Aaaand we’re off – Mad Cool 2026 got off to a scorching start yesterday (Wednesday July 8), with the Madrid festival throwing one helluva 10th anniversary bash with a little help from Jehnny Beth, Moby, The Vaccines, The Warning, Villanelle and more to set the vibes for the week ahead.

The main event of course for the opening night was Foo Fighters mammoth blast of rock n’ roll camaraderie and good times (check out the full NME review here) and you can feast your eyes on the best photos from day one over here. But what have been Team NME‘s other ultimate highlights so far? Well, let us begin…

Words: Jordan Bassett, Rhian Daly, Liberty Dunworth, Andrew Trendell

HotWax (6.35pm, Mahou Cinco Estrellas stage) 

Returning to Mad Cool after playing their first ever European festival set here in 2023, the former NME Cover stars HotWax heated things up beyond the sweltering heatwave when they opened the Mahou Cinco Estrellas Stage last night. One of the first to kick off the 2026 edition, the Hastings trio didn’t hold back in setting the bar high for the week and showcasing the same gritty punk and effortlessly-cool grunge elements that first caught our eye three years ago when we dubbed them one of “Britain’s next great guitar bands”.

From Tallulah Sim-Savage’s raucous, adrenaline-filled screams in ‘Rip It Out’ and ‘Tell Me Everything’s Alright’ to the striking instrumental melodies in ‘Strange To Be Here’ and ‘One More Reason’, HotWax left it all on the stage with fire and vigour in every moment. Ending things with the singer physically clawing her way through the crowd, Lola Sam balancing her bass on her head, and the three of them nonchalantly walking off with a wall of distortion behind them, it’s fair to say that while the set clocked in at less than an hour, it definitely isn’t one we’ll forget anytime soon. (LD)

The Last Dinner Party (7.35pm, Orange Stage) 

“Buenos noches Mad Cool,” offered The Last Dinner Party frontwoman Abigail Morris. “I hope you’re having a good time. If we haven’t met before, I’d like to introduce you to the band…”

There was a welcoming familiarity and warm embrace that befits their name, albeit with a sense that just moments into the starter someone was gonna flip the table over and set it alight. That’s what we got when the unnervingly menacing romance of ‘Agnus Dei’ erupted into the playful grunge theatrics of ‘Count The Ways’ and the David Bowie meets Kate Bush operatic glam stomp of ‘The Feminine Urge’ – Morris’ ribbon mic twirling aloft as the crowd swayed with almost enough power to create a breeze to beat this heat.

There was so much love for the almighty ‘Sinner’, dedicated to “the gays and the theys” of Madrid, and the proggy mini epic of ‘Lady Of Mercy’ made for the highlight of the set, but it was guitarist Lizzie Mayland taking over lead vocals for the Bad Seeds-esque gothic rumble of ‘Rifle’ and Morris’ fittingly feral and fearless delivery on the Queens Of The Stone Age heft of new song ‘Big Dog’ that piqued our curiosity the most. It left fans hungry for more, hopeful that their next course might be somewhat meatier. (AT)

Wolf Alice (8.20pm, Region Of Madrid stage)

If Wolf Alice’s Finsbury Park gig last weekend was a celebration of how far the band have come, their appearance at Mad Cool last night was a chance to flex in a very different way. “I can finally use my GCSE Spanish,” Ellie Rowsell grinned, switching languages before checking she was remembering her chosen phrases correctly.

There were no doubts present in the band’s performance, though – just total confidence and control radiating through each member as they captivated the audience at the Region Of Madrid stage with songs like ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’ and ‘Just Two Girls’. As the set progressed, so too did their sound and energy, shifting from pop-leaning moments to the roaring likes of ‘Yuk Foo’ and ‘Play The Greatest Hits’, which allowed Rowsell to show off her best screams. The pendulum soon swung back to something softer, highlighting Wolf Alice’s versatility once more with emotional stunners ‘The Last Man On Earth’ and ‘Don’t Delete The Kisses’. There’s no other band quite like them. (RD)

The War On Drugs (9pm, Orange stage) 

“How you doin’ out there?” asked The War on Drugs frontman Adam Granduciel as the band brought their gentle Americana to the Orange Stage, the Madrid heatwave still beating down upon the Iberdrola Music festival site in the late evening. “Takin’ care of each other?” He also implored Mad Cool punters to pour out water for each other, a sweet gesture that’s indicative of his ragtag group’s homely, homespun sound.

The War on Drugs were made for blissed-out festival moments like this, though they can raise the temperature, too. Take the soaring ‘I Don’t Live Here Anymore’, which showcases their more muscular, epic sound, as Granduciel not only namechecks Bob Dylan but even imitates the Bard with his sighing, swooning vocal delivery. You have to be really good to get away with that – luckily, as he probably well knows, the band’s more than capable of rising to the occasion. (JB)

NME is the official media partner of Mad Cool