Saturday 06/08/05 Day 2 @ Benicassim Festival, Spain

Basement Jaxx have evidently snuck concrete lined with steel into our veins and have managed to draw all energy from our muscles, thus making the trek from beach to festival site all the more arduous.
 
But alas the strangled coo of a Jesuit in his P.E garms beckons Gigwise swiftly into the Escenario Fiberfib.com tent. For those unfamiliar with Devendra Banhart and his disciples (and yeah they all resemble biblical brethren) he displays a curious mixture of folk dressed with the most childish imagery. On record he rarely ventures away from the stripped down acoustic format, a form that allows his cracked vocals to soar above simplicity. Live, Gigwise can't help but feel a little disappointed at the voluptuous sound created by the full band as it not only saps emphasis from his vocals but limits the more quaint classics such as ‘Little Yellow Spider’ appearing. Barely two tracks are drawn from Nino Rojo, the best of which is the emphatically received ‘At the Hop’ which saunters with the most beautiful flash of genius, and the fit is as tight as Devendra’s gym shorts.

If there’s one band in the UK at present that could literally incite a riot in a tent it’s those poppy little shysters Kaiser Chiefs. As Gigwise does a Nostradamus and predicts a riot, the inevitable ensues, on a scale much larger than expected! In a glorious 40 degree tent the lads from Leeds let rip an awesome display of back bending dexterity, contorting themselves in multitudes of rock posturings, and the tent goes ****ing barmy for it! Gigwise makes no qualms about harbouring less than a mollusc of adoration for the Chiefs, but today, in this tent, they’re nothing more than stunning. The instant Ricky utters the infinitely annoying refrain of "Na na na na naa" to the unfathomably irksome 'Oh My God' the crowd are operating on a cloud far above Benicassim. Gigwise even takes a second to step back and witness the electrifying tension the Kaisers stimulate and recalculate our standing. Mathematics was never Gigwise’s strong point and we decide that there are too many remainders that still stink of shit in the equation, so we move on.

The Raveonettes are first to grace us with their brooding road-trip fuzz on the Encenario Verde (the big stage to me and you). The wall of sound tactics they employ seem lost on the open expanse of Spanish bods who give little more than a nod to awesome renditions of ‘That Great Love Sound’ and ‘Attack of the Ghost Riders’. The squalling guitar and seamless harmonies of ‘Somewhere in Texas’ pinpoints perfectly what an asset the Raveonettes are. Even if the world receives them with the same joyless aptitude as Benicassim, in our hearts we know they deserve much more! Those who deserve considerably less adoration are stage-school turkey’s Keane, who rattle through a set Gigwise wouldn’t shit on with a Spanish tramps asshole. To describe their performance would require many more obscene visions, so we will merely leave you with the essence in one polite word: Cabaret.

God Bless the Lemonheads who still deliver their psychedelic pop with effortless panache. Evan Dando’s narcotic problems and stage fright seem long gone and Gigwise is catapulted back to when they almost ruled the world. The band matters little, as they’re simply a vehicle for Evan to recreate those classic pop moments such as ‘Big Gay Heart’ and ‘Bein’ Around’. Witnessing Evan croon out the chorus of ‘Into Your Arms’ is enough to reduce a grown man into a gay frolic amongst daisy chains and mushroom fields…oh if only! Gigwise can only describe it as monumental, everything is correct and present, the beautiful weather, the amazing location and one pure nugget of pop extravagance after another. After over twenty tracks we are spent of energy and equally drained of emotion, therefore we cannot physically contain our total distaste at the mundanity cloud that shrouds Dinosaur Jnr. We try and muster a little concentration but fail to fix eyes and ears on J Mascis and his tiresome mug. ‘Freak Scene’ magically brings Mascis alive and surely renders a few tears amongst the retroactive, but it does little but push Gigwise tent-wards.

The Lemonheads have instilled faith in the ever increasing reformation of 90’s indie bands and have undoubtedly set the grade. It’s a grade many will fail to reach but it’s now set so high Gigwise will struggle to accept less! The Lemonheads have done to bands what Benicassim has to festivals; unobtainable targets! 

Photos by: Dan Pratley