July 16, 2010 12:21

Kasabian, Ray Davies, Broken Bells kick off 2010 Benicassim International Festival

Plus The Temper Trap pull large crowd at Spanish event

Photo Gallery: Kasabian
Photo: Richard Johnson/NME

Kasabian headlined the opening night of Spain's Benicassim International Festival last night (July 15), playing a hit-laden set to a 30,000-strong crowd.

The band powered through their back catalogue, taking to the Verde stage at 1am (CET) to play songs including 'Shoot The Runner', 'Fire' and 'Club Foot'.

Singer Tom Meighan, who was wearing a blue jacket and dark circular sunglasses, stayed fairly silent between songs, preferring to gesture to the crowd and point out audience members.

Ray Davies played the stage before Kasabian, backed by his solo live band. The Kinks mainman ran through tracks spanning his entire career, with the likes of 'Tired Of Waiting For You', 'Sunny Afternoon' and set closer 'David Watts' turning into singalongs from the crowd. The latter was introduced by Davies as "a song you might know from another band's cover of it," referring to The Jam's 1978 version of the track.

"Did anyone come over on Easyjet for this?" Davies asked the predominantly British crowd before playing 'The Tourist', whom he dedicated to them. "Is anyone here Spanish?! Well, I don't know, do I!"

Meanwhile, The Temper Trap were watched by a sizable crowd for their Fiberfib.com stage set, although, predictably, 'Sweet Disposition' drew by far the best audience response.

Broken Bells also kept festival punters moving during their 3am set on the Verde stage. Despite arriving onsite roughly 12 hours before their stage time, Danger Mouse and The Shins' James Mercer were in an energetic mood for the gig, playing tracks from their debut album 'Broken Bells' for roughly an hour.

Dubstep trio Magnetic Man played a well received set on the Fiberfib.com stage, though a mammoth post-gig DJ set by Skream and Benga from the band saw roughly 200 fans invade the stage at about 7am.

NME is coming live from Benicassim throughout the weekend.