Mad Cool faces from 11 to 13 July 2019 in its fourth year, second on the premises of Ifema, where he lived last summer, and not a few hassles, long waits and complaints, especially in the first day on the roads and in the bars. “We make a self-criticism is very severe and lasts”, has emphasized today in an interview, Javier Arnaiz, co-director of the festival alongside Farruco Castromán.
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And even adds Arnaiz: “A self-criticism is always constructive thinking to improve seeing the errors, that all can be solved. The third edition of July 2018 was as the first, with the change of space, doubling the seating capacity. There were incidents that we are working to fix and we see that there are solutions for everything. We are facing the fourth with more enthusiasm than ever before, and many ideas of changes”.
beyond these vicissitudes of season, they both think already in a Mad Cool that it can continue to grow. “It is a big festival, but going to be the most. Not in volume to the public, we want to grow in width and not along. We want Mad Cool, do it two times a year, that is to do activities in the city, which is part of Madrid, and all the world to see as his own”, has anticipated Arnaiz, without giving by now more concrete details about formats or ideas in mind.
The organization of the festival announced on Tuesday the sale of the first 10,000 tickets for the edition of 2019 just five days after its making available to the public. The appointment opened the box office for members on the 30th November at 10.00 am and on Monday from 12.00 to the general public. This edition will feature names such as The Cure, Bon Iver, Smashing Pumpkins, The National, or Vetust.
Among the new measures proposed include the reduction of the capacity per day of 80,000 to 75,000 people, the revelation of a scenario from seven to six, the improvement of the main access which was basically a stone and the removal of the VIP-zones on the front stage in front of the main scenarios. About the latter, explains Arnaiz entering “extra money for these tickets”, but not “compensated” to have an area that they “work well”.
“we didn’t do a good management, not made well. The public did not arrive on time from the front stage of scenario one to two, and the bands were empty that space. To us we charge it to avoid problems”, has stressed on a measure which was openly criticized from the stage by Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, and Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand.
looking back, pointing Arnaiz that the ill-fated first day of the third edition of the “fell off the system and slowed everything”, while granting that in any case “is not an excuse”. And take the word Castromán to apostille, Aresbet in reference to complaints from the public: “When you’re angry from the beginning don’t change the chip”. To speed up accesses of the face of the fourth edition, in this occasion will also be sent to the wristband in advance of the international public, something that until now was not done. “In the end 99.9% are going to have your wristband from before, we are going to spend more than 200,000 euro in to send the bracelets to 86 countries,” noted Castromán.
In this same line, it has advanced that you are already working with the Consorcio de Transportes of the Community of Madrid and the Directorate-General for Mobility of the city Council, through an ordinance, which have been removed to large events for a specific plan for each event.” “Mad Cool is serving to the authorities of Madrid to put the batteries,” he assured, while also revealed that in the next edition, “instead of selling a bus ticket, the ticket includes free transportation and so everything goes faster.” “The idea is to minimize the impact, at the end, with 35,000 people turning to the time is complicated,” he said.
Reviews ferocious
Both Arnaiz as Castromán agree to ask for “patience” and “compression” for the organization of Mad Cool, and they put a value on what is done, for example with toilets with system vacuum and investments in setting up a venue comfortable. “We are accused of we want to cover, but we spend one million euros on artificial grass, and we would have sold the same inputs and the same beers without him”, he argues Castromán.
In this line, reiterates that invest “in quality and experience”, in which he recalls that after the chaos of the first day of the last summer, he came up with “asking for apologies in the news”: “The people, what went wrong, and that is very important and we’re not going to ignore it, but it is compared to the Madrid Arena, when in reality it wasn’t anything serious”. Arnaiz is of the same opinion: “there Were incidents, perfect, say so. We are aware that we are touching the critical. We have grown so much, we are very media-and the above is the spanking, but Madrid had never had a festival like this and you feel sometimes that a bit of support and affection would not hurt”.
“what we did Not do anything very well?” question Castromán, who notes that moved to 300,000 cubic metres of earth by themselves to mount the enclosure and managed to come to the festival 38,000 people outside of Madrid. “Without the impact of the accesses of the first day, the cancellation of Massive Attack would have gone more unnoticed, but it’s already made the ball of sand,” lamented Arnaiz, who recalls that they were “negotiating with them until they said they were not coming and in four minutes,” announced to the public.
With the criticism made and the promise to strive for better, there is also the question of whether the festival will be able to match the poster of his latest edition. “We come from a year with many tours, this year is more complicated. Not because they don’t have capacity, but because there are no tours,” he confessed Arnaiz, who adds that “happens to all the big festivals”. “We have closed 80% of the poster and lack of 60% announce. Seeing what is in other festivals, and I know what that is, we are in the top”, has sentenced Arnaiz, before his partner emphasize “Mad Cool will always have the best posters at national and european level, although it depends on the end of the market”.
And even apostille Castromán: “it makes Us very happy to see 80,000 people enjoying, we have been working on it since we were not nothing. We have mortgaged our home several times to get here. That’s why Mad Cool is not for us alone, it is for the city. The festival has become so large because Madrid needed it and I wanted to”.
finally, after stating that “there is no place so espectacular and so central” to make a great festival “in the whole of Europe”, Arnaiz reiterated that they are going to “reinforce everything that needs improvement.” And by that, throws with conviction a last sentence addressed directly to the public, which, in his opinion, “of a truth you are going to enjoy with Mad Cool for many years.”
