Bestival 2018 incoming!

[Homer]

Must have fought tooth and nail to secure this 'UK festival exclusive'.

RDB seems to have got to the ringing around his mates for favours level of barrel-scraping.

 

Oh dear.

[jackarmy]

Disappointing. Is there one act at the top of the bill that will make the casual festival-goer say "Oh my god, they're playing at Bestival! We have to get tickets." ?

I understand what Rob is saying about trying to make it a unique lineup, which it is in many ways, but I think you have to strike a balance and have a ticket shifter amongst all that. 

I'm sure it'll be great when everyone gets down there an' all, but if I was paying for this I'd be hugely underwhelmed.

[Homer]

1 hour ago, dentalplan said:

It’s not that top secret. They’re coming together to do a disco album, and I’d guess when they get going it’ll be at least as big as Jack Ü turned out. So it’ll be one of those where it looks poor to most people now but in August they’ll be all over the airwaves and only at one place in the UK.

 

Who?

[deadpheasant]

1 hour ago, dentalplan said:

No but it’s not that festival anymore. It’s half the size of the festival that The Cure headlined. It’s now in league with the Y Nots and the Kendal Callings, and they’ve got three headliners not playing anywhere else with a varied and exciting undercard. So for what it is now, I am impressed.

Kendal has Catfish, The Libertines & Run DMC who are bigger than any of Bestival's headliners and the ticket price is £40 cheaper. Y Not doesn't look like it's running this year but that was abt 70 quid cheaper and gave the option for day tickets.

[smogo]

8 minutes ago, Homer said:

 

Who?

Jack Ü = Diplo's collaboration with Skrillex from about three years ago. It was pretty huge.

[smogo]

4 minutes ago, deadpheasant said:

Kendal has Catfish, The Libertines & Run DMC who are bigger than any of Bestival's headliners and the ticket price is £40 cheaper. Y Not doesn't look like it's running this year but that was abt 70 quid cheaper and gave the option for day tickets.

Catfish and the Bottlemen and the Libertines are both total dogshit though. I'd be ashamed to tell anyone I was going to Bestival if they were the headliners.

[chemica]

I'm not quite understanding all the frustration with this announcement; RDB has created a line up dissimilar to anything else, really. Yes, maybe it doesn't have you rushing to bag tickets from one 'big' name at the top of the bill - but it is consistent through out.

There's also a nod to level out the gender ratios with so many top female acts: MIA, Chaka Khan, Grace Jones, Jorja Smith, First Aid Kit, Kelela, IAMDDB, Mabel and I suppose you can count London Grammar into that as well.

[Homer]

9 minutes ago, smogo said:

Jack Ü = Diplo's collaboration with Skrillex from about three years ago. It was pretty huge.

Oh right, never heard of them - must have missed all their UK festival headline sets.

[Homer]

3 minutes ago, chemica said:

I'm not quite understanding all the frustration with this announcement; RDB has created a line up dissimilar to anything else, really. Yes, maybe it doesn't have you rushing to bag tickets from one 'big' name at the top of the bill - but it is consistent through out.

There's also a nod to level out the gender ratios with so many top female acts: MIA, Chaka Khan, Grace Jones, Jorja Smith, First Aid Kit, Kelela, IAMDDB, Mabel and I suppose you can count London Grammar into that as well.

Frustrating thing is I would have gone if it was last year's line-up (with Justice on it) - and same goes for Boomtown. Bah!

[dentalplan]

24 minutes ago, deadpheasant said:

Kendal has Catfish, The Libertines & Run DMC who are bigger than any of Bestival's headliners and the ticket price is £40 cheaper. Y Not doesn't look like it's running this year but that was abt 70 quid cheaper and gave the option for day tickets.

Maybe it’s not all about the headliners.

[Matt42]

I really dislike the way Rob De Bank tries to sell his lineup on twitter. It's the type of thing you just shouldn't respond to, it's poor form to be fighting with people calling your lineup shit on twitter

 

[arteet]

35 minutes ago, deadpheasant said:

Kendal has Catfish, The Libertines & Run DMC who are bigger than any of Bestival's headliners and the ticket price is £40 cheaper. Y Not doesn't look like it's running this year but that was abt 70 quid cheaper and gave the option for day tickets.

The Kendal line up is so dull though, even if it is cheaper. Catfish / Libertines - everyone has seen them hundreds of times already.  I dont live that far away from Kendal and was going to do either Kendal or Bestival and have opted for Bestival again.

Some of my fave moments last year were in the little places like Club Dada, Staceys, Caravanserai. There is more to Bestival than headliners and I dont think Kendal offers that on the same scale

 

[deadpheasant]

6 minutes ago, dentalplan said:

Maybe it’s not all about the headliners.

That's true, it is for some punters though and it's the headliners that have the pulling power to sell tickets, I'd be very surprised if Bestival sells out even at 35k capacity. If there's enough for you there then fair play but personally I won't return to Bestival this year due to the lineup being weak.

[hawkzred]

None of three headliners are of interest, but there is enough going on at The Temple, Bollywood and HMS Bestival to make it worthwhile for a late ticket this year.

[Homer]

I personally find that at Glasto, etc it's not about the headliners as there is so much to do otherwise.

However, at medium-sized ones, the level of stuff to do can really fall away after the top couple of acts and you can be scratching around for something to do in the daytime sometimes.

So if they've blown a big part of their budget on three acts that don't happen to appeal, it can more or less make or break wanting to go or not.

