Over the past few years, and despite it's awful name, Bestival has definitely established itself as both the last festival of the season, and the last hurrah of the summer, making it very much a festival of mixed emotions. It heralds the start autumn, but also gives the summer a massive, ravey pat on the back, and that can only be a good thing.
This was our third run on Bestival, and the lineup remained as diverse as ever, unmatched by any other UK festival for it's ability to cover every strand of the musical spectrum. It seemed that it would be impossible for Rob Da Bank to bring together a collection of performers as fantastic as those in attendance last year (how can you top Kraftwerk?), but he certainly managed it, running from the mainstream (headliners Dizzy Rascal and The Prodigy) to the more left field (basically everyone else).
There were so many good performances this year, that it's hard to know where to begin, but here's some of the highlights, although it's important not to forget the many DJs and acts who filled in the gaps between and kept the music flowing throughout.
The mesmerising, fragile electronica of Four Tet kicked things off for us on Friday afternoon, blowing away the hangovers and broken knees from Thursday night's partying in the Chai Wallah tent, followed up by Bestival stalwarts Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip. We've always had love for Beard and Sideburns, ever since seeing them back at Latitude 2007, and they owned the main stage, with the crowd singing along to every word.
As the day ran on, other highlights included beat poet hero Gil Scott-Heron, who slowed things down a notch with his soul and blues, including an amazing rendition of "We Almost Lost Detroit" and Flying Lotus, whose intensive bass-therapy kept things weird and wobbly in the Big Top once the masses had cleared off at the end of The xx. Despite our general lack of interest in Dizzy Rascal, he really did put on a great performance as he closed the Main Stage for the Friday night.
Saturday saw both Rolf Harris driving back the morning rain with his ancient Australian voodoo magic and David Rodigan presenting his history of dub lesson in the Bollywood Bar, with The Wailers and Darwin Deez keeping things ticking over in between. We couldn't get close to Bollywood to see Shy FX (drum and bass always attracts a bad crowd), but fortunately D-Bridge and Instra:Mental cleared most of the lightweights out, leaving us access to High Contrast, who pretty much played the best set I've seen since the Hospitality at the Scala back in 2008. Following on from High Contrast was Sub Focus in the Big Top, who slightly disappointed by just sticking to his album tracks, but with an album as good as his, you can't really blame him, and we all had a great time singing along to the old knees up classics of Last Jungle, Timewarp and so on. A fantastic end to the night.
With Sunday rolling round, fatigue was definitely starting to set in, but an early pick me up from The Bikini Beach Band surf rock crew certainly sorted us out, as did a nice stroll in the woods. Wax Tailor's trippy hip hop in the Big Top was also great fun, and The Prodigy tore it out on the Main Stage, showing just what an accomplished, nuclear-powered festival machine they have become. Closing the festival in the Big Top was the hauntingly beautiful Fever Ray and of course the incredible LCD Soundsystem, with James Murphy giving it his all. A powerful, emotional performance, and my personal highlight of the Festival.
Bestival remains without a doubt the highlight of the UK festival season, although this year it certainly seemed to be feeling the strain of the extra 8000-odd punters. Obviously it's a business, and for all the promoters' talk about being a celebration of music and gaiety or whatever nonsense the marketing team come up with for next year, it needs to make money. However, it felt like the festival was at capacity last year, and if they try and cram anymore people in, they risk killing it. There was definitely a shortage of toilets and camping space this year, despite the best efforts of the stewards and cleanup squads, and the usual complaints about choke points remain. What sort of maniac chooses to hold a festival on an island anyway?
Beer, programme costs, ferries, shuttle buses and parking fees all remain a massive ripoff, which leaves a bad taste in the mouth, but this has long been par for the course when it comes to UK festivals, and as long as you're prepared for the shock, and sensible about sneaking booze through security, it shouldn't be enough to ruin an excellent weekend. The sad thing is that Bestival has shown that it can command these prices, and will no doubt be even more expensive next year.
But we shall go back.
We need to go back.
There's a magic to Bestival that one struggles to find anywhere else, despite it becoming increasingly mainstream. The music, the performers, the strange bits of sculpture, the site and the crowd all come together perfectly to create a wonderful vibe.
It's the best festival.
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