Mad Cool 2023

[Nathan Explosion]

Yeah men's loos still a bit of a mess, but seemed to be less of a crush getting in and out. Or maybe I just timed my trips better. No queue even tho we seemed to arrive at a pretty peak time, but could've done without the lengthy diversion. The walk's long enough as it is in this heat!

Otherwise had another great day - as others have said QOTSA were damn good (although I would've loved lost art of keeping a secret, or really anything off rated r). We also very much enjoyed working our way down 'mahou avenue' to watch hotwax, stone and night club. Really cool (literally, they have aircon) little stages that almost feel like you've stepped into a trendy club. And all 3 of them smashed it, although night club was sadly v sparsely attended (couldn't have been more than 50 people in there). They still delivered a synth pop masterclass tho, great contrast to anything else on the line up.

We left early as weren't bothered about much after QOTSA so avoided any travel chaos there might have been. Plenty we want to see today, plus been doing loads of walking round Madrid as it turns out it's an amazing city, so needed to preserve our feet.

[Sasperella2]

@Nathan Explosion agree, that little venue was great! We also really enjoyed Stone and then we caught a bit of Himalayas. I am so down with AirCon in tents!! 

[Drums Please Fab]

Why do they route us all the way into that industrial estate on the way in . It’s an extra km or two for what feels like no reason.

 

the Venue is within touching distance and then they make you swing a left and you start walking away from the entrance.

[Drums Please Fab]

The sound is brilliant to be fair as a few have alluded to already. 
 

The layout does nothing for me though. I find it a bit all over the shop. 
 

I find it bottlenecky trying to get from stage to stage. 
 

The Metro station situation is not ok after the festival ends. No queue in place at all. Unpoliced.

A crush. 

[yosoyyoberdi]

Just realised the girls camping next to the entrance are waiting for Harry Styles on the 14th. Brutal.

[Lionator]

40 minutes ago, yosoyyoberdi said:

Just realised the girls camping next to the entrance are waiting for Harry Styles on the 14th. Brutal.

That is insane, they’ve been there since Thursday! 
 

Toilets are operating a one way system today, let’s hope security can enforce it and people are sensible.

[charlierc]

2 hours ago, yosoyyoberdi said:

Just realised the girls camping next to the entrance are waiting for Harry Styles on the 14th. Brutal.

That's already crazy without seeing Spain is getting a bad heatwave that'll see temperatures in the 35-40 degree mark all the way through to that date.

[yosoyyoberdi]

You can definitely feel the site is at capacity today.

[DDave]

This is the most stressful festival thread. I'm getting agitated just reading it and I'm hundreds, if not thousands of miles away. 

[yosoyyoberdi]

Might be me. But RHCP were a borefest and left mid set. First time. 

[Drums Please Fab]

33 minutes ago, yosoyyoberdi said:

Might be me. But RHCP were a borefest and left mid set. First time. 

They arctic monkeyed themselves in the middle third. Played a load of songs nobody knew.

On train back now. I could only get one pint today with the queues and havnt had a piss either. Holding it in until I get off the metro. 
 

Weather is beautiful. City is a treat to potter around…..but the festival in its current iteration is not for me. Too much friction. Things just shouldn’t be that much of an arse ache in 2023.

It’s a very claustrophobic experience all things considered. 

it’s not a vibe.
Myself and herself were just anxious all 3 days.

She didn’t even go yesterday.

[Drums Please Fab]

Would love to have stayed for Jamie xx but it’s just not worth the hassle.

[yosoyyoberdi]

55 minutes ago, Drums Please Fab said:

Would love to have stayed for Jamie xx but it’s just not worth the hassle.

I have just left after Jamie XX. Pretty good set.

[Lionator]

I think Mad and Cool is probably a good description of this bizarre experience of the past few days. 

[prefab]

2 hours ago, yosoyyoberdi said:

Might be me. But RHCP were a borefest and left mid set. First time. 

I hope you got a chance to see The Hu, who were on at the same time and were incredible.

[Drums Please Fab]

9 minutes ago, Lionator said:

I think Mad and Cool is probably a good description of this bizarre experience of the past few days. 

What’s your summary of it Lionator?

what did you make of it overall?

[Lionator]

1 minute ago, Drums Please Fab said:

What’s your summary of it Lionator?

what did you make of it overall?

The first day was chaotic wasn’t it? The queues, the bottlenecks. I think if tonight’s crowd had attended on Thursday there could’ve genuinely been a catastrophe, but thankfully they sorted out the teething issues, although the toilet entrance situation was shambolic. Saw some really good acts, RHCP were easily the worst. 
 

I feel like a lot of the worst critics probably haven’t experienced some of the UK festivals where etiquette isn’t quite as good as on the continent. 

[yosoyyoberdi]

16 minutes ago, prefab said:

I hope you got a chance to see The Hu, who were on at the same time and were incredible.

No, I was looking for alternatives but sadly I didn't know them.

Went to the Vibra Mahou area instead. It has been consistently the best every time I didn't have an act to see.

