Mad Cool 2018

[ConorC]

27 minutes ago, The Nal said:

Which bars were people queuing for with big queues? There were no queues at any stage at the bars at the right of the main stage. 

We queued up for about 30 mins there towards the end of Depeche Mode/the start of NIN. At the far end near the toilets.

[The Nal]

3 minutes ago, ConorC said:

We queued up for about 30 mins there towards the end of Depeche Mode/the start of NIN. At the far end near the toilets.

Thats mental. We were buying booze there all night and there was no queue. Literally none. I waited until the bands started though. 

Same as any gig then. 

To the right of the Loop was a total mess. Worse than yer wine bar. 

Didn't go back there after I saw some girls vomiting into her hands while walking on Thursday.

Edited July 18, 2018 by The Nal

[Wooderson]

7 minutes ago, The Nal said:

 

Didn't go back there after I saw some girls vomiting into her hands while walking on Thursday.

Friday night I went to 6 bars to try get a drink. 20 min queues min at every one of them. Bars were not a big strength of this festival.

[ConorC]

33 minutes ago, The Nal said:

Thats mental. We were buying booze there all night and there was no queue. Literally none. I waited until the bands started though. 

Same as any gig then. 

We started queuing DURING Depeche Mode whilst they played on the furthest away stage.

Happy for you that you didn't experience any long queues but there were definitely loads of them.

Only times I found it easy to get drink were either before 8pm or after 3am.

[The Nal]

Very odd. Maybe I was just lucky with timing but was at nearly all the bars at various stages and didn't queue for any of them. No queue before Alice in Chains, none before and during Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Jack White. Must've been lucky I suppose.

No worse than lots of big gigs though. Stone Roses in Manchester was probably the worst I've ever seen. Along with Slane.

I walked by the bars at the back of Depeche Mode for food and remarked to the missus that there were no queues. The end near the toilets was empty.

The wine bar was a comedic shambles however. People were equal parts angry, bemused and entertained. 

There were plenty of bars but the main problem was the Spanish taking things at their own pace. Longest I queued was during Dua Lipa and the bar was empty. I just had to wait for the bar staff to stop dancing around to the tune she was playing!

[arcuse]

1 hour ago, Wooderson said:

To the right of the Loop was a total mess. Worse than yer wine bar. 

My friend queued 45 mins there lol. My worst ones were at the end of the KOKO and in the Thunderbitch/Mondosonoro. Like said above, they just worked at their own slow pace.

[MatheauWillis]

I genuinely had a great and had no real issues. Honestly wanted to shag a pint of Kalimotxo by the end of the week.

I was lucky on the first day, managed to get in in 15 minutes and didn't miss any of Fleet Foxes. Took a gamble in the queue which paid off, my friends didn't want to try and ended up queuing for 2 hours which is a complete and utter disgrace. You've got to expect to queue at every festival but that is so far beyond reasonable for paying customers. So gutted for them and everyone that missed bands, I would be absolutely furious. 

Whenever I seen a full bar I simply just went to another one, there's never going to be a time where every bar is busy as some stages won't have any acts playing on them. This plus the festival grounds being so small (compared to the likes of Primavera + Glastonbury) meant walking between each wasn't a big deal, I don't think I queued for longer than 10 minutes. Didn't go to the main bar in the centre or the ones to the side of the tents, they all just looks like an absolute mess. The red bull one beside Koko and the bar front left of the Mad Cool stage weren't ever an issue for me. Actually there was a power cut during Post Malone at the red bull one so they gave us a 50 euro round for free which was a highlight.

On the water front I just bought a bottle of water every second time at the bar or so which saved queuing for water fountains. 

Regarding the VIP area I always just went to the side of the stage without it and managed to get right near the front about 5 minutes before each act. 

I got a taxi home no bother each night as well, just turned right and walked to the subway (rather than left to the taxis). When everyone went in to the station we just kept walking down the street and there were rows of cabs.

