Camp Bestival - Early review

[ricothepigfarmer]

Sad I know, but I've just slipped home to do this.

Well, where do we start. Not enough toilets, dire sound quality especially the over driven bass, not enough bands, no cans allowed in the stage area - but they'll sell you beer in a can once you're in.

Billed as a 'family' festival, screaming kids everywhere. In particular at 0530 every morning, full frontal nudity on big screen on stage, frequent profanity, some 'strange' background videos.

Environment freindly, sustainable, fair trade tosh everywhere, £2 for a coffee. £3.50 for CAN of beer, rough field, I could go on for hours.

Plenty of people left on Saturday, even more this morning. I'm only going back to see the Wurzels - you've never lived until you've crowd surfed to 'Brand new combine harvester'.

The local council only just gave them a licence for the event, I think they'll struggle to get one next time.

[fingers_mark]

Sad I know, but I've just slipped home to do this.

Well, where do we start. Not enough toilets, dire sound quality especially the over driven bass, not enough bands, no cans allowed in the stage area - but they'll sell you beer in a can once you're in.

Billed as a 'family' festival, screaming kids everywhere. In particular at 0530 every morning, full frontal nudity on big screen on stage, frequent profanity, some 'strange' background videos.

Environment freindly, sustainable, fair trade tosh everywhere, £2 for a coffee. £3.50 for CAN of beer, rough field, I could go on for hours.

Plenty of people left on Saturday, even more this morning. I'm only going back to see the Wurzels - you've never lived until you've crowd surfed to 'Brand new combine harvester'.

The local council only just gave them a licence for the event, I think they'll struggle to get one next time.

[xray-specs]

Sounds like a real let down. Don't know about the council not giving them a licence next year - more likely word of mouth will help deal them a blow (which it seems they deserve)

[The Fly]

How was Chuck berry? I'd love to catch him live one day. Anyone remember his set list?

[beckstrous]

I don't think it was a let down.

I do agree that there were not nearly enough toilets. I overheard the guy running 'comfy crappers' saying that there were loos marked on the map that didn't actually exist, and one of the toilet attendants said they only had 100 loos for 10,000 people - I don't know if that's right but that certainly doesn't sound like much.

They also must have underestimated the number of cars coming to the site. We left after work on Friday afternoon and it took us over 2 hours to do the final 1.5 miles into the festival site. We were in the 'overflow overflow' car park and it was clear that the place we camped was not intended as a camping field because the grass hadn't been mown like with the other campsites. And people were just parking up and pitching - it would have been easy to at least pitch a tent without a wristband/ticket.

I think the strict curfew hampered things a bit too - not the organisers' fault, obviously, but the Flaming Lips' set was cut short by at least two songs (they were about to play She Don't Use Jelly when the sound was cut and the band looked totally bemused - I am sure they would then have played Do You Realize? as an encore as that's what they normally do. It was quite sad watching their confetti cannons being discharged after the end of the show...these would have been intended for that song. I am pretty sure the same thing happened with Chuck Berry as his son was going through the big intro for all of the band and then they just stopped, which seemed a little weird. I reckon he would've played Johnny B Goode as the encore (I didn't hear him do that, although I did miss the start of the set).

Re: booze - it was easy to sneak stuff in and you get those sort of things (not being allowed to bring cans in when they sell cans inside) at most festivals so I don't think that's a valid comment. I would say, though, that it was a shame that in the heart of the West Country they did not have proper English cider and instead we cider drinkers had to make do with Koppaberg!

Don't agree with the comments on food - it was great and sure it was expensive but a lot of those stalls (Thali Cafe, Pieminister, La Grande Bouffe, Shisha Lounge and plenty others I am sure) are at lots of other festivals and so pricing isn't unique to Camp Bestival.

As for the presence of children - it's lovely in my opinion. 'Screaming kids everywhere' doesn't paint a fair picture...we don't have kids but spent lots of time in the kids' field as the atmosphere was so lovely.

All in all I think they put on a really good festival. There were some teething problems and I would agree that the line-up, especially, Sunday, was a bit weak musically, but it still gets the thumbs up from me. Oh, and Beardyman was great!

