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Bestival 2011

Guest 5co77ie

By Guest 5co77ie
in Camp Bestival

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Dave The Hedgehog Newbie

Dave The Hedgehog

Posted
Posted

I'll just post what I wrote on the Bestival forum:

The Good

Most of the things I enjoyed weren't actually bands but rather the vibe and things I experienced over the course of the weekend. The bands I saw were all absolutely fucking amazing but it was these kinds of things that did it for me:

- Random, drunken encounters in the ambient forest with weirdoes; clothed, dying and otherwise.

- The quiet campsite; the security was awesome in there and things were actually being done to prevent people from making it too unbearable. The hubs were fantastic, the stewards were all great and would always walk around with smiles on their faces, and last but not least all the people in it were considerate and great fun to talk to.

- The variety of food stalls (amazing pasta place nearly opposite the Roller Disco in Bollywood) and drink places. I especially enjoyed the organic coffee and cake stall at the bottom of Blue. Damn those early cappucinos. The milkshakes stall outside the Big Top was lovely.

- The toilets were lovely; couldn't fry an egg on them but Jesus they were clean (compared to Leeds). They were cleaned regularly and they were unisex so it was more often than not I'd go in and get a smell of somebody's perfume and believe I was pissing in the cosmetics section of Boots. I'd also like to thank Robert Smith for leaving the message in Blue camp toilets reminding me about the dilemma I was having with 'plopsies'.

- Outside the Black Dahlia tent at 11:30; one of the most chilled out places in the world, and some great beds. Toilets were the best on the site too. The vibe inside that tent was thumping at all times, and the people... My God. Awesome.

- The Psychedelic Worm tent was my second home. Saw some amazing bands in there.

- The costumes and creativity of the people that made them; especially the kids with the Robert Smith and Paloma Faith papier mache puppets, and the 4 guys dressed as The Velvet Underground's first album. I loved how I didn't feel weird by dressing up like Axl Rose, and how everybody paraded around with such dignity despite the fact we all looked like pillocks.

- The thanks we received from everybody we helped with their tents and the general overall consideration everybody had for each other.

- The recycling and disposal facilities.

- The once clean and pristine giant Bestival sign opposite the Polka tent that by Sunday night was covered in some great graffiti.

- Inadvertently causing a domestic between two couples by revealing to them that they had just missed Crystal Castles, and then casually walking away to avoid being blamed.

- My girlfriend's sexy Shakespeare's Sister outfit.

- I loved the design of the festival, and the colours. Everything about the design was just bright and vibrant; psychedelic, man.

- The variety of ages of the people attending - kids to 40+'s all dancing and singing to Brian WIlson in the sunshine.

- The clueless security guard that walked along the fence that separated Blue from the Disabled camp and upon seeing two (to be fair) seemingly able bodied girls asked them if they were actually disabled, making me choke on my coffee in the process.

- The chimes in the ambient forest I had a drunken jam on with a man dressed as a viking, which actually attracted more people than some of the bands I saw.

- A thousand people doing the mud walk.

- Having a strangely frank conversation with a woman outside the Blue toilets about whether I needed a shit or wee, and her proceeding to ask everybody in the queue if they needed a shit or a wee after I told her the toilet flusher was broken.

- Adrian, the Quiet Campsite guru, mystic of the high grass and general all-around cool dude.

- Public Enemy's method of flogging merchandise and the moment one of their 'people' flicked a fag down into the pit near the gas cannisters..

- Going the whole weekend without being given any abuse, having nothing stolen, and having nothing thrown at us. All the drunks were happy drunks and all the people on drugs left us alone. Nothing but hugs and smiles all around right up until Monday morning when everybody had to leave.

- The Sunday Best Forum Allstars

- Graham Coxon finishing his set with 'That's When I Reached For My Revolver' by Mission of Burma.

Bands: The La's, Yuck, Beardyman, Kitty Daisy and Lewis, Brian Wilson, Public Enemy, Graham Coxon, Mogwai, The Bad Shepherds, 65daysofstatic, The Village People, Crystal Castles, PJ Harvey, The Cure, Two Wounded Birds, Lanterns on the Lake, Our Broken Garden, Zola Jesus, Emeralds, Rainbow Arabia.

