FROM THURSDAY 13 ON SUNDAY 16/7
BLESS YOU (High flat)
One more year, The Benicàssim festival site opens its doors to house what remains of a Benicassim International Festival which follows last year's trend with a format low cost as far as the poster is concerned. It is not even the shadow of what Joan Vic Montaner describes in his book Here I lived: An emotional chronicle of my 25 years in the IBF from the publishing house Libros del K.O. A highly recommended text for fans of the festival who have attended since it was born in the mid-nineties as a pioneering event in our country to quickly become a benchmark for international indie music.. He opened up to new music over the years., but he always respected the genre that had given him life. As for this year's poster, in general, the festival follows the trend established in this post-pandemic era: and line-up headed by names that currently have nothing new and interesting to offer, but they have been widely known for a long time on the festival scene, with some rare exception in medium or smaller font.
The first day, Clean Bandit returns to perform with his dance-oriented pop, just like he did in the year 2015, next to The Wombats, a band formed in Liverpool that became known more than a decade ago thanks to their success “Let’s dance to Joy Division”. DJ and producer Bruce Fielder will also be there., better known as A pig, and two who return, Long live Sweden and the Tres Cantos band, Old Morla, who we were able to see recently as headliners at the Festival de Les Arts in Valencia. Although it will be Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers who will steal all the attention in front of the duo Wet Leg, winner last year, both in commercial and critical terms, with their self-titled debut album.
Friday night will be marked by the veteran Californian punk rock band The Offspring, which in the mid-nineties achieved its greatest global success with the album Smash and well-known topics such as “Gotta get away”, “Come out and play” or his acclaimed “Self esteem”. With them, Orbital, an experienced band in the world of electronics. The Hartnoll brothers group was in charge of introducing electronic rhythms to the festival in the second edition of the FIB in 1996, together with the then little-known Chemical Brothers. Until that moment, the festival was dominated by guitar groups. a few months ago, Orbital released its latest work Optical delusion, which includes a powerful single titled “Dirty rats” in collaboration with Sleaford Mods. It will be interesting to see how their live performance develops.. We will also have the always entertainers of crowds, Kaiser Chiefs, led by Ricky Wilson, his charismatic frontman, together with the rock duo Nova Twins, nominated last year for the revered Mercury Prize awards.
Saturday will be, definitely, the night of the Franz Ferdinand, who, next to Sports Team, They will put the highest score on top of the indie podium from the British Isles. Tom Odell will be in charge of making the audience sing while sitting at the piano with his viral hit “Another love” and the Belgian duo 2manydjs will liven up the night with the impeccable DJ set to which we are accustomed. The Reading Gang Only The Poets will be one of the favorites of the young British public, which is beginning to become scarce as could be seen last year. Sidonia, Second y Rufus T. Firefly, along with the humor of Ladilla Rusa, among others, They will play the music in Spanish. We do not forget Toxicosmos, who, playing great songs from yesterday, today and always will make the audience happy who comes to listen to his session.
The last day, perhaps the weakest of all when it comes to international groups, has the hackneyed Crystal Fighters and the extremely perfectionist and sometimes somewhat boring melancholy of Bastille heading the poster. Mimi Webb presenting their debut album Amelia, the young singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Benson Boone and the dutch The Reytons are some of the foreign names that, along with bands from here like Jara City, From Pedro or the Biscayans of sailing, presenting the songs of his great Plastic drama, among many others, make up this successful, although, a priori, unconvincing FIB edition. V.CASAÑA
