Mad Cool 2026 Day One: HotWax, The Last Dinner Party, Wolf Alice and The War On Drugs Open the Tenth Anniversary Fest
Mad Cool Festival opened its tenth-anniversary edition in Madrid on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. Day one's bill ran through HotWax, The Last Dinner Party, Wolf Alice and The War On Drugs, with Foo Fighters closing out the night as headliner. Also on the day's lineup: Jehnny Beth, Moby, The Vaccines, The Warning and Villanelle. Highlights below are drawn from NME's live coverage.
Stage by stage
HotWax (6:35pm, Mahou Cinco Estrellas Stage): the Hastings trio returned to Mad Cool three years after making their European festival debut on this same site in 2023. Singer Tallulah Sim-Savage tore through "Rip It Out" and "Tell Me Everything's Alright," while bassist Lola Sam closed the set balancing her bass on her head — a sub-hour set that landed as one of the day's strongest.
The Last Dinner Party (7:35pm, Orange Stage): singer Abigail Morris opened with a greeting in Spanish before the band moved from the tension of "Agnus Dei" into the grunge theatrics of "Count The Ways." "The Feminine Urge" leaned into operatic glam-rock somewhere between David Bowie and Kate Bush; "Sinner" was dedicated to "the gays and theys of Madrid." Guitarist Lizzie Mayland took lead vocals on "Rifle," and new track "Big Dog" brought a Queens Of The Stone Age-sized heaviness.
Wolf Alice (8:20pm, Region Of Madrid Stage): fresh off a Finsbury Park show the previous weekend, the band opened with "Bloom Baby Bloom" and "Just Two Girls" before shifting into heavier noise on tracks like "Yuk Foo." Singer Ellie Rowsell addressed the crowd in Spanish throughout, with the band showing the kind of command that suggested headliner status of their own.
Full reviews of The War On Drugs and Foo Fighters are available on NME's site.
Show info
- 📅 Day one: Wednesday, July 8, 2026
- 📍 Madrid, Spain — Mad Cool Festival (10th edition)
- 🎤 Day one headliner: Foo Fighters
- 🔗 Full live reviews: NME original