Mad Cool 2025.

[ParanoidTourist]

My worst clashes are Mother Mother/Blondshell, Justice/Bloc Party and Gracie/Bright Eyes (the latter only because my daughter absolutely wants to see Gracie). But luckily Muse and Nine Inch Nails have no clashes for me. 

[Eugenio]

Is it possible to access the festival with the wristband originally purchased by another person?

[alex_rozov]

Yes

[Big Kahuna]

Five acts interesting a day, even in the poorest Mad Cool Edition:

 

Wednesday: FIDLAR, REFUSED, IGGY, MUSE, WEEZER (5)

 

Thursday: FUTURE ISLANDS, ALANIS, JET, KAISER CHIEFS, FOSTYER THE PEOPLE,NIN (6)

 

Saturday: ST VINCENT, GLASS ANIMALS, OLIVIA ,JUSTICE, BLOC PARTY (5)

 

Candidate for best act: NIN

 

Good Surprise act: JUSTICE (and OLIVIA)

 

Bad  Surprise Act. WEEZER (hope Cuomo will be in the mood but I got doubts)

 

If well organizated, like last year, and no more of 50.000 people a day, high probability WED & THU, it,s worth the 3 day ticket.

 

Good but not great Lineup, with chances op upgrade by performances...

[ParanoidTourist]

I have also a plan now after negotiations with my daughter😉

 

Day 1

Mother Mother, Gracie, Muse, Weezer

 

Day 2

Benson Boone, Alanis, Artemas, Dead Poet Society, Nine Inch Nails 

 

Day 3

Girl In Red, St Vincent, Olivia Rodrigo, Justice 

[sisco]

This is 100% one of our options next year but the only concern I have is how few acts you can see in comparison to something like Werchter.  
 

Any thoughts on what makes it a better option? (I’m guessing the main one being a Madrid holiday)

[xxialac]

4 minutes ago, sisco said:

This is 100% one of our options next year but the only concern I have is how few acts you can see in comparison to something like Werchter.  
 

Any thoughts on what makes it a better option? (I’m guessing the main one being a Madrid holiday)

Madrid is fantastic but In July it is...ever so slightly hot. Other than August would be the last month I would want to visit.

[ParanoidTourist]

6 hours ago, sisco said:

This is 100% one of our options next year but the only concern I have is how few acts you can see in comparison to something like Werchter.  
 

Any thoughts on what makes it a better option? (I’m guessing the main one being a Madrid holiday)

 

I'm in Madrid right now and staying in a hotel with a swimming pool on the roof is a big upgrade from Werchter. I love Werchter and have been there 12 times and this is my first Mad Cool so can probably give a better comparison in a few days.

[sisco]

46 minutes ago, ParanoidTourist said:

 

I'm in Madrid right now and staying in a hotel with a swimming pool on the roof is a big upgrade from Werchter. I love Werchter and have been there 12 times and this is my first Mad Cool so can probably give a better comparison in a few days.

Perfect, look forward to hearing about it.  
 

Have a great time

[prefab]

I'm not a Gracie Abrams fan, but I kept seeing young women with 1-day wristbands who were clearly there mainly to see her, and so I feel awful for them after they got a much-shortened set. She played maybe about 30 minutes when suddenly the power went out. It took them a long time to get anything fixed, and at first Abrams responded beautifully to the crisis, picking up her guitars and playing 2 or 3 songs acoustically to fans standing nearby (all inaudible where I was standing). But then when the power finally did go on around 9:10, she played just one last song and left, even though she still could have played for a good 15-20 minutes before the act on the adjacent stage (Iggy Pop, who would be plagued by sound problems of his own) went on. 

[ParanoidTourist]

Sorry for the Gracie fans who experienced a power cut yesterday.

 

Muse were amazing though and the best I've seen them. The audience were equally enthusiastic and even sang the guitar solos on some of the older songs. 

[charlierc]

53 minutes ago, ParanoidTourist said:

Muse were amazing though and the best I've seen them. The audience were equally enthusiastic and even sang the guitar solos on some of the older songs. 

That tracks - when I was in Madrid for Mad Cool in 2018, I ended up seeing Muse's Drones Tour movie at a cinema and there were several fans in that cinema singing the guitar riffs. Which was quite something.

[Gacheezbo]

Tell ya what, 12 euros for a pint (additional 2 euros for a cup) is a bloody joke

[ParanoidTourist]

31 minutes ago, Gacheezbo said:

Tell ya what, 12 euros for a pint (additional 2 euros for a cup) is a bloody joke

 

 I paid those 2 euros for the cup that you mentioned but a 50 cl beer was 6 euros for me. 

