Mad Cool 2018

[Wooderson]

Struggle to remember a festival with a stronger 3 bands in a row. Queens/Mode/NIN will take some beating. A bruiser of a day.

[AAlex]

well,  getting booed by 15/20 Spaniards and then pushed back in the taxi queue even though I didn’t feel like we pushed in was a nice end to the festival. On a whole I felt inside it was alright, the 2nd and 3rd day at least... but outside they had no regard of how their punters would get in or out of the festival. 

Line up 9.5/10

organisation inside  7/10

organisation getting in & out 2/10    

at the moment I’m going travelling next year so I won’t even have the option to return, but unless the line ups unmissable for you I’d recommend elsewhere, the whole thing left me feeling like this as we left today...

Edited July 15, 2018 by alexlloyd

[Yelo, the Parmiggiana]

QOTSA-NIN-Underworld fucked me up deeply

[evilduck]

We managed to get into the VIP bit for NIN and promptly went mental. Paying for it today, I feel like walking death. 

[Wooderson]

Anyone here jump over the fence as Homme requested?

[SonicSleuth]

21 hours ago, xxialac said:

No. Massive Attack have been playing gigs since the late 1980s. There is plenty of evidence of them being professional performers.

Your Rabbit Hole example is pathetic and in no way comparable. That was a tour that got shelved 4 months before.

And in my time in seeing them *zero* times they’ve dropped out of a festival *ive* attended personally out of 9.

They are not divas. There was obviously something completely unacceptable about the mad cool setup.

There is no ZERO. They dropped out two days ago. Did you not attend THiS festival? 

This is the SECOND festival I've attended that they dropped out. Great that you've had luck, but they're focking douchebags. 

[SonicSleuth]

9 hours ago, Wooderson said:

Struggle to remember a festival with a stronger 3 bands in a row. Queens/Mode/NIN will take some beating. A bruiser of a day.

Agreed completely. I wondered at first why NIN was on the Main stage with Depeche on the side... Until they both played. Holy hell NIN crushed it, and their onstage cameras made the show look great from far away. (I was up close, but there were lots who weren't) 

Pearl Jam and NIN cemented their legacy as powerhouse live bands yet again. Rock is not dead. The 90s are not irrelevant. 

[Wooderson]

Pearl Jam the standout from me. Crystal clear sound was incredible.

[JSmurphy]

NIN.

Incredible.

Will post more thoughts when I've recovered, this picture I snapped probably tells it better than I could anyway: 

[zeppelin]

All in all I had an absolutely amazing weekend! 

The queue getting in on Thursday was a bit frustrating but I was in and had a beer for Eels so didn't think much of it. 

I thought they massively sorted out the bar queues by Friday which was, to be honest, my only concern. 

Getting the bus back central at the end of each night was simple and effective. 

Now the music, oh my the music! I'd be surprised if I ever seen a lineup that strong again! The sound on every stage was incredible as well. I'll be really interested to see if Massive Attack ever say anything, the whole situation is a bit weird. 

My only two major complaints are taking people's sun cream away on entry to the festival and the lack of water availability. 

[xxialac]

53 minutes ago, SonicSleuth said:

There is no ZERO. They dropped out two days ago. Did you not attend THiS festival? 

This is the SECOND festival I've attended that they dropped out. Great that you've had luck, but they're focking douchebags. 

Don’t judge until you’ve heard both version’s side of the story.

FFS they’ve been touring for 30 years, dont you think three decades is enough time to build up a ‘diva’ reputation yet they don’t have one.

If they were treated badly by mad cool and its shitty organisation skills I don’t blame them for cancelling.

 

[Float]

Where’s good for the final, we’re walking around Sol?

[leekstokie]

Just landed back in the uk. I had an amazing time, Thursday queues weren’t great but it helped me having the wristband posted to me so pretty much got straight in when the gates opened.

Huge improvements in organisation on Friday and Saturday.

As for the line up, it was world class. Highlights for me were Pearl Jam and Tame Impala on the Thursday, Odesza and Arctic Monkeys on the Friday and the mind blowing run of QOTSA, Depeche Mode, NIN, Underworld on Saturday.

Ill give it another go next year if the line up is as strong as this year

[ThisIsHappening]

After the first day, I had myself a great time.  That being said, the couple things that will probably make me hold off on coming back are: 

1) we’ll likely never see a lineup like that again 

2) if you want to stay near the festival, it’s no where close to the city center or the things you’d want to be near the rest of the time

3) While Madrid is a lovely city, I still much prefer Barcelona

4) Primavera Sound is one of the most well organized festivals in the world and never disappoints with the lineup 

[MarmK]

Just back in the UK.

Highlights for me were Justice, Arctic's, Odezsa and last night's headliners. I crashed before Underworld unfortunately.

