Camp Bestival 2012
Thursday 26th to Sunday 29th July 2012Lulworth Castle, Dorset, BH20 5QS, England MAP
weekend camping £175 - SOLD OUT, day tickets available
Daily capacity: 10,000
The Castle Field plays host to the stunning Ren Harvieu, whose country and blues tendencies lull the gathered into a blissful tranquillity. 'Through the Night' has an early Chrissie Hynde tendency, while 'For You' leans toward the gospel with its domineering organ riffs.
Little Roy brings a rock steady touch to the line-up, giving a rendition of 'Bongo Nyah' in his trademark reggae style, moving later into his curious cover of 'Lithium' from the 'Battle for Seattle' Nirvana covers album.
Continually charming and bantering with the crowd, she drops the light picking of her guitar for the fuller sound of title track 'Is Your Love Big Enough?', which has a touch of the Cuban beat about it, and has the crowd singing to its catchy chorus. A confident and seasoned performer with enough edge to avoid the sickly.
'Irish Rover' rouses the crowd into an impressive sing song and 'Iko Iko' even features beatboxing, much to Harris' joy it seems. 'Sunrise' is built steadily into an epic orchestral feat of didg and guitar, and his levels of patter would be dull and unacceptable from other performers but is totally fine in this case, such is the love of Rolf and his wobble board.
'Waltzing Matilda' gives way to the tear-jerking 'Two Little Boys', after which he takes a break to publicly excuse the interruption of his Queen's Jubilee performance by Lenny Henry (it was due to a warm-up of Stevie Wonder's set overrunning) and have a dig at the Queen herself winningly belligerent in his old age. The inevitable 'Stairway to Heaven' features and shows that while Harris' voice may have depleted slightly, his vim and vigour have not.
A regular feature of the Bestval events and fresh from tour, Scroobius Pip brings his bold new sound to the early-evening slot. Creating an unbelievable level of sound with just the guitar and drums, Pip's set crashes in with 'Introduction' and 'Domestic Silence', the front row hanging off his every word and a rowdy band of followers swelling to a mosh pit as he takes his mic out into the crowd, never missing a beat, and whips the cameraphone-wielding collective into a frenzy.
Joined by the talented Natasha Fox, 'Feel It' trips out in a slow, sexy vibe dropping the tempo further, before dragging it back with die-hard fans' favourite 'Astronaut' and Distraction Pieces highlight 'The Struggle', with its dark and cutting lyrics.
Ploughing through his Rose wine, he whips the pit up further with the excellent 'Let Em Come', which closes the set with a blast of noise and energy, even without the performance talents of P.O.S and the ever-excellent Sage Francis, whose tutoring as part of the Strange Famous collective alongside B Dolan could develop the lyrical skills of this whipper-snapper to the level of their outstanding social commentary his new releases should reveal all.
Dub Pistols' introduction by Howard Marks says it all with its reverb effect and stoned tones. With great dub backbeats and soaring horns, the steady lyrical flows of classics such as 'Cyclone' ska hooks abound and the set is jumbled and jovial. Bringing a Jamaican guest vocalist in, the Pistols add to their aspirations of cool, but come across as try-hard and disingenuous their sound has long been outmoded and, aside from nostalgia, there's not much there, as proved by a rambling cover of The Stranglers 'Peaches'. However, 90s nostalgia is the order of the day, so they prep the stage well for Happy Mondays.
Rowetta struts on waving her leather tassels and Shaun Ryder follows, proclaiming, "You've got the original Happy Mondays here." 'Loose Fit' blasts out, showing Rowetta's stunning voice has still got all the power and depth it always had, while Ryder is still as winningly obnoxious as ever constantly goading his brother Paul, including a dig about him appearing in the popular '24 Hour Party People' movie. Can't imagine Shaun approved.
'Kinky Afro' brings Bez back to the stage, grinning broadly and manically, leaping around as Ryder refers to him as "Granddad". Still waving his maracas around.
Children flood onto the stage and strut around as confidently as what we can assume are their parents a mini Bez shaking maracas aloft and Paul Ryder surrounded by enthusiastic youngsters. 'Holiday' runs into the ever-popular 'Step On', getting the whole crowd singing, and peaking a little too early. The set drags on a little, closing with 'WFL', which really only rouses the true fans, and Howard Marks returns to the stage to introduce another spectacular firework display, which, as ever, excellently caps off the Camp Bestival celebrations.
review by: Helen Brown
photos by: Gary Walker / Rob Koster
Latest Updates
Camp Bestival Dorset 2025
festival details
festival details
last updated: Fri 18th Oct 2024
Camp Bestival Shropshire 2024
festival details
festival details
last updated: Tue 16th Jul 2024
Camp Bestival Shropshire 2024
line-ups & rumours
line-ups & rumours
last updated: Tue 16th Jul 2024
Camp Bestival Dorset 2024
festival details
festival details
last updated: Mon 1st Jul 2024
Camp Bestival Dorset 2024
line-ups & rumours
line-ups & rumours
last updated: Mon 1st Jul 2024