Bestival Review: Part 2

Will Nixon, our man in London, in the second of two features on Bestival, tells us what went down on Day 2 and 3, gives his overall impression of Bestival, and lets you know what you should do for next year. Special thanks to Bestival for the photography and assistance. Read on!

DAY 2 CONTINUED

The Flaming Lips closed the Main Stage’s Saturday schedule, and provided a performance that was my Bestival highlight by a long way. I’d seen them once before, on a secondary stage at the Big Day Out many years ago, and they were good then. But on Bestival’s Main Stage, playing to a crowd dressed as every fantasy character under the sun, the Flaming Lips were excellent. Really excellent. Blasphemously excellent.

The band’s entrance, a psychedelic, synthesizer-driven affair culminating with frontman Wayne Coyne emerging from the image of a giant flashing female crotch and traversing the front-section of the crowd in his giant inflatable ball, was worth the price of admission alone. The rest of the mind-blowing set featured streamers, giant balloons, glitter cannons, a troupe of orange-clad backing dancers, and a giant bear that hoisted Coyne onto its shoulders.

The Flaming Lips didn’t hold back on the hits, with She Don’t Use Jelly, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, and The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song making rapturous appearances, along with a monumental rendition of Pompeii AM Gotterdammerung. Coyne saluted the Bestival crowd on several occasions; thanking us for being such “beautiful freaks”, and imploring that Bestival last forever and the Flaming Lips be invited back again. Based on that performance, I’m sure they will be.

I didn’t know it then, but as the final chords of the Flaming Lips’ set faded into darkness, so ended the pertinent chapters of my Bestival experience. I braved the increasing chill of the cloudless night in an attempt to catch Errors, but underestimated their popularity to my detriment. By the time I exited the human furnace that was the Bollywood Tent and headed over to Sailor Jerry’s Ink City, the venue was already packed to capacity and I was forced to listen from a vantage point outside the fence, where I could barely hear Errors over the drum’n’bass coming from behind me.

I had planned to close out Saturday night with the Audio Bullys at the Spider, but after listening to a few disappointing tracks of run-of-the-mill electro, devoid of any of the Bullys’ trademark MC and sample-driven swagger, I surrendered to the cold night and turned in.

DAY 3

On Sunday morning Bestival awoke to bright, British sunshine. Unfortunately, despite wanting to see LCD Soundsystem close the festival, I had to be back in London for Monday morning. So, after spending a couple of hours enjoying the midday sun at the Solar-Powered Bestival Bandstand, I made the long, weary journey home to a hot shower and good night’s sleep.

Click on the thumbnails to expand...(Photo Credit: Vic Frankowski (all)) READ ON AFTER THE GALLERY FOR THE REST OF WILL'S REVIEW.

LAST IMPRESSIONS

Overall, I would have to say my Bestival experience was, for lack of a better word, awesome. The weather was mostly good; there was an impressive of range food and drink that was reasonably priced, and sufficient outlets that I never had to queue for too long; the crowd was friendly and I didn’t witness any aggressive or particularly anti-social behaviour; and the overall organisation of the festival was more than satisfactory.

Sure - not everything was perfect; the Saturday morning rain meant that the tanker trucks couldn’t negotiate the dirt-road to empty the portaloos nearest to our tent until Sunday morning which was a bit unpleasant; and the loud-mouthed chick a couple of tents away who kept us up on Thursday night by yelling Family Guy quotes and letting everyone know that “I’m literally not even tired, I could literally run about three marathons right now” was pretty annoying, but more because of her blatant misuse of the word “literally” than the fact that she cost me any sleep; but these were minor inconveniences rather than anything seriously detrimental to the overall experience.

There’s been a bit of chatter on the internet about the immaturity and poor behaviour of the crowd, but apart from the large amount of litter left lying around the campsite and, more disappointingly, on the streets of Ryde township on Thursday evening, I can’t say I noticed it too much.

There is also talk about crowd numbers being too high, to the tune that Bestival should restrict ticket sales and go “back to the good old days” when the festival was more intimate. From my experience, apart from the odd bottleneck between different areas of the site, the crowd size wasn’t too bad. But I wouldn’t want it to be much bigger - and with Bestival’s ever-increasing fame and popularity, the organisers will find it hard to resist the temptation to let numbers grow further.

I won’t complain about my Bestival 2010 experience though. Throughout the weekend I laughed, danced, shouted, sang, clapped, cheered and generally had a great time with a whole bunch of weird and wonderful folk, not to mention experienced some fantastic performances from a diverse selection of acts. And I didn’t have a single cup of tea.

Bestival 2011 tickets are on-sale now, at £160 per adult. If you decide to give it a go next year, here are a few tips:

• Get in early - tickets for the 2010 edition sold out months before the festival began, and 2011 tickets will probably go even quicker.
• Join in on the fancy dress day. Under normal circumstances, I would never actively encourage a grown man to wear silver tights and don a tutu and fairy wings - but if you don’t make an effort for the fancy dress day at Bestival, you’re bound to feel a bit left out. Your costume doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated, or even particularly imaginative, but if you don’t get into the spirit you’ll miss out on a big part of the Bestival experience.
• Pack sensible clothes and bedding - parts of the festival site are fairly exposed, and while the heat of the packed Bollywood Tent might make you want to strip down to your underpants, it can get very cold in the open air at night. Also, remember that you’re going to be outside and most likely unwashed for over three days, and anything you wear has a good chance of getting very dirty or perhaps even ruined. So leave your brand new diamante-studded white leather pants and jacket combo at home (in fact, if these actually exist, and you own a set, do yourself a favour and throw them in the bin right now).
• Take your wellington boots. You might feel a bit silly wandering through Waterloo Station sporting rubber boots, but if the site gets muddy at all (which it almost definitely will) you’ll be devastated if you don’t have them.
• If you’re desperate to catch a particular act, get to the stage early. Some of the stages at Bestival have reasonably small capacities, and security will stop letting people in when they get too crowded. So don’t make the same mistake as me and end up missing out on something you really want to see. Or, on the other hand, if your first preference is oversubscribed, don’t despair - go and check out one of the less popular acts. You could end up stumbling across your new favourite band.
• Be prepared for a lengthy journey home - getting 50,000 weary festival-goers off a small island is never going to be easy. I avoided the major rush due to my Sunday afternoon departure, but I heard first-hand reports of people leaving at 10am on Monday and not arriving in London until around midnight after Bestival 2009. Apparently leaving very early in the morning is the best way to beat the crowds.
• Finally, not to be a patronising goody-two-shoes, but be courteous and friendly to your fellow Bestival-goers. Pick up your rubbish, don’t trample mud on people’s tents, and be patient in queues and crowds. If everyone treats everyone else with respect, the festival will be more enjoyable for all.