Welcome to FIB. Expect intermittent cider showers, a vast array of interesting characters and one of the best festivals you’ll experience. With FIB’s on-point planning, they thought of almost anything you could’ve needed/wanted on site. You are eagerly welcomed and personally chaperoned to your own camping spot, where everywhere is covered by shade – exactly what you need when you are already feeling the heat. However, this is solely an issue at the tent itself – while you’re in the arena, the huge capacities (I’m talking about 15,000 people) allow you to be as involved with the crowd as you please.
Thursday/Jueves
The main headliners of the first day were Chase and Status, Ellie Goulding and Tinie Tempah. Anticipation was high, and the acts, particularly Chase and Status, exceeded the audience’s expectations. Opening with ‘Eastern Jam’, a less known track from their first album More Than A lot, the heavy bass and wobbling melodies worked up the crowd to be squirming for their next tracks. The highlights from their set were definitely ‘Alive’, ‘Time’ and ‘Blind Faith’.
Tinie Tempah, despite not releasing much material recently, was a great entertainer. Everyone knows his songs, and so the crowd echoed in a great roar his infectious lyrics. As a person, he seemed to be a pretty cool guy, pausing in between tunes to have a bit of a chat with the crowd. The highpoints of Tinie Tempah’s performance were ‘Trampoline’, ‘Frisky’ and ‘Pass Out’ – the crowd being clear specialists in his catchy lyrics, much like Chase and Status’s performance, brought the atmosphere to a peak of energy.
Unfortunately, we missed Ellie Goulding in a fit to find a source of fuel in the form of greasy Chinese food. There was no real loss, though, as Chase and Status were undoubtedly the act not to be missed.
Friday/Vienes
The act everyone had come to FIB for, was of course, Kasabian. The crowd gathered in masses to watch the main headliners. Opening with ‘Shoot the Runner’, they did an impressive job to introduce their act – everyone was jumping in unison to their heavy beats, enhancing the vibrations of excitement even more. After a painful long pause watching them casually meander around the stage, the classic guitar riff of ‘Underdog’ sent arms straight into the air along with bellowing screams. The quality was insane, and they sounded like they did on their album, only better with the surrealism of seeing the band in the flesh. Unfortunately, they clashed with The 1975 who were performing on a different stage, so that was all that we saw of them.
The 1975 were a must-see. Though they aren’t as established as Kasabian yet, they are certainly on their way. Again, the vocals were flawless, and especially with the lead singer’s authentic and unique tone, it made you see their music in a different light. Personal favourites were ‘Settle Down’ and their debut single ‘Chocolate’, simply because of how everyone sung along with such charged passion!
Saturday/Sabado
Main performers of the third night included The Libertines, Example, Katy B and Lily Allen. Multitudes of people gathered to watch The Libertines. Their performance was on point, fun and engaging. The atmosphere was brimming with joy as people joined the crowd, sat in groups on the nearby grass, or simply watched from afar. Although I’ll admit I don’t really know much of this band, I really enjoyed their performance and range of indie/rock tunes.
Oh the notorious Example… He decided to move his set forward an extra hour, so he could watch The Libertines. This wasn’t really a problem, as this enabled us to go and see Katy B. Her red vivid hair and quirky jumpsuit intact, Katy B knew exactly how to work the crowd – you didn’t realise how many of her songs you actually knew until she was performing them, and you didn’t appreciate how special the tone of her voice was either, with such a range of styles from her upbeat ‘Perfect Stranger’ to a more mellow version of ‘Crying for no Reason’.
Lily Allen was next to perform, with, not surprisingly, a newly styled fluorescent pink hair, complete with a matching just-as-bright ensemble and giant inflatable baby bottles dotted round the perimeter of the sage. Lily’s voice was impressively clear and refreshing, considering the somewhat nasal and high-pitched nature of her records. She was clearly comfortable, as she began talking about the ‘gaffa tape’ stuck to her private parts, cackling as she strolled along the stage. On the whole, she provided a balanced range of material from her old and new albums, and that song from the John Lewis ad (tears were shed). Closing with ‘Not Fair’ got the crowd pumped for the following acts.
Example, though not a favourite of mine, attracted easily thousands of fans to the arena. The dance/electro genre was especially appropriate for the time of night, where everyone’s energy peaked. Hands flailed in the air and mosh pits grew larger with his encouragement. Altogether, particularly with ‘Changed the way you Kiss me’ and ‘Won’t go Quietly’ were the highlights.
Sunday/Domingo
Irish band Kodaline played during the day, when the warmth was just right (and you were sober enough to remember everything!). Though we only managed to catch their last two songs, ‘All I Want’ made up for this. The build-up in the original song was augmented tenfold when played live, as the crowd could sense the peak approaching. They ended with a crowd-assisted outro and waved and thanked us all for ‘turning up’ – that little sense of doubt made me fall in love with them even more.
And if there was anyone you couldn’t afford to miss, it was Paolo Nutini. You can tell the difference between someone singing for the sake of it, and then someone singing to express their actual emotions, and this was the scenario. ‘Scream’ and ‘Iron Sky’ from his new album Caustic Love were favourites, with some more funky rhythms performed. The crowd watched in electric silence as they listened to his agonizingly raw and beautiful voice, his emotion flowing through us, as he brought his set to a close. Again, tears were uncontrollably flowing as he played ‘Candy’ and finally ‘Last Request’.
FIB has got it all – sun, sea, sound and most importantly – SHOWERS! The hygiene and general management of the site was spectacular, not to mention the perfect size of the venue – you could easily walk from one end to the other in ten minutes. Varieties of foods are available and during the day you can visit the town of Benicassim for a mere bus fare of €1.50. As the day progresses, you feel the atmosphere build as the beer consumption increases and the trail of people heading to the arena grows – there is no place you’d rather be. If you’re looking for a music festival with a huge range of both emerging and established acts, a variety of accommodation to choose from, hot and cold foods and guaranteed hot weather, this is the one for you!
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