Friday, Mad Cool Festival 2025, Madrid • Festivals • DIY Magazine

There aren’t many festivals which attract grown-up goth-rockers and TikTok-savvy Gen Z-ers to the same site, but then again, it’s not often that Nine Inch Nails and Noah Kahan share a bill. The beauty of today - the second day of music at Mad Cool 2025 - is that, as much as fans are here to see their faves, they’ll also most likely stumble across artists who are completely outside of their usual wheelhouse, too. And what’s a festival without a few wildcards?

Kicking things off today are an array of European names, from Spanish star Natalia Lacunza and Swiss instrumental outfit Hermanos Gutiérrez, to Georgian trio Will Kolak and Madrid locals JØL - two of a handful of acts who beat over 1000 entrants to win this year’s Mad Cool Talent competition for emerging artists. It may be early by Spanish standards, but already crowds are flocking to the main stage; and, as breakout singer-songwriter Benson Boone steps out to rapturous cheers, it’s clear that his brand of chart-storming, backflipping pop balladry is a hit here.

Equally big, though, is the audience for Alanis Morissette; striding across the stage’s full width in leather trousers and an understated, oversized tee, this set shows precisely why she’s affectionately nicknamed ‘the queen of alt-rock angst’. Having lost none of her potent, emotive vocal power or self-assured attitude in the years since her seminal 1995 album ‘Jagged Little Pill’, Alanis makes sure to give the record (well, half of it, anyway) the 30th anniversary outing it deserves - that is, when you can hear her over the swell of crowd song. She doesn’t utter a word during the first verse of ‘Ironic’, instead just holding her mic outstretched as people belt out its iconic lyrical list; later, during penultimate track ‘Uninvited’, she leaves it to us to carry it home as she loses herself utterly in its instrumental breakdown. But it’s her perennial post-break-up anthem ‘You Oughta Know’ which hits hardest this evening: the sonic embodiment of both biting frustration and cleaning catharsis, its rallying call to take up space and revel in imperfection is a powerful precursor - both in musical and programming terms - to tomorrow’s headliner, Olivia Rodrigo.

Another one of the biggest breakthrough names of recent years, Noah Kahan is, for the most part, precisely the performer you’d expect, eschewing elaborate set design (save for a rustic-looking curtain of knotted rope) in favour of stripped-back simplicity. He delivers heartfelt renditions of his hugely popular, folk-flecked numbers with genuine gratitude, explaining that, as it’s his first time in Spain, he’d only really expected people to be familiar with runaway hit ‘Stick Season’. In between songs, though, there are flashes of (perhaps somewhat surprising) dark humour: 2022 cut ‘Everywhere, Everything’ is introduced as “a song about sex and worms”, while early on Noah proclaims, vaguely threateningly, that “[he’s] here to wipe the smiles off your faces tonight”. Landing like an edgier Marcus Mumford, it’s a slightly bemusing, amusing counterpoint to his musical earnestness but, judging from the masses watching, is a contrast that clearly connects.

As British indie mainstays, Kaiser Chiefs are no strangers to a festival stage. This summer represents two decades since the release of their beloved debut ‘Employment’, and the band are marking the occasion accordingly with a string of big shows both at home and abroad. And, far from being jaded, bored, or achingly self-serious (as some artists are wont to become), their primary objective is - as it always has been - to orchestrate one hell of a good time. Standing atop the stage’s amps in a pinstriped blazer, in appearance and in practice a rabble-rousing ringleader, frontman Ricky Wilson leads by example as the band rollick through the likes of ‘00s staples ‘Everyday I Love You Less And Less’, ‘Modern Way’, and ‘Ruby’. A surprise mid-set cover of The Ramones’ ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ keeps the crowd on its toes before we charge forward into ‘I Predict A Riot’, but it’s actually the outlandish animations projected onto the screen behind the band which are tonight’s biggest curveball. Cats shooting lasers out of their eyes; big-haired Troll dolls; a Jurassic Park-esque video game (dubbed ‘Dino Chiefs’) starring cartoon versions Kaisers themselves: it’s truly the stuff of an E numbers-induced fever dream. And it's brilliant.

A stark contrast to the extravagance of last night’s headliners Muse, when the curtain goes up on Nine Inch Nails this evening, it’s them alone who occupy the expansive main stage: no props, accessories, or set to speak of. Not that it matters; in fact, this (relative) minimalism only underscores the might of the industrial rock pioneers, whose music and inimitable presence simply needs no adorning. Swapping between thrashing, satisfyingly heavy segments and more electronic-leaning, ambient moments, Trent Reznor and co. continue to captivate their far-from-casual audience - the majority of whom are sporting NIN merch - through every sonic left turn, confident that we’ll follow willingly where they lead. Shrouded in smoke and illuminated by strobes, their set runs the gamut from metal-adjacent to something approaching a rave. There are few bands who can move so seamlessly between styles as Nine Inch Nails, nor who are as quietly influential: the raunchy pulse of ‘Closer’ is pure St Vincent, and this version of ‘Hurt’ - the original - is just as spine-tinging as Johnny Cash’s cover. Besides being a masterclass in uncompromising artistry, this headline turn is a potent reminder of just how ubiquitous and far-reaching NIN’s musical fingerprints really are.