HMS Bestival reveals The Port - a brand new arena with a ship

This summer's nautical themed 10th Bestival has tonight unveiled a new arena 'The Port' dedicated to a decade of dancing at Robin Hill Country Park on the Isle of Wight.

Taking place from Thursday 5th until Sunday 8th September 2013 the festival's new addition is their most ambitious and largest project onsite since they started. The Port will be a landlocked harbour with a ship - HMS Bestival as its centrepiece surrounded by a pier, nautical sideshows and all the action of a bustling port... transported to a festival.

The Port will boast state of the art sound provided by Funktion One, hi-tech lasers and LED screens and a boatload of pyro exploding from HMS Bestival's funnels. DJs will man the bridge, steering the good ship through day and night of techno and house with many of the world's top DJs taking to it's decks.

The Port will also feature a lighthouse come helter skelter, a Dockers Bar, aerial performances from a huge crane, dancing girls and camp sailor boys on stage, plus dance podiums throughout the arena for the crowd, pyrotechnics, sparkle, flame and fire effects, confetti, and smoking funnels.

Manning the bridge of the 24m long ocean going liner will be Friday night headliner Richie Hawtin, at the helm on Saturday is Annie Mac Presents selection and Sunday will be brought to an end by Carl Cox. Also confirmed are new line-up additions Knife Party, DJ Ez, The 2 Bears, The Toddla T Sound, Jaguar Skills, Phat Phil Cooper, and Russ Cuban, alongside DJ sets from Seth Troxler, Julio Bashmore, Maya Jane Coles, Erol Alkan / Duke Dumont, Eats Everything, Cyril Hahn, Hospitality Bestival Take Over Featuring High Contrast, Danny Byrd, Nu:Logic, Fred V & Grafix Hosted By Wrec & Dynamite, Marcel Dettmann, Heidi, Ed Rush, and Jesse Rose.

Festival captain Rob da Bank said, "I'm probably more excited about this new stage for Bestival than anything else in the last decade of creating fun and mental spaces for people to party on. We've got a tree you can rave inside, a forest with films and a giant metal spider that breathes fire but we've never had a life sized ship transmitting the best techno and house DJs across the waves while lasers strafe the crowd and a lighthouse booms its foghorn!

"This whole new field is going to be an all night maritime adventure with dirty little rum bars, enticing brothels and sea shanties ringing out from random sailor folk in every corner. It'll have crazy aerial displays and a bucket load of pyro that will blow your mind, it's the dance arena to end all dance arenas and it's gonna go off. If you want to know where the party's at, it's at The Port."."

Headlined by Elton John and Snoop Dogg and a wealth of musical wonders including MIA, Franz Ferdinand, Wu-Tang Clan, The Flaming Lips, Richie Hawtin, Carl Cox, The Strypes, Tom Odell, Jagwar Ma,Bastille, any more. For the line-up details as available please click here. There are still more acts to be unveiled, including the Friday headliner.

As well as the music, Bestival has the world's biggest fancy dress party for 50,000 festival goers. The festival also offers a vibrant mix of cocktail bars, laughter clubs, a farmers market, kids area, dancing, magical moments and more, as one of the most colourful events on the festival calendar.

Tickets for Bestival including entry from Thursday 4th September are priced at £190 for Adult Tickets and £127 for Teen (age 13-17) Tickets. For those arriving on or after Friday 5th September adult tickets are priced at £180. Tickets for children (age 12 & under) are free (but must have a ticket). A campervan ticket is priced at £90 (per vehicle), and car parking is priced at £11 advance (or £15 cash on arrival).

There's also a 15 week payment plan which means that an adult ticket can now be bought at a payment of £12.67 per week (Thursday entry) or £12 per week (Friday entry) over 15 weekly payments.

To buy tickets, click here.

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