Benicassim 2012 – The Benidorm of Music Festivals

 On monday morning as the trains, cars and busses departed their respective stations, heads hung low on sweaty shoulders while fatigue seeped through the bones of thousands of music lovers and festival junkies as they made their way outward from Benicassim 2012 after four days of world class acts, old, modern and those back from retirement. It manages to be one the most popular festivals among the British and Irish regardless of its far away Med-side location and it's clear to see why. The sunshine and the beach, unbeatable by even the finest July day in Brighton, are only but a small part of what Benicassim offers the Northern European islanders. On top of the weather is a line-up that is predominantly British, the tickets are cheaper and full English brekkies are widely available. Regrettably however, this has left Spanish cultural involvement in the festival at an alarming low. This has been an element of contention for several years for the festivals organisation since they have been heavily criticised for their failure to include some of the rich Valencian culture from the festival surroundings that plays host to the weekend.

 Consequently, Benicassim has become the Benidorm of music festivals. If you like to holiday with all your neighbours and ignore the local culture then Benicassim is the festival for you. With Glasto taking one of their intermittent years off and simultaneous cancellations in Sonisphere and The Big Chill, it was no surprise to see the droves of Brits and Irish grace the Orange Blossom Coast. The disappointment was the lack of Spanish acts in the headlines and the lack of Spanish culture on the whole. Maybe I'm speaking too fast here, I mean, there was one stage, one night that had one Spanish headliner, Joe Crepusculo from Barcelona. So that makes... one Spanish headliner, in four nights, between three stages, from the host country that brought us Flamenco and actually has a whole guitar named after it.

 Moving onto the music. Rock, pop and electronica, something that a festival with a heavy British line-up can benefit from. Ranging from music legends like Bob Dylan and The Stone Roses to Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (young modern electronica) and Ed Sheeran, the festival caters for a multitude of generational tastes.

 Scheduled to headline the first night on the Maravillas stage was Florence and The Machine. Sadly, Florence Welch's retraction from the festival due to a vocal injury left a depressing tonic note to begin the festival with, one that first day vibrations and anticipation could not render some festival goers in better moods. Capping Marvillas instead that evening was At The Drive-In. Hardcore punk from El Paso, Texas. Fresh from the turn of the century and back from solo projects, Benicas has been their first highly anticipated European gig in over a decade. Aggressive as ever, they played a string of hits from their most popular record Relationships of Command, including 'Pattern Against User', 'Arcarsenal' and 'Catacombs' to name a few, and of course, 'One Armed Scissors'. The show was worth the ten year wait and well worth another ten.

 Later in the night, on the same stage, Example struggled with poor sound quality which generally seemed to go unnoticed to the masses, keeping people raving long into Friday morning. Finishing his set at this time on the Trident Stage was French producer Yuksek, whose electronic pop and gift for the remix was an electric highlight. Closing the evening/morning at 7am was Arveene and Milk whose bass and tech signed off on a opening night that was heavy on all accounts.

 Friday morning and afternoon saw Benicas town almost double in population as more people poured off the trains, out of the campsite and onto the beach while awaiting the venues to re-open at four o'clock. While we enjoyed the sunshine, debates began to spark about the nights acts, mostly focused on Bob Dylan who would be taking to the Maravilla at the same time as the Club would be donned by Django Django and Little Dragon at the Trident. The prior needs no introduction, of course, but for those of you still unfamiliar with Little Dragon, they have been slowly building a forceful fan base since their first release in 2006 (ten years after their inception in 1996). Their Swedish brand of electronic hip-hop is reminiscent of the trip-hop coming out of Bristol in the nineties. Fronted by Swedish-Japanese singer Yukimi Nagano, from ten o'clock until eleven, they had all heads nodding at the Trident. Nevertheless, it was a shock to hear how many people were giving Dylan the miss in favour of the Swedes. Shocking but not unfounded. Dylan's live show has had the reputation of being alienating and it was an older crowd pushing this conviction on Friday. Subsequently, the Trident was teeming with late teens and early twenties but during the set, there was massive exodus to Little Dragon and to the British psychedelics of Django Django from those unable to deal with Dylan's move towards blues in favour of his folk-style recordings. Opening with 'Leopard-skin Pill-box Hat' and followed by 'To Ramona' and 'Things Have Changed' he set a relentless blues tone for the rest of the set. Was it good or bad? Depends, how much do you like the blues?

