Mad Cool 2018

[johnybegood]

The biggest problem imo was the lack of announcements about public transport until 3 days before the festival. All the foreign people that came to visit Madrid booked their hotels with no idea about the transport to the site.

Next year, people will know that booking a hotel near Plaza de Castilla or near Nuevos Ministerios will make so easy to go back home after the festival in a few minutes. Metro had no queues and run every 5 minutes, so if your hotel were near Nuevos Ministerios it was sooo easy to back home.

I did no see any dangerous situation during the weekend, no fights and people having a great time. This festival has grown so fast in just one year and I am sure that next year they won't make the same mistakes. Friday and Saturday were normal days imo, and most of the thursday problems were solved. 

The sound and the screens were the best ones that I've ever seen in a festival. Lot of nice bands, lot of nice peoples and fantastic weather after the sunset.

The person that make their review for efestivals obviously a few days after is talking fantastic things about FIB, another great spanish festival but run by british people. Lot of hidden interests and a great competetion between spanish festivals. Unfortunately, that stupid war has also be seen on lot of spanish blogs, sites or papers... Next year, an old new festival (Doctor Music Festival) will make a comeback during the same weekend that BBK, Cruilla and Mad Cool, and just one week before FIB, so more shit will be spread between them.

 

 

[thetime]

Grown to big to quickly perhaps. 

[the wonderwhy]

Did anyone go in the little conservatory thing they had with concept art for next year? Looked like they planning on building a lot more, and therefore taking up even more floorspace, without increasing the size of the arena. Dunno how that would work with the same capacity. 

[NomadicMan]

Interesting reading all the comments on this.

Im not surprised organisation was shoddy. Last year was a shit show by most accounts so to grow AND move venue its not entirely surprising they had lots of issues.

Fact is though if they invest and have a line up like this next year it’ll sell out in 2019 regardless. 

[clasher]

After a week of gathering thoughts and reading what others have to say:

It was a nice festival.

Technically it was superb, with the exception of radio stage which was poorly placed to say the least and had a ton of other problems (a real shame for Marmozets, they put on a great show nevertheless).
The prices inside were reasonable. So were the queues, apart form the first day.
The lineup was the best I've seen in years and that surely saved this festival.
The fake grass is awesome. The whole venue should be bigger for that many people, the crowd was nice though so luckily there were no bigger problems. I had a bunch of absolute pissdrunk annoyingastheycanbe english twats right next to me during the Monkeys show, and they seemed to follow me with their inability or rather unwillingness to stand on their own two feet and not ruin the night for everybody around them as I was trying to get further away from them. That was the only crowd-related problem I experienced, but ya know, AM fans.

There were downsides too, and big ones. The whole first day shit show, Massive Attack stuff, only one waterpoint, expensive water, transport etc. Apart for the first day that simply can't be excused, the problems weren't as disastrous as people make it and I'm sure they will address it in the coming years. Will consider returning in a couple of years when they perhaps put together a lineup as insane as this one (I would be surprised if the next year's wasn't considerably weaker/less interesting).

Edited July 21, 2018 by clasher

[arcuse]

1 hour ago, clasher said:

Apart for the first day that simply can't be excused, the problems weren't as disastrous as people make it and I'm sure they will address it in the coming years. Will consider returning in a couple of years when they perhaps put together a lineup as insane as this one (I would be surprised if the next year's wasn't considerably weaker/less interesting).

If you're gonna upgrade from 55 to 80k people on a new site then you might aswell check up every possible thing that might go wrong. No communication towards the people in the queue on the first is day in that heat is unforgivable. If you've to wait up until 2 hours then you might aswell give out some water bottles or atleast let people keep them until they're inside or something. You gotta check up on your volunteers if they know and understand what they have to do because most of them didn't even know what to do on the first day. Maybe keep a screening or give information to the people working what their job actually is gonna be or something. Only 1 water station but still selling water bottles from 33cl for €2 is laughable. I'm sorry but this organisation was a complete joke. 

Communication is key, my dude. (If it works ofcourse because even with 4G on, I could barely connect with internet there). Send out some tweets regarding queues, delays, problems, cancellations.. Use the app for what it's built for???

[arcuse]

On 7/20/2018 at 5:35 PM, johnybegood said:

The biggest problem imo was the lack of announcements about public transport until 3 days before the festival. All the foreign people that came to visit Madrid booked their hotels with no idea about the transport to the site.

If you did some research on the metro and train situation of the city then you could almost be sure of it, even before the announcement, that the tram line 8 would be the only option running through the festival. If you booked something in that area then you basically had no problem coming back to your appartements at night. But yes, you're right tho (even if it's really special from the city of Madrid they got permession to do such a thing through the weekend) that they should've announced transport options wayyy earlier. Now everyone knows where to book next year tho so yeah 

[clasher]

@arcuse Don't get me wrong, the first day with the entry queues, failures of the cash registry systems, utterly disorganized bar staff and the lack of communications were all shambolic, I completely agree with you. All those problems didn't persist throughout the festival though, most of them were solved on day two. Could they have done more? Of course. Should they have done more? Absolutely. 

