Bestival 2012 Review
Bestival, organised by Radio 1’s Rob da Bank is a four day music festival held in early September on The Isle Of Wight. However, Bestival is by no means simply a music festival. It is Bestival’s relaxed, carefree and a little bit bizarre atmosphere only enhanced this year by the sensational sunshine that makes it so special and standout.
The fact that Bestival is held on The Isle of Wight only adds to the sense of escapism the festival prides itself on. There’s something strangely exciting about having to cross the channel to get there, as though this makes it feel like more of an adventure. Its remoteness is what, for me, sets it apart from any other festival I have been to. As you get off the ferry and make your way through endless empty fields baked in glorious sunshine for about 25 minutes, Bestival, as if by magic, appears on the Robin Hood Park hillside.
This year was my third at Bestival and although, rightly so, it is attracting more and more crowds and ever expanding, this year to over 60,000 people, it never felt too big or too crowded. Bestival is comprised of different themes and areas that all combine to create one truly weird and wonderful world. You are able to step out on to the top of the hill at the Forbiddden Forest and take in the spectacular views over the entire festival and park and then ten minutes later end up laying on an Indian day bed under the shade of a bejewelled parasol listening to the likes of Warm and Electric Minds… more on them later.
Bestival entices an increasingly fashion forward crowd with each year that goes by and this year was no exception. The 90s grunge scene took on a strong force at Bestival in the form of crop tops, oversized denim jackets, heavy studding, bum bags and skin tight disco pants. 80s Aztec prints were also trending and as we bumped into Delilah in the Bollywood tent on Sunday she too was representing the era in which she was born with an oversized white string vest (many believed it would never make a comeback) and barely there hot pants. The vast expanse of festival stalls cater to the masses, selling all sorts, from the likes of bejewelled nipple tassels, to the latest from niche boutique brands who want to show off unique samples of their online stock.
Fancy Dress is a huge element of the festival and the effort and dedication that most put in to this year’s Wildlife theme was awe-inspiring. There were feathers, sequins, leaves, flowers and fluffy tails in abundance. Unlike Florence who gave her stage outfit a subtle Wildlife edge with the use of an ivy head-wreath some of the less timid festival-goers opted for more vivid representations of Adam and Eve. Jellyfish creatively made from umbrellas covered in fairy lights not only looked the part but also acted as a good meeting point when lost in the crowds of the main stage. Jessie Ware put her own understated wildlife spin on a sultry all black outfit as she performed in the Big Top on Saturday afternoon with clawed knuckle dusters and a cute pair of cat ears. Our group decided to go all out, compromising of Mother Nature, Adam, Eve, a parrot and a peacock. Unfortunately the combination of fluffy unitards and leafed miniskirts became impractical and a little nippy by the evening but the feather headdresses did do a great job of covering up our ever-worsening tent-hair.
I’d been looking forward to Four Tet and Caribou B2B DJ set ever since I’d known they were playing and as they joined forces in the Roller Disco on Sunday night they did not disappoint. Offering a little bit of everything, flitting between electronic samples of their own work to well known classics, they helped to shake the damp chill off the crowds and showed off all the sounds Bestival aims to encompass, creating the perfect finale to the festival.
Drawing in the biggest audience, The XX were one of my highlights from the weekend. After having played two years ago in The Big Top there were some concerns that The XX may not have been able to transmit the intimacy and different layers of their music to the outside crowds as they performed from the Main Stage this year… but they completely blew us away. Understated, they proved to the crowds how their music had progressed since they last played and as the evening drew darker they created an electric undercurrent that set the tone for the rest of the night perfectly.
Having completely stumbled upon this act on Sunday afternoon in the Bollywood tent I now can’t stop listening to their Soundcloud. Electric Minds is a small record label and event based in London and their afternoon DJ slot of disco and house music was the perfect solution to get the crowd in the mood despite the rain outside.
One place that stood out and felt a bit different to the larger and busier stages was Rizlab, where great DJs played outdoors all day and night. This was a great place to be in the day if you fancied a dance as the sun was shining; at night the queue to get in was phenomenal and being heavily managed by security so getting there early was essential. Secondly, The Wishing Tree, which was open until 5am, was ideal if you were still not satisfied or ready to go to bed. Not everyone can say they’ve danced inside a tree, and although at times a little cramped the strange magic of it became hypnotising.
Bestival, as always, was a huge success and a perfect way to escape normality just one last time before the summer ends, I’d recommend it to everyone!
