Måneskin, Sum 41 & more: Friday at Mad Cool 2024 • Festivals • DIY Magazine

With two huge days under our belts already - after the opening gambit of Dua Lipa on the festival’s opening evening, and last night’s career-spanning set from Pearl Jam - we’ve already hit the halfway mark at Mad Cool 2024, but there’s loads of brilliant acts still to come at the Madrid fest.

For more on the last two days at the festival, read our reports of Day 1 and Day 2 here.

While Canadian outfit Alvvays might have the somewhat unenviable job of taking to the Orange Stage just as the sun has dropped into their direct eye-line, their musical wares still sparkle in the evening heat. Meanwhile, Unknown Mortal Orchestra emerge onto Mad Cool’s main stage, their woozy offerings working to ease festival goers into the festival’s third day perfectly. Their big-hitters like ‘Multi-Love’ and ‘Hunnybee’ are given an extra oomph with the help of the full live outfit, the latter packing a staggeringly funky stomp.

“Y’alright?! It’s fucking hot innit!” yells Sleaford Mods' Jason Williamson, by way of introducing what's surely going to be one of the band's toastiest appearances for a while. While the Nottingham duo might be a distinctly British prospect, their agitated, punked up stream-of-consciousness has drawn quite the curious crowd for their early evening slot on the Region of Madrid stage. As ever, the frontman is brilliantly eccentric in his stage moves - occasionally he whacks his head and squawks mid-song, while just minutes after hitting the stage, he empties his pockets of all his belongings in a frenzy as if he'd forgotten to do so beforehand - while his counterpart Andrew Fearn bops around the stage giddily dressed in a t-shirt emblazoned with ‘Sugar Daddy’. Cuts such 'UK Grim' and 'TCR' are predictably commanding and punchy, but it's their cover of Pet Shop Boys’ ‘West End Girls’ that's today's stand-out, given the Sleaford treatment to brilliant effect.

Tom Morello has long reached legend status but, for his set on the Orange Stage tonight, he seems content on elevating someone else to that role: his 13 year old son Roman, who's invited to join him on stage for a rendition of new track 'Soldier in the Army of Love'. It's both a touching but exhilarating move from the Rage Against The Machine guitarist, given that his son's more than capable of shredding along to the track they've released together. Elsewhere, Tom gives as good as he's got, blitzing through explosive RATM mash-ups - Roman joins him again for 'Killing In The Name' - and hopping between covers (Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon and MC5 all get a look-in) and tracks from his own, more Americana-tinged solo project, reminding us just how illustrious a career he's had thus far.

If anyone was concerned that Sum 41 wouldn’t be pulling out all the stops on this final tour, they needn’t have worried; as the largest crowd of the weekend gathers in front of the festival's Region of Madrid stage, the Canadian quartet burst into life in a frenzy of pyro, before a series of flames, fireworks and confetti are thrown up near-constantly throughout their epic set. Boasting more energy than a Duracell bunny, the band’s Deryck Whibley continually bounds across the stage, mic in hand, before returning to the centre of stage to strap on a guitar, taking on a myriad of different tasks (singer / guitarist / conductor / cheerleader - delete as appropriate) all within the same song. Much like the title of their 2001 debut, tonight's MO is all killer, no filler, with most their set reserved for their greatest hits - early tracks 'Momentum', 'The Hell Song' and the double gut-punch of 'Fat Lip' into 'In Too Deep' sound huge in this festival environment. Even when they do air tracks from their newly-released final album 'Heaven :x: Hell', they're given an extra dose of dramatic flair, with a giant inflatable satan unfurling itself behind them halfway through to give the whole thing an even more ridiculous, but brilliantly giddy, edge.

Thinking about the speed at which Måneskin have risen through the ranks to become a festival headliner is enough to make anyone’s head spin, but tonight when they emerge on Mad Cool’s main stage, they look and sound every bit the part. Arguably one of the coolest-looking bands in rock right now, the quartet are slick from the off, diving headfirst into rapid renditions of ‘Don’t Wanna Sleep’, ‘Gossip’ and their Eurovision hit ‘Zitti E Buoni’ in quick succession, before band leader Damiano David begins to chat to the band in fluent Spanish and is met with a flurry of adoring screams.

Unsurprisingly, tracks from their recent record 'Rush!' take the driving seat tonight: 'Gasoline' is given a new darkly heavy edge, with Ethan Torchio pummelling his drums throughout, before moody cut 'The Loneliest' comes preceded by a near-ten minute guitar solo by Thomas Raggi. But while, on paper, the band barely put a foot wrong throughout - the show feels streamlined but still showy, with the hefty lighting rig behind them adding an extra intensity to the whole thing - there's a certain air of aloofness to the band that feels a little jarring compared with previous performances. Even Damiano's exit from the stage is a little surprising, with the frontman leaving well before his bandmates finish the noodly outro for their second round of 'I Wanna Be Your Slave', while their set as a whole concludes earlier than scheduled. A showcase of their immense talent as musicians, tonight certainly is; it's just a bit of a shame that we're not served the incendiary ending we were expecting.