[ricothepigfarmer]

Further to my earlier comments.

No where near enough toilets, or good positioning. More did seem to keep arriving during the weekend, but....

Sound quality was poor all round, Chuck Berry had to ask them to turn it down to make it acceptable, and did get cut off by the council curfew.

The screaming kids (not in the kid field) - we ended up surrounded by families with screaming kids that did wake up at 0530, and woke the rest of us up as well, we got trampled by a pair of them running about kicking drinks over as they went - no apology from them. I would also like to think that 'Roxy' had a good view of Kate Nash, because a dozen people behind her didn't after her father stuck her on his shoulders.

I had fish & chips from The Sea Cow, at a giveaway £6.50 and it was total rubbish.

The cans restriction was bypassed by most people, it was enforced on Friday by became more lenient Saturday & Sunday.

There weren't enough gates to get in on Friday, car parking was badly thought out (we did jump the queue by coming from behind - local knowledge, sorry)

As for the music, some was excellent - even from bands I'd never heard of, some was pants. Many of the DJs between the acts seemed pissed or incompetant. But in general, there wasn't enough music.

At least it didn't rain too much.

[Medina]

No where near enough toilets, or good positioning. More did seem to keep arriving during the weekend, but....

Sound quality was poor all round... cut off by the council curfew.

[Hector3]

I went to Camp Bestival and I think you are being unfair.

Yes the Queue to get in was mad - but we got over it; Yes the camp site was a bit random, but we liked it (we were nearer the car which was a big issue at the Big Bestival) and yes the line up was a bit rubbish. Yes 11 oclock was a bit odd to cut sound on the main stage when the tents could carry on belting out loud music. BUT I think it was a triumph.

I spoke to Rob da Bank on site (he was wandering around with his walkie talkie) and he was aware of the issues. No doubt these will be sorted for next year. I did think there were a lack of loos (he said there were) and the ones I did use were very clean.

It was billed as a family event so anyone who didnt expect kids everywhere should have read the website and PR stuff...Kids were a major part of the concept.

I thought it was the best festival ever. Full marks to everyone involved.

)

Sad I know, but I've just slipped home to do this.

Well, where do we start. Not enough toilets, dire sound quality especially the over driven bass, not enough bands, no cans allowed in the stage area - but they'll sell you beer in a can once you're in.

Billed as a 'family' festival, screaming kids everywhere. In particular at 0530 every morning, full frontal nudity on big screen on stage, frequent profanity, some 'strange' background videos.

Environment freindly, sustainable, fair trade tosh everywhere, £2 for a coffee. £3.50 for CAN of beer, rough field, I could go on for hours.

Plenty of people left on Saturday, even more this morning. I'm only going back to see the Wurzels - you've never lived until you've crowd surfed to 'Brand new combine harvester'.

The local council only just gave them a licence for the event, I think they'll struggle to get one next time.

[honeymughal]

Hi

I didn't go to this I went to Truck but was interested to see what the Flaming Lips were like as I love them. Now not to get personal Rico but what kind of festival experience were you looking for?

If you're not a fan of screaming kids, perhaps you could try V, camping on top of each other, and surrounded by 18 year olds shouting w*nker all night (after over 10 years of going to festivals I'm amazed this is yet to die out). I'd take the kids, or at least some ear plugs any day. Or perhaps sitting in traffic for 5 hours somewhere outside shepton mallet trying to get into glastonbury.

I'm pleased to see some enjoyed it and will definitely try to go next year, watch out for me, I'm 5ft10 and will have a three year old on my shoulders!

And for those that are interested Truck is great, good family friendly festival, in a lovely village where all the locals are involved, cheap food/drink, (I'd recommend the dhal), great new bands, and even a dire performance by the lemonheads couldn't spoil it.

Sad I know, but I've just slipped home to do this.

Well, where do we start. Not enough toilets, dire sound quality especially the over driven bass, not enough bands, no cans allowed in the stage area - but they'll sell you beer in a can once you're in.

Billed as a 'family' festival, screaming kids everywhere. In particular at 0530 every morning, full frontal nudity on big screen on stage, frequent profanity, some 'strange' background videos.

