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home » festivals » Bestival » Bestival 2011
Bjork does her own thing on the final day of BestivalBestival 2011 reviewThursday 15th September 2011 After the glorious highlights of the previous night, it was nice to have a more relaxed day on Sunday, without the build up of excitement I experienced the night before waiting for The Cure, certainly Bjork proved less of a draw for me, but I'd decided to watch her performance with an open mind, and see if it would grab me. It didn't, but more of that later.
I feel I've missed something special when I return just as Kelis is wrapping up on the main stage with 'Acapella" the whole crowd are rapt with arms in the air and the whole field in motion.
Rather than watch The Maccabees with the throng I elect to see ex-The Czars frontman American John Grant and his accompanying pianist, without any members of Midlake in sight. Grant's aching tender baritone vocals are quite at odds with the man mountain who commands the stage. A small but appreciative crowd enjoys most of last year's debut 'Queen Of Denmark' including 'Sigourney Weaver', 'I Wanna Go To Marz', and 'Chicken Bones'.
A delayed Macka B & the Roots Ragga Band set gave us a chance to exercise our weary legs with some upbeat reggae, before Bjork brought her 'Biophilia' project to the main stage.
The set did nothing for me, I had no connection to the music she delivered, and I waited for her hits to no avail. There were some audience members on the barrier in tears though, so clearly it was emotive for some, either that or they wanted to escape desperately but had no energy left. At one point even Bjork apologised saying the music was not really designed to be aired at a festival. It was certainly a unique show.
Bestival is on the whole a terrific festival, one that a lot of other festivals can learn from. Although the template can also be seen at other events like Shambala, Big Chill and of course the original Glastonbury.
Generally everyone seemed friendly, but there did seem to be a bit of a them and us attitude prevalent amongst the 'beautiful people' at times, as well as the occasional nasty piece of work causing a nuisance. I would love a banning of those prats that think it's cool to play 'skittles' with the crowds on muddy slopes by running into them. But with the scale of the audience, and being the type of festival that attracts all comers I guess that it was bound to. Security was low key and apart from the first and last day searches I wasn't aware of them making themselves obvious on site most of the time. My main gripe is the access route through the middle of the site. Spangled people, massed night crowds, a one way system, and some Oxfam Stewards with their arms out does not mix that well. The number of times it happened resulted in me stopping and looking left and right every time I left the safety of a crowd on the move. surely some form of vehicle curfew, or some better access planning could be put in place here. The number of times it was one person in a buggy made it all the more annoying.
The heavy handed searches on Thursday from an under pressure security who were clearly going to stamp their authority on the first night. This resulted in me losing my tankard, resulting in two of those pathetic flimsy plastic glasses spilling two of my expensive pints of ale on the uneven ground. Lastly the price of a programme was a bit steep at £8, I'd love a cheaper laminated 'clashfinder' type option to be also available with all the stages listed on one page for each day, the lanyards were impossible to use accurately later in the day/evening. The programme was a good read, and informative but mine got pretty dog eared as I tried to work out where to go next. At that price i like to have a memento in good knick. However on the upside I loved the site, it's look and feel, particularly the more off the wall venues that were less obvious than a tent in a field, and was delighted to find a 'hidden' bar offering ale and proper scrumpy at £3 a pint, if only the rest of the bars had offered the same.
Musically it will go down in my festival mythos as playing host to that awesome two and a half hour set by The Cure, with an on form PJ Harvey as support, the highlight of my festival year by quite some way. There were some other bands that played over the weekend (in fact a great weekend of varied programming) , but for me they paled into insignificance beside the monumental 32-song set form Saturday's headliners. Thanks to organiser Mr Da Bank, and his band of helpers, those that got the site looking so pretty, those that looked after us, the bar staff, the caterers, the bands, and the people behind the scenes for putting together such a weekend of treats, in a well run, well set out, well lit environment. What a weekend, and I do rather like the fact you have to take a ferry to get there, it adds something to the otherworldly experience. With no Glastonbury Festival next year, and Bestival probably the next best thing, expect tickets to sell rapidly next year. What a great way to end our outdoor festival season. Bestival may have grown since our last visit, but the magic is still there.  review by Scott Williams photos by Karen Williams / Phil Bull 
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