And as someone alluded to earlier . Matty from the 1975 didn’t want to be there. He came out on stage. which was a tin pot, two bob stage in the corner and they were given an hour to play and he thought yeah f**k this. He even said at the end and I’m paraphrasing “We have to fulfill this festival obligation and then we will announce real shows in Spain soon, stop annoying me on Twitter asking” 

Im on my way out again this evening. Going to Tash Sultana, QOTSA and Black Keys. Missus has sacked it off. Won’t do it again. 
So im going solo tonight.

 

I missed Franz Ferdinand last night who I really wanted to see just to get the f**k out of the place.

If you get there early today would be great if you could post a quick update re queue situation.

[Drums Please Fab]

4 minutes ago, yosoyyoberdi said:

If you get there early today would be great if you could post a quick update re queue situation.

im hoping you get there first to tell me 😃

[Lionator]

Here already, there is no queue, there are people with megaphones, stricter drug checks, water fountains spread about more and toilet barriers. 

[Nathan Explosion]

11 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Here already, there is no queue, there are people with megaphones, stricter drug checks, water fountains spread about more and toilet barriers. 

Nice, mostly sound like improvements! Hope the toilet barriers are doing the job.

[Drums Please Fab]

32 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Here already, there is no queue, there are people with megaphones, stricter drug checks, water fountains spread about more and toilet barriers. 

sounds promising.

[Lionator]

3 minutes ago, Nathan Explosion said:

Nice, mostly sound like improvements! Hope the toilet barriers are doing the job.

It’s fine at the minute although I’m skeptical. They’ve put a sh*t ton of security/stewards by the toilets too so hopefully it’ll reduce the chaos. 

[Drums Please Fab]

No queue today . Straight in no kissing.

On the ale watching Tash Sultana. 
 

Let’s have it. 

[yosoyyoberdi]

Definitely an improvement from yesterday. It wasn't that difficult. Hopefully they stop the diversion from the metro tomorrow which is not needed. 

[Drums Please Fab]

3 hours ago, yosoyyoberdi said:

Definitely an improvement from yesterday. It wasn't that difficult. Hopefully they stop the diversion from the metro tomorrow which is not needed. 

The toilets are a cluster f**k.

 

am I right in saying there is only one set of toilets in the whole place . 
 

Like a central toilet bank where everyone needs to go to piss? 
 

it’s bonkers 

[Drums Please Fab]

QOTSA were incredible.

[Drums Please Fab]

Metro home was mental. Its a free for all.

[Lionator]

Much better day two except for the toilet system, what a mess 🤣🤣

[Drums Please Fab]

48 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Much better day two except for the toilet system, what a mess 🤣🤣

Am I right in saying those toilets in the middle are the only toilets?

[prefab]

43 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Much better day two except for the toilet system, what a mess 🤣🤣

I want to meet the geniuses who designed the toilet area so that the "Exit" sign is only visible from the outside, but when you're actually in the men's toilets, the exit is hidden with no signage to point you in the right direction.

Early on Friday, it seemed like they'd taken some steps to fix the problem by installing a little metal rope at each entrance/exit to the toilets, which would theoretically divide the people trying to enter and those trying to exit. (Although again, there was no signage, so there was a lot of confusion over which side of the metal rope to use). But by the time it got dark, they apparently abandoned that and were making guys walk all the way around the toilet area to the entrance by the Regions stage. Naturally, a lot of those guys responded by just taking a piss on the wall next to the water fountains, which is unsanitary but really serves the festival organizers right. 

[yosoyyoberdi]

1 hour ago, Drums Please Fab said:

Am I right in saying those toilets in the middle are the only toilets?

There are actually another 2 in the main stage. Not 2 areas, TWO units. Absolutely ridiculous.

[Sasperella2]

After a lot of anxiety yesterday afternoon after reading the reporta, I actually had a great time! I thought it was quite a well run little festival - excellent sound, good food opioms, very few queues. Clearly something weird going on with the men's loos but for women it was easy. I didnt queue once and they were ultra clean. 

Has made me keen for more urban european festivals. Plus one for MC again or Primavera if I fail on the old Glasto sale! 

(I did totally get confused between the two very similar looking main stages and was thus late for Queens...d'oh. And I wasnt even drunk so no excuses)