Sunday 22/07/07 Day Four @ Benicassim Festival, Spain

During a particularly unsatisfying paella Catpeople play a surprisingly great set on the Fiberfib.com stage, located somewhere in the same vein as Interpol and Editors, it’s an interesting dose of melancholia.

Over on the main stage Howlin’ Pele and The Hives are dressed in their trademark black attire with white braces and a glowing red neon sign. They belt out new and old tracks, but hey, dontcha know, The Hives are so 2001.

Instead it’s back over to the Vodafone Fib Club where festival organisers have inexplicably scheduled Clap Your Hands Say Yeah to clash with a certain Mrs Fielder-Civil AKA Amy Winehouse who surprises everybody by actually turning up, and sober to boot, rocking motown backing singers firmly in tow. CYHSY play an amazing set, smiles on faces throughout, and looking surprisingly normal for a band with such a strange sound, especially vocalist Alec Ounsworth. Playing songs from their recent album ‘Some Loud Thunder’ including the grossly underrated ‘Satan Said Dance’ as well as from their self-titled and self-released debut including ‘Over And Over Again’ and ‘Let The Cool Goddess Rust Away’.

Next up is Patrick Wolf who earlier in the year threatened to leave the music industry altogether, being fed up with the press forever pressing him about his sexuality and concentrating on his androgynous look rather than music. Tonight showed that a loss of Patrick would be a severe loss to the industry. Claiming to be “in a bit of a disco mood” he runs through tracks from ‘The Magic Position’ dressed only in boxer shorts and a red sash matching his extrovertly coloured hair. Lasers fill the tent and highlight of the set is ‘Bloodbeat’ from his 2005 debut album ‘Lycanthropy’ with its electronic baseline reminding of Bjork and causing more of a rave than Klaxons could manage.

Slightly damp with sweat the next stop is the main stage to catch a glimpse of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. While The Hives concept might seem rather dated fellow rock and roll rioters BRMC show that their classic look and ethos will never date as they play tracks from all four of their albums including the sexily stomping ‘Spread Your Love’ as well as the stripped down ‘Shuffle Your Feet’ from their acclaimed 2005 album ‘Howl’ and the brilliant ‘Weapon Of Choice’ from this year's ‘Baby 81’.