It’s that time of year again. Two weeks of holiday carved out of the second half of July could only mean one thing round here: we’re off to the Benicassim festival (FIB) for the 3rd year running. For those who haven’t been, Benicassim is a rock festival like no other. It combines the usual noise, large cups of beer and haze of marijuana smoke with an attractive beach town, lots of sunshine and all the other benefits of a traditional Spanish beach holiday. In the evening (until 6 am), we’ll enjoy performances by Iggy Pop and the Stooges, Wilco, Herman Düne, and Cansei de Ser Sexy – and during the day, we’ll sunbathe and swim. Quite simply, it’s the highlight of the year… and yet none of my Barcelona friends ever go. Losers.
The main downside to FIB is the heat. While it’s great to have a festival by the beach, the temperatures in Castellón in the last fortnight of July are hot, hot, hot. Last year, I nearly died while erecting our tent. Without the help of my stalwart amigos, I may well have undergone a complete mental and physical collapse. So this year, we’re doing things differently. We’ve got an apartment on the beach with a pool and a parking space. No more tents for us. I’m not sure which part I’m looking forward to more: hearing the Stooges play Search And Destroy or relaxing in the shade the next day.
Update: some photos of the festival are now available on my Flickr. More coming soon. http://flickr.com/photos/thebadrash
Those pictures from last year say it all really. Has it really been a year already?
This year I am looking forward to enjoying my self 100 percent of the time. And rather than smug it up over all the unfortunate campers, I shall try and play the role of benevolent uncle offering a shoulder to cry on when the inevitable physical breakdowns occur. Oh shit – that’s sounding smug already.
“benevolent uncle” haha!
I went to Benicassim in 1997, when a freak tornado/hailstorm cancelled Blur’s act on the Sunday night. The top of the stage fell on top of Urusei Yatsura, a Glasgow band that was playing at the time. If it had not been for the spot-light structure, they would have been crushed to death. They kept playing though until they the power was cut off.
The organisation was a shambles and they abandoned Benicassim on the Sunday evening. It was panic. No security staff, no organisation, nothing. The campsite was washed away. People had to be rescued a road (under a bridge) that had been flooded. It was pandemonium. It was a miracle that nobody died. I had been drinking and smoking for 3 days but I sobered up immediately. That day I swore I would never camp at a music festival ever again in my life. It has been B&B and hotels since then.
There are dozens of people from Scotland going to the FIB, it is very popular. Tickets are priced over here at £117, which seems very expensive to me.
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By the way, interesting interview of the FIB organiser in today’s Avui. Apparently singing in Catalan automatically makes you a nationalist whereas singing in Spanish has not political connotations whatsoever.
Discuss. 😉
http://paper.avui.cat/article/cultura/90040/prefereixo/recolzar/la/musica/castella.html
http://www.elmundo.es/1997/08/11/uve/11N0007.html -scary to think it has been 10 years.
Hi Rab – sounds terrible. I once saw Urusei Yatsura supporting Super Furry Animals.
I think I’m more or less done with festivals now. I will probably go to Primavera Sound and Summercase next year because both are based in Barcelona, meaning I can go home each night.
That said, this year’s FIB was fantastic, if only for the apartment.
If your looking for an affordable and exiting way to get to Benicassim festival this year i would highly recommend Music Festival Holidays. They run road trip style tours out to European festivals. They organise coach transport from the UK that stops off en-route to the festival for party nights out! The full weekend camping ticket, travel and accommodation for the stop offs is all included in the package price. Go here for more info on their Bencassim trip
http://www.musicfestivalholidays.co.uk/Benicassim-festival