by: David Klemow
Jul 14, 2018
UK electronic vets Massive Attack were slated to perform at Madrid’s Mad Cool Festival, though Robert Del Naja and Grant Marshall never wound up taking the stage, reportedly cancelling their set due to sound overlap issues with Franz Ferdinand. The Scottish indie rockers’ set was audible from The Loop stage, and despite festival organizers’ best efforts to quell the situation, the Mezzanine duo ultimately decided to scrap their scheduled performance. A statement from Mad Cool reads,
“Massive Attack has just canceled its Mad Cool Festival concert, scheduled to be held at The Loop, claiming that the sound of the stage where Franz Ferdinand was playing at the time would bother them during the performance of their show. The organizational team did everything possible to delay schedules of other bands and find a time slot where Massive Attack might be comfortable, but the unilateral decision of the band has been canceling their show. From Mad Cool, we sincerely apologize to all attendees for the inconvenience and possible heartbreak this may have caused.”
The trouble is, it reportedly took hours for the festival to report the cancellation to fans, many of which travelled to see Massive Attack, were understandably upset by the situation and the lack of communication from the festival.
Gutted that Massive Attack didn’t play last night. A lot of disappointed people. #MadCool2018
— Matthew McKenna (@matthewebmck) July 14, 2018
Traveled from NYC to see @MassiveAttackUK and waited over an hour just to have them cancel. Yes they should have been on a better stage but work that out BEFORE the festival starts. #MadCool2018 https://t.co/z5comiCvpu
— Heather (@HeatherD) July 14, 2018
Lo peor de MadCool 2018. @madcoolfestival #madcool2018 #massiveattack pic.twitter.com/v5xbQfIMXu
— Sr. Tres (@oskarTres) July 14, 2018
Mad Cool Festival has already experienced a pretty tumultuous start to the weekend, with attendees flooding social media with reports of unmanageable lines, inadequate weather preparation, lack of crowd control, and more.
I wouldn’t be surprised if #massiveattack decided to not follow through after the crowd’s appalling behaviour. Shame, it’s been a lovely festival so far. #madcool2018
— (@lucashopedotcom) July 14, 2018
@madcoolfestival this is ridiculous, 38 minutes after you guys said the gates are open. They are still closed. Get your shit together! There aren’t even any toilets or water points along or anywhere near the waiting area! #MadCool2018 #madcoolfestival
— Dorien Dijkema (@doriendijkema) July 12, 2018
Coupled with Massive Attack’s cancellation, festival goers in Madrid are understandably frustrated by the weekend’s turnout thus far. Massive bummer, though not without with a silver lining — it sounds like at least Franz Ferdinand got to rock their socks off.
Categories: News
