Bestival highs and lows

[bexj]

Just done my first Bestival and had a fab time!

Highs

Imagination of the organisers and punters with decorations and costumes

Loos were, on the whole, reasonable

Ambient forest was lovely

Main stage area was great - good view and sound

Variety of things to do

Friendly people happy to stop and chat

Relatively little litter in main areas

New order

The Horrors

A mad comedy duo called Max and Ivan in the Amphitheatre

Perfect festival weather

Lows

Vast amount of litter in the campsites and abandoned tents

Rarely water near toilets

thieving from tents

Back sloping ground in the Big Top

Spiritualized were disappointing

Overall a great festival!

[Kowalski]

Agree about New Order and The Horrors, both in my top three from the weekend (Death in Vegas being the other). The Horrors are a fantastic live act, first time I've seen them. New Order totally nailed their performance, much better than Hyde Park, it was a fab show.

Stevie Wonder was also great, put on a very good show.

Saw loads of great performances, the only disappointing performance was Adam Ant.

The positives far out weigh the negatives, its a superb festival. It's a bit pricey though!

[Vacant0]

First time I've been to Bestival as well. Had an amazing weekend, not without a few minuses though;

HIGHS

- Perfect sized festival site with lots going on well into the night. Bit of a Glasto vibe but much more manageable.

- Lack of searches between site and arena. Saved me a lot of money on booze and added to the vibe. They might as well have not had any security there at all.

- Lack of proper searches on the way into the festival. After what I'd read on here about previous years that was a wonderful surprise.

- Getting the ferry there and back wasn't much of an effort (in the car at least)

- The fancy dress!

- Beautiful weather

- Stevie Wonder

- Sister Sledge and The Cuban Brothers back to back perked me up muchly

- Best festival toilets I've ever seen. Clean, well stocked and they had mirrors in them.

LOWS

- Seemed slightly overcrowded. Friends who had been before said that the site hasn't gotten any bigger in the last few years but the number of people there clearly had.

- And following that; the Big Top is way too small. I'm not sure how exactly they could make it bigger and keep it in the same place but trying to get anywhere near it when anything popular was on (Ben Howard) or for the headliners was a complete waste of time.

- Lack of stewards (one told me that they were understaffed) was a little worrying when there seemed to be so many fucked up unconscious people about.

- Lack of phone signal most of the weekend. I suppose I should blame Vodafone, but still very annoying.

- Florence + the Machine were shit. Watched her due to a combination of curiosity and laziness and I really don't get the fuss. Even the songs I recognised weren't very good. I was kind of hoping to be surprised.

[dingbat2]

Highs

Death in Vegas, the best I saw all weekend

Bellowhead

Gary Numan

John Foxx

Friendly fires

Everything I saw at the Ampitheatre Stage- great little stage and saw some great poets and comedy

Loos were the best I had seen, always clean and nearly anyways had bog roll in

Nice people other than the scumbags mentioned below

Lows

Thieving scumbags , and there seemed quite a bit of it going on, I had tent broken into yesterday, thankfully don't leave anything in it of value but they nicked my cheap radio and some pear cider. Scum

Amount off rubbish and tents left yesterday, the place was a tip, and it seems to get worse at each festival I go too. No need for it

Sigur Ros - love them wait but they just didn't seem up for it to me. And they have been slagging off the festival on their website since

Great festival though

Edited September 11, 2012 by dingbat2

[Tom12]

Highs most things, too much to write!

Lows bit overcrowded bigtop should have been on flat ground at least.

Shit repetitive dj music on the thursday even rob let me down i was waiting to hear well known tunes as well as some rave music!

RIP to those who died on the way home from Bestival!!!

[happyhunny]

The coach crash on Monday night on the A3 carrying Bestival goers back to Liverpool has to be a sad and low bit of festival news

. My thoughts are with all those who were travelling on the coach . R.I.P those who have lost their lives.Sorry that this happened.