- Special mention to the Naked Indians... more on this in a bit.

The Bad

- Lack of foresight and preparation for what prevented everywhere being open on the Thursday evening. The most oft repeated words I heard that evening was from security saying "sorry but I'm afraid..." and then explaining briefly why we couldn't see what we wanted to see.

- The car parks should have had better access to the camp sites; especially the ones that were further away from the car parks, and vice versa for the car parks that were miles away from the arena. Camper vans should have had better access to the arena just as people camping in the camps closer to the arena should have better access to the car parks.

- Didn't like the way the programmes were spread out according to stage rather than according to days. It was a nightmare trying to work out who clashed with who and remembering who was on what stage when, and having to flip pages and pages over to try and make a rough schedule.

- 3D cameras on main stage were (I thought) absolutely massive and if you were lucky enough to be at the front of the crowd, I found them to be incredibly obstructive.

- The two little scally c**ts - one skinny little boy, one girl with dyed red hair (who were with the tosser that jumped the fence) - that barged their way through 4 women, elbows first towards the front to see Public Enemy.

- Security guards over by the Yellow Route entrance/exit in the Stardust Field walking around with their Blackberrys filming teenage girls wearing very little. If you'd like me to provide pictures of one particular security guard doing it, I'd be very happy to do so.

- The Naked Indians. That, to me, was the biggest disappointment of the whole festival. Never heard of them before, don't know anything about them, but the fact they were a young, local Isle of Wight band probably playing their first ever festival, nervous, probably told all of their friends about it and the fact even their mums were there, played to a field that wasn't full of people. It was, however, filled with festival staff, several tons of machinery and a shitload of red and white tape. You owe this band a very public apology and I think next year they should be given a slot to make up for it. Probably the biggest gig they've ever played in their lives and yet probably the smallest at the same time.

- ...the worst part was it had to end.

And that's it. Iron out those tiny niggles and 2012 will be perfect; give me some great bands and unless I die or something, I'll be there.

2eckfti.jpg

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eFestivals Mentor

eFestivals

Posted
Posted

Depeche Mode would be a great shout.

I was thinking Moby, Depeche Mode and David Byrne?

I'd have thought that Byrne would be even more lost on the Bestival crowd than he was on the Big Chill crowd two years ago - and that was despite the set being only Talking Heads classics.

But I guess he's going to be touring again next year (that Big Chill show was the last show of a year's tour), so you could be right all the same. Wherever he is, I'll be there. :)

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BlackHole2006 Newbie

BlackHole2006

Posted
Posted (edited)

I'd have thought that Byrne would be even more lost on the Bestival crowd than he was on the Big Chill crowd two years ago - and that was despite the set being only Talking Heads classics.

But I guess he's going to be touring again next year (that Big Chill show was the last show of a year's tour), so you could be right all the same. Wherever he is, I'll be there. :)

Edited by BlackHole2006
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eFestivals Mentor

eFestivals

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That's true, at Bjork the people around me seemed really respectfull of her and were quiet and listening to the songs that she played even the ones from her new album. Some people were talking at the beggining but they left and by the end of it you couldn't hear a pin drop.

However at The Cure I left PJ Harvey to go to the toilet and came back and ended up in a rubbish position and everyone around me was talking and didn't really care that there was a band on trying to do a set, I ended up leaving 30 minutes in to go to the Cocktail & Dreams club where The Cuban Brothers were playing and had a much better time there, so I guess you could say that it depends on the act really.

Yep, it depends on the act, but there'll be a reason behind that, and I reckon I know what it is to some extent.

I'm not wanting to be demeaning to anyone, but Bestival attracts a large number of trendy scenesters, the types who go places because it's cool if you're there doing the cool thing - but where an actual liking of the thing isn't necessary.

No one is going to be telling a trendy scenester that they should like Bjork, that she's a cool act to like - and so those types would have stayed away from her.

