Mad Cool through five key performances

From longtime legends to breakout artists and local rising stars, look back on five standout sets from Mad Cool 2024.

Pulling off a festival in Madrid’s sweltering mid-July weather is no small feat. But, seven iterations in, genre-spanning Mad Cool has fine-tuned the hot weather, hotter acts combo. Mixing foolproof favourites with eclectic newcomers, the festival brought the likes of Dua Lipa, Bring Me the Horizon, Kneecap and Nia Archives to the outskirts of Madrid.

This year, Mad Cool reigned in the capacity and number of stages to ease crowd flows and reduce noise bleeds and schedule clashes. Acts were spread across four nights, from 6pm to the early morning, so the cooler evenings could allow crowds to get sweaty safely. The result was a smooth weekend of electrifying headliners and thumping (air-conditioned) dance tents.

After a week scream-singing through the dizzying schedule, here are our five standout performances from the sun-soaked festival.

Janelle Monáe

Janelle Monáe opened Mad Cool with a high-octane set filled with playful choreography and many outfit changes, including Duran Lantink’s iconic vagina trousers – which you might remember from her PYNK music video. After working through a setlist packed with pop hits and unrelenting energy, the artist took a break from putting on a spectacle to give a heartfelt speech, coming as no surprise to anyone familiar with her commitment to political activism.

Kneecap

On the back of their second album release, Fine Art, Belfast trio Kneecap promised to bring a wild night to Madrid. If the upcoming film inspired by the group’s rise – in which they star alongside Michael Fassbender – wasn’t proof enough of their impressive reach, the crowd for their performance confirmed it. The tent was buzzing with hardcore fans, bonding over their shared dedication to fly over from Ireland especially. Safe to say, Kneecap was worth the air miles.

Mo Chara and Móglaí Bap came onto the stage as a force of jumped-up energy. Their tongue-in-cheek lyrics, split between English and Irish, were delivered with a magnetic intensity and lairy, ballsy charm, hyped up by balaclava-clad DJ Próvaí’s bass-heavy beats. Mad Cool’s chill crowds were never going to give the most jumped-up reaction the group had seen, but the tent was filled with their chants and subdued, rowdy energy.

Nia Archives

While the Spanish sun disappeared on Mad Cool’s second night, it felt all too right to be dancing in an ecstatic crowd to Nia Archives. Opening with intensified pop bangers like Heads Will Roll, Archives hyped up the crowd with a mix of Charli xcx’s 360, following up with a clubby set that felt designed to pierce Madrid’s sultry evening. Whether she was behind the decks or bouncing at the front of the stage, Archives brought us into her world with low-key, welcoming energy, and later, as the bridge of So Tell Me… provided respite from skittering beats, the artist’s vocals were given their moment to shine too.

Depresión Sonora

Alongside its global roster, Mad Cool is known for putting a spotlight on Madrid’s own rising talent, and one of this year’s highlights was Depresión Sonora – a.k.a. Marcos Crespo – who offered a taste of Spain’s post-punk revival.

Gaining momentum in the pandemic, Depresión Sonora’s lyrics spoke to Gen Z’s woes of loneliness and disillusionment, which was reflected in the younger, local cool crowd he pulled in. From melancholic spoken word to angsty tracks, the no-frills performance prompted a unified sing-along where language was no barrier.

The Breeders

From pandemic-born newcomers to genre-defining pundits The Breeders, Mad Cool had it all. The band’s decade-spanning experience was evident throughout their spotless performance, making it clear that the years haven’t faded The Breeders’ edge, but sharpened it. A crowd of both steadfast day-one fans and younger initiates head-bopped their way through a set that showcased their distinctive, pummelling sound in full, bristling with energy at the first strum of their better-known guitar anthems and uniting as one on the chorus of No Aloha.