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home » festivals » Bestival » Bestival 2011
It's an invasion of the Isle Of Wight on the Thursday of BestivalBestival 2011 reviewThursday 15th September 2011 Man the trenches! There's a Normandy Landings-esque invasion of festival goers headed for the sleepy Isle Of Wight for four days of escape, and it seems they all want to get there as early as possible!
Certainly by the time the Big Top opens to the sound of Liverpool's The La's the campsites are already jam packed with tents, and already many have burnt themselves out and opted for an early night. Spirits are high, and the site is awash with colour, the low cloud cover providing joy for the laser testers who blast the heavens with green light. The low cloud also means it's a warm, and well lit evening, although at night Bestival's lamps spill enough light to keep nearly everywhere colourfully well lit. You'd have thought looking at the assembled crowd for Blancmange, on this a limited night of programming that the crowds were all tucked up in bed, or out chatting in the busy walkways between the campsites, or going in search of somewhere nice to get a bite to eat. But, when Santigold arrives on stage it suddenly brings in a surge of crowds. They've probably remained in their tents drinking their own supplies, rather than pay an extortionate £4 for a can of of that wee inducing cider. Fortunately there are a lot of toilets, unfortunately many are too trashed to find them!
The urinals have lovely views - a feature I like and at some other festivals they have removed the ability to stop and take in the sights. There are plenty of facilities on site, but at times these generate long queues, and so both men and women resort to using the walls of tents and arenas. Not nice! The festival does feature a urinal wall, but it would make sense to have one in the main arena, as despite there being urinals literally the other side of a block of toilets the fence is used instead, creating a lake on the other side of it.
Some confusion over artists wristbands also leads to a few acts having to move their slots. Fortunately Bestival has big neon info signs that kept festival goers abreast of most of the changes. At times some venues ran late (or early), and the occasional guest DJ (most notably JFB who rocked up to scratch in the Big Top on Sunday) would appear unannounced on various stages over the weekend. We're in a campervan, and whilst it takes a while to reach, it does at least give us a chance to go through the campsites each day, and witness the crazy antics of the up for it crowd. They're a friendly bunch. However, as is all to familiar there's a rash of thefts from tents on the first night, whilst their owners partied or slept heavily.  review by Scott Williams photos by Karen Williams / Phil Bull 
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