In contrast, The Cure have always been a cool band to like, and cool people know what's cool even if they don't actually know the thing that is cool. For younger people (Bestival has been predominantly under 30 when I've been) it'll have been fairly easy to go thru life without ever hearing a Cure song (or perhaps hearing them but not know that's who they are). So those trendy scenesters will have gone along cos its cool so they need to be seen there, to be able to say they were there. But they can talk right thru it, because it's the being there that counts, not listening to the band.

(Big Chill is much the same, but attracts the less cool :lol:).

Don't go taking from that that I dislike Bestival or the people that go. I think it's a great fest and attracts a more appropriate crowd than many other fests, and that it all works very very well - apart from perhaps when Rob da Bank or whoever books the bands occasionally goes a bit too far in the direction of their own tastes, forgetting who their audience is. I found it quite distressing how some fantastic acts were completely wasted on most of the audience the last time I was there (last year).

But even then I can't hate Bestival for that - no other festival that I know of has booked the Twinkle Brothers in the last ten years, and I'd still rather have seen them with the unfortunately shit sound in the Big Top and very tiny 'crowd' than not seen them at all.

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cdm22 Community Regular

cdm22

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That's true, at Bjork the people around me seemed really respectfull of her and were quiet and listening to the songs that she played even the ones from her new album. Some people were talking at the beggining but they left and by the end of it you couldn't hear a pin drop.

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ethereal Newbie

ethereal

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Are you being serious?! The entire set was mostly completely dominated by people talking / shouting / doing laughing gas down the entire right hand side of the crowd all the way down to the front as we kept moving forward to get away from them! i can only assume you were on the other side or right at the front in the centre.

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kerplunk Community Regular

kerplunk

Posted
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Why are a lot of the photos taken at weird angles?

Hard to say without specific examples. Could be a very high stage, or just 'making use of the corners' to play with perspective or to get more in (or to keep something out) - something I do a fair bit, but easy to overdo admittedly.

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Johnthebar Newbie

Johnthebar

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I put my Bestival comments on another site, but forgot to post here doh! Sorry about the crap posting structure, but I was still broken when I wrote them, and I'm not writing them out again.

I had the best time ever. It was my first time there and I'll definitely be going back, it was one of the best festivals I've ever been to cool.gif

The wind on Monday morning was hilarious, I was hit by 3 flying tents and had near misses with a fair few more. We camped were down near tent heaven at the bottom of black camping.

Good Bits:

Sniffer dogs at the gates being shit at their job wink.gif

Having a really good group of up for it folks camped with us smile.gif

The general party atmosphere and little or no aggro or dicks anywhere; everyone I met was up for shits and giggles.

Full on raving - Andy C follwed by SL2 on the afterburner in the rain was so fucking cool and took me back to my teenage rave days. Oh. My. Gosh! biggrin.gif Fatboy on Sunday night was rammed, but a mental atmosphere and tunes.

Rizlab in the daytime - Banging tunes in Ibeefa type outdoor setup

Hip Hop - Didn't come here for this but seemed to see loads, my fave being Dr Syntax on the bandstand on sat night.

Sound levels - generally LOUD!

The funny acts - Beardyman was a great way to get the fest going in the sun, Mr B on the afterburner was the best, GLC were good, but it was really busy and hard to get in the tent.

Starting Friday morning off with a massive bang with the correspondents followed straight away with Beardyman. There was no easing into the day there.

Wall of Death!

Security - Actually freindly and didn't seem to enforce the bullshit no alcohol rule.

Bad Bits:

Sniffer dogs at the gates mad.gif

Bjork being fucking dull

Not feeling love for PJ or the Cure due to the contrast with all the other music I was enjoying on Saturday

Mrs N1 somewhat overdoing it on saturday and writing off sunday

Flava Flave's bloody book

Subgiant not being able to do thier afterburner set due to the rain (enjoyed the DJ though). I hope their equipment was OK though.

My biggest gripe though is the Isle of wight ferries upping the prices so much for festival time. It cost us an absolute fortune to travel there.

I think everyone in our group of 15+ will probably be back next year

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