Bestival Reviews

2008 Review

by Ed Aarons, Virtual Festivals

But with four consecutive years of blissful early September sunshine on the Isle of Wight having sealed Bestival’s reputation as the perfect end-of-season party, we set out in hope rather than expectation.

Arriving at the Robin Hill Country Park on Thursday afternoon, however, our worst fears are confirmed as we aquaplane across the fields saturated with two days of solid rain. On go the wellies immediately.

This is the first year the Bestival site has been open to campers for an extra day and plenty have made the effort to take advantage. Initially, the rain holds off to allow everyone to set up camp but later arrivals are greeted with the start of a 10-hour deluge that leaves all paths overtaken by mud.

By the next morning, it’s even worse but the show must go on. We head towards the Big Top to see The Hat kick things off in their own unique style. The awful conditions means that the Main Stage and Bollywood tents have delayed starts but that allows us to check out some of the new talent on the BBC Introducing Stage, including south Londoners Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man.

Back to the Big Top and Trans-Global Underground step things up for the afternoon with their mixture of hip hop, dub and drum and bass, including classic track ‘Temple Head’. A quick squelch later and we’re just in time to catch The Foals on the Main Stage, as strains of ‘Cassius’ welcome us to the madness. That old friend known as torrential rain soon joins us again just for good measure, but it’s not enough to tear us away from a hypnotic set that sees the Oxford lads tear out ‘Gold, Gold, Gold’ and new single ‘Olympic Airways’.

Soaked to the skin, socks and all, it’s time to retreat to the Bollywood Bar for some recuperation and drying time. The Hidden Disco had been the next intended port of call but that goes out of the window – mainly because we can’t find it! Eventually we do but it’s too late to catch Chase and Status so we have to make do with Pendulum on The Main Stage instead.

Then it’s a choice between Greg Wilson’s blend of house and funk classics at The Rizla Stage or indie favourites My Bloody Valentine. The latter wins and it’s a pleasure to see the comeback is progressing well as the crowd are serenaded with classics like ‘Feed Me With Your Kiss’ and ‘ Only Shallow’.

Exhausted after a day spent buying more waterproof supplies and traipsing through the mud, after a quick check on Layo and Bushwacka and CSS we eventually find our wind and rain ravaged tent just about standing firm against the elements.

Saturday thankfully brings drier skies to proceedings, aside from one outburst during Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip on the Main Stage. They put on a real show for the early-risers, performing ‘Angles’, ‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’ and ‘A Letter From God to Man’, before Scroobius takes to the front of the stage for an impromptu spoken word session.

A quick change into the outfit back at the tent (one of about 10,000 admirals if you’re asking) and it’s off to join the fancy dress parade, an annual event Bestival has become famous for. The weather seems to have given people even more ingenious costumes ideas and everyone from the life-size scorpions to the crab-sticks are ready to welcome Gary Numan and then ‘The Special Guests’.

As revealed by VF first, this turns out to be a very poor pun on Terry Hall’s ska legends The Specials, who celebrate their long-awaited comeback with all the classics from ‘Monkey Man’ to ‘Too Much Too Young’. ‘A Message to You Rudy’ is the culmination of a brilliant return to the limelight after more than 20 years away that leaves the crowd soaked by the rain but glad to have witnessed history.

As if that wasn’t enough, Grace Jones then pitches up on stage in her indomitable style and steals the show. ‘La Vie en Rose’, ‘Pull Up to my Bumper’ and ‘Do or Die’ are among the tracks she performs to perfection – I still can’t believe she was 60 this year with a body like that! 

The rest of the night passes in a blur of amazing acts – The Human League, Sub Focus, Hot Chip, The Nextmen and Lee Scratch Perry – Rob Da Bank really has excelled himself this year! A late-show from Amy Winehouse leaves many revellers standing in the rain and when she does finally emerge, many of them have departed for new pastures. With the wet conditions, it’s impossible to get in to see Aphex Twin in the Big Top so we get in position early for Sugarhill Gang, curiously scheduled in the mid-sized Red Bull Speakeasy. The hip hop pioneers put on an excellent show, the highlights are obviously the timeless ‘Rapper’s Delight’ and the interlude where the band invited members of the crowd up onstage to show off their MCing talent – I don’t think any of them should be giving up the day job!

After a much-needed kip, Sunday is all about chilling out and the sun makes a brief and very welcome appearance. The Coral’s set in the Big Top sets the tone but Reprazent supply more energy to proceedings, closing their set with the wonderful ‘Heroes’. Funk legend George Clinton then takes the stage with his massive collective of musicians and singers and the 70s legend leaves the crowd mesmerised with two hours of his unique sound and wacky dress sense. I just hope the guy in the nappy didn’t catch a cold!

