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Thursday night and the entrance to Benicassim Festival is buzzing with day pass holders, weary people still recovering from campsite raves, people still arriving with backpacks and tents, and of course, the obligatory British ticket tout. Ten in the evening and the show is just beginning to get on the road, Johnston and Mando Diao have already played but it’s who’s on next that people are really excited about.
At approximately half past ten the man himself, the handbag of rock Mr Iggy Pop steps onstage with his Stooges. Within literally minutes he is gyrating all over the stage and humping an amp, much to the crowd’s enjoyment. They mix dodgy new tracks from the new album like the cringe worthy ‘My Idea of Fun (Killing Everyone)’ with a healthy dose of the classics, ‘1969’, ‘No Fun’ and ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ the latter of which was played twice during the set.
Of course, there was the obligatory stage invasion, mainly by a group of youngsters many of which seemed completely unaware that they were in the presence of a rock legend and mainly concerned with their own presence on stage. An incredibly polite Mr. Pop attempts to dislodge the crowd from the stage, but instead receives countless numbers of very sweaty hugs.
Once the rock rolled offstage a seemingly entirely different crowd gathers for the next act. The final stop on the tour promoting new album ‘Cassedega’, many expectant faces await the appearance of Connor Oberst and Bright Eyes. It would be hard for most artists to recover from the ridiculous comments made at 2005’s Glastonbury festival about John Peel, but up steps Oberst to the mic, no longer hiding behind his long dark hair, dressed in an entirely white suit.
An implausible number of musicians join him onstage also all dressed in white harking back to days of The Polyphonic Spree. Similarly, Oberst prompts the same kind of religious devotion from his crowd. Playing a number of new songs including ‘If the Breakman’ and ‘Four Winds’ which prompts a full-scale hoedown from an otherwise awestruck crowd.
Other pleasers included tracks from his 2005 albums ‘Digital Ash In A Digital Urn’ and ‘I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning’ including ‘Goldmine Gutted’, ‘Arc of Time’ which he bizarrely dedicates to Disney, and an upbeat version of ‘The First Day Of My Life’ which Oberst introduces as “fresh out of the packet”.
The night goes on with Los Planetas and a DJ set by Peaches Geldof aka Trash Pussies, but Gigwise takes itself back to the comfort of an inflatable airbed to ready itself for the main event…
