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Day 1
FIB Heineken 2004
X Festival Internacional de Benicāssim
Thursday 5
20:00 Aldo Linares FIBSTART
20:30 The Sunday Drivers FIBSTART
21:40 Maga FIBSTART
22:55 Tim Booth FIBSTART
00:20 Ash FIBSTART
01:40 Fangoria FIBSTART
03:10 Zoot Woman FIBSTART
04:00 Felix Da Housecat FIBSTART
Greetings earthlings!
Here I am at FIB 04 with my good friend tenny laurason, and the party`s jumpin!
Arrrriba!!
Things kicked off last night at the Fibstart, and we started to think this year is for the golden oldies... would have been a perfect pressie for grandpa! We think the application form to play here this year must have stated: grey hair essential. Baldie Aldo Linares began the evening of pre-FIB fun, usually held in the Velódromo en Benicāssim town but for the first year taking place on the big-name Escenario Verde. He played a very quick set, lively enough to get the crowds moving, followed on stage by The Sunday Drivers, who tenny and I found very attractive indeed(Think Jesus Christ crossed with Lenny Kravitz,before he got his hands on Nicoleīs hair straighteners!).
The Toledo boys seemed to be younger than the other acts(maybe they know someone high enough up the FIB ladder to bypass the grey hair clause) and played some great folkey-indie-rock that would be ideal for a road trip across the Grand Canyon, with your best girlfriends. After slagging off some old geezer called Tim Booth, for stealing a load of James hits, we realised he was James himself, embarking on a solo venture by singing the most depressing and sleep inducing songs he knew.
Irish indie veterans Ash rocked the stage with old hits and songs from their new album, although the lyrics were hard to decipher at all times, we wondered if they perhaps were singing in Gaelic?!
We tried our best to like Fangoria, but despite watching the whole set, gold-pleather-clad Alaska failed to excite us. Far too Eurovision for me Iīm afraid. The best bit of the whole evening was when Felix Da Housecat FINALLY graced the stage with his (rather enormous) presence at 4am.
It was just what we were waiting for after Fangoriaīs frankly awful wailing and electro-crap and as always Felix got us shaking our booties in the middle of the crowd. When we crawled into bed late this morning we knew we were in for a fantastic 5 days.
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Day 2
X Festival Internacional de Benicāssim
Friday 6
16:30 Virüs Escenario Fiberfib.com
17:35 Micecars Escenario Fiberfib.com
18:30 Camping Kane NYC FIB Club
18:30 Tomás Fdo. Flores Chill Out FIB Heineken
18:40 Snow Patrol Escenario Fiberfib.com
19:35 La Casa Azul Kane NYC FIB Club
20:00 Kings of Leon Escenario Fiberfib.com
20:30 Polaro[:de] Chill Out FIB Heineken
20:40 Her Space Holiday Kane NYC FIB Club
21:10 Cooper Escenario Verde
21:20 Northern Lite Escenario Hellomoto
21:30 .tape. Chill Out FIB Heineken
22:00 Lali Puna Kane NYC FIB Club
22:20 Tindersticks Escenario Verde
22:30 Thomas Morr dj Chill Out FIB Heineken
22:40 Air Escenario Hellomoto
23:30 Einstürzende Neubauten Kane NYC FIB Club
23:40 The Charlatans Escenario Verde
00:05 Märtini Brös Escenario Hellomoto
01:00 Pet Shop Boys Escenario Verde
01:00 B-Pitch Control Night Kane NYC FIB Club
01:00 City Centre Offices Night Chill Out FIB Heineken
01:00 Sascha Funke Kane NYC FIB Club
01:00 Shlom Sviri Chill Out FIB Heineken
01:30 Dictaphone Chill Out FIB Heineken
02:20 Thaddi Herman Chill Out FIB Heineken
02:30 Smash TV Kane NYC FIB Club
02:30 Xela Chill Out FIB Heineken
03:15 Ellen Allien Kane NYC FIB Club
03:20 Static Chill Out FIB Heineken
04:10 Miles Whitaker Chill Out FIB Heineken
05:15 Paul Kalkbrenner Kane NYC FIB Club
01:30 Pista Low Club Pista Low Club
01:30 Sideral Pista Low Club
06:00 Kiki Kane NYC FIB Club
01:40 Le Hammond Inferno Escenario Hellomoto
02:40 Kraftwerk Escenario Verde
03:00 Florent y Yo Pista Low Club
03:35 Steve Bug Escenario Hellomoto