[Nathan Explosion]

Can understand the rhcp criticism, but some of those new songs are genuinely good (mainly black summer), and once they were playing the hits it was great. Definite lull in the middle tho.

The prodigy were f**king amazing, definitely the most I've seen people throw themselves around this weekend. Perfect end to proceedings.

Got to give a shout out to thumper, who blew the canvas roof off mahou avenue - 2 drum kits, 4 guitarists, so much noise and so so good. They even managed to persuade the crowd into a high spirited wall of death by claiming they were splitting the crowd in two so that everyone could "high five the person opposite you". Lovely stuff.

Overall, absolutely loved it. We'll be back if the line up's good, plenty more to see in Madrid.

[prefab]

So now that it's all done and dusted, what were the best sets you saw at the festival this year? It's hard for me to narrow it down, because I enjoyed most of the acts I saw, but if I had to pick favorites, I'd say:

1) Primal Scream--great setlist and energy from the crowd. Having a sax player and a gospel choir onstage really helped to beef up their sound, and the video projections were amazing.

2) Lil Nas X--I don't listen to his music much outside of "Old Town Road," but I loved the whole aesthetic of his show, and I felt like I was watching something that combined lots of different musical and cultural influences (including traditional African performance arts) in truly innovative ways.

3) The Hu--I didn't know any of their songs, but I was truly blown away by them. Immense hard rock that incorporated traditional Mongolian instruments and throat singing (that sounded a bit like a human digeridoo).

4) Robbie Williams--I saw his show at Isle of Wight, and while he didn't quite connect as well with the Mad Cool audience, I still think it's an amazing blend of confessional. stand-up comedy, and Vegas-style showmanship. 

5) Rufus du Sol--Exactly the kind of euphoric dance music experience I want to have in a field at 1:00 am. Perfect use of lasers and confetti cannons as well.

6) Sigur Ros--I was near the very front, which meant I was absolutely inundated by waves of noise, but what beautiful noise it was. I still wish they'd played "Hoppipolla," but otherwise a phenomenal set. 

7) Girli--A really fun high-energy set of electro-pop-punk tunes from a very charismatic young London artist.

[Lionator]

We didn’t get to many of the smaller stages because there was so much going on but our favourites in no order were:

1) Robbie Williams, as @prefab said it was a great show, self indulgent, entertaining, cocky, just what you want to see from Robbie.

2) Tash Sultana, she is just a breathtakingly impressive musician. The Spanish absolutely love her.

 3) Paolo Nutini seems like a long time ago but was a great start to the festival and he’s still definitely got it.

4) Mumford & Sons, great headline set and that comes from a guy who isn’t their biggest fan.

5) Left RHCP for a mooch and came across the Hu, who Id seen some hype about. They’re fantastic.

6) Sigur Ros, svefn g englar possibly my favourite song so to see it live was amazing. What a sound. 

We also enjoyed Black Keys, Liam Gallagher, Prodigy, Years and Years etc etc. it’s a great value festival in terms of acts. 

[yosoyyoberdi]

Top 5 sets for me:

- Rufus du Sol

- The 1975. Although they didn't seem like they want to be there.

- Jamie XX

- Robbie williams. Was not expecting him to be on my top list.

- Delaporte

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by yosoyyoberdi

[Drums Please Fab]

Sigur Ros best of the weekend for me. An atmosphere pumped into your veins.

Tash Sultana a close second. What a captivating person. Gives off such a warm energy. 
 

Chili peppers have the best guitarist and best bass player in the world. I will never crib about a performance where I get to see John Frusciante in action. Childhood favourites of mine… However the 16 song set list was about about 3 hits too light. Big lull in the middle.  No under the bridge or scar tissue for example. Madcool seem to be stingy enough with stage times this year ???? 
 

Paolo Nutini is an incredibly gifted boy.  But he’s changed up how he sings his songs too. I wouldn’t say butchered but he Alex Turnerd a few of his old ones. I get a vibe off him that he doesn’t want to be big anymore. A troubled soul or something.

The 1975 are misunderstood l…perceived as a teenage girl band, but they have been some of the best  commentators of the social media age. I will go back to see their standalone show in Spain next year. Matt needs to be loved and booking him on a small stage at 8pm for an hour has him in a hump. Last time they played madcool he was livid because they put him on opposite the cure. I don’t think the Spanish audience get the satirical lyrics and in jokes. Very interesting band. 

[Drums Please Fab]

Oh and the black keys. Great band. Under rated. Will be listening to them into old age. Even their slow stuff is a vibe. Getting to hear heavy soul live was a treat. 

QOTSA are a band I can’t quite put my finger on. They make a great racket. Their 4 or 5 best songs are really really good. They should be bigger? Are they the right level. 

Edited July 9, 2023 by Drums Please Fab

[Sasperella2]

17 hours ago, DDave said:

This is the most stressful festival thread. I'm getting agitated just reading it and I'm hundreds, if not thousands of miles away. 

This and the facebook group made me soooo anxious. And completely unwarrented in the end as Friday was fine. Maybe we got lucky sandwiched between two shitshows, or maybe I have lower standards than everyone complaining on FB. **shrug**