Madrid's MadCool festival 2019 Day 1

The first day of a festival is normally a fairly quiet affair – mostly finding your feet, getting acclimatised with the site and just generally easing yourself in slowly. Not this year at MadCool Madrid festival. The first-day programme is relentless – from a personal point of view, probably the strongest line-up of the entire weekend. Scroll down to see who made the list on the first night.

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MadCool Madrid festival day one what made the list

Lewis Capaldi – Super funny, incredible voice, didn’t know any of the songs but will listen to him more. Mention was made of Gallagher but it looks unlikely they’ll be duetting anytime soon.
La Dispute – Powerful American rock band
Lauryn Hills – It’s easy to forget just how important the Miseducation album was – so good that it remains eminently relevant today, with a sound and vibe that could have been literally yesterday
Iggy Pop – There are no words. Still rocking it with the energy of a teenager
Jasss – DJ sets in the tent are always a good way to spend an evening
Tokimonsta – Had the dance tent jumping
Bon Iver – In all honesty, far too quiet and slow to be a headliner on the main stage. Just my opinion.

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Epic set though you have to feel sorry for Gallagher. On his own, he’s amassed a back-catalog easily big enough to fill a full set – yet it’s always the Oasis songs that get the biggest cheer. Half the World Away and Don’t Look Back in Anger being the obvious crowdraisers.
SETLIST
Fort Knox
Holy Mountain
Keep On Reaching
It’s a Beautiful World
She Taught Me How to Fly
Black Star Dancing
Dead in the Water
The Importance of Being Idle (Oasis cover)
Little by Little (Oasis cover)
Half the World Away (Oasis cover)
Wonderwall (Oasis cover)
Stop Crying Your Heart Out (Oasis cover)
AKA… What a Life!
Don’t Look Back in Anger (Oasis cover)
All You Need Is Love (The Beatles cover)

Vampire Weekend – Brilliant set of old and new. A little like Gallagher though – it remains the old tunes that people want to hear.
SETLIST
Bambina
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
Unbelievers
Sunflower
White Sky
Sympathy
This Life
Horchata
New Dorp. New York(SBTRKT cover)
Harmony Hall
Diane Young
Cousins
A-Punk
Worship You
Ya Hey
Walcott

Chemical Brothers – Blistering, start to finish. I’ve seen them live so many times but this was a real tour de force – a relentless 90 minutes that topped any performance by them that I’ve ever personally seen. The live version of Wide Open remains a showstopper – but they’ve now got such long back catalogue, that they could easily have filled a set twice as long. The highlight of the weekend for sure.
SETLIST
Go
Free Yourself
Chemical Beats
MAH
EML Ritual
Swoon
Temptation / Star Guitar
Got to Keep On
Hey Boy Hey Girl
Eve of Destruction
Saturate
Elektrobank
No Geography
Escape Velocity / The Golden Path
Hoops / Get Up on It Like This
Dig Your Own Hole
Wide Open
Galvanize
C-H-E-M-I-C-A-L / Leave Home / Song to the Siren
Block Rockin’ Beats