Pearl Jam, Black Honey & more: Thursday at Mad Cool 2024 • Festivals • DIY Magazine

Even when arriving on site in the early evening of Mad Cool’s second day, it’s immediately clear to see who vast swathes of today’s crowd are here to see. Look around at the attendees already on site and many of them are wearing Pearl Jam merchandise from across the years, all pinning their flag to the mast from the off.

For more on the first day at the festival, read our report of Day 1 here.

But ahead of the rock titans’ headliner tonight, there’s another eclectic but electrifying line-up to dive into. First up, the rousing sounds of Spanish choir Motxila 21 take over the Mahou 0,0 Tostada stage to a packed out crowd. A collective of musicians made up of members from the Asociación Síndrome de Down de Navarra, there’s something truly uplifting about their appearance today, with the audience cheering them on from the off.

Marking a decidedly more gentle build to the main event tonight, Michael Kiwanuka is a soothing presence in the blistering heat on Thursday, his rich vocals leading us predominantly through tracks from his 2019 Mercury Prize-winning, funk-infused ‘KIWANUKA’. His set also features an outing from brand new single ‘Floating Parade’ - which was released just a day before his set today - which sounds gorgeously meditative.

Elsewhere on site, there’s a sizeable queue to get into the Mahou Cinco Estrellas stage in which Black Honey are busy ripping things up. Intimate and delightfully cool (thanks to some delicious air con installed in the festival's two tents), the venue acts as the perfect stage for the quartet, who revel in this kind of rowdy crowd energy. Diving into a short but sweet set, the band’s Izzy B Phillips is her usual affable self from the off, throwing out Spanish phrases, before encouraging all the girls to head forward to the front of the crowd for a rowdy introduction to ‘Corrine’.

By the time that Pearl Jam are due to take the stage, the crowd gathered at Mad Cool’s main stage is huge, and it’s little wonder as to why; after a string of recent cancellations due to - as per their social media - “illness in the band”, there’s even more anticipation around their arrival in Madrid this evening, and a short delay in the band emerging ups the ante even further. But by the time they do emerge to the blistering riffs of ‘No Code’ cut ‘Lukin’, the response is feverish. Looking to be in good spirits, after a few songs (including ‘Corduroy’ and ‘Let Go’), their leader Eddie Vedder soon brandishes an A4 piece of paper and a bottle of wine, and launches into a lengthy introduction entirely in Spanish ahead of a mass singalong for the more tender ‘Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town’; a classy touch in the midst of what’s a lengthy touring run for headliners. The fact their setlist constantly changes with each night feels more impressive still, especially knowing the sheer scale of their discography, and their show in Madrid tonight - which includes a mighty 21 tracks taken from across their 30+ year career - proves a real lesson in how to top a festival bill.