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There are few festivals in the calendar that are as universally lauded and utterly irresistible and as Bestival.
Conduct a little survey among your friends and family – you know, the ones who won't cower in their duvet when you suggest camping in September – and the Rob Da Bank's weekend won't be far from the conversation.
The reason is simple. At Bestival, perhaps more than any other festival, fun makes the world go round – the impulse to commune and dance. Hedonistic? Perhaps. Rapturous? No doubt. From underwater creatures to this year's more ethereal theme of 'fantasy', the festival organisers make sure the punters are one before they even get to the Isle of Wight.
How the offspring of club night Sunday Best has grown in seven short years. I remember going to the very first Bestival at Deer Park; and even then, amid the drizzle, dodgy outfits and Chas n' Dave 'Rabbit Rabbit' chorus, you could sense this was a keeper.
In tandem with this word-of-mouth affection, some of the biggest acts in music have flocked to support. Well, this year it's no so modest; 40,000 is mid-size but by no means a mud-caked Glastonbury stampede. Between 9 and 12 September, at Robin Hill Countryside Adventure Park, revellers can shake a leg to The Prodigy, Tinie Tempah, Dizzee Rascal, The XX, La Roux, Roxy Music and The Flaming Lips.
Lots of headline names there. But this is Bestival so the roots, the club and the leftside are always in the mix. Step forward Gil Scott Heron, Chic (featuring Nile Rodgers), LCD Soundsystem, Autonomic showcase (feat. dBridge, Instra:mental and SP:MC), Tunng, Jonsi (of Sigur Ros), Gaslamp Killer, Mount Kimbie, Breakage and Joy Orbison.
Here are a few notes on this year's event…
PLACES & SPACES:
Check out The Afterburner, a 360-degree multi-stage arena that comes alive after dark and late into the night. Centred around a 10-metre tower built from jet engine components producing various effects with fire, smoke and water, the heart of the tower is a DJ booth setting to tempo as effects synchronise to the mayhem beneath.
ONES TO WATCH:
Charli XCX – Hertfordshire starlet with some killer melodies woven into her dense yet uplifting electro-pop grooves.
>> www.myspace.com/charlixcx
Delphic – Edgy synth music with strong harmonies in that classic New Order mould.
>> www.myspace.com/delphic
Lissie – Husky-toned, Colorado-reared, guitar-wielding songwriter with beauty and balls. Stevie Nicks and Chrissie Hynde have finally joined forces.
>> www.myspace.com/lissiemusic
Egyptian Hip Hop – Another Manchester band doing interesting things with lo-fi pop, using synthesisers and raindrops of emotion.
>> www.myspace.com/egyptianhiphop
STILL GOT IT?
Worth visiting Heaven 17 and Echo & The Bunnymen. After the triumphant return of Duran Duran, Gang of Four and Spandau Ballet, the old guard have a habit of delivering when you least expect it.
Visit bestival.net for more information on the line up and to purchase tickets. And don't forget your outfit:
FANTASY
• noun (pl. fantasies)
1. the imagining of improbable or impossible things.
2. an idea with no basis in reality.
3. a genre of imaginative fiction involving magic and adventure.
Origin:
Greek phantasia ‘imagination, appearance’, from phantazein ‘make visible’.
Amar Patel
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Words: Amar Patel
Pictures: Courtesy of Bestival |
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