Super Saturday Night Part. II

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

Best Audience Ever?

Saturday night fever was running high as we got to the festival yesterday.
We had spent the morning enjoying the annual Artists v. Press football match at the Sports Centre in Benicassim and a nice plate of Paella to go with it and found ourselves asking, Who is Gorka?, as the crowds went mad for him. He turned out to be press, of course! No offence, but the Artists tend to be pretty rubbish when it comes to football, having spent the entire day drinking by the pool in the renowned backstage area. Reknowned for its utter luxury and amazing atmosphere. Each yearwe tend to sneak in at the end of the weekend so we´ll keep you posted on that one.
On arrival we saw Cansei de Ser Sexy, the crazy brazilians, and got to the Vodafone FIB club tent to whistle along to the excellent "Young Folks" with Peter, Bjorn & John with an overflowing crowd, caught some happy vibes and ran back to the Green Stage to not miss a single moment of The Magic Numbers. Not the most elegant, good-looking or trendy band at the Festival but without a doubt the highlight of the weekend so far. Opening with Take A Chance, the die-hard Numbers fans at the front must have all lost their voices as they sang along at the top of their voices. We danced and jiggled the whole set through with our gorgeous friends Ralph and Mr M. who had driven up for the night and found their sweet vocals to be the perfect start to the evening, making us forget poor Albert Hammond Jr.'s bad luck with the power cut at the end of his set that plunged the whole recinto into darkness for just a little while.
The B-52s put on a fun show for all the over 50s in the audience, and we noticed people trying to have a bit of a dance but trying just a little bit too hard. It was time to see our idol Najwa Nimri and her band Najwajean. The artist/singer/actress memerized the crowd in a skin tight Chinese-style dress and as I climbed up on a speaker you could feel the emotion in her voice. Stamping her foot like a mad thing the people sang along with Ms Nimri, filling the Vodafone Fib Club with love and song.
Oops! Ralph had lost his shoe for a minute, but all was well and a lovely boy from Huddersfield with a black eye gave it back to us, along with a fistful of neon bracelets. Yay! We were eyeing them up the whole set and it was finally time for us to wave our wrists in the air and have them glow in the dark. You know, in case we had another power cut.
Over on the Green Stage, the Arctic Monkeys were starting up and pump it up tey did. Cool as anything, they sauntered out onto the stage as if it was their front room and struck up View From The Afternoon. We couldn´t have asked for a more appropiate song than Dancing Shoes as we jumped around in the crowd. As much as we could, of course, there was a delightful girl in white who insisted on putting her bum in our faces the whole time. Not to worry, nothing a bit of dancing with our elbows out wouldn't fix.
Desperate to hear Mardy Bum, we were more than happy with Fake Tales Of San Francisco and as they closed with Certain Romance it was a perfect end to the set. Turner and his boys, still prepubescent and spotty but soooo cute, left the stage proclaiming the audience was fantastic.
We spent a good while dancing to the indie and rock set of DJ Rojiblanco, another New Generation Artist brought to FIB by Vueling and spent the rest of the night before heading home to bed at dawn between the truly amazing Ellen Alien and the electric and energetic Lo-Fi-Fnk.
Still no sign of Hedi Slimane though he is still supposed to be around, maybe he'll be more visible tomorrow when Amy Winehouse and her huge as huge beehive grace the Fiberfib stage.

It´s Friday Night!

