The festival celebrated its 10th anniversary with a stacked 2026 lineup.
JENNIE at Mad Cool festival
Javier Bragado
For the past decade, Madrid’s music scene has run through Mad Cool. First held in 2016, the festival has not only become a staple of the city’s cultural calendar, but a worthy addition to the European festival circuit, on a par with Lisbon’s NOS Alive, Budapest’s Sziget as well as Olso’s Øya, and Denmark’s Roskilde. Music’s biggest names have used the festival as a key stop on their touring schedule with Olivia Rodrigo, Dua Lipa, Sam Smith all hitting the festival in recent years alongside rock giants Metallica, Queens of the Stone Age, The Killers and more.
This year’s celebrations were suitably stacked, with Foo Fighters, Florence & The Machine, Zara Larsson, Lorde, Pulp, Kings of Leon, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds among the leading headline acts at the festival’s 10th anniversary. Elsewhere David Byrne, Moby, Interpol, The Black Crowes and more made appearances.