[Big Kahuna]

What a second day¡¡¡¡¡

 

Alanis gave a great performance, charismatic, voice full of fury, top act

 

But NIN once again made the difference, sound perfect, 90 minutes of live glory, only that justify all the festival,  hard to forget what we experienced in the unsuspectedly fresh night of Madrid City

 

Thank  you

[ParanoidTourist]

37 minutes ago, Big Kahuna said:

What a second day¡¡¡¡¡

 

Alanis gave a great performance, charismatic, voice full of fury, top act

 

But NIN once again made the difference, sound perfect, 90 minutes of live glory, only that justify all the festival,  hard to forget what we experienced in the unsuspectedly fresh night of Madrid City

 

Thank  you

 

I agree! NIN we're soo good! Concert of the year for me. 

[Eugenio]

Weakest MC edition so far. Reached 50k attendance only yesterday 

[ParanoidTourist]

Back now from my first Mad Cool visit. I had a very good festival experience and Mad Cool has quickly become one of my favourite festivals rivalling even Werchter to my personal taste. Concerts I especially liked were Gracie Abrams, Muse, Wombats, Benson Boone, Dead Poet Society, Nine Inch Nails, Girl in Red, Olivia Rodrigo and Justice. Especially Muse and Nine Inch Nails made extremely good performances (the latter is one of the best gigs I´ve seen). 

 

Some pros and cons: 

 

Cons: 

- The power went out for both Gracie Abrams and Iggy Pop which felt a bit unprofessional for a festival on this level. 

- It could get very hot during the early evening of the festival. 

- Some complained about the sound on certain concerts for example Weezer but I didn´t notice it actually. 

- The line up is not as big as other festivals for example Rock Werchter. 

 

Pros: 

- The festival is way more organised than I thought. There are plenty of toilets and bars (never stood in a queue)

- The transfer to and from the festival went very smooth. We went with the underground at all times and didn´t wait longer than 5 minutes for a train. 

- The audience is very enthusiastic. During the Muse gig they even sang the guitar solos. 

- In general it didn´t feel too crowded and I could get a good spot by just showing up half an hour before every gig (bar Olivia Rodrigo). 

- There wasn´t a dull moment since there are 6 stages so there´s always a band to see. 

 

 

I look forward to visit Mad Cool again assuming I like the bands for the next edition. 

[activean]

Tnx for the review. 

First time after XY years i'm not going to be working next year in July, so i'm looking for a new festival that I haven't yet visited. I like Spain, Madrid and MC lineups are very much among my favorites. 

Didn't they change the location or it was just an idea? 

I guess 2018 is a history now and looks like enjoyable fest nowdays. 

[Big Kahuna]

Very comfortable edition, except for the power problems with Iggy and the weak sound in some concerts in stage ouigo3, I enjoyed as much as 9 full concerts and some partial acts, easy to drink, eat and piss, easy to refresh in fountains, easy to move, really they have full control of the place, public transport very easy and fast, 40 minutes from exit to Sol

 

A very well organized festival, that's evidence

 

Keep doing that, and keep allowing 56.000 maximum ( this year no sold-out days but 150.000 total , not bad)

 

My Top 5

 

1 WEEZER, first then live and I fully enjoyed a great setlist and effort

2 NIN, out of this earth sound, unforgettable experience

3 BLOC PARTY, a great farewell, all the classics, great sound

4 ALANIS, great voice and command, tears in Thank You for personal reasons

5 ST VINCENT, even a so-so sound could not stop the charismatic girl and her band-

 

We will see us next year for sure, maybe with OASIS in Villaverde ...?

[northernangel]

On 09/07/2025 at 14:12, xxialac said:

Madrid is fantastic but In July it is...ever so slightly hot. Other than August would be the last month I would want to visit.

 

It is a great city, I went in the first week of October some years back and that was hot enough rounding 30 most days with clear sunshine everyday.

On 11/07/2025 at 07:44, prefab said:

I'm not a Gracie Abrams fan, but I kept seeing young women with 1-day wristbands who were clearly there mainly to see her, and so I feel awful for them after they got a much-shortened set. She played maybe about 30 minutes when suddenly the power went out. It took them a long time to get anything fixed, and at first Abrams responded beautifully to the crisis, picking up her guitars and playing 2 or 3 songs acoustically to fans standing nearby (all inaudible where I was standing). But then when the power finally did go on around 9:10, she played just one last song and left, even though she still could have played for a good 15-20 minutes before the act on the adjacent stage (Iggy Pop, who would be plagued by sound problems of his own) went on. 