Fib. Day 2
Oh my, oh my, too much excitement to sleep. What a night. Fib is just getting better and better and its only day 2.
Anita and I arrived mid afternoon, red and hot after quite a long trek on the old bikes, and ran to see Antony and the Johnsons in the fiberfib.com tent. Having been number one fans of his since thisisvalencia.com’s Gooru gave us his whole repertoire, we were rather excited about seeing him live. Amazed at the crowd he had gathered, we squeezed through the hundreds of people to the front, and waited for the band to come out. Antony in a long sleeved black woven jumper and the musicians all in white, he stood behind the mike and nervously jiggled about as he sang. We slipped in and took some photos in the pit and then danced and sang with some other Johnsons fans, completely moved by Antony’s enchanting, beautiful voice. Looking across the audience, you could see people close to tears by Antony’s piano,and the haunting string and wind accompaniment to Hope There’s Someone.
Having set next to the Herman Düne boys in the Press Tent earlier on and passing them several times in the corridors, we weren’t about to miss this Swedish band’s live set. A mad band – the lead was in a blue linen dress with a Jesus beard and hair style, singing wicked indie pop to his passionate crowd they closed their set with a thank you and a goodbye and we ran off to watch who we thought were The Klaxons. Dressed in skeleton costumes, and singing their little hearts out, we realised they weren’t actually the Klaxons. Who were they?? We looked around the puzzled faces, people dancing but looking slightly confused. Klaxons fans trying to look annoyed but actually really enjoying the show. Who was this amazing band on the Green Stage? Where had they come from? And where were the Klaxons? Running as fast as our Havaianas would take us, we got to the press tent to find out who was playing. Whomadewho was the answer! A crazy band from Denmark that was supposed to be playing at 00.35 on the Fiberfib.com stage and had swapped over with the Klaxons. Nobody knew or understood why. But Whomadewho were obviously very comfy in front of the Klaxons crowd, and the Klaxons crowd were overly comfy in front of them. They did a great cover of Benny Bassi’s Satisfaction – Push me and then just touch me until I get my…” and cleared the confusion in the air by closing their set with ‘We are not the Klaxons, we are from Denmark, thanks for listening’. Fantastic.
We then caught the beginning of Wilco, with Jeff Tweedy’s fantastic voice and country-style tunes and watched on as a group of English Fibers did a jig in a circle as the green stage area kept on filling up.
The Rapture took even longer to come out on stage than Antony and the Jonsons. In the excitement, all kinds of objects got thrown forward from the people (Anita ended up with some chewing gum in her lovely long hair. Nice) and even the actual people threw themselves over the front barrier, only to be carried off just as quickly by the security guards. Finally the boys from New York trundled out and filled the Fiberfib.com stage with their electro-punk-rock-pop. Grinning from ear to ear they jiggled all over the stage, and we have to admit it was hard to keep the camera still enough to take a decent photo with all the dancing we wanted to be doing. We stuck around for a bit of Alright Yeah Uh-huh (“People don’t dance no more” – At FIB they do!) and went off to see if we could spot the artist/photographer/Dior Homme genius Hedi Slimane. Calling in on the Vueling Pista Pop tent we decided we would go and see DJ Jesus Ordovas anywhere and stayed around for a boogie before watching The Horrors and their energetic dark music, loving the black outfits and makeup but incredulous at how ANYONE could wear skinny jeans at Benicassim. We were sweating like chickens in our short short shorts!
The Klaxons finally made an appearance at half past twelve – Alaska, Spanish 80s icon of Green Stage band Fangoria begged the press not to ask too many questions at her press conference as she was missing their set to be there – and by the time we got close it was impossible to even enter the tent. The crowd they had drawn was incredible and nobody could understand why they had possibly swapped slots with WhoMadeWho when they would have been right at home on the Escenario Verde. We hear Najwa Nimri, The Arctics and even Hedi himself were in the crowds as these young boys from the UK got everybody dancing.
We walked around the festival and took a look at the FIBMarket, getting everything we could for free – badges, magazines, beach balls, condoms, even porn!
Anita got jealous of a group of friends from London and their neon makeup she had been trying to get her hands on for months and we both stared in awe and envy and the skinny minnies slim enough to get away with the bikini top/waistcoat/hot pants combo.
We have to admit it is the English who have excelled themselves in the wardrobe department this year – we have never seen such amazing outfits. All nationalities are mixing together in perfect harmony and no one can put their finger on what it is but there is a vibe this year like never before. It is just a lovely atmosphere and we don’t want it to end.
Can’t wait for tomorrow and Cansei de Ser Sexy, Nouvelle Vague, Arctic Monkeys, Magic Numbers and Ellen Alien!
L&A

we're here!

Yes, you read right. We are finally here, back in Benicassim, one more year.
And so far, it's better than ever.
We've settled into our little house, had a swim in the pool, been to the beach, been slightly sunburnt from riding our bikes - rented from the ayuntamiento and now we are getting ready for action.
People are arriving by the busload, laden with rucksacks, tents, camper gas stoves and plenty of alcohol, supermarkets are over flowing and have already sold out of most tinned goods, hundreds of different languages are being spoken on every corner and the vibe in the air is electric.
We couldn't be more excited.
If you're here check out the infomation stand on Benicassim high street and in the train station for everything you need to know about the week ahead - the line-up, timetables, bus routes, etc...
More from us tomorrow, keep checking in for photos and interviews with our dear fellow Fibers.
Lots of fibbing love

L & A
x

Get to FIB - for free!

Getting to and from the festival site is as easy as pie.
If you're flying into Valencia airport from Monday 16th all you have to do is pop downstairs to the FIB stand and sign up to FIBERclub when you arrive and you can ride a free bus to Benicassim and make friends with a load of other festival-goers on the way up! There are buses departing the airport FIB-ward pretty much all day right into the evening from Monday morning up until 6.30pm on Friday. On Monday and Tuesday they'll even drop you right at the campsite, whereas the rest of the week the stop in Beni town is at the train station. You can also join FIBERClub in the train station at the festie's information booth, and once a member, you'll also be entitled to ride all the FIB-run buses you like within Benicassim to and from the campsites.
Oh, and on Monday and Tuesday the following week, they'll even run you back to Valencia airport for free. Now how's that for a festival, hey?
Wicked!
you can take a look at the bus timetables right here

FIB FIB FIB - it's all we can think about!

Lolita and I are like schoolgirls before the end of term disco.
Just. So. Excited.
Tomorrow we head up to Benicassim to check out the accommodation and to enjoy a morning in Benicassim in all its beach-town glory. (Though it's back to work in the afternoon though, boo hoo.) With my week off just around the corner I can barely concentrate as I sit at the computer and stare into space dreaming of FIB nights. It feels like it was months since I last had a holiday - oh wait, it was!
At home we have made a pile of CDs to be played before the festival to get us into the groove - we have a new flatmate moving in this week and she won't know what hit her! Starting with The B-52s Love Shack through to Iggy's I Wanna Be Your Dog to The Hives' Walk Idiot Walk back to Amy Winehouse's You Know I'm No Good, we're looking forward to an exciting, varied and fabulous lineup.
Lolita and I have bets on who of the groups will venture most out into the crowds - sharing a kebab last year with Queens of Noize was definitely one of the highlights! Spotting the performers with their A for Artists passes has us in giggles as we try and guess what band they might be from - they usually turn out to be the drummer from one of the Proyecto Demo winners and we feel better about not having recognised them straightaway!

FIB has a myspace!

Myspace has revolutionised the whole music scene, making bands infamous before even being signed. So, what better place for FIB to be but on myspace themselves with nearly all the groups to be gracing the festival's stages having one.
Here's a few of our favourites, listen to new releases and exclusive covers (amy winehouse does a a great one of The Zutons' Valerie), watch videos and interviews and read their blogs:
here
here
here
here