Mad Cool 2018

[bryano1000]

Can't add anything else to what's been said here: the relentless queues and general disorganisation really threatened to ruin the night. However, the sound was great. Tame Impala and Post Malone (surprisingly) were very enjoyable but Justice were on another level: one of the best shows I've seen in a while.  The visuals in the loop were off the charts. 

Looking forward to today...hopefully they will have rectified some of the issues 

[JSmurphy]

It's really disappointing to see so many unhappy reports. I think I lucked out a fair bit by getting into the site after just 20ish minutes in the queue. Was on site eating some lovely curry noodles by the time Slaves started. 

I watched Toundra while waiting for a drink (waited 30 minutes then the systems went down!) but they sounded great. I watched about half of Fidlar and then onto Durand Jones & The Indicators who both surprised me. Really enjoyable. Was close to the front for Tame Impala and it was incredible. What a band. Be surprised if even NIN will top it. Pearl Jam were superb too and by this point I had over indulged considerably so I had no issues with dancing away so very far away from the stage. Kasabian were good but my feet had long given up. 

Biggest fuck up was getting the wrong bus home and having a lovely 5km walk back to our apartment. At least we got to see the Bernabau en route . My feet are in pieces but very funny in hindsight.

Hope everyone has a better day today.

[jtrousers1]

Completely agree with a lot of the complaints, particularly on water, wristbands and taxis. Also i couldn't find any coffee, any idea? So i don't have to rely on red wine and coke.

Chin up guys and girls though! Pick your times and places to get a drink and food, relax and enjoy the music. I understand if people decide not to go, but there is some awesome music coming up. I think a good atmosphere could be in store but agree the queueing will go some way to holding it back.

[birchtree29]

I agree with everyone’s comment just to add some things:

It was crazy to see there was barely a cell service at the festival. The location is right next to the airport which has the best cell service in Madrid yet we couldn’t even send and receive whatsapp texts. We will download the Firechat messaging app that uses Bluetooth today. 

As someone who went to Coachella last 6 years, I can easily say that they got inspired by Coachella a lot. Besides the obvious ferris wheel, Main stages screens were increased by the same size. The loop is basically the Sahara tent from 2013-2017 but with a lot less visual screens. Also they got Coachella’s $9 heineken strategy as well which is crazy when you do it at a European festival.  I wish they got how to get much less queues from Coachella as well. You can get your wristband from their office any day before the festival that week. A thing like that would have made those queues much much easier. 

Edited July 13, 2018 by birchtree29

[seantizz]

Nobody’s mentioned the electric shocks from the fake plastic grass.. 

[Superunknown]

Festival is a disorganised joke. Makes you appreciate how well run some UK festivals are, Glastonbury in particular given its size. 

My mate literally collapsed in the queue to get in because we had our water taken off us and there was no shade for him to have a breather or anything. Disgusting. 

Queues are shite, staff are woefully undertrained. Making beers to order rather than prepouring a load and getting them out straight away. 

Had to walk back from Plaza Castilla last night because there were no taxis available. I’m tempted to just leave after Arctic Monkeys today so I can try and get the metro but not sure what time it shuts. 

Left a really sour taste I’m afraid to say.

[AndrewSmith]

Someone mentioned a water point, where was it? Struggled with the heat early on yesterday

[scatteredscreens]

12 minutes ago, AndrewSmith said:

Someone mentioned a water point, where was it? Struggled with the heat early on yesterday

Near the entrance on your left past the merch stalls, should be a huge fan and then around that corner on the left there's some taps if you're referring to water points on site.

Anyone else notice how there was no water in the taps for toilets haha

[Dom Wall]

28 minutes ago, Superunknown said:

Festival is a disorganised joke. Makes you appreciate how well run some UK festivals are, Glastonbury in particular given its size. 

My mate literally collapsed in the queue to get in because we had our water taken off us and there was no shade for him to have a breather or anything. Disgusting. 

Queues are shite, staff are woefully undertrained. Making beers to order rather than prepouring a load and getting them out straight away. 

Had to walk back from Plaza Castilla last night because there were no taxis available. I’m tempted to just leave after Arctic Monkeys today so I can try and get the metro but not sure what time it shuts. 

Left a really sour taste I’m afraid to say.

Shuts at 1.30am I believe. Seemed to be a few taxis around the metro stop in the centre - admittedly we did set off walking to discover it was further than we thought so don't know how long the queue was.

[AndrewSmith]

20 minutes ago, James96 said:

Near the entrance on your left past the merch stalls, should be a huge fan and then around that corner on the left there's some taps if you're referring to water points on site.

Anyone else notice how there was no water in the taps for toilets haha

Thanks James, I’ll look today!