On a super positive note: The big screens and sound were epic. I also think it was probably the most friendly crowd I've witnessed at a European festival, at Nine Inch Nails there was a mosh pit filled with purely middle aged, bald men, kissing and dancing, it was so disgustingly beautiful. 

I'm sure they'll put in an extended effort to solve the problems for next year and I'll form a decision (as I did this year) based purely on line up. Hope everyone got home safe!

[40 Days]

For me, based on my priorities at least, the festival was excellent.

Line-up - For my taste, without question the strongest of any festival I've been to and up there with the best I've seen on paper. Saw a good 15 acts that I wanted to see - none of whom disappointed.

Booze - Bars were busy, yes - especially on day one, but any beer drinker with half a brain would have hunted down a quiet one (left of the main stage for instance) or even better - the mobile beer dispensers found en masse near the ferris wheel. We didn't wait more than 2 mins for a beer with these guys.

Sound/staging - Excellent. Usually like to park near a speaker especially when big screens are up and did so for most of the major acts, the sound was exceptional. Was a bit closer to the front for Arctics and the sound still didn't disappoint. Sound in The Loop was a good as any dance space at Glastonbury which is always a benchmark for me. Was easy to navigate between stages and there wasn't any noticeable sound bleed.

Weather - speaks for itself.

Location/organisation - We were in central Madrid and the festival was 20 mins on the train or the same by cab, €30 one-way split four ways isn't an issue. The queue on the first day was a joke, but they sorted it. For the next two days it was easy to cut in between the main entrance and Valdebebas station - we were in in about 15 mins on the other two days taking this route.

Vibe - had a Glastonbury-like feel in terms of how chilled the vast majority of people were. Staff and security cool too. No fights, no bother. Think us Brits were probably the only drunk people there.

My days of being crammed in at the front of festivals are over so can't say the VIP bit bothered me too much, that said, having an empty area in front of a stage seems a bit stupid. The queuing issue on day one was unacceptable. Other than that, it was a great few days - we had a brilliant time.

Edited July 18, 2018 by 40 Days

[elias]

Great to read so many positive recent posts, I think it's a fairer reflection of the festival as a whole. We've been over the negative aspects ad nauseam, so some balance is good to see.

The point about the vibe is a good one. I didn't really think too much about it when I was there, but looking back everyone I met was happy and chilled. Never saw anything remotely related to a fight. As mentioned by Wooderson, perhaps the older demographic was the reason.

[with_tired_eyes]

19 hours ago, ConorC said:

In 99% of instances the queues for the bars and getting to and from the site would’ve put me off ever returning to this but the lineup (and a few other things) salavged this massively. 

They needed some of those metal zigzag railings for queuing at that big bar in the middle of the main stages. It was just unorganised carnage. The staff struggled with communication a lot of the time and where were we supposed to get refunds for the ‘refundable’ plastic cups?

The Massive Attack thing was probably the biggest shambles I’ve seen at a festival. 2 hours spent stood in silence at prime time.

The fest was also oversold, clearly. Masses of people absolutely everywhere in main areas from about 9pm-2am. I’d suggest that this could probably be improved by introducing more big clashes but who wants that? Take at least 10k off the capacity imo.

On the flip side the sound and screens were by far the best I’ve seen. We must’ve been stood about 400 yards away for Depeche Mode and it felt like we were up at the front pretty much.

The sangria/spirits were good value once you’d actually been served, they basically tipped half a bottle of wine into your cup each time.

All things considered I’d give the fest a 7/10. If they sorted out the queues and got more metro lines to stay open all night they’d be looking at a high 9 easy.

Edit: reading my comments back it comes across as me being a bit too negative - just to confirm I DID have a really good time! Just a couple of (relatively simple) adjustments could’ve been made to make the fest a nicer experience.

Good summary! The thursday-chaos doesn't happen to me, luckily, so my main problematic point was this:

Quote

Very loud talking at many concerts. I am not suggesting a ban on talking, but there where people who talked absolutely non-stop and quite loud during several concerts both in the front and bag and both with headliners and smaller bands. 

