REVIEW :: FIB Benicassim Festival 2018

FIB Benicassim, the festival with the reputation of being amongst the best on the international festival bandwagon. With FIB Benicassim 2018' being just over a week ago now, everyone that attended is feeling major festival blues. The annual festival takes place in in the town on Benicassim, Spain and the festivals main musical focus is pop, rock, indie and electro.

The festival starts on the 19th of July each year, panning out for just four days and ending on the 22nd. FIB is known for having bands play throughout the night, starting from 5pm till' 8am. When I first looked at the timetable, I was quite surprised at the timings for certain acts, but overall it worked out great. Although, Travis Scott may have been half an hour late when his set was meant to start at 1am with everyone just standing around like lemons for La Flame to appear. No dig Travis, it was still unreal.

Not to mention, he was joined by his other half and mother of his child, Kylie Jenner. Fans were surprised that she also attended when she posted a few videos of Travis performing at the festival onto her snapchat stories.

Jimothy Lacoste, South Beach Stage, Benicassim

Benicassim was also joined by the likes of the man himself, Liam Gallagher, to further artists such as The Killers, The Vaccines, Two Door Cinema Club and Pet Shop Boys. There were many other amazing artists and bands that played over the four days the festival ran, and every performance gave out a different vibe from the previous. The festival has three main stages, Las Palmas, Visa stage and South Beach Dance. The 'more well known' artists played the Las Palmas stage, however, you'd find little gems on the smaller stages like Jimothy Lacoste. Jimothy Lacoste is a viral rapper and musician from Camden, London, associated with bedroom pop and his genre is hip-hop/rap. I'd seriously suggest him if you're up to listening to something different, positive.

The four pieced, Nevada based band The Killers played the main stage on the Friday night. Starting off the set with a new release and a good ol' belter, The Man & Somebody Told Me, prepping the audience for a performance full of treats. Tracks such as Smile Like You Mean It, For Reasons Unknown, which surprisingly the band brought up a Spanish fan to perform on drums during this song. Read My Mind was sang with the frontman of the british indie band, Catfish and The Bottlemen, Van Mccann. Fulfilling everyones dreams when they closed with When You Were Young. Finally encoring with The Calling, Human & Mr Brightside. The Killers are seen as one of the biggest rock bands of the 21st century, so to see them in the flesh was definitely a tick off the bucket list.

Throughout Saturday, a mix of different artists played. From Pet Shop Boys, The Kooks to Metronomy. I managed to squeeze the last 20 minutes of Pet Shop Boys in, playing Domino Dancing, Always On My Mind and The Pop Kids. The indie rock, garage punk band The Horrors also performed on the Visa stage on the Saturday night, and I can say that it wasn't regrettable. They only had a set of 8 songs, which included Hologram, Still Life and closing with Something To Remember Me By. However, the highlight of my whole experience at Benicassim, hands down, was the Metronomy set at 2AM. I can honestly say that they are one of the best bands I have seen live, and I've seen quite a lot. They performed tracks from all albums, including Old Skool, The Bay, Reservoir, Everything Goes My Way and The Look. If you're ever contemplating going to see Metronomy, don't. Buy the ticket. Also hats off to my poor boyfriend who had me on his shoulders for every song they played, thanks babe.

Liam Gallagher closed the show on the last night of the festival. Opening the performance with Oasis' Rock and Roll Star, making the crowd go crazy, following up with a few songs from his new album, As You Were. During the set, the former Oasis star had a piece of fish thrown at him. “Which dickhead threw the fish here then? Fucking stinky, smelly fish, man. Now listen man, it really ain’t that fucking bad, man. Don’t be throwing fish on stage, mate. I’ve seen a lot worse than this shit. Alright?”. He certainly wasn't happy about it, but it definitely was one of the highlights of the festival.

Credit: FIB Benicassim website

My experience at the festival was different to other festivals I've attended. I managed to get a ticket with accommodation included, staying with my friends in an apartment in Marina D'or, Oropesa. We had a four day bus wristband as well, so we had ways of getting to the festival and back when we needed. It was absolutely great not having to worry about waking up dripping in sweat in a tent in the Spanish weather, however, I would definitely camp next time I visit Benicassim. I loved having a shower and being able to rest inside whenever but I think it just would of made it that 10% better camping. Not to mention, Oropesa was in the middle of bloody no where! Not to drag, but normal buses stopped running at 10AM, meaning it was impossible to go anywhere!

FIB Benicassim was truly an experience and a half, I would 100% recommend it to anyone who is thinking to go. I would also like to add the food there is amazing, so bring lots of coin and get your dancing shoes ready for FIB Benicassim 2019!