[paulomas]

had an absolutely incredible time. the only bad thing for me as a few people have already mentioned is the big top. it's too small, the up-slope ground is shit because if you're in the middle of the crowd, you can't see a thing. also having massive acts like hot chip and alabama shakes play on the thursday when nothing else is really going on is a bad idea. couldn't really enjoy alabama and they were one of the bands i was looking forward to seeing to most. i didn't bother with hot chip, but some of my friends stayed to watch and during the set, half the crowd from the middle to the back all fell over like dominos and my female friend go crushed by a huge bloke. i would consider having those big bands play on the main stage on the thursday instead (probably can't because something to do with license though)

other than that, perfect as always. RIP to the 3 that died on the way home last night, horrible news

[paulomas]

band highlights for me - florence, the xx, ALT-J, friends, friendly fires, stevie, little dragon, grimes, lianne la havas, kindness, justice, sister sledge and as always, the cuban brothers

[5co77ie]

The coach crash on Monday night on the A3 carrying Bestival goers back to Liverpool has to be a sad and low bit of festival news

. My thoughts are with all those who were travelling on the coach . R.I.P those who have lost their lives.Sorry that this happened.

[AcademicPistol]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-18976092

[Dave The Hedgehog]

Going to post what I posted on the official forums -- general sense that the crowd ruined the vibe for a lot of people:

Highs

• My missus agreeing to marry me when I asked her underneath the fairy lights on the pathway towards the amphitheatre stage

• The weather

• Seeing Adrian, the mystic of Bestival 2011 again and having a good catchup

• Meeting and making friends with Dee, Kat, Sarah, Richard & Kelly in Blue camp; “Lawrence and the Machine!”

• Dancing to Gesaffelstein on top of what seemed like a mountain of nitrous cannisters

• Being pleasantly surprised by Ane Brun

• Meeting 2:54 outside the cocktail bar

• Dirty Beaches very short but sweet and antagonistic set

• Being in front of the stage to see Emeli Sande, Warpaint, New Order and Spiritualized*

• Spiritualized's short but sweet set featuring no hits and plenty of Krautrock improvisation*

• Spending several hours in the ambient forest on Saturday scaring the shit out of people and making them smile; must have had our photographs taken at least 30 times

• The car parks on and off the site were great; efficient, smooth... ferries too, actually

• The fireworks and the added touch of the tribute to Adam Yauch

• The design of the festival and the décor – lot of work went into it this year

• The security; they simply did not give a fuck if you had anything on you; alcohol, drugs, whatever. All they cared about was whether or not you had wristbands on and glass in your pockets and bags.

* - we'll get to Spiritualized in a second

Lows

• Queues to get in at Blue/Green and being told it'd be open “in 10 minutes” over the course of an hour and a half

• Droves of hipsters discussing The XX outside the main gates

• The re-entry policy on Thursday

• The weather – whilst a blessing to a certain extent meant I didn't actually want to go anywhere because everything seemed like a chore

• The amphitheatre was great but so bloody uncomfortable to sit in the chairs

• Not getting the chance to see David Icke

• Factory Floor cancelling

• Sigur Ros' disastrous set

• The shitty attitude of the little madame's in Barnaby Skye's pie stall in the Bollywood field, and the fact all we had to do was rip the stickers off the sign to see they'd bumped their prices up by a quid on Sunday

• The general overall lack of good vibrations and fleeting sense of enjoyment that seemed to be in abundance last year; huge demographic of w*nkers*

• The amount of mess reminded me of Leeds – almost expected there to be a good few bonfires... give it a few years and Bestival will turn into Reading or Leeds

• The confusing Soulwax/Flux Pavilion stage change

• The security in Blue this year seemed to give less than a fuck about the noisy people in the camp; most nights I woke up about 4am and having to tolerate shouting twats going on about how much coke they'd taken over the course of the day; it certainly wasn't as great as last year

• Not enough ventilation for the smaller stages (like Bollywood) whenever the heat was at it's peak

• Didn't realise the price of car parking was £15

• Spiritualized having their set cut short

* - we'll get to this right now...

Spiritualized vs. The Hipsters

One of the bands I'd been looking forward to all weekend was Spiritualized. I semi-expected them to do a greatest hits set but whenever they started off their set with a free jazz improv lasting around 6 or 7 minutes, I knew what I was going to get for the next hour and a half. I was looking forward to this.

