Splashing its colourful craziness all over the Isle of Wight, September’s Bestival sent the festival season out in a blaze of fancy dress glory. The usually peaceful island became a mind-popping candy shop of musical goodies as 50,000 happy campers piled onto ferries to begin their escape from reality.
The first day of the weekend extravaganza saw Example and Delphic transform the masses into high on blue smarties kids, whilst Californian songstress Lissie sparkled with that unmistakable ‘let’s skip through cornfields with flowers in our hair’ vibe. Meanwhile, over in the Big Top, an expectant crowd burst the tent’s seams to hear what Mercury Prize winners The xx had to offer. Later that night Dizzee ‘Dance Wiv Me’ Rascal drove his hyperactive audience bonkers for his energetic set, the highlight being his own dirtee version of Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’.
Saturday’s fancy dress parade (for which the theme was ‘fantasy’) sadly suffered from a typical English downpour yet many loyal fans still gathered to support Oxford quartet Stornoway. Fortunately reggae band The Wailers (of Bob Marley fame) soon cast their Caribbean spell and the sun magically shone to the tune of ‘Three Little Birds’, whilst The Correspondents whirled up a fantastically eccentric storm with their electro-swing remix of The Jungle Book’s ‘I Wanna Be Like You’. Brilliantly extroverted with the use of an on-stage trampoline and treadmill, they pulled some outrageous shapes as their oh-so-Soho style enthralled the crowd.
Fiesty little Ellie Goulding surprised everyone yet again with her powerful vocals as she refused to let herself be lost on the main stage. However, the crowd seemed reluctant to show as much enthusiasm for her set as they had done at Newcastle’s Evolution back in May, perhaps due to the rife and rather impatient anticipation for Radio One’s Festival Band of the Year, Mumford and Sons. The bass and banjo yielding foursome drove the crowd to a palpably high level of triumphant folk-induced ecstasy, satisfying their audience’s ravenous musical appetite with all the rousing hits from ‘Sigh No More’. Stunning new song 'Lover of the Light’, previously tried and tested at their Newcastle Union gig back in March, was well received amongst a set that could easily have been mistaken for a greatest hits album. Dressed as a musketeer, Marcus, an infectious post- ‘Little Lion Man’ grin on his face, yelled ‘I’ve never seen so many superheroes singing ‘fuck’ at the same time!’ to a great many face-painted cheers. If these lovely London lads aren’t headlining soon then I’ll stick my head down a festival portaloo.....maybe.
As the evening drew in the hotly tipped Roxy Music made the error of saving all the classics until the end of their set and dapper frontman Bryan Ferry instantly gained bore points for wearing a suit. Luckily Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips showed them how it’s done with glitter explosions and strobe lighting as he crowd-surfed in a giant zorbing ball to the psychedelic beat of his band.
Sunday saw French hip-hoppers Wax Tailor throw some European flair into the line-up and a variety of previously unknown performers promote themselves in the environmentally-friendly Tomorrow’s World. Following a DJ set from Bestival creator and Radio One legend Rob da Bank, Chase and Status ignited the main stage coals for closing headliners and original rave kings The Prodigy. Even the most tired and hung-over of the latter’s 'Voodoo People' were worked into a frenzy with riotous anthems ‘Firestarter’ and ‘Omen’. As the fantasy castle bonfire was lit and fireworks exploded across the sky, it was clear that this was one party nobody ever wanted to end.
Link to Palatinate: http://www.palatinate.org.uk/indigo/music/bestival-2010/
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