However: I guess the real question here is whether the first day disaster destroys the whole festival. I would argue it doesn't, as I had a great time, enjoyed a number of marvelous performances with a great sound and visuals and queued less than 5 minutes for drinks and food the rest of the weekend.

[Wooderson]

I saw better music, presented flawlessly at this than a couple of Glastonbury’s. Tickets were dirt cheap also. Great stuff.

[moz4pm]

I've been to roughly 40 festivals in 14 years and this is the only one out of them that I categorically wouldn't go back to, just an utter disappointment. You could have Metallica, The Smiths and Rush headline and I wouldn't bat an eyelid.

[Rico_Pliskin]

26 minutes ago, moz4pm said:

I've been to roughly 40 festivals in 14 years and this is the only one out of them that I categorically wouldn't go back to, just an utter disappointment. You could have Metallica, The Smiths and Rush headline and I wouldn't bat an eyelid.

Really? Was thinking of heading next year. Would love to hear if you have additional issues apart from what others were saying previous.

where would have been your fav fest sound/lineup wise?

thanks

[moz4pm]

20 hours ago, Rico_Pliskin said:

Really? Was thinking of heading next year. Would love to hear if you have additional issues apart from what others were saying previous.

where would have been your fav fest sound/lineup wise?

thanks

Nos Alive, been three times, we went to Mad Cool for Depeche Mode but in hindsight we wish we'd done Nos again. Cheap, well organised, great arena, great lineups, never had a bad time there.

Infact we already booked our hotel for Nos next year.

Edited July 22, 2018 by moz4pm

[jonnytee1]

Other than the first night, i had no problems at Mad Cool. I booked my hotel 5 mins drive from the festival as i thought it would be easier to travel into Madrid on the days the festival was NOT on than to travel back from the festival to the centre of Madrid on a daily basis. In hindsight it was the best move ever.

 

I know people are saying that the travel back was a chore but the festival was on the outskirts of Madrid near the airport. Could you imagine a summer festival near Heathrow that finished at 4am and staying at Picadilly Circus?? You simply wouldn't do that. 

 

[The Nal]

1 hour ago, jonnytee1 said:

Other than the first night, i had no problems at Mad Cool. I booked my hotel 5 mins drive from the festival as i thought it would be easier to travel into Madrid on the days the festival was NOT on than to travel back from the festival to the centre of Madrid on a daily basis. In hindsight it was the best move ever.

 

I know people are saying that the travel back was a chore but the festival was on the outskirts of Madrid near the airport. Could you imagine a summer festival near Heathrow that finished at 4am and staying at Picadilly Circus?? You simply wouldn't do that. 

 

Yeah we stayed in a hotel near the airport and it was a gift getting to and from the festival. Made a huge difference. 

[with_tired_eyes]

2 minutes ago, The Nal said:

Yeah we stayed in a hotel near the airport and it was a gift getting to and from the festival. Made a huge difference. 

To get from the festival to our hostel at gran via it was also quite easy: take the U-8, go to the waiting busses there which went to cibelles and walk a little. Time taken: 40 minutes(?), extra money taken: 0, because of a valid tourist ticket. 

[evilduck]

We took the metro at night as well, and then we were either a 25 min walk from Nuevos Ministerios or a 5 min Uber. The only long part was the walk from the festival to the metro, that seemed to get longer each night!

Looking back it was an ok festival. I don't think I would go back again, especially with Glasto in such close proximity timewise.

[berger55]

The queue on the first day to change the eticket to a wristband was horrible. Specially because they had the security check before queueing. So they took the drinking water away and let you wait in the sun (just a bit shadow in the underbridge) for nearly two hours. That was very bad organized. And after you entered the festival, you have to wait 25min to get a beer...worst festival experience ever. Maybe I really had bad luck and was there at peak time...

On the next two days, it was way better. Also the bar staff was better organized.

To get back in town, on the first day I used the metro, after a long walk home. The better option was with the free shuttle-bus from the festival to Cibeles. 

I am not sure, if I go next year again.

[40 Days]

On 7/20/2018 at 10:49 AM, The Nal said:

What temp was the bubbly in the limo?

???

[40 Days]

On 7/21/2018 at 6:36 PM, Wooderson said:

I saw better music, presented flawlessly at this than a couple of Glastonbury’s. Tickets were dirt cheap also. Great stuff.

Have only been to Glastonbury one (last year) and musically, this year's MC was far better for me than probably any Glasto for the last 10 years.