What happened, on the other hand, was slightly less than enjoyable. Barging their way to the front were a group of hipsters/c**ts/w*nkers decided to take it upon themselves to heckle their way through the whole Spiritualized set by telling Spiritualized to “fuck off home” and repeatedly ask for Friendly Fires. One girl, I remember, was trying to barge her way to the front the whole time to be alongside the barrier and yet this same girl was one of the hipsters who wanted Friendly Fires... the logic of some people. The selfishness of the c**ts.

Two points:

1. If you don't like Spiritualized, nobody is forcing you to stay there and watch them; there are plenty of other stages to go to if you want to see something else, so don't be a c**t and barge your way to the front JUST so you make a point of shouting so loud I can't actually hear something I and a few hundred others wanted to listen to.

2. If you want to see Friendly Fires, that's absolutely fine, but if you don't like Spiritualized and still want to get a decent spot in the tent to see your dearly beloved Friendly Fires, tolerate Spiritualized and keep your mouth shut.

What made it worse for me was the fact Spiritualized's set was cut short as well; they were made to leave so abruptly and it almost felt as if the hipsters had been rewarded for all of their hard work in making the set an overall miserable experience. So thank you a bunch for that, Bestival.

Conclusion

I didn't enjoy it as much as I did in 2011 for a lot of very good reasons. Most of them weren't really due to the festival but the overall feeling of 'change' and maybe the fact it's getting to the point were Bestival will eventually end up like Reading or Leeds, or V; crowd and demographic mostly. Especially in Green and Red camps. It got to the point in the mornings after a few drinks where I'd almost say “shit, now I have to go to the arena” because I preferred spending time speaking with the people we'd met in Blue rather than having to walk through what seemed like Syria on the way to the Psychedelic Worm and beyond.

Most people will wax a lyrical about the sun – I won't. I fucking hated it. It was shit. When you get 3 hours sleep a night, don't eat because the quality and standard of food around the place seems to be going downhill/too expensive for what it was, have a bit of a dodgy stomach, and you face the prospect of walking back and forth over multiple hills whilst suffering from an allergy to the amount of dust being kicked up, the last thing I wanted was 30 degree heat. By the time it'd cooled down, I was too fucking exhausted to enjoy a good night so went to bed before 1am most of the time.

The best thing I did all weekend at Bestival, that made me smile the most, was sit in the ambient forest with my psychedelic bunny costume on, scaring the shit out of kids and/or making them smile. We spent pretty much all of Saturday doing that during the day and afternoon, and if the goal of Bestival is make a lot of people smile then I hope I contributed in some small way to that.

Will I be going back next year? I might depending on the line-up, but I won't be rushing to get a ticket or even consider getting an early bird any time soon.

Full list of things seen in order:

The March Hare

Killaflaw

Varon V

My First Teeth

Yellow Submarine (film)

Subgiant

Adam Ant

Ane Brun

Warpaint

Soulwax

Flux Pavilion

Emeli Sande

Sub Focus

Dirty Beaches

Porcelain Raft

Model Society

Lucky Elephant

Delilah

Nina Nesbit

The Coronas

Gesaffelstein

New Order

Errors

Forest Swords

2:54

Bassnectar

Sigur Ros

Mike Snow

Spiritualized

[zahidf]

Why was the Sigur Ros disastorus?

I'm sure daylight isn't that bad for them...

[Dave The Hedgehog]

Why was the Sigur Ros disastorus?

I'm sure daylight isn't that bad for them...

[Ed209]

Highs

Death in Vegas, the best I saw all weekend

Bellowhead

Gary Numan

John Foxx

Friendly fires

Everything I saw at the Ampitheatre Stage- great little stage and saw some great poets and comedy

Loos were the best I had seen, always clean and nearly anyways had bog roll in

Nice people other than the scumbags mentioned below

Lows

Thieving scumbags , and there seemed quite a bit of it going on, I had tent broken into yesterday, thankfully don't leave anything in it of value but they nicked my cheap radio and some pear cider. Scum

Amount off rubbish and tents left yesterday, the place was a tip, and it seems to get worse at each festival I go too. No need for it

Sigur Ros - love them wait but they just didn't seem up for it to me. And they have been slagging off the festival on their website since

Great festival though

Edited September 11, 2012 by Ed209

[Joe-]

Geh, I think 99% of the crowd loved it, but the band hated it.