04:30 Amable Pista Low Club
05:30 Mathias Schaffhäuser Escenario Hellomoto
06:00 Dj Rojiblanco Pista Low Club
Here we are on Saturday, feeling a bit delicate after last night! We started off at the Fiberfib stage with Kings Of Leon, who excelled themselves live and played a varied set despite not having been around for very long, and managed to keep their cool in the overheated and smoky tent, which over the weekend will go on to house big names such as Air, Scissor Sisters, Teenage Fanclub and Ricardo Villalobos. Tenny and I are not great fans of this tent, the sound gets swallowed by the vast space above the crowds and the smell of cigarette smoke and human bodies (many of which we must bear in mind have been stuck in a tent the size of a postage stamp since last tuesday) becomes almost unbearable. Luckily there is a large space in the open air just outside the main entrance with screens and big speakers. We moved away from pubescent fib-virgins over to Lali Puna in the Kayne NYC tent, where we stood for half an hour waiting for lead singer Valerieīs mike and keyboard to decide to start working. After much apologetic shrugging from the band, they finally begun to play, and got the crowd moving with tracks from their laid back and lethargic new album Reading The Books. Due to the technical probs at Lali Puna, we only managed to catch a bit of Air before heading back to the Green Stage for a bit of "abuelo-rock"-Cooper. Although he had grey hair and wrinkles (a disguise perhaps?) he sounded about 15 but was loved by the crowd (who were definately all Spanish, except gossip goes that Teenage Fanclub asked who was playing when they were backstage waiting to play their gig. We leave it up to your imagination whether they liked it or not...) The Charlatans, people, have aged. Long gone are the fresh faced boys from the popular Manchester scene of the 90s, in their place are some rather haggared looking middle aged men. At their press conference, they mumbled like old men, presumably to keep in with the golden oldies theme, and expressed their excitement about seeing Kraftwerk and Lambchop. Halfway through the set Tim Burguess got rather pissed off at being able to hear the music from the other stages - "I canīt take this seriously! Thereīs something like Felix da Housecat doing my head in" , but their mix of old songs and new material from their upcoming album didnīt reflect his annoyance and the best bit was when they played old classic Love Will Save The Day.
Next stop was the Pet Shop Boys. Now I donīt like these guys at the best of times, and although Tenny and I had to admit their set was probably one of the most exciting sets yet - great light show - Neil Tennant was just far too camp for our liking, and basically just got on our tits the whole time. He would be perfect for a cheesy West End Musical or better yet, pantomime. But then again the in-festie daily newspaper FIBER seemed to love him so you never can tell. Kraftwerk, of course, were the headlining act on the Green Stage on the first night of FIB. The video show as the screens came up (no-one else has screens) looked promising, but as soon as they began to perform, these four funny bald guys in matching suits in a neat row on matching keyboards and i-books, Tenny and I began to despair. Machine is probably the worst song ever written - it goes like this; Machine machine machine machine machine machine machine machine MACHINE!!! about fifty times. V. profound, we donīt think. Despite the bitching, we have actually had the machine song in our heads all day, so theyīre not that bad on the whole. At least theyīre catchy.
We also caught a bit of Sideral who was as good as ever andsaw Ellen Alien do a fantastic remix of old school SaltīnīPepaīs Push It. Tomorrow looks more promisin with Belle&Sebastian, Morrissey, Lou Reed, and the uber camp (but also really cool, not camp in a Neil Tennant way) New Yorkers Scissor Sisters.
