Mad Cool 2025: Muse and Nine Inch Nails, winners of a festival that confirms Olivia Rodrigo's pop phenomenon

For another year, and for the third time at the Iberdrola Music venue in Villaverde, Mad Cool maintains its status as Madrid's premier music festival . This time, with just three main days and a smaller audience than in previous editions, still attracting around 50,000 people per day , who were able to enjoy a variety of international offerings representing different styles and generations.

As is now customary, Mad Cool has "recycled" many artists it booked in previous editions for this year , although bands of the caliber of Muse and Nine Inch Nails are welcome to return as often as necessary. In fact, one of the headliners was originally going to be another band that has already performed at the festival a couple of times, Kings of Leon, but an injury to their singer led to them being replaced by Muse. It must be said that this change clearly improved the lineup, although we of course wish a good recovery to the Kings vocalist, whom we will probably see again at some future edition of this festival.

And the fact is that Muse , although their recent albums haven't been as exciting as those of their most glorious eras, are always one of the best rock bands you can see in the world. They also seem to have some very interesting new things on the horizon : they opened their concert at Mad Cool with the recently released single Unravelling , probably the song that fans have received the best in many years. It's a spellbinding track that combines metal elements with electronic sounds and Bellamy's evocative voice, with the nuances provided by an eight-string guitar, their new "toy" that they seem to continue exploring in this incipient and potentially exciting new chapter for the band.

In any case, we'll have to wait and see what musical paths Muse take in the near future, because after playing that new Unravelling , Muse played it safe for the rest of their set at Mad Cool , with many of the best-known songs from the band's different stages. The audience enjoyed a repertoire of hits such as Hysteria , Time Is Running Out , Supermassive Black Hole , Knights of Cydonia , Map of the Problematique , Uprising , Psycho , Madness or Starlight , with which they ended on a high note with a fireworks display at the climax. All of this, with the technical quality we're used to and the extraordinary voice of Matt Bellamy , which after all these years still has its wide range and reaches all those high notes.

In between, there were some great moments for longtime fans, like the beautiful live version of the ballad "Unintended ," with keyboard arrangements that give it a unique, special touch (although, of course, at a festival there are always going to be the typical festival-goers who ruin the atmosphere by talking loudly during a slow song like this); the magnificent "Plug In Baby ," one of the hits that always works best with that brutal riff; or Bellamy on piano with "United States of Eurasia ," which they hadn't played on their tours for many years.

The other big concert of this edition, Nine Inch Nails , also left a very good taste in the mouth , despite the problem with the schedule that confused many attendees: it started five minutes earlier than expected, which was a blow for those who arrived just in time from another stage and found it already started.

Even so, those who were there were quickly enchanted by the brutal show of Trent Reznor and his companions , which was one of the most powerful that was experienced in this Mad Cool, from the madness of Wish , March of the Pigs or Head Like a Hole to the final collective ritual of singing together at full lungs the slow and heartbreaking Hurt , passing through the dances with the explicit Closer or great interpretations of songs like The Perfect Drug or Copy of A. As references of industrial rock/metal , they shone with that variety of themes and that particular combination of hard rock and electronic sounds.

The proposal of the young American singer Olivia Rodrigo was very different, who rose to fame as a Disney girl, and is currently one of the great international pop stars . The truth is that she fulfilled her fans' expectations and managed to surprise many of those who were not so familiar with her music, with a very well-crafted show, a great stage presence and a high-level female band, which at times was even more rock than pop.

Rodrigo alternated between songs from her two hit albums, bringing thousands of people along to radio-friendly hits like Good 4 You , Drivers License , and Vampire . She even covered her first big hit, All I Want , which first went viral after performing it in High School Musical .

Overcoming technical problems

During the first day, Thursday, the festival suffered technical problems that seemed to spell disaster : the sound went out on the main stage, interrupting the performance of singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams (daughter of film director and producer JJ Abrams), who coped with the setback with dignity by continuing her a cappella repertoire. Immediately afterward, on Stage 2, the legendary and shirtless Iggy Pop appeared on stage , but his voice was inaudible. He and his band returned backstage , and a message appeared on the screens warning of "technical problems." Some in the audience pointed out the irony of the power failure at a venue called Iberdrola Music.

Many feared the cancellation of the "godfather of punk", but there was only a 20-minute delay (which meant the performance had to be shortened slightly) until he finally reappeared and everyone in attendance could hear his iconic singing. Although it was noticeable that some technical problems persisted on stage and the sound was far from perfect, Iggy gave a true lesson in how to maintain the punk spirit at 78 years old , showing off his charisma and movements while singing hits that have marked several generations such as I Wanna Be Your Dog, Down on the Street, Search and Destroy, The Passenger or Lust for Life .

That night, it was confirmed that something strange was happening with that stage 2 when Weezer, the legendary American rock and power pop band , was clearly hampered by poor sound that did not allow the sound of the instruments to be heard with sufficient quality, but even so Rivers Cuomo and his companions did what they could to provide a collection of hits like Island in the Sun or Beverly Hills , culminating with the legendary Buddy Holly .