I'm an absolute huuuuuuuuuuuuuge fan of Sigur Ros, but I think they're being kinda dickish. That rant they posted wasn't really good, and complaining because they didn't have a light show is a bit silly. Oh well.

Don't they'll play there again.

[Supernintendo Chalmers]

My first Bestival and had a great time. My highs and lows:

Highs

• The decor. A great deal of time and effort has clearly gone into this. Probably the most colourful festival I've been to

• The fancy dress was fun and created a better atmosphere on Saturday

• Ambient Forest

• Healing Fields. A nice space to chill, day and night. The hot tubs looked like fun!

• The weather. But RDB can't claim responsibility for that!

• Arcadia. That acrobat who climbed to the top of that pole at 2am is a fucking lunatic!

• Rizlab

• Sister Sledge

• Cuban Brothers

• Gesaffelstein

• Major Lazer

• Justice

• Soulwax

Lows

• The Big Top isn't big enough. People were 20 deep outside when Justice were on. The slope is a pain in the ass. It's also too close to the main stage so sound bleed is an issue. As is overcrowding when the main stage finishes

• Alcohol is freaking expensive. £4.20 for less than a pint is too much

• Not being able to take alcohol into the main arena

• Possibly not enough space? Sometimes it felt like there were more than 50,000 people. Like moving from the Pyramid to Shangri-La after the headliner's finished. Especially between main stage and Big Top

• Warpaint. Gave them a chance at Glasto last year but fell asleep this time. Dull

• Too many hipsters. Not necessarily the friendliest festival i've attended

• Maybe a few more rock/heavier guitar bands? Gallows were fun and broke up the repetitive beats

I'd certainly consider going again. Especially if it all goes tits up on October 7!

[smogo]

Not being able to take alcohol into the main arena

Edited September 11, 2012 by smogo

[Bradders]

Very surprised to see everyone complaining about a large amount of dicks/hipsters. Everyone I met was lovely and I don't remember anyone nearby annoying me all weekend. Thought the atmosphere was comparable to Glastonbury far more than it was Leeds.

Edited September 11, 2012 by Bradders

[gooner1990]

Like many others I was a first time visitor to Bestival this year.

My highs and lows of the weekend.

Highs

- The Weather, given this summer we lucked out massively!

- People camped near us, all in and around our age (late-20s & early 30s) who were nice and friendly.

- New Order

- Orbital

- Lots of friendly people

- Getting on and off the ferry easily at Southampton

- Choice of tunes in the Cocktail bar on Friday afternoon.

- Site compact enough to get around quickly

- Choice of food

Lows

- No hand sanitisers in the toilets

- Not allowing people to bring alcohol on site on Saturday or Sunday AND not clearly advertising the fact when people were leaving the site to re-stock!

- Overcrowding esp during Stevie Wonder & The XX

- Pieminister running out of mash!

- The big top clearly not being big enough...way too over crowded there at times.

- The amount of pushing and barging by people when walking through crowds.

- Large groups of teens walking through crowds with 10 of them holding hands

- The c**t who stole my camping chair in Pink campsite

- Queues in the campsite for food and drink each morning (usually around 45 mins to 1 hr)

- Arcadia (not a patch on what they offer at Glastonbury)

Overall a great weekend, helped by the weather!, Not sure how much I would have enjoyed it if it had rained and been muddy. Would definatly consider going again, although I might wait to see the line up as not much on the main stage was to my tastes.

