this is valencia goes to benicassim!

Well it is an odd day for @thisisfib when one has to do something without the other, and it is with a strange loneliness that I, Anita Darling, make my wAy up to Benicassim from Valencia, on my own without my partner-in-crime and teammate extraordinaire, Lolita Devine. The poor love is stranded in Germany, of all places, and so I must endure numb bum on the hard seats of the regional train alone. As is my life at the moment, my journey has not been without its ups And downs. First, it appears there was something on the tracks on my first metro, causing us to dramAtically screech to a halt, the driver slamming on the brakes and the horn simultaneously, inducing much panic in old ladies and young babies alike. Whether it was merely a rat on the line or we ran over an entire family of sewer dwellers remains A mystery, but it certainly got the adrenalin pumping. Then, getting onto the metro, my fab new ketchup-red sandals, essential for s/s 2011 colourblocking, got caught on something on my trolley suitcase which then got caught in the door, and now I’ve had to ask someone in the train station for a rubber band, to hold my left sandal together and prevent me from dragging my foot behind me in “the bells, the bells!” fashion. I found a good seat on the train, ate my packed lunch before we even left the station, and promptly passed out, exhausted, only to be woen by a security guard 40min later, who was worried I migaht “fall on the floor”. I was dangerously close to the edge of my seat, ‘tis true. And now as soon as I get there, I’m getting picked up by some very lovely friends, who despite being no replacement for my Lolita (big love, girlfriend!) are pretty good fun indeed. Bring on the Arctic Monkeys, Mumford boys, Primal Scream and more! Thank god I brought spare shoes….

thisisvalencia.com are now taking secured bookings for  ’La Tomatina Tour 2010’ for 58€. And what a lot you get for your money!!

We meet at 8am in the main square Ayuntamiento (Valencia town hall), you can’t miss us as we’ll have 4 buses. The bus leaves from here to get us to Buñol in time to stroll through the village to get your place for La Tomatina take off! You are free to do whatever and go wherever you like during the fight, you may want to get messy and get in there, or stand back and watch. 

We then all meet up at the buses for a bit of a clean up. Then up onto the coach again to chill whilst we drive to our venue to have a big tapas and paella lunch (vegetarian options are available), lots of beer and sangria and soft drinks, a sunbathe and swim in the huge pool. It’s a great opportunity to meet people from all over the world; In past years we have had Australians, English, Japanese, French, Spanish, Belgian, Argentinian, and more.  

At the end of a great day, everyone gets back on the coach and we go back to Valencia centre where we picked you up - usually at around 6pm. 

We also organise a La Tomatina after party, a bar crawl in the old town(Party Central!), let us know if you are interested, or if you want, decide on the day. 

Any questions or queries, drop us a line and we will be straight back to you! And if you want a glimpse of La Tomatina Tour 2009, check out this link http://www.thisisvalencia.com/tomatinagallery.html .

ATTENDEES
Thursday: 28,000 
Friday: 32,000 
Saturday: 35,00 
Domingo: 32,000
Total Fibbers: 127,000 
% foreign: 60%
% domestic: 40%

OCCUPANCY OF CAMPING AREAS
Total: 19,200 
CampFIB: 13 000 
Benicamp: 5,000 
Villacampa: 1,200

WORKERS employed directly by MARAWORLD 800 workers, of which approximately 80% are from Valencia

Extra-musical activities
FIBArt Facilities: 7 
shorts in competition: 15 
video clips: 25 
Movies: 4 
Theatre companies: 9 
dance companies: 32

FIB HEINEKEN IN INTERNET (week of the event)
More than 23,000 fans on Facebook
Over 3,000 followers on Twitter
More than 2,000 fans in tuenti
More than 2,000 subscribers spotify
More than 250,000 visitors this past month fiberfib.com
More than 10,000 visits to fiberfib.com through mobile phones
More than 100,000 photos views this week
More than 2,000 downloads of the application for iPhone
More than 10,000 virtual fibers through the live broadcasts of concerts across fiberfib.com: Spain, England, followed by Chile … and as far afield as Gambia and Albania.
100.000m2 of land covered with free wifi (only event to do so in Europe) through technology and collaboration Edriaax Movistar.

SAFETY
800 security personnel from local police, traffic etc.

It seems that the international brewery, is pulling the plugs as the main sponsor for Festival International de Benicassim,  the highest-profile of Spain’s summer music festivals.

The past 10 years has seen Heineken as main sponsor of Benicàssim and they tried to insist that the media in Spain and abroad referred to the event as FIB Heineken. In the UK it was always simply known as Beni or Benicassim.  It is now reverting to its original monicker,  FIB, or festival internacional de Benicàssim, though it will still be Benicassim to its English fans.

Vince Power, the pioneer Irish festival promoter who also stages Hop Farm in the UK, took full control of FIB this year, after three years working with the founders MARAWORLD who started the festival in 1994. Attendance this year fell to 127,000, from last year’s record 200,000, though this probably had more to do with the line-up (which this year included Gorillaz, Kasabian, the Specials, the Prodigy, P.I.L, Ray Davies, Echo and the Bunnymen and Dizzee Rascal) than the blamed economic crisis. 

Heineken stressed that it will remain very active in the live Spanish music scene, promoting the June 21 Heineken Music Day, Heineken Music Selector, Heineken Greenspace in Valencia, and the international jazz festival Heineken Jazzaldia in  San Sebastian and said  its decision followed “10 successful years during which FIB Heineken has become one of the most important festivals on the international circuit.”

Let’s see what the future brings and what the Green Stage, named after the brewer’s green bottles, will become - whatever happens, we’ll be there!

The 17th edition of the Festival will be held from the 14th to the 17th of July 2011 in Benicàssim’s concert venue. Loyal Fibers will have the opportunity to buy next year’s tickets for a special price in the upcoming days.