[DDave]

54 minutes ago, Superunknown said:

Queues are shite, staff are woefully undertrained. Making beers to order rather than prepouring a load and getting them out straight away. 

 

Beggars belief that in 2018, festivals are still doing this. The festival bars with the quicker queues always have staff pouring the beer constantly and different staff in front serving. Absolute no-brainer.

Edited July 13, 2018 by DiscothequeDave

[HollyB]

46 minutes ago, James96 said:

Near the entrance on your left past the merch stalls, should be a huge fan and then around that corner on the left there's some taps if you're referring to water points on site.

Anyone else notice how there was no water in the taps for toilets haha

There were almost as many people lining up there trying to get water at 2am as were watching Kasabian. At about 2.45am I was excited because it looked like there were no queues but it was because the water had run out. Hopefully it gets refilled.

[HollyB]

I really can't understand why they're not utilising the wristbands for payment. Stock them with credit online and then bar staff can just scan them instead of dealing with cash and cards. They can have extra places to load the wristbands at the festival. Worked a treat at Lollapalooza in Brasil earlier this year.

[AAlex]

To top it off I bought one of those ‘merch packs’ online and I got an email a week later saying they can’t post to the UK and they can either send it to my hotel or collect from the merch stand. 

I chose hotel, gave them the details and exchanged a couple of emails the last one being 25th June. I got an email Tuesday saying they can’t send it out with the hotel address, which id gave them two weeks ago... I’ve had no response since, and I’m fully expecting to get stung out of €25 now

[ThisIsHappening]

Pretty accurate article;

Copied and translated from el Mundo

The third edition of Mad Cool, the biggest festival in the history of Spain, has started with chaos in the accesses. The more than 80,000 attendees who have tried to enter the IFEMA site next to the sports city of Real Madrid, in Valdebebas, have had to wait between one and two hours, in some cases.

"The greatest disaster in history." With these words defined Ignacio, one of the attendees, the Mad Cool festival organization, which this Thursday has opened its doors. He had been waiting for hours to get in and considered "incredible" the situation because "they do not let you in through any door and the parking spaces are complete, it does not help that you have reservations".

Many of the people who were trying to access the site, located in Valdebebas, near Ifema, reported on social networks the long lines of several kilometers to enter. "We have been standing in the sun for two hours and they do not let us move," Leticia told EL MUNDO. "We have arrived at 6.30 pm and at 8.30 pm we are still out, people are really pissed off because they are losing concerts".

"Tercermundista is to be short, this is an extreme madness", declared to this newspaper José María, who had not yet found his friends and was "lost in the middle of nowhere".

Álex and Álvaro's situation was even worse, because they were blocked at the exit of the Ifema metro, as members of the organization's security prevented the passage to the tunnel that goes below the M-11 and that ends at the side of the enclosure. After many minutes of patience "the assistants have knocked down the fences that did not let us pass and have begun to walk, because you could not hold more time to the thousands of people who are here," said Álex. Of course, "we have already made a first security check and we have not even crossed the subway," he said surprised.

Also they denounced who tried to enter the Mad Cool that of a door of entrance derived to the other and vice versa and, in the end, the people stayed to halfway. And they criticized the enormous traffic jams, as the parking lots collapsed and traffic congested the surrounding streets, the bad signaling to the site and the lack of information on the part of the security personnel. "They just say you can not go, nothing more," said Pablo.

Sources of the organization consulted by EL MUNDO pointed out that the cause of the agglomerations was due to a combination of reasons: on the one hand, the "lack of foresight of the problems that access to Valdebebas could bring", a situation that "will improve this Friday, with a program of joint action with the municipal police of Madrid "to manage the human flow. The other factor with which the organization justifies access problems is the very dynamics of a festival of these characteristics: "The first day there are many people who still have to pick up bracelets or exchange accreditation, which slows down the start".

Mastodónticas dimensions of the Mad Cool, which has practically doubled its capacity compared to the previous year, a second edition marked by the death of the acrobat Pedro Aunión during a number next to the main stage.

Shouts of outrage
The scenes of indignation among the attendees have led to whistles, boos and shouts of "sons of bitches". Many have lamented that a festival of the characteristics and the price of Mad Cool does not have a protocol in place to manage this type of agglomeration. Even more so considering that the tickets were sold out last fall and that the important volume of people planned forced a negotiation between the organization, the Community of Madrid and the City Council to allow the opening of the subway at night, the second time in the last century. History of the suburban Madrid, after last year's edition of World Pride entailed that the entire network operated at dawn.

In this case, and at the last minute, an agreement was reached for the trains to circulate between the station of Campo de las Naciones and Nuevos Ministerios. Also the Cercanías service, in the Valdebebas station, will receive a reinforcement with 50% more trains, although without extraordinary hours.

