Mad Cool Festival 2026 Day Two: CMAT, Chloe Slater, Lorde and Jennie bring the pop party

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Another day at Mad Cool, another absolute banger of a line-up. While day one brought a whole lotta rock and nostalgia courtesy of the likes of Foo Fighters, Moby, The Vaccines and The War On Drugs, yesterday (Thursday July 9) came with more of a pop flavour and a bill dominated by female powerhouses.

As Team NME gather our strength for another huge night ahead, you can check out our review of Florence + The Machine’s vital exorcism of a headline set right here, see the very photos from yesterday here, or read on below for our ultimate highlights from Mad Cool Day Two.

Words: Jordan Bassett, Rhian Daly, Andrew Trendell

CMAT (6.45pm, Orange Stage)

A bewildered Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson spotted a sign in the audience. “You skipped graduation for CMAT?” she read aloud to the crowd, stunned that a fan has missed the chance to celebrate and receive their university degree to be here at the campest hoedown in Madrid. “Oh dear. Well, this is more educational.”

There was another sign calling out the injustice of the Irish Dolly Parton not being given the Mercury Prize for her stellar 2025 album ‘Euro-Country’. “You can’t win them all,” she shrugged, settling for the victory presented on another banner that “the M in CMAT stands for Mad Cool”. And she made it so, at what she dubbed as “CMAT’s last gig before she dies of heatstroke”.

“Co me esta, homosexuals?” she asked knowingly of her audience, backed by her band resplendent in CMAT football shirts sponsored by her moniker of Dunboyne Diana and rocked well with a little above-the-knee number sported by guitarist known for today as Skirt Cobain. Whether leading the Mad Cool masses in the now-iconic viral dance for ‘Take A Sexy Picture Of Me’, a dosey-do for ‘I Wanna Be A Cowboy, Baby!’ or receiving possibly the biggest cheer a festival has ever heard for someone bending over to blow their nose, this was a masterclass in summer-tailored showmanship. Madrid, consider yourselves schooled. (AT)

CMAT live at Mad Cool 2026. Credit: Javier Bragado

Chloe Slater (8.10pm, Mahou Cincos Estrella)

Midway through Chloe Slater’s set, the dark Mahou Cinco Estrellas tent lit up. As the Manchester-based artist performed the melancholic bubbling of ‘Sinking Feeling’, fans at the front of the crowd pulled out their phones and turned their torches on in a show of support. “I was pleased to see a real lighter in the air there,” Slater laughed afterwards. “Old school! I’m gonna crack that out at Zara Larsson later.”

Across her set, the rising indie star captured the struggles and feelings of her generation, from “being really jealous of your partner’s ex” on ‘Harriet’ and being trapped into late-stage capitalism on ‘Ugly’, to wanting peace and an end to atrocities going on in the world. “This next song I’m going to play for I wrote because I want a free Palestine,” Slater said before ‘War Crimes’, a track that pointed to her knack for writing songs that stay with you – melodically and thematically. (RD)

Chloe Slater live at Mad Cool 2026. Credit: Luis Carbønell

Lorde (8.30pm Region of Madrid)

We all know that ‘Green Light’ is a festival anthem for the ages – and one of the ultimate sadbangers duly went off like a rocket when it was unleashed on the main stage at Mad Cool – but cuts from Lorde’s latest album ‘Virgin’ also went down like old favourites. Here was a set by turns art, poptastic and seriously epic, as the singer danced on the B-stage and reached out to fans in true messianic rock star fashion. At the same time, the set-up was pretty bare bones, with the instruments pushed towards the front of the stage; at times it seemed as if we were peeking in on Lorde as she and her band rehearsed. This created an intimate atmosphere in an open-air arena setting – no mean feat.

The 29-year-old shadowboxed on stage throughout the show, donned a leather jacket encrusted with chips that fired out red lasers and charmed the crowd with her Spanish. What more could you want? (JB)

Lorde live at Mad Cool 2026. Credit: Javier Bragado

Jennie (11.30pm, Region Of Madrid stage)

Huge stages are nothing new to Jennie, the BLACKPINK rapper who served as sub-headliner on the main stage on Mad Cool’s second day. With the K-pop girl group, she’s conquered some of the biggest and most iconic, so it’s no surprise that she looked completely at home on the Region Of Madrid stage. Flanked by a crew of dancers, the singer ran through songs from her debut album, 2025’s ‘Ruby’, pulling out props for ‘Handlebars’ and slinking her way through ‘Mantra’.

Most exciting, though, was the drips of new music woven into the set. ‘Lock It Down’’s elastic bass groove made a perfect fit for the sweltering Madrid heat, while ‘Heaven’ provided a slower, softer moment in the upbeat set. Later, Jennie shared one final fresh cut in ‘Little Less’, a swaying pop song that found her calling out for “a little bit less than a lover”. (RD)