Catch you then
A&T
Day 3
FIB Heineken 2004
X Festival Internacional de Benicāssim
Saturday 7
16:30 The Strivers Escenario Fiberfib.com
17:35 Polar Escenario Fiberfib.com
18:30 MAR Chill Out FIB Heineken
18:30 Pauline en la Playa Kane NYC FIB Club
18:40 Serafin Escenario Fiberfib.com
19:30 Trémolo Chill Out FIB Heineken
19:40 Clem Snide Kane NYC FIB Club
19:50 Teenage Fanclub Escenario Fiberfib.com
20:50 Migala Kane NYC FIB Club
21:20 Morrissey Escenario Verde Maybe not!!!!
21:20 Scissor Sisters Escenario Hellomoto
22:15 Yann Tiersen Kane NYC FIB Club
22:00 Animal Chill Out FIB Heineken
22:50 Lou Reed Escenario Verde
22:50 Soulwax Escenario Hellomoto
23:50 Electrelane Kane NYC FIB Club
00:00 Entre Ríos Chill Out FIB Heineken
00:05 Organic Audio Escenario Hellomoto
00:30 Belle & Sebastian Escenario Verd
01:00 Kompakt Night Kane NYC FIB Club
01:00 Mego Night Chill Out FIB Heineken
COH Chill Out FIB Heineken
02:30 Thomas Fehlmann Kane NYC FIB Club
Pita & Tina Frank Chill Out FIB Heineken
03:30 Superpitcher Kane NYC FIB Club
Tujiko Noriko Chill Out FIB Heineken
05:00 Reinhard Voigt Kane NYC FIB Club
Sluta Leta Chill Out FIB Heineken
06:00 Tobias Thomas Kane NYC FIB Club
01:30 Pista Moby Dick Club Pista Moby Dick Club
01:30 Dj Francis (Nice Man) Macdonald Pista Moby Dick Club
01:40 Luciano Escenario Hellomoto
01:45 Los Planetas Escenario Verde
03:00 Primal Scream Escenario Verde
03:35 FC Kahuna Escenario Hellomoto
04:30 December Dj's Pista Moby Dick Club
05:30 Pantytec Escenario Hellomoto
This morning we decided not to waste another beautiful day in Benicassim by lounging around in bed all day and got up at 11 to head beach-ward, despite having got home at 830am.
Yes, we have to admit, last night was rather fun. As we knew we would be in for a late one, we got down to the festival for 8pm, and actually missed some acts that annoyingly were on too early for us to see on the Fiberfib stage, but we arrived at the press tent to be greeted by faces of despair and everyone flouncing around dramatically glued to their mobiles telling anyone and everyone that horror of horrors! Morrissey had cancelled his appearance due to a technical fault with his private jet!! As Mr.webmaster said, get a scheduled flight big guy! It was bad news all round, but Lou Reed took it upon himself to be hero of the night and moodily swept onto the press stage with a scowl and a swagger, grabbing all the attention Morrissey would have got if only he`d been there! Serves him right for letting down the thirty thousand or so fans who came down in their Morrissey T-shirts especially for this one off Spanish solo appearance at FIB.
I left Tenny snapping Mr Reed and ran down to see Scissor Sisters as fast as my Miu Miu moccassins could carry me. Lou was as moody as ever, but looked on good form, in a tight black tee that showed off his bulging biceps. Scissor Sisters were the highlight of the night, Jake Shears wearing some impossibly low and tight white jeans which much to the crowd`s delight ended up on the floor at the end of the set. He was, with Anna Matronic, a great audience entertainer, they told stories and spoke their best spanish, and opened with their recent single, Take Your Mama Out. "Ladies and gentlemen, we`re from the planet of Nueva York!" she declared, and the crowd roared and jived like no crowd before. Spain is their favourite place to play, after all, and it was at Barcelona`s sonar festival that Jake Shears was first inspired to make music. Viva Espaņa!