Underworld close the Main Stage with ‘Born Slippy’ in a flurry of fireworks and strobe lights, but the grand finale is left to Rob Da Bank himself with the return of his final set in the Bollywood Tent – strangely absent last year. A musical journey through the ages, he mixes everything from jungle to house to country, culminating with Bugsy Malone, Phil Oakley’s 80s classic ‘Together in Electric Dreams’ and John Paul Young’s ‘Love is in the Air’.

A bit of bad weather was never going to stop the Bestival vibe now was it?

2007 Review - Part 1

by Ross Purdie, Virtual Festivals

Johnny Rocket gets his dancing shoes on for Bestival. His feet are bare by Monday.

With at least 14 dedicated musical areas, featuring bands, DJs, comedy and performance, there was more than enough of everything for anybody's musical tastes a Bestival.

The journey had taken longer than anticipated, but by Friday night tent was pitched and ears were at the ready, the walk down from the drop-off point brightened up by the sounds of the wonderful Seasick Steve playing on the Bandstand in the Village area.

Steve (who says the name 'Seasick Steve' isn't a name, but a curse, and who didn't really enjoy the ferry crossing across to the island on strength of that) has been playing all across the festival circuit this summer. A soft-spoken genuine article bluesman and one-time hobo, Steve sings songs about real life. He's incredibly charming and churns out some classic dirty blues on his trademark three-string guitar.

2007 Review - Part 2

Johnny Rocket scratches the surface, digs underneath and touches the sky to discover just what makes Bestival the unique coming-together of brilliance that it is.

Big grins and happy faces define the weekend as 30,000 party-goers mass at Robin Hill, done up in their finest fancy dress finery for a music-crazed orgy of entertainment and love of life under the Isle of Wight sunshine.

The site is festooned with flags, with music blaring out everywhere. There's plenty of space, plenty of shade, and a host of atmospheres, from the happily intimate village fete halfway up the hill to the more mass market zones around the main stage and the incredibly chilled-out Restival area on the way to the main camping fields.

2006 Review

by Tamar Newton, Virtual Festivals

Like the last unexpected can of beer found in the fridge, Bestival is that final delicious swansong, the last dance before the clocks go back and reality steeps coldly in...

Its setting is positively Narnianesque, set in an undulating wooded valley over which can be seen the white sails of yachts from the distant harbour. Unfortunately every Eden has its snake, this one in the form of the ground being more pitted than the average teenager's face, but as Robin Hood walks past idly scratching his lurid latex bulge, the realisation dawns that this is going to be no ordinary festival.

If you suffer from even the slightest ADD tendencies then Bestival will mess with your hard wiring. For a such a small festival it crams in so many new bands, classic DJs, seminal names and sparkly things, it'll have you picking up greasy brown paper bags off the grass just to calm yourself down. Every festival this year has been standing on it's tip toes, straining to be the one to borrow Glastonbury's glory in it's absence. And whilst none can quite replicate the small town that appears out of the Pilton mists, Bestival has certainly picked up it's glittery elements. It's curator Rob Da Bank's fantasy line-up made real and then heavy decorated with Bollywood imagery, robotic horses, WI cake stalls and much much more.

2005 Review

It's not only the amount of people that have more than doubled since Bestival's inaugral outing on the Isle Of Wight last year. More venues, better bands, almost everyone dressed up; it's also double the fun!

With the small but perfectly formed festival site buzzing all weekend with an amazing end of summer party spirit, Bestival 2005 was truly like no other, mainly because, in just two years, organiser Rob Da Bank and his team have somehow managed to achieve what many have tried and failed to do, to take the best bits of Glastonbury and twist them into creating the next generation of small festival; something truly interactive that demands every visitor gets properly stuck in (those 'civvy-dressers' who felt stupid during Saturday's fancy dress party will know). A gamble perhaps, but one that paid off. Just ask the punters who cleared up in the casino.

2004 Review

by Ross Purdie, Virtual Festivals

Unlike its bigger, non-related rock equivalent, the Nokia Isle Of Wight Festival, Bestival is small. Very small. That shouldn’t be a problem, small can be beautiful, and if you’ve got great acts (like here, Fatboy Slim warming up for Basement Jaxx) and a good vibe then it shouldn’t matter. But when it looks deserted, then you’ve got a problem. Searching around, it’s often difficult to believe the site is anywhere near full, especially on Sunday afternoon when a decent but damp-weathered set by reggae revivalists Ori-Jah-Nal is watched by no more than 50 people. And the first thing Sia says, when she joins Zero 7’s headline performance is, “Thanks so much for sticking around.” It’s just as well people have done because the band are the highest paid act of the weekend.