[JC-Mo'Fucka]

Highs

- Arcadia really hit the spot with me this year - especially kraftky kuts set

- Gallows

- buraka som sistema ass shaking

- drums of death in roller disco

- Diplo running in a big ball in major lazer

- Fireworks - how the friggin hell do you put a heart in one. Starting them off with 'bear hug' as well ooooooh yeah

- benga landing on my head in crowd surf

- Fat kid crashing into the fence in the kids bike area

- Bollywood tent > best stage despite the sweatbox it is

Lows

- Massive ferry queues (thought i'd miss the worst of it by leaving at 7)

- sloping and too small big top

- Overcrowded festival

- constant fight of man vs. hangover

All in all - great festival and it will be very hard to not buy a ticket next year

[mike46]

I have to agree out of 3 Bestivals i've been to, the crowd was 'generally' worse this year than ever before (I say generally, the majority were actually really pleasant)

However I wouldn't agree that it was mostly 'Hipsters' that caused this, I actually found it was the agressive, pilled out dance crowds that caused the most problems (not an attack on dance fans at all, it was just the ones who looked like they were more suited for V with their silly caps with the peak facing skywards, standing there pushing out their chests and evident steroid abused arms barging their way through.)

That said, it was a tiny portion of the crowd who caused any trouble (some kids behind us in the campsite were punched and started upon on Thursday) and I still had a fantastic weekend and met some great people.

With a decent line up I'll have no qualms about returning next year, I'd perhaps just like a little less dance music all over the site (It felt like once the main stages shut that's all we could find, not the end of the world, just would be nice to have somewhere slightly different some nights) and a bit more fluidity on the stages, i.e grouping similar acts together.

Personal Highlights;

Stevie - amazing.

XX

Earth Wind & Fire - After feeling the crowd was a little worse over the weekend this set restored my faith in the festival

Lucy Rose into Daughter on Sunday - inspired booking, both were completely outstanding.

[paulomas]

people who moan about crowds at things are annoying. it's 50,000 people at the end of the day, there's alway gonna be a few dickheads. think about how many twats you come across on a typical night out in any town. this was my 3rd bestival and i didn't notice any difference, i was too busy enjoying the company of my friends. obviously if something specific happened to you it's a different story, but i didn't think it was a problem at all.

[JC-Mo'Fucka]

I thought the crowd was great, especially in bollywood, roller disco and arcadia everyone was well up for it. We had a bunch of gcse nob ends next to us but then great people to the other side.

Bar one really angry northern lass eveyone was top dolla.

[When Jokers Attack]

Had an absolute blast, So did everyone in my group

HIGHS

- The Ambient Forest

- Arcadia

- Sigur Ros

- New Order. Was just classic after classic

- Pie Minister as I didn't think there would be one there

- Death In Vegas

- Slagsmalsklubben, Randomly went to see them and was blown away

- David Icke owning a jew who jumped on stage in protest

- The campsite banter

- Every toilet I went into was clean and had paper

- The weather

- Roller disco

- How easy it was to get booze passed security. We had bags filled full sneaked in!

LOWS

- The place was far too overcrowded, We arrived around 6/7pm on the Thursday and every campsite we went to was fulll, We eventually managed to squeeze into a small space where some of our friends were already camped

- Sigur Ros not headlining on the Friday. As much as I loved their set (Band of the weekend for me) they should have got to play in darkness as it would have been even better

- Not being down the VERY front for Sigur Ros. Where I was standing there was arseholes constantly speaking through EVERY single song. The only song I could hear without people speaking over was Hoppipola

- Spiritualized coming on late and only playing 4 songs. Don't get me wrong I fucking loved what they played but it went so fast and just left me wanting more. Was so excited for them prior to Bestival.

- Friendly Fire pricks down the front for Spiritualized

- Alcohol Prices

- The arena has to expand in size. You could hear the sound of The Big Top over some artists who were performing on the main stage

- The Big Top isn't big enough to be the second main stage

- The weekend went too fast

- My mate pouring a £15 industrial bag of popcorn into my tent haha. Was raging at the time but made good inside joke banter throughout the weekend

OVERALL

Best weekend I have had all year and would probably return. Not sure If I will be back next year as Glastonbury is priority and don't know If I could afford both.

Edited September 11, 2012 by When Jokers Attack

[kaosmark2]

Highs:

1) Ambient Forest. I spent loads more time there this year, both during the day due to the shade, and in the evenings due to the magical experience. I must have spent over an hour wandering around there between Death in Vegas and New Order (we'll get there), completely hammered, lazing in hammocks, chilling listening to music, playing UV Ping-Pong.... Ridiculously magical area and I want to go there again. I'll go back to Bestival next year JUST to chill in the Ambient Forest.