We made it back over to the Green Stage for Lou Reed to bring us down from our Scissor Sisters high with some screeching guitar solos and wierd vocals, but our spirits were brought back to life with our Mr Reed faves, Perfect Day, Wild Side, and Satellite of Love.
Belle&Sebastian managed to practically empty the press stand, but the journos who thought they were too good for a bit of folk-rock were foolish to leave, as these lovely guys from Scotland and their 11?12?-piece band put on a show that the crowds loved and much to our surprise, so did we! We were a bit distracted,however, halfway through Step Into My Office, Baby, by a french member of press on a laptop giving mouth to mouth resuscitation to a microphone, but we soon tore our eyes away from the curious electro-sex show back to Stuart Murdoch, who raised our dashed hopes by declaring that "I think (Morrissey) is gonna come tomorrow...now that I`ve said that I think he must!" Though it was probably just a rumour it started a lot of tongues wagging... we`ll just have to wait til tonight!! Primal Scream headlined the night on the Green Stage, opening with a special dedication to all those who fought in the National Brigade in the Spanish Civil War, Suicide Sally. It was a mosh-pit set, but we sat back from the moshing and watched from afar. In fact, we decided to leave the Green Stage for a while, and had a walk around the site.
We got chatting to loonies from all over the world, shaked our booties to Valencian DJ Juan Vitoria who was really get into his music, more than some of the lifeless audience in fact, but went right to the front and acted like loopy groupies. We talked to Los Planetas fans, and joined them to watch their idols grace the stage, singing indie rock like every other young group this weekend, but it was fun, and we danced, and we feel like true fibers. We just don't want this all to be over tomorrow.
ttfn
a and t
Day 4
X Festival Internacional de Benicāssim
Sunday 8
16:30 The Nicotines Escenario Fiberfib.com
17:35 Vacabou Escenario Fiberfib.com
18:30 Girls in Hawaii Kane NYC FIB Club
18:30 Krapoola Chill Out FIB Heineken
18:40 Grupo Salvaje Escenario Fiberfib.com
19:35 Patrick Wolf Kane NYC FIB Club
20:00 Love with Arthur Lee Escenario Fiberfib.com
20:50 Wire Kane NYC FIB Club
21:00 Fractal 6 Chill Out FIB Heineken
21:20 Brian Wilson Escenario Verde
21:25 Spektrum Escenario Hellomoto
22:10 Pleasure Kane NYC FIB Club
22:45 The Kevin Yost Group Escenario Hellomoto
22:55 Franz Ferdinand Escenario Verde
23:35 Lambchop Kane NYC FIB Club
00:00 Resonic Chill Out FIB Heineken
00:10 LCD Soundsystem Escenario Hellomoto
00:15 Spiritualized Escenario Verde
01:00 Output Recordings night Kane NYC FIB Club
01:00 Staubgold Night Chill Out FIB Heineken
01:00 Dead Combo Kane NYC FIB Club
F.S. Blumm Chill Out FIB Heineken
01:25 The Dandy Warhols Escenario Verde
01:30 Trevor Jackson Kane NYC FIB Club
Mapstation Chill Out FIB Heineken
01:30 Robert Alves vs. Monsieur Monsieur Pista Camelot Club
01:40 Richie Hawtin vs. Ricardo Villalobos Escenario Hellomoto
Institut fur feinmotorik Chill Out FIB Heineken
02:55 The Chemical Brothers Escenario Verde
03:30 Colder Kane NYC FIB Club
03:45 Undo Escenario Hellomoto
Markus Detmer Chill Out FIB Heineken
04:00 Blackstrobe Kane NYC FIB Club
05:30 Camelot Dj's Pista Camelot Club
05:40 Tiga Escenario Hellomoto
06:00 N_DJ Baumecker Kane NYC FIB Club
FIB is over!! (nearly)
Last night, despite the traffic in Benicassim, we managed to make it to the festival just in time for Love with Arthur Lee, who by the look of things, was as pissed as a porcupine and could barely sing, the guitarist had to take over the vocals. Shame, as Love were fantastic, and could have been even better with a decent frontman, but hey!
