Mad Cool festival is the closest European music fans will get to Coachella without leaving the continent. There’s the Mad Max desert of a location (a dusty open-air space on the outskirts of Madrid), the astroturf, the Ferris wheel. But there’s a distinctively un-American feel to the festival too. The line-up contains just as many big hitters, yet posits them alongside Europe’s most interesting artists, many of whom perform in their mother tongues. There’s a sense of real culture here that Coachella has always lacked.
It feels odd to lead on a review of a music festival by mentioning the heat, but – given Madrid in July doesn’t feel like the most sensible place to host a festival – Mad Cool is optimally designed to alleviate the worst of it. It may be 39 degrees, but the crowds never feel, well, crowded. There’s also a lot of manufactured shade around – even dance tent The Loop is surprisingly airy (although it’s far too small a venue for Two Door Cinema Club’s set). Here, there’s no anxiously checking the weather app to see if you need to pull out the wellies. Walking is kept to a minimum – if you’ve been looking for the chance to live your influencer life and dress up for a festival, this is the place to do it.
