FIB days 1, 2 & 3

I'll cover the day-time activities at the festival in one go:


9:30am - wake up sweating
10am - head to beach via supermarket for water and food
11:30am - arrive beach, try get shade
11:30-5pm - swim, rest
5pm - head back to camp via supermarket and salad tv dinner in the square
8pm - arrive at camp, cold shower, hit the €1.30 red wine
9pm - head into festival venue


So who have I seen and what did I think? Highlights are in bold...

Thursday
Nada Surf - got the crowd going but nothing spectacular
Sigur Ros - 8 rows from front. One of my must-sees at FIB. Did well to please a festival crowd that wanted "all the hits" (such as they are) but that cost their set the cohesiveness evident in their albums. Now I really want to see them in a setting of their own choosing, playing an album start to finish.
Black Lips - 5-10 rows from front. Dirty dirty punky rock, favourites of Vice Magazine. Massive mosh pit fun with goodnatured pushing and shoving. Joe lost (and regained) both a shoe and his glasses.
Battles - pushed through to 5 rows from front. Amazing set. Most there didn't get them, we did and it was awesome. Unbelievable that this music can be played live.

Friday
Babyshambles - the 50,000 brits here all went to see Pete, and we didn't.
El Guincho - great boogie to this spanish guy from the canaries who mixes electronica with live drumming and crazy singing.
New York Dolls - saw half a song, way past it, and they sound nothing like interpol.
Hot Chip - 5 rows from front in the biggest dance tent ive ever seen. Hit after hit, so nice to see geeks making music and having thousands of people in the palms of their hands. Crazy crazy dancing and facepaint with 'our gang'
My Bloody Valentine - must be broke, they reformed just to play 'Loveless' to the gathered faithful. It was their first and last album, and was so good it both defined 90s shoegaze indie and destroyed the band. Hearing it live was a bit depressing so only listened to a few songs.
Danton Eeprom - another amazing dancey time in the big tent, this time with time to move and breath. Minimal techy house, pulled off live with aplomb and not a downbeat in sight.

Saturday (last night)
Brian Jonestown Massacre - nothing happening, stuck in the 1990s. Don't recommend attending the chch gig unless you like their recordings.
American Music Club - ok, but soft and a bit Counting Crows for my taste.
My Morning Jacket - 3 rows from front, great set for the fans (not that many hence easy to get close). New stuff not so sure, old stuff magic.
Raconteurs - 5 rows, and a let down. Pushed out past people who were severely pissed that we were getting out of their way...weird.

More from Barcelona when we get there tomorrow...