Computer Age

At the Festival Internacional de Benicassim come always two kinds of people, those who are going to see concerts and those who are going to shift, for my part, depending on the poster of the successive editions to which I have gone, I have always placed in one or another end sure that was not feasible to do both, but as has been demonstrated this year, nothing is impossible if you make good plans and the plans go wrong.
With my hat as a symbol of Cowboy palpable in the front disapproves of the Brit-pop and techno, and as a vindication of the Rock turned on authentic American roots, we planted a plisplas on Thursday at Benicassim once saved the first hurdle of abusive price fertilizer thanks to a timely journalistic accreditation granted.
The weather has been more bearable than in other times and the atmosphere more relaxed and cleared, the poster for the 2004, the tenth anniversary of the festival, was remarkably unbalanced and showed too many holes, which has discouraged more than one, taking also into account the price of tickets and the different alternatives for summer festivals that go year after year gaining weight.
Thursday was the feast of presentation, the Fibstart traditionally done by the Benicassim velodrome and that this time he moved to the concerts, on the main stage.

Our arrival at the site coincided with the performance of The Sunday Drivers, who presented his last and recent album "Little Hearts Attacks" concrete action rather than correct, the group has good tunes and even a single notable as "On My Mind" that they can open many doors, take good note of the classics (Beatles, Kinks, Byrds) in his compositions and live entertainment, were the first beneficiaries of the sound of the festival that would be wonderful for all the concerts (in the Green and in the tents).

After the good taste of Sunday Drivers we touched us headlong again with the sad reality of the indie-rock homeland that continues to show some ills that seem endemic, and it is the least of Maga was boring, but I do not want ensañarme with them too.

In the concert of Ash was sitting far in the lawn with a beer and well-placed cowboy hat, was not that someone could think it was interested in seeing them, when they will realize that the IFF in Brit-pop was born and died and that the corpse stinks at this point?

We are approaching the stage again to see Fangoria out of curiosity than anything else, and the truth is that we must recognize that Alaska is so well mounted on a stage, at this stage has a handful of catchy themes that sell very well known as the vanguard of electronic pop, though it is not. Funny at times.

And that was that on Thursday, a holiday presentation that became lame after the cancellation of Paul Weller and that did not do more than to see the improved sound of the main stage.

Friday 6

The first day of the festival presented a priori as the most feeble, yet there were interesting performances.

Snow Patrol were presented at the tent Fiberfib.com even with an intense heat that did not prevent the filling of the enclosure, the latest album from the band, "Final Straw" is a formidable exercise of indie-rock in the orbit of The Folk Implosion The Delgados or by whatever their origins, Scottish, live band increases the voltage of his interpretations and displayed handed and competent, although there are subjects which quite weak, however, songs like "How to be Dead" or "Chocolate "Frankly sounded good.

Kings Of Leon, who played later on the same stage deflates every day, songs from her debut "Youth & Young Manhood" (see review) will lose a lot live, and new themes sounds infinitely worse, their actions are predictable and flat and the attitude of the family Followill does not match what was supposed be a real band of Rock and Roll. It seems that unfortunately confirms the hype.

The first concert of the day for us in the green was the scene of Tindersticks, the group may no longer excited in their recordings, but still captured its direct such intensity that emerged in its infancy, talented musicians, with tables and with enough humility to complete an outstanding performance knowing that it is no longer the time, the worst thing is that hardly paid attention to his first two albums.

Einstürzende Neubat protagonists a small incident at the press conference (they went to the first question) and then completed one of the most chaotic performances throughout the festival, a strange and crazy mix of electronic and industrial rock to the sounds unusual that it was impossible to remain unmoved, the group Berlin is a landmark for anyone at explores the chaos and their inclusion in the festival was an interesting decision, I do not think there were many fans of Ash.