2) Surprisingly good performances from acts:

a) Death in Vegas - only got into them about a year, just got one album, but I thought they were probably the best act of the weekend, absolutely phenomenal in the Replay, and generally stunning.

New Order - I was wary about how they were going to be, but they absolutely stormed that performance. It was a ridiculously good performance and I'm now regretting not stalking them through their tour. Love Will Tear Us Apart was a brilliantly done, tastefully done, and utterly magical shock choice as closer. Ridiculously impressive.

c) The XX - Not a huge fan of them on record, but I felt they were excellent, they were really good at creating an intense atmosphere, and that performance has hugely improved my opinion of them

d) Friendly Fires - Yes, their fans were being c**ts during Spiritualized, but that shouldn't reflect on the band. I don't care much for them on record, I thought they were incredibly boring and mediocre when I saw them a couple of years ago, but that set was fantastic. They were the best band I saw on Sunday and given the ones surrounding that's a major compliment.

3) My own energy levels and excitement - I think it was a combination of travelling to the IOW on Wednesday, the good weather, and already being moderately familiar with the layout, but I spent a lot more time exploring random stuff this year, going into random places, etc, as well as spending as much time as last year both watching bands and getting hammered at the campsite. I just seemed to take advantage of the full Bestival experience more, and fuck me it was good.

4) Camping with a cool crowd - Not much to go into, but it's great when your sense of humour just clicks with the strangers you end up camping near. It makes a huge difference and Bestival's definitely been the best place I've ever found for this.

5) The food there. I never spent over £8/day on top of snacks I'd brought and always got large portions of really tasty stuff. The quality was generally excellent and prices were reasonable for a festival.

Lows:

1) My mate was being an absolute tool throughout. He moaned about me wanting to stop and adjust my heavy loads of stuff (despite me carrying both tents, more of the booze, etc), so we stopped and camped in pink closer to the car, which caused him to moan about the walk to the arena (which still isn't far). He complained about camping - too cold at night, hot too early, ground too uncomfortable, flies around. He fucked off back to his family's place on the island after Ben Howard on Saturday, although he did come back on the Sunday to brag about how he'd had a hot shower and slept in a bed etc. He was also a lot less up for going into some random tent just for the hell of it to see what it was like, so probably a good thing I lost him in the crowd between XX and Screeching Flo, and that he fucked off on Saturday. Dragged me away from Orbital at 1.30 rather than waiting the extra 30 minutes before heading off as well. Another time, he could have ruined my festival, but thankfully all the good points made it not really matter too much.

2) Sound-leakage around the mainstage. Also overly talkative idiots in the crowds on the mainstage.

3) Several acts who I've seen before disappointed me. This doesn't mean they were bad, but not as good as I'd remembered them. A lot of this has to do with high expectation, and I'll probably get slated for some of these but:

a) Gary Numan - Nothing wrong with his set, but it wasn't as spectacular as when I'd seen him at Soni a couple of years ago. I enjoyed it, but expected better.

De La Soul - Very harsh to put this as a disappointment, but they were about 20 minutes late, and while they were extremely good, their show at ATP in '09 was absolutely phenomenal, and I'd built up such expectations that I was comparing them unfairly and couldn't enjoy it as much as before.

c) Justice - I've seen them twice before, once at their own show, and once at Rock Werchter in '08, and this just didn't live up to either of them. I don't think the hill within the Big Top helped, nor did having to follow New Order, but ultimately, I don't think the new album has brought with it any improvement to their live shows, any change in experience, or anything fresh and exciting like watching them back around 08/09 was. Ultimately, I felt really heavily let down.

d) Sigur Ros - Others have gone into some of the stuff behind it, but that performance wasn't what they can do. Not all their fault, but I don't think that message on their site is reasonable either, they were certainly partially culpable and I hope they're not going to be twattish primadonnas about festivals catering to their every need.

4) Stevie Wonder - I only watched the last 30 minutes or so after Spiritualized, but I wasn't impressed. His type of music isn't my thing but I went in thinking he'd still be an amazing performer and I could have a great time, but I didn't feel it.