 

Yup, very difficult as well to see many Gracie fans that day interested many of the other acts as she fits other days better but I suspect that was for ticket sales crossover. I'd say looking at it, although there is less acts a day here to see than Werchter, on the whole they had the better lineup output. I think getting Refused, Alanis, Dead Poet Society, Bloc Party , 30STM and having Olivia makes it better for me as I was able to see a couple of the big hitters from Werchter here anyway a couple of those stand out. I'd rather have equal acts to see but less acts a day with less gaps than more options with more gaps due to lack of interest.

6 hours ago, ParanoidTourist said:

Back now from my first Mad Cool visit. I had a very good festival experience and Mad Cool has quickly become one of my favourite festivals rivalling even Werchter to my personal taste. Concerts I especially liked were Gracie Abrams, Muse, Wombats, Benson Boone, Dead Poet Society, Nine Inch Nails, Girl in Red, Olivia Rodrigo and Justice. Especially Muse and Nine Inch Nails made extremely good performances (the latter is one of the best gigs I´ve seen). 

 

Some pros and cons: 

 

Cons: 

- The power went out for both Gracie Abrams and Iggy Pop which felt a bit unprofessional for a festival on this level. 

- It could get very hot during the early evening of the festival. 

- Some complained about the sound on certain concerts for example Weezer but I didn´t notice it actually. 

- The line up is not as big as other festivals for example Rock Werchter. 

 

Pros: 

- The festival is way more organised than I thought. There are plenty of toilets and bars (never stood in a queue)

- The transfer to and from the festival went very smooth. We went with the underground at all times and didn´t wait longer than 5 minutes for a train. 

- The audience is very enthusiastic. During the Muse gig they even sang the guitar solos. 

- In general it didn´t feel too crowded and I could get a good spot by just showing up half an hour before every gig (bar Olivia Rodrigo). 

- There wasn´t a dull moment since there are 6 stages so there´s always a band to see. 

 

 

I look forward to visit Mad Cool again assuming I like the bands for the next edition. 

 

Nice review. Seems it could be between these two next year. Mad Cool did manage to book as big as Werchter but it's taken a bit of a downgrade. This said, Werchter aren't booking as strong as they once could and their undercard strength this year lacked as well. I think Werchter 2024 strength was massively better through the lineup and maybe because they didn't have an expensive headliners. In fact, I'd say 2024 is their best of the last 4 years.  

[ParanoidTourist]

1 hour ago, activean said:

Tnx for the review. 

First time after XY years i'm not going to be working next year in July, so i'm looking for a new festival that I haven't yet visited. I like Spain, Madrid and MC lineups are very much among my favorites. 

Didn't they change the location or it was just an idea? 

I guess 2018 is a history now and looks like enjoyable fest nowdays. 

 

Yes exactly, they changed the location in 2023 I think to Villaverde; a fairly boring industrial area but the festival ground itself is great. 

[ParanoidTourist]

14 minutes ago, northernangel said:

 

 

Nice review. Seems it could be between these two next year. Mad Cool did manage to book as big as Werchter but it's taken a bit of a downgrade. This said, Werchter aren't booking as strong as they once could and their undercard strength this year lacked as well. I think Werchter 2024 strength was massively better through the lineup and maybe because they didn't have an expensive headliners. In fact, I'd say 2024 is their best of the last 4 years.  

 

Thanks! And it´s the same for me. Next year I´ll probably be chossing between Werchter, Mad Cool or Way Out West depending on the line up. 

[charlierc]

9 hours ago, ParanoidTourist said:

 

Yes exactly, they changed the location in 2023 I think to Villaverde; a fairly boring industrial area but the festival ground itself is great. 

 

I'd heard a lot of criticism of the site when they moved. Is it sounding like how they're able to use the new location is getting better than when they first moved in?

[charlierc]

9 hours ago, northernangel said:

It is a great city, I went in the first week of October some years back and that was hot enough rounding 30 most days with clear sunshine everyday.

I've visited Madrid twice - July 2018 for Mad Cool, which was super hot and May two years ago, which actually wasn't as intense. Though I was only there for one day before getting a train to Valencia, which really was baking.