Environment freindly, sustainable, fair trade tosh everywhere, £2 for a coffee. £3.50 for CAN of beer, rough field, I could go on for hours.

Plenty of people left on Saturday, even more this morning. I'm only going back to see the Wurzels - you've never lived until you've crowd surfed to 'Brand new combine harvester'.

The local council only just gave them a licence for the event, I think they'll struggle to get one next time.

[beckstrous]

I'm with honeymughal and Hector3. And I'd take Camp Bestival over V (yes, I have been - only for a day, and that was long enough) any day: maybe that's an age thing, I don't know. But I thought the atmosphere at Camp Bestival was lovely and that was largely down to all the familes and the thought that had gone into making the site attractive/entertaining/appealing/safe for them. I did wonder what Sunday would be like as there was nobody I wanted to see and it turned out to be great just wandering around and stumbling upon things. Of course there were teething problems but I think generally the organisers did really well and I'd certainly like to see it being granted a licence again next year. We were lucky enough to get press tickets and on the third day my partner asked that 'acid test' of a question: "Would you go next year if you had to pay?" - and we both agreed we definitely would.

[BrianW]

Surely Flaming Lips were ace though?

[rseamer]

This is an edited version of what I posted up earlier on the Bestival forum....

Well, back from Camp Bestival, and what can I say! Had a brilliant time. So many highlights. The sun shone for 2 days (and even the other day can at worst be described as a bit of wet air). The music was great. The atmosphere was lovely – chilled but happy, and for a festival in its first year everything seemed to work pretty well. I’m still recovering right now, but here are some 1st impressions….

I know some people got caught up in the traffic congestion caused, as far as I understand it by the campsite and car parks becoming much fuller than expected, but all credit to the organisers who obviously worked their socks off to sort out the problems as soon as they became apparent. I think next year they should ban Gazebos.....too many of them and they take up far too much space...I saw one family of 2 adults and 2 kids with a gazebos each side of their tent !!! Imagine if everyone had done that. As I said, I reckon the organisers did worked well and hard to find more land at such short notice....I’m sure it wasn’t easy having to find owners of adjacent land and then negotiating with them to use their land for extra camping etc. I don’t think anyone could have expected so many people to bring so many large tents…much larger than other festies… A lesson learned I’m sure if Camp Besti comes back next year.

I took my children to Camp Bestival and they also loved it. They loved the jousting, Bluecoats, dressing up and of course the kids garden which was fantastic. So nice to see a kids area at a festival that wasn’t fully segregated meaning that mum and dad could enjoy a beer from the pub (or cup of tea and cake from the lovely W.I), watch some bands (I particularly liked Lucky Elephant) and the kids could enjoy all the activities provided in a gorgeous gorgeous setting. Both adults and children alike were amazed by the Insect Circus which was top notch. The toilets were also much much cleaner than many of the other festies I have been to (over 40 of the things) and were well serviced. There were quite large queues at the main toilet block on the campsite each morning, which seemed strange considering that there was another block at the top of the blue site that wasn’t on the map that had virtually no queues, or very small ones in the morning. Arena toilets seemed fine...certainly cleaner than many festies and the queues were average...pretty much the same as many festies this size.... although maybe a few more in the Kids field would have helped...

Musical highlights for me were many….Beardyman absolutely rocked, Kate Nash and Billy Bragg singing ‘New England’ together was heart melting, Florence and The Machine were bonkers and The Flaming Lips were visually stunning (although maybe musically not always spot on.. shame about their set being cut by the licensing restrictions...maybe Wayne shouldn't have chatted so much in between songs)

So, a great festival. Hope its back next year. It’s a great little sister to Bestival, and just right for families like mine who have grown up with big Festies but now want something a little smaller, a little calmer, but with lots of fun that we can bring our kids to.

Improvements? Hmmm…virtually none from my perspective...maybe putting it on during summer holidays though so families don't have to take kids out of school I’m sure next year the camping / car parking will be sorted.

So LOVED EVERY MOMENT. One of the best weekends of the year.

Here’s to next year ???? (And of course Bestival itself in September)

Hi di hi Campers !!!

[rseamer]

This is what Rob Da Bank has posted on the Bestival forum...

