Since launching in 2016, Mad Cool has been the home to countless magical festival moments. From the killer headliners that deliver on the main stage, to the dance dons soundtracking your late-night revelry, and the breakthrough moments of rising artists smashing it during some of their earliest shows, the Madrid festival has had it all.
As we gear up for this year’s instalment of the festival, let’s take a look back at some of the most memorable moments of Mad Cools gone by.
The Killers (2022)
This year’s headliners The Killers are proven experts in bringing the house down at Mad Cool Festival: back in 2022, they: “delivered the indie disco of our dreams”. Opening with fist-pumping anthem ‘The Man’, taking us through classics from their back catalogue like ‘Jenny Was a Friend of Mine’ and ‘Human’, treating punters to the live debut of ‘boy’, and closing with ‘Mr Brightside’, it was a truly magical show from start to finish, made extra special given it was so long awaited (the band were initially set to top the bill in 2020, with the shows postponed due to the pandemic).
“I know we’re at a festival, but you’re making us feel like we’re at our own gig tonight,” frontman Brandon Flowers reflected to the crowd on-stage during their performance. He wasn’t wrong, the love for the band was evident, with the thousands of fans turning out to watch the show. It was nothing but pure indie excellence.
Rosalía (2019)
Recommended
In 2019, Rosalia dazzled during Mad Cool’s Wednesday night welcome party. Topping the bill alongside Bring Me The Horizon, she brought her at-the-time most-recent record ‘El mal querer’ to the main stage, dazzling the audience with her genre-splicing sound that incorporates flamenco, pop, R&B and beyond. As we said at the time, the audience crowned her the “undisputed queen of the festival”.
Nathy Peluso (2022)
Superstar Nathy Peluso’s performance a couple of years ago was another particularly memorable moment in Mad Cool’s history. The Argentine-Spanish artist – who NME have likened to “Rosalía, Rihanna, Christine & The Queens, Grace Jones and The Terminator in one bewilderingly awesome package: – wowed on day five of 2022’s festival, her theatrical performance and genre-spanning tunes showcasing the full breadth of her sensational live show.
Arctic Monkeys (2018)
In 2018 we saw Arctic Monkeys head out on tour fresh from the release of sixth album ‘Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino’; and their sensational Mad Cool performance was one of the first chances for punters to hear the new record live. Featuring a powerhouse setlist that saw them open with ‘Four Out Of Five’ and blast through a mix of old favourites and newer tunes, the band on “seductive” form, and Alex Turner shouting out the evening’s other headliner Jack White (when Turner sang a line from The White Stripes’ track ‘We’re Going To Be Friends’), it felt like a key moment in Mad Cool’s history.
Vince Staples (2019)
In 2019 Vince Staples gave his first ever performance in Madrid as part of Mad Cool, taking over the Communidad de Madrid stage at midnight. For fans it was one of the first chances to catch Staples live in Spain since ‘FM!’ has been released, bringing elements of his stellar ‘Smile, You’re On Camera’ tour to the festival. As NME wrote at the time, the performance saw: “The King of The Summer continues his reign with a pulsating live show”.
Iggy Pop (2019)
There’s no one who can do it quite like Iggy, but even by the icon’s standards, his set in 2019, which saw him battling the Spanish heat while blasting through an all-star set-list was remarkable. The icon’s performance was fearless, summarised in the five-star review with: “50 years on, rock ’n’ roll’s great survivor is still the most thrilling performer”. If we could have given it 10 stars, we would have done.
Jorja Smith (2019)
Jorja Smith was another of the highlights during the 2019 edition of Mad Cool, where she put on a captivating performance. A year after its release she brought her debut album ‘Lost & Found’ to the site, with Smith’s gorgeous, soaring vocals entrancing festival-goers. A live powerhouse, renditions of tunes like the stellar ‘Blue Lights’ were a triumph – this performance being for the history books.
HotWax (2023)
Alongside the global megastars who appear on Mad Cool’s line-up, there’s a host of soon-to-be-massive rising artists that deliver killer sets across the festival site. One such example was NME-favourites HotWax’s show last year, where they filled the Mahou Cinco tent to capacity. A roaring performance from the rising rockers, it let everyone know that: “Britain’s most thrilling and fiercely confident new rockers have arrived on site”.
NME is the official media partner of Mad Cool