Festivals Clash In Madrid

It may look like all-out war on the festival front but the new Madrid leg of Benicassim may have sprung up in the Spanish capital the same weekend as Jose Cadahia’s Summercase only because there was nowhere else to put the acts.

Cadahia, who is promoting six Spanish outdoors this year, moved his 25,000-capacity event – which is twinned with a similar-sized one in Barcelona – back a week to July 18-19 because many other major European festivals were competing for acts over the original weekend.

That means it lands on the same weekend as Benicassim, which wouldn’t have mattered as much if the FIB event on the Mediterranean coast hadn’t chosen Madrid as the city for its new twin.

"It’s not going to do either of us any good," Cadahia told Pollstar, pointing out that he’s already spoken to the Benicassim organisers and Irish promoters Denis Desmond and Vince Power – both major shareholders – to ensure the same thing doesn’t happen again.

As it is, his July 19 bill at Boadilla del Monte will be competing with a Benicassim lineup including Morrissey, My Bloody Valentine, Siouxsie, Mika, Babyshambles and Hot Chip, which is playing about 20 kilometres across the city at the 15,000-capacity Juan Carlos I Auditorium.

"There were other options but when we checked them all it was decided that Madrid was logistically the best," said Benicassim talent buyer Ana Sanabia, who said the decision was made after some of the bands were already booked.

She denied that the festival had been forced into choosing Madrid because the other options fell through and because the bands had already been contracted.

The Summercase lineup for Madrid July 18-19, which will also be playing Barcelona’s Parc del Forum over the same weekend, includes Kings Of Leon, Blondie, Kaiser Chiefs, The Breeders, Interpol, Sex Pistols, The Verve, Maximo Park, Mogwai, CSS, and The Kooks.