Bilbao BBK

Bilbao BBK returns for its eighteenth iteration, with a star studded lineup attracting punters from across the world. Against a backdrop of the mountainous Basque countryside, the festival was geared up to be a complete celebration of joy, dance and soul. Spanning genre and era, the headliner acts were certainly done justice: the two main stages, ‘Nagusi’ and ‘San Miguel’ were audible from across a valley and earplugs were common. Crowds could spill out on to the hill across from the Nagusi stage, allowing for some truly massive receptions. The Txiki stage was a fan favourite, despite its smaller size: tucked away to the side of the festival the stage featured alternative artists perming jazz, fusion and the like. This stage felt like the only consistent alternative to the main stages, which were conspicuously prioritised. The festival thus occasionally felt like a series of concerts, with crowds moving en masse from headliner to headliner, rather than a festival of discovery.

Air kicked off the festival on the ‘San Miguel’ stage, with a performance of their critically acclaimed debut electronica “Moon Safari”. Their genre defying progressive electronic sound was accompanied by a space-age widescreen backdrop of mind-bending light visual effects, adding to the timeless retro-futurist feeling which emanated from Air’s synth heavy dream-pop. British giants Massive Attack and The Prodigy also offered standout electronic performances, taking their electronic compositions to new heights with live instruments. Massive Attack boasted a large band, notably with two drummers and many featured guests, including the ethereal voice of Elizabeth Fraser, Jamaican singer Horace Andy, and the vocal trio of Young Fathers. The Bristol-based trip hop band presented a well developed sensorial experience, making use of a dense net of LED's to accompany their iconic sound. This visual display was particularly striking in “Teardrop” with painful images of both the conflict in Ukraine and scenes of rubble in Gaza. Consistent with the band's legacy of anti-war protest, the set was highly emotive, distressing, and political. Flashing figures of Arms industry profit as the track “Group Four” built into a furious frenzy at its climax.

The Prodigy continued to provide visual entertainment, performing in front of a tall statue and flanked by flags sporting their classic ant logo. No holds were barred as they came out with a furiously energetic rendition of their hit ‘Breathe’, an apt choice to start the set and get the crowd going from the get go. The encore of ‘Out of Space’ was enthusiastically welcomed by the crowd, though the strange choice to omit a large chunk of the song (including the drop) made the set feel somewhat unfulfilled.

The following evening, Underworld continued the theme of heavy hitting electronic greatness, as they performed a career-spanning set of darkly euphoric bangers. Rick Smith's almost percussive monotonic vocals added to a vibrating techno texture of pulsing depth and movement. These snapping rhythms transcended genre, creating a bespoke audiovisual medley of passion, grit and intensity. The Welsh electronic duo Overmono performed a danceable set of precise rhythms with a playful boppiness. The delicate balance between the melodic double time vocals sitting above the harsher, abrasive percussive texture allowed them to transcend a simply functional dance festival set. This spoke of the UK rave culture of deep, menacing percussion, while creating a lightness and joy appropriate for this summer festival.

Floating Points, concluded the festival's electronic contingent, constructing a vibrating set of ambitious mixes and breakdowns. An oscillating progression of fragmentation and convergence was constructed, starting from the piecemeal and forging a cohesive, heavy-hitting dance set.

London-based afrobeat jazz quintet Ezra Collective enjoyed their return to Spain, with drummer Femi Koleoso harking it as a sort of ‘home from home’. The crowd of the Txiki (or “Little”) stage reciprocated the rush of joyful energy coming from the Mercury Prize winners, forming various dance circles that eventually developed into messier mosh pits. While not in keeping quite with the band’s ethos, the moshing was a clear indication that every member of the crowd was totally involved - there was no place for standing still.

The Txiki stage was host also to American rapper Noname, who failed to quite match the quality of the band behind her, as her voice notably clashed with the more soulful vocals of her backing singer. Nonetheless, the rapper did well to allude to the festival arena’s disappointing sound leakage, humorously summing up the issue by asking the crowd if she could ‘spit an a capella over whatever’s playing in the background.’ The volume in each stage was leaning on excessive, which possibly played into the problems of sound leakage between stages.

The sound problems played into Ezra Collective’s hands, however, as many waiting by the nearby main stage for latecomer Grace Jones were attracted to the wild party happening nearby on what Koleoso labelled ‘the biggest dancehall in the world’, despite the stage being called ‘Txiki’, or ‘Little’. Jones and her experienced band were still met with a sizable crowd on the Nagusia stage, but many were left stunned by Jones’s provocative utterances between songs and her bizarre tradition of hula-hooping throughout the last song. While her outfits and antics went over many festival-goers’ heads, she succeeded in giving a very powerful and impressive performance.

The most virtuosic set of the Txiki stage, and likely the festival, certainly belonged to the Ethio-jazz legend Mulatu Astatke and his incredible band, all of which gave electric solos which were very well received by the enamored crowd. Each musician brought an innovative approach to his instrument, the cellist plucking his strings like a guitar from time to time, the bassist almost abusing his instrument through aggressive slapping and the percussionist playing a melody on the talking drum. An authentic atmosphere of respect for the eighty year old, both from his band and the audience, pervaded the set.

Back on the Nagusi stage, Arcade Fire began their set with an energetic volley of their four “neighbourhood” tracks off of their Funeral album. Despite some often sub-par vocals the crowd enthusiastically joined in, singing along to “Everything Now” and humimg the tune of “Wake Up” long after the mic's had been turned off and amps unplugged. Jungle had a similar reception, playing much of their latest Volcano album, with tracks such as “Back on 74” and “Candle Flame”.

Khruangbin played a dreamy set, though arguably their use of reverb and other effects was not as refined as veterans Slowdive who were to follow. These pioneers of the shoegaze genre rattled off a tight set of fan favourites to the stunning backdrop of a sunset over Bilbao’s mountains. It was in this set of warm reverberating synths and vocals that the location really shone: the sound of ‘When the Sun Hits’ as the sun sparkled over the peaks was truly special.

However, the pragmatics of placing the festival on the hills surrounding Bilbao was a curse as well as a blessing, due to the limited space available. Punters couldn't set up camp in the festival itself, but stayed either in a campsite a shuttle bus away, or in Bilbao. This, and the relatively late act starting times (acts started after 5:30PM), hindered the immersive quality of the festival. Despite there only being seven stages, they still felt cramped together and sound bleeding and reflection were very noticeable problems. Larger stages and their headliner acts were certainly prioritised over smaller ones: at times the main stage felt like the only real option. The festival thus felt slightly like a series of concerts rather than an authentic exploration and authentic discovery of live music. The cancellation of headliners Cymande and JPEGMAFIA were therefore even more sorely felt. Fortunately the diverse lineup made up for this occasional linear feeling, as each and every set enthused the crowd and brought real joy. The audience and the performers seemed equally pleased to be partaking in a musical journey to the backdrop of the beautiful Bilbao mountains.