Another refreshing moment was the performance of Kraftwerk again in the big arena, the German group can be considered the father of techno-pop and still retain the imagination and good taste that both scarce today in electronic music, his classic start scene and no less classical themes ( "The Robots," "Radioactivity," "Autobahn" ...) are infinitely more convincing that most proposals supposedly so much more present and "innovative" (and I do not want to mention names of French groups that curiously Also served at the festival).

Saturday 7

fue bastante dolorosa, aunque de haber actuado Morrisey el dilema hubiese sido aún mayor. In a festival is always inevitable that overlap several performances but the dilemma we are raised with Clem Snider and Teenage Fanclub was quite painful, although he had acted Morrisey of the dilemma would have been even greater. Although we opted for the unerring talent of Norman Blake and his people have time to see some items on the performance of Clem Snider and what we saw convinced us not too dark themes and strangers (and unknown) that fell far short of its magnificent September Madrid (see chronic), plus the atmosphere was infinitely more cold, then told me that of course there were some good times but the concert was not recovered.

Teenage Fanclub, however, is a bet that never fails, if there who can be trusted, and that is that the already extensive discography of the band is difficult to find a loose, also in their last concerts did not skimp when it comes to despatching classics , At Benicassim sounded themes from all eras like "Everything Flows", "Sparkys Dream," "The Concept" and "Start Again" which sounded really good after the electronic empacho of Friday, all singing, all played beautifully and his attitude on a stage is the best that can be seen today, the best of the festival.

We had time to see some action by Yann Tiersen and although his music completely unaware of what I saw I thought was interesting, merging chanson Thunderstorm and electronics, would have surely seen the whole if someone had warned us that in the big arena began its September Lou Reed.

There were plenty of unknowns about the performance of Lou Reed, on his state of form on the songs and interpret on his legendary character who could send it all to hell, luckily all questions were resolved positively, the legendary member of The Velvet Underground offered the best concert of the festival with a acertadísimo set of classics that included several items of "Transformer" (See critical) and "Perfect Day", "Satellite of Love" or "Walk on the wild side" of The Velvet Underground as " Venus in Furs "or" Jesus "and major topics of his long solo career as" Sweet Jane "," Romeo Had Juliette "and" The Blue Mask. "
The band that accompanied the musician was really competent and all the items sounded powerful, devastating, reinterpreted, and sometimes adding interesting nuances of which avoided direct the feeling of being at a big success, Lou Reed was cheerful, chatty, focused and rejuvenated, always taking the reins of the performance, because it is proving one of the great, with capital letters.

After Lou Reed will turn came to Belle and Sebastian, a band that after his disastrous performance at the Primavera Sound 2003 has lost almost all of my credibility, Benicassim improved somewhat in the tone, playing inspired to tackle his old songs in particular those of the celebrated "If You're Feeling Sinister" but slack until esperpento in his new compositions, and tontorron celebratory tone, far removed from those beautiful nostalgic songs that we both liked.
The best moment was when the group performed "The Boy With The Thorn in His Side" of the Smiths, offsetting in part the dream of horrified Morrisey.

Primal Scream is a group that has never attracted me too much, his records seem artificial and exaggerated, but always called my attention to the prestige of their live performances, and after that miss in the PS04 now was the time to check up where their Direct arrived, in addition, the presence of Kevin Shields was a further incentive, and the truth is that I am not disappointed, Bobby Gillespie is a show on the stage and the sound of the band is devastating, rock and roll filtered through robust electronic databases with a brilliant final result certainly was breathed this violent and defiant attitude that is scarce in current rock and which should be the top priority of anyone who climbs on stage. This is where evolve and grow, and not of Ash.

Sunday 8

On Sunday he played on stage soon to see the performance of Grupo Salvaje, after witnessing some direct irregular (see chronic PS04) seems that at last the group in which I could have offered the direct hit we all expected, even by those weighted took that seem to chronically and by a certain laxity in some areas, however, came to this desert and dark atmosphere of Western wish to say, between Giant Sand and Lambchop, reviewing the great American rock icons damn, "Elvis Love Us" and "Sorrynonews" bright, the version of Townes Van Zandt (Waitin 'around to die) acertadisima, and "The Survivor" simply devastating. I trust my cowboy hat and he told me he was fine.