"to anyone who came down and made the inaugural camp besti go with a bang

as always we'll be on here checking all feedback

in a nutshell we thought for a first year we did pretty well and the feedback onsite was largely very positive, especially from those with families...there were a few mistakes which we recognised very quickly and will be sorted for 2009

huge apologies to those caught in the queues friday pm... on top of the site only having one road into it, we counted cars and there were 1.8 adults to each car (boring stat but true) with many families bringing two cars, kids in one, vast tents in another!.. so we had almost double the amount of cars arriving than we anticipated

we always knew the tents/camps/gazeebos would be bigger than your average show and more cars would come but we did hope more peeps would come on public transport...but i know with a lot of gear its a struggle

so the car parks got full very quickly as did the campsite...on reflection we can see and have already enquired about new land for hire

toilets - most kept very clean and with loo roll all weekend, but not enough.. a situation we tried to remedy during weekend but being such a busy festival weekend we couldnt..sorry, this is number one priority for next year along with bigger campsites and car parks..and more family facilities

music/comedy - lots of good feedback on what was on offer - laughter lounge needs to be bigger, as does bollywood after hours

this was our first year and cost a lot to put on and was a massive risk to take but now we know it works the line up will expand as will arenas on site...

those are just a few thoughts off the top of my head but we'll be on it for improvements as anyone who comes to bestival/reads the forum knows..

site doesnt look quite as nice now without you guys on it !"

[sadwitch]

Chuck Berry set very high standards on Friday night - simply the best set all weekend. At 82 years of age he set off on long jamming solos as walking around the stage confident and very proficient. Almost worth the £120 just to see him...

I was really looking forward to the Flaming Lips, but they were a big let down. Wayne turned up in a little plastic bubble rolling down from the castle. Wayne: if you want to make a grand entrance have a look at this - I know it is not your style, but at least she made more than a high-school 6th form band effort:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=J23Mcsv3enc

There was a cheap bulb video display with star effects similar to the 60s Star Trek opening sequence, except lower quality and more boring. Guys, if you want to do a picture show do something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntm1YfehK7U

They were barely technically proficient. Wayne was singing out of key, and his vocals were (thankfully) drowned by the bass line. Lead guitar fingerwork was barely there and in shadows because of poor lighting (and we were in the third row from the front).

Wayne seemed to think that letting off cheap streamers into the crowd was a 'big act' thing. We left after 40 minutes as we felt they were were wasting our time. As we walked away they started up the smallest laser display I have ever seen - probably bought it at Toys R Us.

We saw some other great acts. The big surprise was Beardyman who was witty and drew a huge number to the main stage mid afternoon to see his spectacular skills (although musically not generally to my taste) - he is pitch perfect and mixes in classic rock and even opera into his act.

Beers at £3.30 a can (not even a pint) and food at £7 a plate saw the £300 cash we brought with us evaporate in just 2 days...

[rseamer]

This is what the Flaming Lips are always like. It's part of their charm.

[BrianW]

Agreed.

[BrianW]

A quick overview:

Further to my review of the Flaming Lips, here is an overview

We arrived at 1pm on Friday and saw Yoav straight away (who was on Jules Holland's TV show a few weeks ago). only 5 in the audience! He was great!

Beardyman

- I don't like beatbox, but this guy has fantastic talent and is pitch perfect

Billy Bragg

- political as ever, but got the audience eating out of his hand whilst slagging off New labour etc.

Black Kids

- fun and talented

Chuck Berry

- perfect set - best of the weekend

Cut A Shine

- drunk barndancing, fun

Ebony Bones

- better than the Flaming Lips

Eliza Carthy

- A bit too folksy for me. Didn't do her "Accordian Song" which I liked best on the downloads I found

Emiliana Torrini

- She was rescheduled so we missed her - others saw her and said she was great

Emmy the Great

- nice 6th formers doing their best

Florence and the Machine

- very dramatic - she loves showing off! Nothing like Amy Winehouse though, musically or looks

Hercules and Love Affair

- Fantastic body!

Kate Nash & Suzanne Vega

- Left Sunday before they were on - we were too tired!

