Madball, one of the most recognisable names in New York hardcore, play Sofia on October 9, 2026 at Toplocentrala. Desolated, Combust and Expectations perform the same night, which turns the event into a full hardcore programme rather than a single concert.

The band was formed in 1988 and came about in an unusual way, as a side project of Agnostic Front. Roger Miret, the singer of Agnostic Front, would hand the microphone to his younger half-brother Freddy Cricien for a few songs during shows. Freddy was twelve at the time. Guitarist Vinnie Stigma gave him the nickname „Madball”, and around that child singing at other people's concerts a band was later built that became one of the central names of the whole New York hardcore scene.

Freddy Cricien, born in 1975, is still the band's singer today and is the one who kept the link between the scene of the eighties and today's generation. Madball is a band regularly cited as influential in hardcore, not because of one hit but because for over three decades it has played the same way, with no attempt to turn into something more sellable. That is also why an audience from several different generations turns up at their shows at once.

Toplocentrala is a Sofia space that regularly takes programmes like this, and the concert starts at 7 pm. Tickets cost 68.45 leva through bilet.bg, around 2,156 denars. Three bands before the headliner at that price is a ratio you rarely see at concerts of this calibre.