The Kills, Alison "VV" Mosshart and Kate Moss' new man, Jamie Hince, are causing much speculation what with Pete being here too but one, we are not in an episode of High School Musical and two, this is FIB, feel the love! All is quickly forgotten once they strike up the first chord, and Miss Moss is far from everybody's minds as their energetic set gets the crowd hyped up to the sounds of No Wow, Love Is A Deserter and more from th. After Mika's all-out colour fest and musical finale-style set, and the five in the front row setup for The Brian Jonestown Massacre, it was bizarre to see just the two of The Kills playing on the main stage side by side, only coming closer together on rare occasions, and sans backdrops, clever lights and colourful tricks up their sleeves. Benicassim is a mere stop-off on their tour of the world's Summer festivals and VV was the antithesis to this years' 'Fibers' with all their neon, insy-bitsy-bikini tops and cropped hair - very rock-chic in skinny jeans, scarf and patterned shirt and her long black hair. Amazing.
If only to get me to stop singing Steady As She Goes, which proves to be The sing-along-song in their set later, PJ is dying to keep me distracted before The Raconteurs, and we 'kill' time, excuse the pun, eat some dinner from the food areas - kebab for him, jacket potato for me - and have a proper dance at the superb electro-house duo Booka Shade. The bass is pumping so hard I have to desert PJ in the photo pit, and I feel my chest may burst open. Some of the most outrageous and spectacular clubber outfits are here, making some serious shapes in the FiberFIB tent in silver body suits, neon eyelashes and slouchy boots.
I am first in the front row for The Raconteurs, their set a moody backdrop of wintry tree silhouettes and elaborately dramatic theatre curtains crowned by their signature 'R', and Jack White, breaking with his usual black white and red when playing with his sister Meg, looks exceedingly dapper in a brown suit embellished with sparkly rib cage on the front and spine on the back. He moved from guitar to piano and back and hit the crowd hard with songs from both Broken Boy Soldiers and the new, Consolers of the Lonely, yet Level and Steady definitely stole the show.
With a little time slot between Mr White and co. we rushed to catch a bit of our good pal Johann Wald who we'd had a bit of a boogie with on Friday at Hot Chip (Over and Over and Over and Over and Over, like a monkey with a miniature cymbal!), DJing with Calcetines at la Pista Pop for some indie and good-old guitar-based rock. Wicked. PJ was in his element.
Gnarls Barkley ran on stage dressed as public schoolboys. Navy shorts, white shirts and sleeveless jumpers, with Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse in matching mustard jackets and checked trousers, were the uniform of the evening as they injected the audience with their infectious mix of rap, soul, dance and hip-hop. Cee-Lo may be short but his presence is more than powerful, and the band hopped and jumped with their guitars and on the organs and all over the stage as they played hit after hit from their album St. Elswhere. Crazy was as expected, a rip-roaring success with the huge crowd, and the only disappointment was the lack of face make-up, replaced by dark sunglasses that would have been fun indeed. My new Amy Winehouse wannabee friends more than made up for it though with get-up that would have made Lolita Devine, my usual FIB side-kick and party loving pal, proud. I especially admired the roller in the fringe with the headscarf, I never thought I would be a fan of the Pat Butcher look.
Quite exhausted after all the rock, pop and dance, we flitted around from tent to tent flinging ourselves around to some hard techno, electro beats and drum'n'bass rhythms, finishing the night with my girlfriends from The Bank at John Acquaviva, before deciding that if we had to put our sunglasses on, it was probably time to call it a night. And much energy is needed for tonight - Vive La Fete, Morrissey, Justice and Death Cab will be closing the festival with a bang.
A.Darling
xxx
