August 10th, 2009 by Thommy

The plane is filled with people going to Benicassim,

some hopping around in excitement, others sitting in a nervous silence.  A 2 hour flight, 1 hour bus ride and a long queue in the sweltering heat till our wrist bands are on.  Finally, the Maltese contingent at Beni Camp setsup its tents making its presence known by hanging flags and being generally loud (and sometimes annoying).

Benicassim is a festival that promises sun, sea and music. We’ve learned that means, your tents become ovens, the beach is infested with English and there are some bands and Djs at the end of the week. Still, it works. Camping starts Monday and the 3 days build up to the actual festival are just as eventful. Days at the beach then parties at the bar in the campsite or in the town as well as the general vibe are enough to keep a stupid grin on anyones face.

Thursday is considered the warm up,

 the bands start late and the Djs finish early. (early being 5am) Mystery Jets were a more than perfect way to start my festival, with the Walkmen shortly after to reignite my love for the smaller shows. Quickly after The Walkmen we rushed to catch the end of Oasis which solidified my satisfaction for not going to see their whole set. Liam Gallagher was intelligent enough to wear his trench coat in the blistering heat, only to storm off stage mid Wonderwall. The situation worsened when we realized that the pint cups of beer being flung into the air by over-excited Oasis fans were actually filled with warm urine.  Needless to say we left, disappointed and yes, ‘pissed’ off.  Rushing off to see Gang of Four, my faith in the entertainers of these days was restored. They’ve been around long, and they proved why. A powerful set that consisted of great music and some surprising moments such as when the front man beat a microwave with a bat. The rest of the night consisted of running around catching glimpses of sets only to stumble back to camp and pass out in a hammock after Four Tet.

Friday was set to be a big night, with my personal favorites Yuksek and Boys Noize on the bill.

But all hell broke loose when ridiculous winds stopped the festival mid way through Paul Weller’s set. We were told that the festival would have to stop for the rest of the night and we were to head back to our campsite and wait it out. We arrived back at the campsite to see an apocalyptic style scene with tents struggling to remain grounded and barely a soul in sight. Trust us to be some of the only people walking around still managing to laugh about the situation. The night was eerie, yet unique, genuine danger gets the blood pumping in some cases resulting in a damn good time.

Saturday started with everyone wondering if the festival was going to go on,

as we all heard the stages had been damaged, but everything was botched together again and we were given what we came for. Minus Foals and Lilly Allen who both canceled due to illness. Foals cancelling was a kick in the stomach for me but refusing to be discouraged we marched off to the festival grounds, face paint and all. The night started with Maximo Park who were kind enough to stick around after they were unable to play the night before. After them Elbow took the stage, and gave us what I can honestly call the most heart warming and beautiful set of the festival. His booming voice and their epic full sound resulted in the crowd going from swaying in awe to melting in awe. Elbow ended their set with ‘One Day like this’, the perfect crowd-pleaser with its powerful lyrics and sing-along ending.  Still shaking with joy after such a thrilling performance, the crowd began to buzz with excitement for the night’s headlining act; the legendary Franz Ferdinand.

Heres where the “holy shit” factor was introduced.

 An hour and a half of pure brilliance, brilliant music, brilliant showmanship, brilliant people to be watching them with. They played all their classics and most of their new album, ending with an epic 15 minute version of Lucid Dreams which I’m quite sure resulted in 3 strokes and 7 orgasms. Next were 2ManyDjs, the most most dance induced set of my life. No one was able to stop dancing the whole time. We had our very own  Fat Gold-er Clare dancing on a skip showing us all how its done and shaking her booty malta-style. At this point the Maltese all seemed to find each other on the dance floor and we had a beautiful family type moment where love was coming out of our ears and groove was spilling out of our hearts. Thinking the night couldn’t get any better we were given the one of the grooviest warm up sets ever by Aeroplane followed by the most insane show I have ever seen. Steve Aoki gave us one of the most aggressive mosh producing sets ever. To top it off he jumped around the stage, screamed a lot, poured vodka down the throats of the people in the front row and smashed a bottle on stage. The crowd went mad and the security were in complete shock. Looking around I knew I was at the best party in the world. The sun was coming up and the sky was a beautiful green; a colour I’d never before seen it take, revealing the mountains beyond the fields.  A crazy Asian man was jumping around on stage and the vibe was too much to resist for the Beni barmen and ladies who all joined us on the dance floor till the sun became too hot to bear.  We practically crawled back to the campsite, exhausted, but ridiculously satisfied.

Sunday, unfortunately, started off badly. 

Many time changes were made resulting in me missing Calexico. Everyone knows its the last night of the festival and has a cloud hanging over their heads, realizing that it will all be over soon. White Lies, who I expected to be amazing, were good, not better or worse. Only having seen one song of TV on the Radio I now wish I got all their set instead. Friendly Fires then gave me that kick in the ass I needed to get my night started. The front man moves as though he’s made out of rubber, wriggling and twisting away.  This however, resulting in a show where his dance moves shadowed his singing. Friendly Fires were followed by Lykke Li, who I think managed to seduce every male and most females in the crowd in the hour she was on stage.  I’ll never see someone hit a cymbal so sexily ever again, I’m sure of it. Birdy Nam Nam were next on the bill. These guys have really mastered the whole DCMing thing. The only way to describe this part of the festival is; “bass and flashy lights, just how we like it”. The night ended with us at the main stage, me being greatly disappointed with the Killers. Maybe its my general dislike for bands who are adored by the masses, I don’t know, don’t care. Thankfully Rinocerose were there to save me, with their afro bearing, scissor kicking, guitarist humping screamo front man, which left all our jaws on the floor. A dying breed, the true rockstar.

I really only spoke about the music here, but Beni is so much more. It being my second visit to FIB, the festival lived up to my expectations. Despite many disasters; tents collapsing, camera’s breaking, and one trip to the hospital (to name just a few) there is no place I would have rather been. Festivals bring out the best in most, from the second they take the first steps into the campsites, the usual essentials like cooked meals and sleep become unnecessary. The beauty of being surrounded by tens of thousands of people all at the same place for the same reason is hard to describe. This year we had we had sing alongs in the bathrooms, forest nymphs blowing bubbles, group cuddles on the floor, dance offs with randomers and enough laughs to last the rest of the year.

A good friend of mine said something on our wind swept Friday night that now makes a lot of sense: “This is the realest shit ever”.

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