At the Organisation's press conference, the new mayor of Benicassim and FIB founders suggested that the festival may soon be moved to July!
Beach Boy Brian Wilson seemed way past his surfing days, propped up behind his keyboard through his set playing old hits like "California Girls" and "Wouldn't it be nice". Poor old Brian patted his big belly in time to the music, and although the crowd were dancing around enthusiastically we got the feeling they were taking the michael... Hey, you wanna dance like Brian himself? You will need the following; a barstool and a keyboard to hide the tell-tale signs of too many hamburgers. Place yourself on the barstool behind the keyboard wih arms relaxed by side. Bend elbows to make a right-angle, and with loose wrists flap hands about in a limp but excited manner. Voila!
n.b. To be practised at home, and only at home.
We stayed til the end of his show, mainly because one of his backing singers seemed to be one of the only artists at FIB to have her own personal wind machine AND look like Britney Spears, and because we made friends with some brothers from Madrid who tried to get us to the surf-dance California style. Naturally, we didn't, but it was amusing enough to watch them try.
A bit of Pleasure was next on our agenda, and we skipped over to the Kayne NYC tent just in time to catch their last few songs, and just in time to wish we had caught their first. A break from the electro-droning of Kraftwerk and the Pet Shop Boys and the guitar bashing of the likes of Primal Scream from the night before, Pleasure were an incredible mix of rock pop soul and funk and seemed to be loving the stage as much as the audience loved their music. And the guy on the guitar without his top on - shock horror! - wasn't too bad either. Sitting to watch Franz Ferdinand we got chatting to a big group of friends from all over the world. We finally realised what FIB is all about; having fun, meeting new people, soaking up the amazing atmosphere, laying back on the grass and getting high, whether on drugs, alcohol or the good vibrations,as our good friend Mr Wilson would say. Oh, and you could listen to music if it tickles your fancy. we decided to get high on Franz Ferdinand's amazing set and they made us feel special by playing us a song they'd written just the day before which was called "This Boy". We thought they were adorable, polite and eloquent and wanted to take them home to meet our mummies. Time for another G&T and the chemical brothers press conference, who claimed to feel "very horny" at the prospect of closing this 10th edition of Spain's best fest. When the air conditioning in the press tent just got too much we dragged our Paul Frank-clad booties out into the balmy night where The Dandy Warhols had just slouched onto the stage. As it was our last night we left the press stand far behind us and got right in waving our arms with the best of them and sung along at the top of our voices to "Bohemian Like You". Zia looked radiant and serene, her bump poking out from under her tight top, and we wondered if soon-to-be-born Matilda-Louise would be a Dandy Warhols fan like us.
We snuck backstage at this point, which wasn't allowed! We are such naughty girls! We spotted Courtney Taylor-Taylor looking sweaty but satisfied with their excellent performance, desperately trying to get hold of someone on a mobile. Looking for the much talked-about celebrity swimming pool area, we took a wrong turn and got ushered out by a spotty teenager posing as a security guard. Not all was lost, as we bumped into MTV Spain's utterly delectable Johann Wald, who recognised me instantly, of course, and very sweetly posed for a photo mid joint. We love him!
Bursting back out into the crowds again, dammit, we literally got lifted up into the air and carried all the way back to the green stage by the hoards of people desperate to shake their thang to the Chemical Brothers. The perfect act to close the festival, these two normal looking english DJs wowed us with an animated light show to outshine even the likes of Kraftwerk, and block rockin beats to outgroove every other electro set played this weekend. Tenny and I danced with some Danish loonies who claimed to be from New Zealand. Yeah right guys! It was the ideal end to an ideal night and we almost weeped at the prospect of FIB being over. Oh well, we'll just have to come back next year hey!
If you were there, please email us with your thoughts. Did you think the line-up was retro rubbish or vintage va-va-voom?
darling@thisisvalencia.com
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