Of course, the next day on that same stage, everything sounded much better when Alanis Morissette appeared with her band, a show very focused on her '90s material, the material that brought her fame and meant so much to so many people. At 51 years old, she managed to transmit a very positive energy and connect with the audience by singing those already old songs , like "Ironic" and " Thank U ," which were very well received and sung live.

And while some artists reclaimed their defining moments, others reflected the current state of being on the crest of a wave, like Arde Bogotá , the national band that drew the largest audience. The Cartagena band has grown tremendously in just a few years, becoming one of the most listened-to groups in our country, thanks to a mass-oriented rock style that draws on indie pop to expand its reach with simple melodies and lyrics that naturally connect with countless souls.

For their part, Kaiser Chiefs have been doing practically the same thing for two decades, and now even more so with the excuse of the 20th anniversary of their debut album, but their energetic and catchy indie rock still makes you want to jump at a festival. Australians Jet showed that they have more in their arsenal than the well-known Are You Gonna Be My Girl. and they gave a very worthy concert of pure rock, with time even to cover their compatriots AC/DC (who also performed in Madrid this weekend).

As for Thirty Seconds to Mars , the band led by Jared Leto (known mainly for his acting career, which has even earned him an Oscar ), it started a bit late due to problems with flights and trains getting to Madrid, and when it finally started it was a spectacle with many visual elements such as balloons and fireworks, combined with the theatricality projected by Leto himself. And for charismatic singers, that of Future Islands , one of the most magnetic on the music scene, who as usual did not stop going from one side of the stage to the other with his peculiar and striking movements, which put him in the hearts of the audience while he sang the catchy synth pop songs of the band.

St. Vincent has always had a formidable stage presence , and with their latest album, All Born Screaming, they've written a new chapter in a remarkable career, which they presented with outstanding quality in both their vocals and instruments, and with a very good band. Also fascinating was the concert by Hermanos Gutiérrez , an Ecuadorian-Swiss instrumental duo who, with their guitars, know how to create a kind of captivating soundtrack of the desert. And on the last main night, we ended dancing with another great duo, but an electronic one: the French Justice , who with their latest album, Hyperdrama, have added new hits to their already tremendous repertoire.

A separate festival in the tents

In addition to the open-air stages, Mad Cool also features two indoor tents (the Mahou Cinco Estrellas and Mahou Reserva stages). While the biggest stars and best-known bands paraded across the main stages, a considerable variety of offerings alternated in these more intimate spaces , which each had their pros and cons: going there was almost like entering a concert hall, a refuge where the music was the only thing that mattered, although the limited capacity meant wasting time in lines, and at a festival like this, it's hard to have too much time.

The highlight of these tents, and without a doubt one of the best concerts of the entire Mad Cool 2025 , was the concert by Geordie Greep , singer and guitarist of Black Midi. Although it only lasted three quarters of an hour, it served to confirm that he is one of the most relevant artists of the moment : together with a band of equally exceptional musicians, with whom he had a tremendous complicity that was palpable in the atmosphere, he presented the songs from the excellent album The New Sound , one of the best albums (if not the best) of 2024, in many cases extending them and giving them twists to delve even deeper into that phenomenal mix of progressive rock, jazz and samba, among other styles.

Also worth mentioning were Dead Poet Society , a Boston rock band that is making its way with lots of energy and good melodies, and Fidlar , a Californian punk group that made those who entered the tent jump a lot.

Mad Cool 2025 Review

In short, Mad Cool has once again offered concerts to satisfy different tastes with top-level artists: rock emblems that always work like Muse and Nine Inch Nails , who have been the great concerts of this edition, a rock and punk icon like Iggy Pop and very well-preserved nineties nostalgia by the hand of Alanis Morissette , together with new pop stars like Olivia Rodrigo and exceptional new talents like Geordie Green .

It must be said that, while the Thursday and Friday lineup was very decent, Saturday was a bit weak for a major festival like Mad Cool , and even more so when compared to Saturdays in previous years. It's true that Rodrigo's show more than lived up to expectations, but the last night's main event was missing a major international rock band that would be more interesting than Thirty Seconds to Mars.

On the other hand, and although the main days have been reduced to three, this Sunday there's an extra day to finish off "on a chill note" with several world-renowned DJs at the 'Brunch Electronik x Mad Cool', although it would be nice to have something more than that to round out the festival. And, although it's a big bummer that on the main days Mad Cool is only allowed a slot until 2 p.m. and that all the music is turned off at that time (before moving to Villaverde they closed later), it must also be said that this year the audience has been very comfortable , and the problems experienced when this venue opened are now behind us. There are now a good number of well-spaced bathrooms, the venue's space is better managed, and, obviously, since fewer tickets have been sold, overcrowding has been reduced.

Furthermore, Villaverde is well connected to the center of Madrid by public transport , and the mobility plan has included metro, bus, and commuter train options for returning home. In the end, despite a somewhat bumpy start on the first day due to technical issues, the balance is positive, and Mad Cool continues to dominate the capital's festival calendar with some of the best artists on the planet.