In addition to the pilgrimages on foot and in the sun along the outskirts of the M-12 and the M-40 (also collapsed by cars looking for a way to park), the traffic jams have caused the first concerts of the day to look bleak in The gigantic enclosure. This has happened with Fleet Foxes, Eels or Iván Ferreiro. With the sun setting, the concert of the Australians Tame Impala (psychedelia somewhat overcrowded, while I have I fought a little attention for its distorted and noisy pop-rock) has marked the beginning of normalcy. A quick look at Valdebas's surroundings revealed a more comfortable space than the Magic Box, which hosted the Mad Cool in the first two editions.

Wide artificial turf surface, the well-known giant ferris wheel, restoration posts and a stage, the Loop, in the form of monumental vaulted tent, to capture the attention of the attendees. The atmosphere recalls in this third edition even more the late Rock in Rio de Arganda del Rey, which the Mad Cool exceeds not only in attendance (70,000 attendees came to be counted on their best nights), but also in media coverage and controversy.

The massification at the time of ordering in some bars, the absence of beer in others or the schedules (which placed Justice in a cramped Loop tent shortly after midnight, while the lazy psychedelia of MGMT began to sound close to 3 at dawn) were other complaints.

In a statement sent after the closing of doors, the organization explained that, "due to a problem with the network throughout the site, access to the Mad Cool Space has occurred with more incidents than expected on the first day of the festival" . And an apology: "We deeply regret the waits and the long queues to all the attendees, we thank the public for the understanding of the unforeseen, we are sure that the next two days will be carried out with total normality".

[Red Day]

NIN were fantastic last night at NOS. Having read all the comments above pretty glad we’ve chosen this festival. Queues to get in were fine, beers are €4 for half litre and the food is really good and reasonably priced. Hope organisation gets sorted today at Mad Cool for all you folks there

[SonicSleuth]

Anybody who says the lines weren't bad is on crack. The queues everywhere were incredible.

That said, the bands are amazing. The sound is fantastic. The grounds are beautiful. The giant screens are a godsend.

But the water, the lines, the long walk to get in or out.. not great. They have their hearts in the right place, but it still needs work.

[Yelo, the Parmiggiana]

80000 people in that area is just stupid. Queues and services come after (not much after tbh), it is just not safe, I was moving from Pearl jam and I really felt like if some stupid jerk even tried to say "bomb" I would have died there (and controls have been nearly non existent, apart from water and food - god forbid throwing a bocadillo on the stage). The main stages area is too small for all that flow of humans.

 

Then it comes the water at 6€/l, the beer only in dimensions of a liter, the scam of the glasses that can be given back for 1 € but they won't take them, the queue at the entrance with nobody looking for us with shade or water (because they took it away soon before), the acoustic of the main stage that given the proportion of the crowd don't allow to hear all the concerts (either that or you put yourself in the middle of the two stages and get a shitty acoustic from both), tap water non existent, bathrooms non existent (I peed on a wall as anybody else), indications of where to go non existent.

 

Definitely one and last time I come, even because I paid 300 for the day tickets and than they released more 3days, and that is ashaming, and this is not a way to manage a festival. They could call who the fuck they want, it is too extreme.

 

EDIT: I forgot the 3 KMS walk at 4 am alone because they fucking put only one subway that leads in the middle of nowhere working at that time.

Edited July 13, 2018 by Yelo, the Parmiggiana

[White Bear]

Had an amazing night.

Getting in was a bit of a pain in the arse and we queued for an hour for our first beer, but think that was our fault for choosing the bar at the entrance that was mobbed.

After that didn’t queue for more than 2 minutes for a beer, really impressed with the sound for an outdoor space. 

Tame Impala, PJ and Justice were all unbelievable. The Loop is aff the scale as a venue. Massive Attack is going to be so good tonight. 

The bar staff are a bit slow but all friendly, thought there was a really good vibe inside.

[White Bear]

Also the shuttle bus service back into the city centre is amazing. 

Loads of busses, just a shame there not offering the same service to get there.

[Haemoglobin]

The organization is an absolute joke, nothing worked. It feels more like a prom than a festival of the category. There are no areas to stay or declared paths. Simply a wild mix of ideas without an idea of a possible implementation. You do not want to imagine what that looks like in the case of an emergency situation.

[Kirie]

Hey, guys, is there metro line which is open 24/7? Or you should w8 anyway until 6am?

[Ian Gunpowder]

Gates not open and queues building up again. 

[scatteredscreens]

11 minutes ago, mrchnry said:

Gates not open and queues building up again. 

Oh for fuck sake.

[seantizz]

Somebody on Twitter is saying the organisation appears to have got much better today. Is that not true? We’re hanging about in the city for a while. Can’t be doing with another night like yesterdsy..