The concert for Arthur Lee & Love was a priori one of the most anticipated and exciting throughout the festival, the third tip of the trident of geniuses of this edition (Reed-Wilson-Lee), but the experience ended up being more sad and pathetic that I have seen in my 32 years of existence.
Without going to assess the possible reasons (he learned of the death of a friend) of the immeasurable drunk (or chemical fart, I do not care) Lee's friend, the truth is that there is no right to hear the classic "Forever Changes" converted into a pathetic tomadura hair, the audience at first stunned by what he was contemplating a sonadísimo reacted with booing and was gradually abandoned the site, I hang on just four attempts song because frankly I wanted to mourn were entering.
If you are a loved one dies you have two valid options, or you stay at home to mourn, or tributes to the concert of your life, music, the fans and himself deserves some respect.

Even under heavy shock played the second tip of the trident, the performance of Brian Wilson that they planned on the bleak predictions, fortunately nothing wrong step and the venerable abuelete that has become the man I wanted to overcome the Sgt Pepper gave us the concert most memorable and magic of the whole festival, accompanied by a band that almost was a Philharmonic and with a few choruses simply incredible Brian Wilson was husking classics gradually, starting with a cut from "Pet Sounds" (See critical), "Sloop John B" and interspersing temazos the caliber of "Heroes and Villians" or "Surfer Girl" among topics most modern, up to that with "God Only Knows", for many the most beautiful song ever composed, that was no longer on this planet, then, " Would not It Be Nice "," Good Vibrations "and a revision of the old themes of the surf with the Beach Boys who completed a performance that will go down in history, let us hope that these baths crowds give encouragement to the old Brian Wilson (to be it looks rather delicate) to complete such a Smile to close definitively the circle of his genius. Impressive.

There were still more, is the good of Benicassim, there's always more, so our next move, we stood on the stage where he began his Lambchop September, the College of Kurt Wagner surely is at its best, its new two albums (yes, published two albums at once) "Aw C'mon" and "No, You C'mon" added hundreds of nuances to an already outstanding work and live band sounds with precision, elegance and professionalism really noticeable, sounded quite a few topics of previous discs looking to form an action laden with electricity and intensity, perhaps to close the mouth who branded as boring and linear, mixing Folk, Rock, Country, Soul and a hundred more styles in a concert truly masterful.

The concert Lambchop overlaps with that of Frank Ferdinand and I could not go to see them, but by what I saw on the screens of the compound and so then they told me seems to confirm that the British have finally found his great band, certainly as I noted in the PS04 (see chronic), the Glasgow have very good live.

The performance of Spiritualized was a slight disappointment, suffering from a sound somewhat deficient group sounded off Jason Pierce and somewhat complacent, losing part of the inflammatory effect of his compositions, there were good times and in the enormous "Come Together" but Broadly, the concert was weak, although there is no indication that the talents of Pierce symptoms of exhaustion.

What is the rock guitar? pues un poco por aquí, ¿Que ahora mola la psicodelia? a bit over there, what sells much electronics? then get some tecladitos, seem to think that The Dandy Warhols to the bill as a music Manida, so innocuous, so empty and so lack of personality as that charged, clearly obsessed with the syndrome of famous ad group, trying to escape forward to leads them without reference to the depths of mediocrity, even so, better than Ash:).

And that was all it gave us time to see a very special festival that has had memorable moments, big disappointments and a better overall result than expected, a festival that I personally was really fun and it gave me courage to keep listening to music with a passion that I love, to continue with this page, and to go back to grab the guitar that rests a long time in a corner of my room.
Finally I would like to thank Fernando, Jose Luis, Mapi, Laura, Oscar, Pepe, Ernesto, Carlos, Javi, Valle-Inclan and his colleague, Rodrigo, the people of Hotel Playa de Oropesa and Einstürzende Neubat good times past. Ah well, and also to Ash :))).