10 bands you need to see at Mad Cool Festival 2024

UK fests aren't the one weather-wise this year, are they? Time to pack your bags and head for sunnier, madder and dare we say cooler climbs for the aptly-named Mad Cool festival in Madrid. For four days, the biggest and brightest names in rock and alternative (alongside pop superstars like Dua Lipa and Janelle Monáe) will descend on Iberdrola Music this July.

From arena-dominating metaller to grunge legends to pop-punk royalty, this year's line-up is quite something. Here are our 10 top picks for who you need to see at this year's Mad Cool.

Kerrang! cover stars and one of the brightest lights in the UK scene right now, Liverpool alt. faves Crawlers are bringing their emo-tinged ‘90s slacker vibes to a lazy sun-drenched afternoon in the Spanish capital – and what better way to kick off a festival? With many notches in their festival belt already, and having opened for none other than My Chemical Romance at their reunion shows, Crawlers are more than used to the big stage, and in debut album The Mess We Seem To Make, have the arena-ready anthems to match.

Wrapping up the Thursday night are Seattle veterans Pearl Jam. Coming off the back of a massive UK and Ireland run that will culminate at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, expect a typically epic setlist from Eddie Vedder and co., spanning their multi-decade career and 5K-rated latest album Dark Matter. In truth, such is the fluid nature of a PJ setlist that predicting what’s in store is a fool’s errand, but one thing’s for certain, they remain one of the most captivating and inspiring live bands in the game.

One of the hottest bands in the world right now performing in most likely one of the hottest cities in July – let’s do it! Monterrey, Mexico’s The Warning deal in nothing but infectious, hook-laden rock’n’roll, and Mad Cool will be the perfect coming out party for their highly-anticipated fourth record Keep Me Fed. Still somehow all under 25 years old, the future is theirs for the taking, so don’t sleep on this Saturday afternoon set before the rocket is strapped to them and they come back to headline this thing.

Following the release of their long-awaited POST HUMAN: NeX Gen LP, Bring Me The Horizon have been the band of the summer – and with good reason. After their sensational UK arena run at the beginning of the year – replete with nightmarish dystopian animation and a bangers-only setlist – the Sheffield heavyweights have been tearing across Europe, showing what's possible with production in 2024, but also proving what audience connection truly means. Their Saturday night headline slot is going to be a glorious (and possibly hellacious) end to Mad Cool.

It’s been 17 years since Avril Lavigne last played in Spain, if you need any more reason why her set at Mad Cool is going to be nothing short of a riot. Having always been quite shy about touring Europe (it was a 10-year gap before she returned to the UK last year), any chance top to see the pop-punk princess should be grabbed with both hands and never Let Go (geddit?). And with Avril in the midst of promoting her Greatest Hits album, you know it’s going to be wall-to-wall ragers, transporting us back to more carefree, less complicated times…

Anyone that’s see Smashing Pumpkins on their current Euro headline run knows just what unstoppable form they’re on right now (especially with killer new guitarist Kiki Wong), and their Wednesday night headliner to 40,000 people at Mad Cool will undoubtedly be a life-affirming experience. Wielding timeless hits like Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Cherub Rock and Tonight, Tonight with effortless cool and devastating precision, Billy Corgan will have Madrid in the palm of his hand quicker than you can say ‘smiling politely’.

If anyone is going to bring the ultimate party vibe to Mad Cool, it’s Friday night showstoppers Måneskin. Having rapidly outgrown that Eurovision albatross, the cooler-than-cool Italian rockers are one of the biggest bands on the planet right now, having found a comfortable home in arenas on both sides of The Pond. Armed with their sleazy-does-it rock’n’roll hits like I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE, SUPERMODEL and GOSSIP (featuring one Tom Morello, who also plays on Friday), this will be a masterclass in how to close a festival when your star is still in its ascendancy.

By comparison, this will be Sum 41’s final ever appearance at Mad Cool, as they are officially calling it a day at the end of 2024. So what more reason could you need to see them? Having served up a full hour of power at Download earlier this month, the Canadian favourites are packing serious heat in their bangerthon of a setlist, leaving a sea of aching necks and fat lips in their wake. One of the best pop-punk bands to ever do it, it will be a joyous yet emotional sendoff for the underclass heroes.

A man with one of the most lauded back catalogues in our world, and one of the greatest guitarists of all time, you probably don’t need any further convincing about why you need to see the Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave legend. Never shying away from the hits that made his name – expect everything from Like A Stone to Killing In The Name – Tom isn’t afraid of throwing in a few leftfield covers too, as well as other choice cuts from his storied career as The Nightwatchman and beyond. Stick your fist in the air and salute a genuine guitar hero.

To be honest, the less you know about Ashnikko before you see them, the better. The genre-bending rapper mixes everything from trap to industrial to nu-metal to hyperpop in their dark, twisted fantasy, all wrapped under a hyper-stylised and very blue aesthetic. With their debut album Weedkiller hitting the Top 10 in the UK last summer, expect contagious pop hooks and one of the most bizarre live shows of the weekend (and some of the most impressive hair). Let your freak flag fly and get involved.

Mad Cool takes place in Madrid, Spain, on July 10 – 13

Read this next:

• Bring Me The Horizon: “The way we’re doing stuff now, it feels like I’m making art again, for art’s sake”
• The Warning: “Rock makes me feel powerful… everyone connects in such a big way”
• Måneskin: “We worked our asses off to get here, but we also know this isn’t something that happens every day”