Especially because of the point that the same people dislike if you dance a little bit more intense or even start a moshpit in the first rows at the NIN-Gig (which includes mainly germans and brits) while you've heard a lot of talking during hurt.

NIN, Depeche Mode  and Ben Howard where incredible. 

And: Am I the only one who thinks that Alex Turner tries to look and act like Nick Cave?

Edited July 18, 2018 by with_tired_eyes

[arcuse]

18 minutes ago, with_tired_eyes said:

And: Am I the only one who thinks that Alex Turner tries to look and act like Nick Cave?

No, because Nick Cave doesn't look and act like a total twat on stage lmao

[zbo]

20 minutes ago, with_tired_eyes said:

And: Am I the only one who thinks that Alex Turner tries to look and act like Nick Cave?

He is the only one having fun at AM concerts, he really cannot connect with the crowd

[YKADAHK]

10 minutes ago, zbo said:

He is the only one having fun at AM concerts, he really cannot connect with the crowd

I am so glad I skipped AM and decided to see AIC instead. While there were major sound issues at the show (cause let's face it Koko stage was shit) both the performance AND the audience were so good that I forgot about the sound issues. Top notch performance.

[Wooderson]

Alice In Chains was a surprising triumph. Another fantastic crowd. 

[with_tired_eyes]

57 minutes ago, YKADAHK said:

I am so glad I skipped AM and decided to see AIC instead. While there were major sound issues at the show (cause let's face it Koko stage was shit) both the performance AND the audience were so good that I forgot about the sound issues. Top notch performance.

I liked the AM-Performance, but can understand, if somebody does not... the Koko had a perfect sound when I went there for Ben Howard and Kaleo. Radio Station Stage was terrible (during Marmozets and Portugal The Man)

[arcuse]

1 hour ago, YKADAHK said:

I am so glad I skipped AM and decided to see AIC instead. While there were major sound issues at the show (cause let's face it Koko stage was shit) both the performance AND the audience were so good that I forgot about the sound issues. Top notch performance.

Heard them while seeing James Holden which was kind of a bummer. Radio Station had a lot of soundbleed coming from KOKO tho (heard Real Estate while The White Buffalo was playing and you could see on Sampha's face that he was genuinely annoyed at something, idk what but it could've been the soundbleed coming from Jack White). Poorly placed imo.

[Semprini]

Not sure if this has been shared already? https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/07/16/inenglish/1531739617_522079.html

Of course it's only one side of the story but unless MA actually come out and say something that's all there's ever going to be.

[the wonderwhy]

My only gripe was the water situation - one set of taps for 80k people would be criminal in this country, let alone somewhere where the temperature is regularly well above 30. Point blank refusing to give out free bottles at the bars is just disgusting. 

Anyway other than that had a great time. The whole set up was fantastic in terms of sound/screens/avoiding clashes/getting a decent position (tho, yeah, fuck the vip bits). Everything bar massive attack ran on time which was great too. The metro back was the stuff of dreams. 

The site was definitely too small, however, and completely lacked character. There was obviously nowt to do outside of the music. Don't think I'd go back unless the lineup is as good as this year (it wont be). 

[bluenova]

16 minutes ago, the wonderwhy said:

My only gripe was the water situation - one set of taps for 80k people would be criminal in this country, let alone somewhere where the temperature is regularly well above 30.

Lots of people seem to have mentioned the tap situation, but we were regularly filling up with water and while they were busy, each tap never had more than one or two people waiting. Are we talking about the set of 25-30 taps just behind the main run of food stalls?

[the wonderwhy]

6 minutes ago, bluenova said:

Lots of people seem to have mentioned the tap situation, but we were regularly filling up with water and while they were busy, each tap never had more than one or two people waiting. Are we talking about the set of 25-30 taps just behind the main run of food stalls?

Yup. Its not so much they got busy - they were alright, tho they were pretty fucking busy when acts finished, naturally - its more that there was only one across the entire place. They clearly wanted you to be buying water at 2 euros a pop. 

[seantizz]

I’ve sent my review in to Neil and I’m sure it’ll be published soon. 