Edited March 1, 2018 by Homer

[eFestivals]

12 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

I really dislike the way Rob De Bank tries to sell his lineup on twitter. It's the type of thing you just shouldn't respond to, it's poor form to be fighting with people calling your lineup shit on twitter

oh c'mon ... I've seen far worse responses from organisers. Rob is accepting that what's just been announced might not be everyone's bag, and rather than ignoring it he's giving a reasoned personal response and trying to nudge the guy into going.

 

[the wonderwhy]

55 minutes ago, deadpheasant said:

Kendal has Catfish, The Libertines & Run DMC who are bigger than any of Bestival's headliners and the ticket price is £40 cheaper. Y Not doesn't look like it's running this year but that was abt 70 quid cheaper and gave the option for day tickets.

Without wanting to turn into this thread's resident London Grammar fanboy - I think you're underestimating their size. 

Also, aren't all three headliners exclusives as it stands? 

[rseamer]

35 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

oh c'mon ... I've seen far worse responses from organisers. Rob is accepting that what's just been announced might not be everyone's bag, and rather than ignoring it he's giving a reasoned personal response and trying to nudge the guy into going.

 

100% agree.

Rob da Bank has always been very active on social media and wears his heart on his sleeve. The fact he tries to personally respond to people rather than just a PR company is great IMO.

 

[Zacko]

Ok I think I love this booking, because it's just going to be an absolute party isn't it?

I mean Diplo and Ronson are both absolutely MASSIVE worldwide - I'm still not really sure if they're technically headliners or not (or what that even means really), but I think it's going to be great regardless. Not many things as good as a Friday night headliner that is just fun. 

Bestival have got me back on board, just nabbed a ticket. 

 

Edited March 1, 2018 by Zacko

[seanz25]

Victorious is cheaper and offers more, feel it's been heading in this direction for a few years too. 

[BigKev88]

7 minutes ago, seanz25 said:

Victorious is cheaper and offers more, feel it's been heading in this direction for a few years too. 

I think comparing Bestival to Victorious is like chalk and cheese.

[dentalplan]

14 minutes ago, seanz25 said:

Victorious is cheaper and offers more, feel it's been heading in this direction for a few years too. 

Depends what it offers more of. There are more Modfathers on the Victorious lineup, which isn’t an appealing positive.

[rseamer]

9 minutes ago, BigKev88 said:

I think comparing Bestival to Victorious is like chalk and cheese.

Yep. Totally different. I go to both (as Victorious is just a few mins walk from my house) but you can’t compare them.

The Bestival line up is far braver / diverse and is about the whole ‘experience’. Victorious is a lot less imaginative and immersive but good value for money if you just want to see a bunch of bigger names that maybe aren’t as big as they used to be.

[seanz25]

7 minutes ago, dentalplan said:

Depends what it offers more of. There are more Modfathers on the Victorious lineup, which isn’t an appealing positive.

Had a lot of pals who a few years back went Bestival religiously, slowly filtered out and started heading to Victorious or just not gone to Besti. IMO it's easier to get too (no need for hover craft/ferry) the headliners have arguably been bigger at Victorious the last two years, and for less money when it comes to tickets. Although they cater to different genres of music, they both still feature some similar artists and I'd argue there is a crossover. Victorious had Ronson in 2016. The Prodigy have played Bestival before just for example. Not by any means saying they're identical, more that these Bestival line-up's IMO are getting poorer year on year, at least for the ticket price. And you have the added expense of having to travel over to the IOW etc. Think they've got by for a while now on the Bestival brand/name, I don't know how much longer that can continue. 

 

EDIT: Forgot they left the IOW. Maybe my point's are rubbish . Who knows. CBA to change it. 

Edited March 1, 2018 by seanz25

[dentalplan]

2 hours ago, deadpheasant said:

That's true, it is for some punters though and it's the headliners that have the pulling power to sell tickets, I'd be very surprised if Bestival sells out even at 35k capacity. If there's enough for you there then fair play but personally I won't return to Bestival this year due to the lineup being weak.

Maybe I’m being a bit of a fraud because I too will miss this and probably find a line up that suits me better. I just think they’re obviously trying to consciously downscale the event and they’re choosing quality acts worth their salt from a variety of backgrounds rather than doing the easy thing and finding old chart toppers. And the atmosphere attached to some of these acts further down the bill seems to indicate that they want people to have the time of their life at 3/4pm rather than just kill time and shuffle between stages. I just feel like people looking at the headliners and writing it off are maybe missing the point.

36 minutes ago, seanz25 said:

Had a lot of pals who a few years back went Bestival religiously, slowly filtered out and started heading to Victorious or just not gone to Besti. IMO it's easier to get too (no need for hover craft/ferry) the headliners have arguably been bigger at Victorious the last two years, and for less money when it comes to tickets. Although they cater to different genres of music, they both still feature some similar artists and I'd argue there is a crossover. Victorious had Ronson in 2016. The Prodigy have played Bestival before just for example. Not by any means saying they're identical, more that these Bestival line-up's IMO are getting poorer year on year, at least for the ticket price. And you have the added expense of having to travel over to the IOW etc. Think they've got by for a while now on the Bestival brand/name, I don't know how much longer that can continue. 

 

EDIT: Forgot they left the IOW. Maybe my point's are rubbish . Who knows. CBA to change it. 

I guess they were to some extent playing the same game as Victorious in getting big names on the touring circuit but it’s definitely refocused now. I’ve been to Victorious and I did like it but the fact that only one band plays upwards of an hour (which has been introduced since I went) across the whole day and it’s just a conveyor belt of names clocking in and out, it’s clearly directed at people who see different things in attending festivals.

Edited March 1, 2018 by dentalplan