Lowlights

Getting in on the Thursday, we got dropped off at the Uber drop off point at about 5:30 and cheated by hanging around near to the search point to get on site by the time Gang of Youths were playing. Even at that point in the Thunder bitch tent the bar was unorganised and I feared for the rest of the evening. The sight of customers having to hold the card terminals above their heads at the merchandise stands to pay for their t-shirts was just embarrassing.

Two euros for a 330ml bottle of water in that heat with only one point to refill is actually bordering on criminal.

No water to flush the toilets after Slaves on the first afternoon. That's a failure of basic human sanitation.

The police shutting the roads to prevent Uber drivers from getting to the pick up point was very unwelcome at 3 or 4 in the morning.

Oh and screw you Massive Attack.

Although things improved (we took plenty of cash on Friday and Saturday) it would take a confirmation that they've improved the infrastructure and another stellar line up for us to go again next year.

[HommesRightFoot]

https://youtu.be/6zl06Ydfrn8

I know Josh Homme goes hard on security, but if they act like half as much of a c**t as this dude did then it's justified. Hope he never gets a security job again

[elias]

49 minutes ago, HommesRightFoot said:

https://youtu.be/6zl06Ydfrn8

I know Josh Homme goes hard on security, but if they act like half as much of a c**t as this dude did then it's justified. Hope he never gets a security job again

Agreed that the security guy was a dick.

Right, I'm sure this will get a lot of abuse, but here goes:

The rights or wrongs of VIP can be discussed, but the fact is that there was an area cordoned off from the rest of the stage. My family and I were in there for Queens Of The Stone Age. I'd never really listened to them much before, but really got into them in the lead up to the festival. The set itself was amazing, I was enjoying it enormously from the back of the pit with my wife and eldest daughter. My youngest daugther and her boyfriend (being young) were down the front.
A little way into the set Josh Homme decides to make it plain that he wants the VIP area opened up to allow more people in. Now, I've no objection to this at all, I've been on the other side of things many times in days gone by and a large area at the front of the stage that is partly empty when there are so many ardent fans of the band is frankly stupid.
Here's the problem: when this didn't appear to be happening he repeated time and time again that the crowd shoud jump over the barriers and storm the pit (my words, not his, but that was the inference). My wife and I looked at each other and immediately knew this was not a good idea. What did he think would happen? People would jump over then stop and dance around at the back?
It started to get out of control as more and more people came over the barriers and rushed for the front. My wife was almost in tears as more and more excited fans moved past us and headed for the stage. The thought that our daughter was about to be caught up in a potentially serious crush was alarming.
Luckily things eventually calmed down - whether extra security got to grips with things or there were enough sensible people who decided that they shoudn't get involved, I don't know, but it could have been a very serious problem indeed.

There have been enough serious crush issues at concerts in the past, I certainly would not wish to ever see or hear about another ever again.
I gave Josh Homme the benefit of the doubt after the incident with the female photographer, but not after this. The day one of your sons is old enough to be at the front of the pit for one of your concerts and you entreat thousands of fans to rush the stage, I'll be happy to cut you some slack - otherwise don't be such a dick.

Once again, this is NOT about the rights or wrongs of VIP areas at the front of stages, but about the way he went about it. I heard more than one band (Tame Impala, Franz Ferdinand) ask for the VIP area to be opened up and I think that it often was, but in an organised manner. Whipping up a crowd to jump over barriers and rush into a small area is a recipe for disaster.

Sorry if you find any of this offensive, but it was something that was really frightening at the time and it took the shine off what was a great set for me.

[elias]

Oh, just to balance things out - after the problems on the first day we had an amazing time at the festival. Band after band producing great music. If you saw a 60 year old fool jumping about like a 16 year old - it was probably me.

[Red Day]

Nothing wrong with your post.  IMO there simply shouldn’t be these vip areas. Sections at the front are cordoned off to ensure the safety of those at the front and we never see anyone crushed, injured or losing their life. Have the barriered area at front of stage but allow unrestricted access like most festivals until the capacity had been reached, and then close access. The turnstiles at Rock Werchter works really well

[ThisIsHappening]

I can entirely understand the perspective of people not wanting to have half the stage sectioned off, but it’s always comes down to economics for festival organizers.    To turn away those people willing to spend more wouldn’t make any business sense.

There are a fair amount of people who purchased VIP tickets that don’t have a ton of money, but are passionate fans, traveling a long way, that want to be as close to their favorite bands as possible and are willing to pay extra for that. 

The only VIP ticket buyers that do bother me are the one who stay up at the viewing lounge the entire festival, without ever stepping down to show any appreciation for any of the bands.

If you compare it to a lot of fests, the VIP was very reasonably priced given the discounts on food and drinks.

There’s not really a perfect solution to this, but do tend to think if 15 minutes into each band if the area hasn’t filled other people should be allowed in, with the exception of headliners who do fill the area. 