 Friday night had a more subdued feel to it, the weekend crescendo, the heaviest act being Chase and Status setting up Saturday night for the chorus. Some early stadium rock from Dublin boys, Delorentos who pumped a lively injection of potent energy into a sun-stroked and hungover mass. Following this at the Club stage were Ham Sandwich, who gallantly filled the spaces between each song with horrific Spanish in Irish accents, ironically, to a crowd full of Irish people. Funnily, the irony seemed lost on the band during their set as they delivered the most memorable performance of Irish fusion folk, fringed with angst and humor. From the same country who embarrassingly sent a puppet turkey and Jedward to Eurovisions as international representation of their proud musical tradition, Ham Sandwich are living and touring proof that some of that old healthy tradition lives on. Top marks.

 Two festival highlights played back to back when directly following Ham Sandwich on the same stage were Fujiya and Miyagi. A smooth change in pace and style. Backed by a full band, Mayagi's (David Best's) lyrical flow in addition to the funky electronics, blends together into one cool summer-sound transmitting a relaxed vibe for a set that ended all too soon. Back over on the Maravillas Stage Noel Gallagher took the stage with Oasis, no sorry, his High Flying Birds. Easily confused, you see, it's the same guy, with the same tempos and the same style still playing Oasis songs. Half way through 'Don't Look Back in Anger' or 'Whatever' I half expected Liam to come and join him onstage. This didn't happen. But Noel is a pro, plays like a pro and commands the stage not unlike, well, a pro. Fellow Mancs The Stone Roses followed, opening with 'I Wanna Be Adored' which saw Ian Brown's characteristic walk dominate center stage once more. After smashing classics like 'Fools Gold', 'She Bangs The Drum' and their classic ender, 'I Am The Resurrection', it was infuriation to over-hear audience members complain about Brown's voice; “he still can't sing”, who cares! A proud night for Manchester music on all fronts.

  At the same time on the Trident Stage, Dizzee Rascal was having problems at the end of a very energetic set. His sound crashed during his 'Bonkers' finale but fearless, he restarted the song again to the grand appeasement of the crowd, but something had already been lost. The song is never the same when it's repeated after a sound crash and his set finished the evening before welcoming the late night, heavy dance acts.

 In the final throws of the weekend, depletions in energy were becoming obvious. Lethargy and apathy began to surface around the festival but in true festive fortitude we soldiered through on the beer, our full English and good vibrations. The first big winner of the evening were the Vaccines on the Maravillas who, it's fair to say, have rid themselves of their flash-in-the-pan reputation by continually touring strong over a year after their massive debut self-titled. With a hand-full of new tunes, a catalogue of floor-fillers and a attitude that never sees them take themselves too seriously, they were an easy one to enjoy on a three day hangover. 'Post Break-up Sex' and 'Wetsuit' made for early sing-a-longs and ending with 'Norgaard' and 'If You Wanna' left the crowd in defining cheers, a metaphoric middle finger to all those early naysayers. On the same stage after the Vaccines, making all the young girls hearts beat faster with his more poppy-than-folk blend of folk-pop was Ed Sheeran. If you're having trouble seeing the appeal of the blonde youngster, you're not alone but you're certainly in the minority. I too fail to see the attraction but he hip-hopped his way through 'You Need Me, I Don't Need You' and soothed his mostly female fan base with 'The A Team', so, kudos where kudos is due.

 Are you tired of Manchester rock yet?! Benicassim is! Dedicating their set to Ian Curtis for what would have been his birthday this night was a great touch from New Order. Playing through classic after classic with their unique brand of rock and 80s synth, it's difficult to have a bad word to say about the band, although not impossible. Maybe it was the mass fatigue, maybe it was the predictability of it all, or maybe it's just because it was 20th rock band we'd seen this weekend from the other side of the 00s but modernity and spontaneity were starting to feel like old forgotten friends, making it hard to truly enjoy the full set.

 On Monday morning Benicassim 2012 closed for another year. We drank, we danced, we saw some world class music and offended the local custom. While David Guetta played loud his Ibizan party anthems into the mild night air, sobering waves of clarity washed over us and we could all feel it, “that plane ride later is going to be a bitch!”