Xavier Herrero |
Madrid (EFE).- Mad Cool 2023 begins a new stage this Thursday in a brand new venue capable of accommodating 70,000 people every day that will focus on sustainability (“We are committed to public transport”, the organization insists) and a list of giants on stage never seen before in this format.
In a meeting with a few media, including EFE, the festival management wanted to advance some of the central points of what will not only be this sixth edition, but also future installments of what aspires to perpetuate itself as the great Madrid festival and one of the greats of Spain.
twelve million works
The IFEMA expansion works and the consequent reduction in area for the celebration of Mad Cool pushed those responsible to find and move from what was their home (rented) for three years in the north of the city to the south.
In the Villaverde district, on the border marked by the M-45 and the Getafe Norte development, the 185,000 square meters (85,000 more) of the new festival will be located, in what was now a completely flat wheat field that has required an investment of twelve million euros of conditioning.
The daily capacity has been limited in this edition to around 70,000 people, a figure that could increase to 80,000 in the coming years. A third part will be foreigners coming from countries such as the United Kingdom, the most numerous, but also from other more remote ones such as Canada or Mexico.
With a more square floor plan, there will be eight stages in which it has been baptized as the New Madrid Festival Venue, a project that aims to revitalize this humble area thanks to music. In addition to Mad Cool, it is expected that in the coming months it will host other initiatives such as the Harry Styles concert on July 14, with a capacity of 65,000 people.
It is also reported that the offer will be extended from 2024 with the first edition of Mad Cool Sunset (the one from 2022 had to be canceled due to the sudden drop of Rage Against The Machine). It would not take place in September, “but in the week before or in the week after Mad Cool”, they reveal.
Strategic location in pursuit of mobility
The existence of two commuter lines and another two metro lines about 15-20 minutes away on foot (“Less than there was before from the Campo de las Naciones station”, they emphasize) has been fundamental in the choice of land, they affirm. .
“Even closer metro options were considered, but logistics have shown that if it is located less than 1 kilometer away, traffic jams can be created at the accesses,” justifies the organization.
They highlight that Mad Cool itself will assume the extraordinary cost of keeping line 3 open beyond its usual closure, free to use for festival attendees and with direct stops until 4 in the morning in Legazpi, Embajadores and Sol.
After the controversy of 2021, this time Uber disappears as an official sponsor and will not have a privileged point for passenger collection. “What’s more, this time the taxi rank is closer than the VTC rank,” they point out.
Likewise, well-marked circuits will be arranged from the public transport stops to the access to the venue with festival signage, whose surveillance will be reinforced in an area where security levels are often questionable.
Finally, there will be no own parking, as there was no parking in the last two editions at IFEMA. “We are betting that the public come by public transport”, they insist, after denying the information that in their proposal to the authorities the parking spaces that the new enclosure allowed, according to a model based mainly on vehicle use. private.
pending details
There will be a Ferris wheel at Mad Cool 2023, they say about what has become one of the aesthetic emblems of this event, as well as artificial grass on almost its entire surface (mostly new, although a part has had to be recovered from the used until now).
What has not given time to adapt is, on the one hand, the burying of the high voltage line that crosses the enclosure, works that will be undertaken at the gates of next autumn. For this edition and to avoid mishaps, it will not conduct electricity.
The production will not be complete, they warn about the level of detail of this next call, for which, for example, it has not been possible to plant the palm trees that from 2024 will grow there as another of the symbols of the Madrid festival.
Madonna yes, J Balvin no
It has not been an easy year to sign headliners, especially women, acknowledges the management, which has confessed some of the names that they use every year in their “letter to the Three Wise Men” as a possible part of their offer.
In addition to Rosalía and Arctic Monkeys, who finally ended up or will end up in other musical frameworks, Madonna and Beyoncé were some of the names that were considered for this edition and that remain in their sights for the future, along with other stars such as Bruce Springsteen. .
What remains uncontemplated from the leadership of Mad Cool is the signing of a standard-bearer artist of the Latin urban scene such as J Balvin, who already visited Primavera Sound Barcelona a few years ago and has headlined the first Puro Latino in the eastern city. same weekend.
“It doesn’t match the soul of Mad Cool”, they argue from this quote that recalls that it was born very attached to the most mainstream rock before opening up to other styles, among which reggaeton or its derivatives would continue to have no place, “but the K-Pop”, they add.
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lizzo, Lil Nax X, Robbie Williams, The Offspring, The Black Keys, Mumford and Sons, Queens of The Stone Age, Ava Max, Liam Gallagher, The Prodigy and Years & Years will be some of the great assets of the edition that will start this Thursday.