 

 

[HommesRightFoot]

2 hours ago, elias said:

Agreed that the security guy was a dick.

Right, I'm sure this will get a lot of abuse, but here goes:

The rights or wrongs of VIP can be discussed, but the fact is that there was an area cordoned off from the rest of the stage. My family and I were in there for Queens Of The Stone Age. I'd never really listened to them much before, but really got into them in the lead up to the festival. The set itself was amazing, I was enjoying it enormously from the back of the pit with my wife and eldest daughter. My youngest daugther and her boyfriend (being young) were down the front.
A little way into the set Josh Homme decides to make it plain that he wants the VIP area opened up to allow more people in. Now, I've no objection to this at all, I've been on the other side of things many times in days gone by and a large area at the front of the stage that is partly empty when there are so many ardent fans of the band is frankly stupid.
Here's the problem: when this didn't appear to be happening he repeated time and time again that the crowd shoud jump over the barriers and storm the pit (my words, not his, but that was the inference). My wife and I looked at each other and immediately knew this was not a good idea. What did he think would happen? People would jump over then stop and dance around at the back?
It started to get out of control as more and more people came over the barriers and rushed for the front. My wife was almost in tears as more and more excited fans moved past us and headed for the stage. The thought that our daughter was about to be caught up in a potentially serious crush was alarming.
Luckily things eventually calmed down - whether extra security got to grips with things or there were enough sensible people who decided that they shoudn't get involved, I don't know, but it could have been a very serious problem indeed.

There have been enough serious crush issues at concerts in the past, I certainly would not wish to ever see or hear about another ever again.
I gave Josh Homme the benefit of the doubt after the incident with the female photographer, but not after this. The day one of your sons is old enough to be at the front of the pit for one of your concerts and you entreat thousands of fans to rush the stage, I'll be happy to cut you some slack - otherwise don't be such a dick.

Once again, this is NOT about the rights or wrongs of VIP areas at the front of stages, but about the way he went about it. I heard more than one band (Tame Impala, Franz Ferdinand) ask for the VIP area to be opened up and I think that it often was, but in an organised manner. Whipping up a crowd to jump over barriers and rush into a small area is a recipe for disaster.

Sorry if you find any of this offensive, but it was something that was really frightening at the time and it took the shine off what was a great set for me.

I agree that the way homme went about inviting the people in was maybe a bit rowdy, but I have seen very very few Queens concerts where I think a young kid would have been safe standing. At the best of times people are jumping around, and if you're in certain areas you'll get squished up against the fence or tripped up or humped by some big sweaty 280lb man. You've got to be careful where you stand if you've got kids with you at a rock concert

Just my 2 cents

[seantizz]

For those interested - a joint statement from Mad Cool and Massive Attack has appeared:-

https://madcoolfestival.es/en/news/mad-cool-massive-attack

Essentially looks like Massive Attack has asked for something in their technical spec that Mad Cool coukdn’t provide. 

Or Mad Cool thought the band would just put up with it when they arrived - and failed to spot the bscklash.. Familiar in fact to their general attitude to punters... 

Sean

[Wooderson]

MadCool’s comms team did a miserable job this weekend. Pisspoor.

[jonnytee1]

OK i can wrap my festival experience up in one post - i am going to use a statement or two for each day.....

Friday  - Shambolic opening, no signage,  but luckily had my wrist band and was in for Slaves. Pearl Jam were amazing, the beer queues and food queues were not. Getting home was a challenge but a ten minute walk and an Uber solved all issues. Thankfully i booked my hotel near the venue in good time. I know people were complaining about getting home but imagine getting home from a festival near Heathrow to central London at 4am!  - It's the same thing!

Saturday  - I personally thought the whole festival had improved vastly in 24 hours, entry was no issue and the food and drink issue was not perfect but an awful lot better (they actually realised you can pre pour beer! amazing that), however the free water was warm and did run out!!! NOT GOOD , however no more than 5 mins waiting for a drink. a stunning set by Jack White (although an awful clash with Ben Howard)  followed by "some" classic Arctics (and some not so classic) and a stellar performance by Franz Ferdinand which unfortunately was that good that Massive Attack decided they couldn't play, personally my belief is that the band should have continued, that's just my opinion. 

 

Sunday  - For entry and food / drink situation see same as Saturday,  Wolf Alice, QOTSA, Nine Inch Nails  - ALL immense and great and i thought that personally i got a lot out of the festival.

Advice - IF you go next year  - its still very hot for the initial 4 hours, make sure you stay hydrated and book a hotel early and near to the festival site. The Barajas region is best. 

I understand other people may have had different experiences but from the Facebook page I would say that if you give people a chance to moan  - they will moan!

[jonnytee1]

6 hours ago, Wooderson said:

MadCool’s comms team did a miserable job this weekend. Pisspoor.

But i would also agree with the above,