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis

- Rock and Roll trio - 2 sisters and their brother - very talented

Ladyhawke

- Fun - a female Garth from Wayne's World

Lucky Elephant

- Good local pub rock band playing their own stuff - better than average

Mr Hopkinson's Computer

- ridiculous watching a computer talking - silly

Rachael Dadd

- missed her

The Dulwich Ukulele Club

- next best after Chuck Berry (OK so I was biased since I played on stage with them!)

The Flaming Lips

- Fancied themselves - we did not

The Hat

- Rubbich, walked out on them

The Imagined Village

- A folk collective (incl. Eliza Carthy, Billy Bragg and others) on after Suzanne Vega, so we missed them

The Wurzels

- Silly, but the crowd enjoyed it

[ricothepigfarmer]

A bit more,

Yes I'm a new poster. Yes I did join for the purpose of moaning. Allow me to explain why.

I had never been to a festival before, the thought of three days in a muddy field had never enthused me greatly, CB however presented the opportunity to experience one, and if the weather went to ratsh1t, I could go home at night (I live 3 miles down the road).

I was aware it was family friendly, and that therefore there would be kids milling about, and activities for them, that is not what my comments were about. There were parents there who let their kids run amok, who made no effort to stop the screaming, 'Tilly' in the next tent screamed from early morning to late night, and did seem to think they were the only people on-site. My girlfriend was run over by a pushchair, no apology. It was the attitude that irritated more than the offence......

Food & drink WAS expensive, OK pies were fairly good, it was just the impression that we were being ripped off. £2 for a cup of coffee is tearing the ar5e out of it, £3 for milkshake, £3.30 for a can of beer. I was just annoyed that after paying £130 for the ticket, there was another £10 to park, another £7 for the programme and the like.

Where were the local businesses, the local pubs could have benefited from outside bars, the local burger vans etc ?

Chuck Berry was very good. Beardyman impressed me, Billy Bragg (not a fan of his politics) made a big effort, flaming lips -awful racket, strange backing videos, Sunday music good allround, but clog dancing on main stage?

The insect circus was good.

Would I go again ? I don't know is the simple answer, but probably not.

[loosechange]

I have to admit, coming home today I was surprised to read of complaints about traffic queuing and toilets - my own experience driving down in the 'van on Friday was extremely positive (why don't more festivals give you your wristband in the 'van when you drive through the gate?), the 'van field was well marshalled and there were about thirty-odd portaloos - though seeing as I was unlucky enough to go to Zoo8 anything would be an improvement, ha ha.

I thought it was a good line-up, well run, and yeah the main stage curfews were a bit unfortunate, but they can't be blamed for that, and the "after hours" tents could've been a lot bigger (which I'm sure they will be next year) - on the whole I enjoyed it immensely.

Looking forward to next year...

[sadwitch]

A quick overview:

Further to my review of the Flaming Lips, here is an overview

We arrived at 1pm on Friday and saw Yoav straight away (who was on Jules Holland's TV show a few weeks ago). only 5 in the audience! He was great!

Beardyman

- I don't like beatbox, but this guy has fantastic talent and is pitch perfect

Billy Bragg

- political as ever, but got the audience eating out of his hand whilst slagging off New labour etc.

Black Kids

- fun and talented

Chuck Berry

- perfect set - best of the weekend

Cut A Shine

- drunk barndancing, fun

Ebony Bones

- better than the Flaming Lips

Eliza Carthy

- A bit too folksy for me. Didn't do her "Accordian Song" which I liked best on the downloads I found

Emiliana Torrini

- She was rescheduled so we missed her - others saw her and said she was great

Emmy the Great

- nice 6th formers doing their best

Florence and the Machine

- very dramatic - she loves showing off! Nothing like Amy Winehouse though, musically or looks

Hercules and Love Affair

- Fantastic body!

Kate Nash & Suzanne Vega

- Left Sunday before they were on - we were too tired!

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis

- Rock and Roll trio - 2 sisters and their brother - very talented

Ladyhawke

- Fun - a female Garth from Wayne's World

Lucky Elephant

- Good local pub rock band playing their own stuff - better than average

Mr Hopkinson's Computer

- ridiculous watching a computer talking - silly

Rachael Dadd

- missed her

The Dulwich Ukulele Club

- next best after Chuck Berry (OK so I was biased since I played on stage with them!)