[ConorC]

28 minutes ago, 40 Days said:

Have only been to Glastonbury one (last year) and musically, this year's MC was far better for me than probably any Glasto for the last 10 years.

Depends how you're measuring it really. The depth of the lineup at Glasto will always blow pretty much anything else out of the water. There's at least 75-80 acts I'd like to see on each Glasto lineup compared to about 30 at MC.

On number of headline-type names you could argue MC as being better.

[dave0h]

Copied and pasted from another forum I post on:

Now that I'm home and my brain is semi back to normal, here's some delayed thoughts: 

Just a small echo of Thursday being a bit tangley. After the subway and lengthy walk (more on this later) I arrived 5:30, waited 20 minutes for my wristband. Not a big deal for me, but it did suck to read others incredibly long waits. Not a good way to start a festival weekend I know. Bar lines were where I became frustrated. Everyone working the bar was miserable and slow. I suppose dealing with mobs of people start to finish would put anyone in a shit mood though.. The sets that day were all flawless. Eels, FIDLAR, Leon, bit of Pearl Jam from the back while waiting for what was my favorite set of the weekend: Kasabian. My girlfriend isn't comfortable being close up and waiting for spots, but this was both of our most anticipated sets of the weekend so we got close right side and had a god damn TIME man. Big dance party with everyone around us. Kasabian delivered big time after waiting ~4 years to see them.

All problems went away after Friday. There's still the long walk from the subway station, but this isn't an uncommon thing. It was super weird going through all those warehouses though. Strange vibe.. 
Got in late Friday after lounging by the hotel pool all day for Jack White > Arctic Monkeys > what was supposed to be Massive Attack.. Not going to complain about it anymore. It's a major bummer, but it is what it is. Shit happens. 
Jack was excellent fun - but I've accepted that a Roo '14 set is out of reach again. Must keep expectations in check hehe.. 
I'm a HUGE AM fan, so I enjoyed their set a hell of a lot more than most it seems. New songs came across great live to me. I had a ball.

Last day - fucking killer on the legs. It was go go go from HFTRR > Underworld. 
Back and forth to the main stages for JJ, then Queens which I don't think I've rocked out harder in my life for. We had a fun mosh/dance circle with some friendly British types. I went berserk until I nearly fell over. Had to get a little view for DM - who made me feel all the feels. But i'll save hat for the 'when you cried at a concert' thread.. 
I gotta say one thing about NIN. I've been a casual fan - but we got a great spot for them as the crowd was pretty thin. They blew my fucking mind. I wasn't expecting that.. Like, at all. I was wide-eyed and slack jawed watching that show. Just unbelievable. 
Last thing - Jet were gone for 8 years? I hadn't noticed. But that was a fun little last full show of the weekend. They seem to have a pretty dedicated fan base. Their crowd was way bigger than I anticipated. 
Did a bit of Underworld before my legs just said: no mate - and we had to leave. 

Overall I'm very happy with my decision to go and be apart of this festival. I had my reservations because of the expansion, but I'm happy with the results. The amount of amazing music I saw that weekend far outweighs any of the complaints I can come up with. This isn't a fest I would run back to - but if they continue to produce lineups like this, it'll never leave my radar.

[birchtree29]

Tame Impala finished their concerts until October and between Mad Cool, Citadel (London), Pitchfork (Chicago) and Float Fest (Texas) the best visual show was at Mad Cool thanks to huge visual screens that Main Stage 2 had. It was the same show they did at Panorama NYC last year and none of the other festivals had that big of a screen. 

[jackarmy]

On 7/23/2018 at 11:47 AM, The Nal said:

Yeah we stayed in a hotel near the airport and it was a gift getting to and from the festival. Made a huge difference. 

What did you do in the day? I.E was it expensive to get boozed up around there?

We stayed in Mola Hostel in centre near Puerte Del Sol and we were paying about 5 euro for a bucket of 6 ice cold Estrella or Mahou,

[The Nal]

2 minutes ago, jackarmy said:

What did you do in the day? I.E was it expensive to get boozed up around there?

We stayed in Mola Hostel in centre near Puerte Del Sol and we were paying about 5 euro for a bucket of 6 ice cold Estrella or Mahou,

Went into Madrid for lunch, a wander and a drink or two. 15 minute taxi back to the hotel for a chill, kip, shower and then to the festival.

On the day with the queues we stayed in the hotel drinking 15 euro bottles of rosé, 3 euro beers and eating. Think our bill was €110ish from 3pm to 10.30pm between 4 of us. Food included. 

Spent fuck all over the week relatively. 

[Float]

Sad it’s all over now and nothing to read or check up on ☹️

I said that’ll be my last fest til Glasto, but now very tempted by Electric Picnic this Sept to ease the pain, espescially after the Massive Attack ordeal in Madrid