Bestival 2011: Review

Bestival began six years ago, the first accumulated 10,000 people, now in its fifth year it attracted a whopping 50,000.  Held on the Isle of Wight Bestival is the grand father of all Boutique Festivals.  Curated by DJ Rob Da Bank it’s the most imaginative and innovative festival in the world.  With its ambient forests, wishing wells, magic meadows and ornate stage concepts and designs (there was even a roller disco tent!) Bestival certainly doesn’t lack imagination.

Bestival broke the world record for the most people in fancy dress in one area last year.  This year’s theme was ‘Rockstars and Diva’s’ and amongst the thousands of Gaga’s and  Winehouse’s were groups of die hard Cure fans, dressed head to toe in black.  80’s rock band The La’s kicked off on the Thursday playing their iconic There she goes, spirits were high.  Santagold played the Big Top later that night, with an electric performance; she played all her hits ending with Creator.  The party went on until the early hours.

SBTRKT set the big top alight on Friday with their 2step, UK funky, dub step and RnB vibes.  There’s so much hype surrounding this DJ at the moment, recently being named the Guardians’ band of the day. French band Crystal Fighters later played an amazing set, Xtatic truth was one of my highlights of the entire festival. The atmosphere was insane. 

Also that day an impressive set from Drum and Bass DJ Breakage,   Goth dub step DJ and producer Skrillex killed it with his heavy dub step set whilst over at the main stage Kiwi DJ Zane Lowe warmed up the main stage for Pendulum.  If I’m honest, I wasn’t overly excited for Pendulum who I thought were a weak headliner compared with Saturdays: The Cure and Sundays: Bjork, alas they absolutely smashed it, everyone had their hands in the air, sadly they didn’t play their huge hit Tarantula, but they really did exceed all expectations!

A weird start to the Saturday was dub step duo Nero, who are huge at the moment.   Recently topping the UK album and single chart, a first for the dub step genre, they played the Big top at 1 in the afternoon.  This was a shame as they would have been better suited to an evening slot; thousands flocked to the Big Top regardless. Crystal Castles took to the main stage mid afternoon, it was a weird juxtaposition, scremo-electro music and bright sunlight, Crystal Castles adopted their usual intense stage presence.

Ed Sheeran, who has blasted onto the UK music scene this year, played at the Psychedelic Worm tent, unfortunately the tent was small and as thousands of screaming teenagers manically ran to the tent, many people were left disappointed as they couldn’t get in.  He definitely should have played the Big Top as he has a huge fan base. Metronomy, who have recently been nominated for a Mercury Music Prize also had the same problem.  

Rob Da Bank (curator of Bestival) played an amazing set before the gothic phenomenon known as The Cure took to the main stage.  They played  a 2 and a half hour set, powering  through Gothic Blueprints, their encore consisted of Lullaby and Close to Me, encore two was a throwback to their post-punk metal stuff with Boys Don’t Cry, Killing an Arab and Jumping Someone Else’s Train.  Robert Smith, front man, rarely spoke, but delivered an amazing, yet chilling at times performance. 

Sunday featured New York indie group The Drums who delivered a stale performance.  London based Maccabees made more than made up for it though.  Delivering hits such as Latchmere, X-ray Vision and Love You Better whilst the sun shined down on the excited crowd.  Noah and the Whale took to the Big Top, soothing the tired crowd with their heartfelt guitar music. Over to the Bollywood tent and it was time for DJ Fresh, sweat dripped from the notoriously hot tent whilst thousands danced to his amazing set.

Eccentric and iconic Bjork headlined the Sunday. She is one of the most truly unique and extraordinary stars of our generation, she delivered a stunning performance but I couldn’t help but think she was a little to niche to headline a festival.  Fat Boy Slim played the Big Top at 2am, which is technically the Monday, it was rather strange that they put such a huge act on that late on the last day of a festival, many people had already left but he still attracted thousands, and for me finished off the festival perfectly.

Bestival won the best medium Festival Award in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and last year won Best Major UK . So does Bestival deserve the hype?  Yes, it really does. Bestival isn’t just about the music, its the whole experience, and its one I want to do over and over again.