The Flaming Lips

- Fancied themselves - we did not

The Hat

- Rubbich, walked out on them

The Imagined Village

- A folk collective (incl. Eliza Carthy, Billy Bragg and others) on after Suzanne Vega, so we missed them

The Wurzels

- Silly, but the crowd enjoyed it

[oldhands]

Just back from Camp Bestival and shaking all the grass out of the sleeping bags. Our over all impression was a very positive one but as with all new events there were many annoyances on arrival more than during the weekend. The queues on the road were in our impression quite avoidable as cars were slow to enter the site as each one was stopped and charged £10 to park anywhere. The car in front of us took about ten minutes to voice their disapproval while we and hundreds of others sat behind them blowing out both carbon monoxide and despair in equal measures. Why not charge an extra fiver for each adult ticket - that way you actually make more money for car parking and like the Big Chill festival (which we are big fans of) the only hold up is actually finding a parking spot and with the lovely attendants you had, that bit took all of 30 seconds. It would speed up the entry of vechicles enormously.

We had a twelve and fourteen year old and both enjoyed it immensely. I read Rob da Banks comments so feel our other points are well considered so won't bother with those.

A beautiful setting, well thought out facilities for kids of all ages. Despite a sore back from the air bed pump and bit of sun burn, i had a great festival. PS All festival goers really need decent ear plugs and use them correctly. Complaints about kids at 5.30am would be non-existant (unless they are your own kids!)

[5co77ie]

i felt it was one of the best family festivals i've ever attended - rates alongside Shambala although that has more stuff for older kids - i felt both have a very similar vibe - the lack of cider was dissappointing ikea 60p cider is not real cider. the castle looked magic, the late night partying was great and the site had a nice feel to it.

Rob seems well in control of what the problems were - I expect them to be ironed out. more kids than any other festival even outdoing Wychwood - plenty for little ones to do - but it seemed a bit light on stuff for teenage kids - i think both Wychwood and Shambala have the older market better catered for. For under 10s it had a wealth of stuff to keep them occupied - personally i enjoyed the idea of flour arranging most. the jousting was cool, and with cakes, knitting, animals and stuff it had the feel of a large fete. We did the bespoke camping thing and that really added to the experience - although could have done without having to carry all our stuff from the overflow car park at one end of the site to the other.

The music took a back seat as I was there with my nieces - but I enjoyed the headliners and the occasional surprise like Beardyman, and saw hours of punch and judy and insect circus and a fairly unmemorable second stage line-up and enjoyed the sea views, toilets have to be fast tracked for kids - half the time it was take them to the trees or risk the little ones smelling in the sun all day, and surely you put in covered urinals to keep blokes out of the queues in kids areas. didn't think much of the disabled area either - hardly a raised platform - with the emphasis on fun I did wonder if it was a joke.

[Francis Biley]

Overall, had a fine time! Enjoyed suprises from Lucky Elephant, Eliza Doolittle and the likes of, really disapointed by CB, and even Flaming Lips...thought both were dire. Imagined Village better than I could have imagined....

Need more shops to buy milk and so on....£3.50 a LITRE for UHT milk....that's a piss take...

Thought sound was great....at least as good as GFs Park Stage.

Comedy stage should have an over 18 cert.

Stroke of genius was to put the Insect Stage in the Kids Field, so parents could catch some nice tunes, while keeping the kids happy...

Nice one Rob and crew....

[rseamer]

Overall, had a fine time! Enjoyed suprises from Lucky Elephant, Eliza Doolittle and the likes of, really disapointed by CB, and even Flaming Lips...thought both were dire. Imagined Village better than I could have imagined....

Need more shops to buy milk and so on....£3.50 a LITRE for UHT milk....that's a piss take...

Thought sound was great....at least as good as GFs Park Stage.

Comedy stage should have an over 18 cert.

Stroke of genius was to put the Insect Stage in the Kids Field, so parents could catch some nice tunes, while keeping the kids happy...

Nice one Rob and crew....

[5co77ie]

the best thing about the kids field area - was it's lack of wind and a sun trap - lovely it was