It’s quite scathing in truth. I think that Mad Cool blew its budget on a top notch line-up and then failed to deliver infrastructure wise. 

Just caught up with these forum pages and there’s a lot more love for Mad Cool than I would have anticipated. The Nal must be paid by the festival because my experience seemed polar opposite!! 

Off to Benicassim tomorrow. Hmmm.. 

[Float]

Overall I had fun and enjoyed so much incredible music. I wouldn’t go back though.

The bands and lineup was amazing, it was almost hard to comprehend moving from one huge act to the next almost straight after. Tame Impala we’re brilliant, loved Young Fathers, Justice and Dua Lipa too.

(I thought Jack White was so cringey nowadays and boring, though clearly a minute minority in here(!))

The crowd were brilliant, loved the site and the sound. I didn’t have any issues with the queues and although the one water location was annoying, I never waited more than couple of mins.

Didnt care about VIP area issue. 

But the initial queuing was shocking. I waited for an hour in baking heat with no confirmation I was even in the right place. I couldn’t even see anything that resembled a festival site. Was this for wristband? Is there another entrance? I can’t belive I’m missing Slaves and probably Eels for this.

Im not sure if many used the bus back to Colon at night but it was a comedy show. Literally a free for all the first night. Disorganised chaos and insane queues for nothing with again no confirmation of being in right place the second.

Everything was sorted by third day when they decided to construct a lane and barrier. Surely this should have been done first!

I was so pissed off about MA as they were my main reason for going. To wait 90mins for any form of announcement was totally on the festival. Overall I do blame MA for being a bunch of ****’s for the mess to start with.

I just don’t think I like these ‘not quite a festival’ festivals. I had same issue with Lola Paris last year. Everyone is very reliant on perfect organisation as nobody is staying and it never works sufficiently.

 

Edited July 18, 2018 by Float

[eFestivals]

10 hours ago, Semprini said:

Not sure if this has been shared already? https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/07/16/inenglish/1531739617_522079.html

Of course it's only one side of the story but unless MA actually come out and say something that's all there's ever going to be.

interesting, thanks.

I'm guessing that's why they don't play many festivals.

[Booster]

9 hours ago, seantizz said:

I’ve sent my review in to Neil and I’m sure it’ll be published soon. 

It’s quite scathing in truth. I think that Mad Cool blew its budget on a top notch line-up and then failed to deliver infrastructure wise. 

Just caught up with these forum pages and there’s a lot more love for Mad Cool than I would have anticipated. The Nal must be paid by the festival because my experience seemed polar opposite!! 

Off to Benicassim tomorrow. Hmmm.. 

It's a shame you didn't you enjoy it, as, notwithstanding the org problems on the Thursday, I personally thought it was a cracking festival. 

For me, the music side was absolutely superb: not just the line up, but the stages, the lighting, the sound, the screens - in this respect it was the best festival I have ever attended. Special mention for PJ and NIN as their gigs were out of this world. (I don't know the facts behind the Massive Attack case, but the fact everyone else played does not, prima facie, reflect well on them.)

I though the layout was good overall and especially enjoyed the vibe from the fake grass.

Atmosphere was really friendly, and the lack of aggressive drunken idiots compared to a UK festival was noticeable and to be welcomed.

Food quality was good, reasonably priced and we could always find a place without a queue.

Drinks were a bit trickier (think the longest I queued was 15 minutes) and one water station is ridiculous for a festival of this size.

The one thing I would add, perhaps contrary to some other views on here, is that Madrid itself is not a particularly nice city. The art galleries are great but that's about it. This - and this alone - would be the only factor that would make me consider not attending next year (assuming a decent line up).

And finally on the VIP issue, fine to give VIP priority access up until bands come on - at that point the enclosures should be filled up with people waiting. Seems a win/ win solution to me.

This is my first ever post by the way, although I've read threads on this site for years. Thanks to eveyrone for sharing views / rumours / experiences.

 

 

[eFestivals]

54 minutes ago, Booster said:

This is my first ever post by the way, although I've read threads on this site for years. 

welcome.