Bestival 2012: Review
A spectacular weekend in the sun that offered countless musical delights, plenty of surprises and a party atmosphere that's almost unrivalled
Friday 7th to Sunday 9th September 2012 – Bestival @ Robin Hill Country Park, Isle of Wight Words: Greg Smith
Following the wettest summer in living memory – one that has blighted the 2012 festival season with countless mudbaths and cancellations – despite the optimistic forecasts, we arrive on the Isle of Wight with a car packed full of wellies, waterproofs and fully prepared for Mother Nature to have her wicked way once again. We’re greeted, however, with blazing sun, a carnival atmosphere and an entrance queue full of pink-faced punters. Coupled with the fact that a 45-minute ferry trip is required to reach the festival, you could be easily mistaken for thinking you were sunnier climes abroad.
! FRIDAY Of course, the only (minor) drawback of sensational weather is that shortly before 8 o’clock your tent is quickly turned into a furnace by the searing golden orb above. Undeterred we slap on the sun cream and set off into the arena to check out the plethora of eclectic music Bestival has to offer.
The first act of the weekend are Swedish duo First Aid Kit whose beguiling folk-tinged sounds gently shake us into life before the gloriously eccentric Adam Ant and his Good the Mad and the Lovely Posse inject some much-needed madness into proceedings. Rocking his Pimpernel look in style, Adam looks rejuvenated and triumphant as he dispatches classics including ‘Prince Charming’ and ‘Kings of The Wild Frontier’ – top stuff.
Elsewhere impossibly young, retrogressive acoustic troubadour Jake Bugg pulled in a massive crowd at the Replay Stage with his Bob Dylan meets George Formby sounds. It’s surely only a matter of time before Mr Bugg is propelled higher up the line-up?! Warming up for their 2manyDJs set later on, Soulwax wow with a pulsating electro-indie set in the Big Top culminating with a show-stealing rendition of ‘NY Excuse’.
Now the biggest selling act of the year, mainly thanks to her coveted performances at the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, over on the Main Stage Emeli Sandé raced through the hits from her recent debut album, Our Version of Events. Whether you love Emeli’s music or not, you can’t help but be impressed by her phenomenal voice.
Oozing a nonchalant coolness, London trio The XX are the penultimate act to perform on the main stage on Friday, the haunting vocals echo round the arena and seem perfectly fitting as the sun sets beyond the stage. It may not be particularly sing-along stuff but it goes down well with the Bestival crowd (and headline act, who later tweeted her appreciation).
Florence & the Machine finish the night, with Florence Welsh’s inimitable vocals ringing out loud as she marches and twirls round the stage in a flowing green dress. At times during ‘You’ve Got The Love’ the sound coming through the speakers is almost matched by the thousands singing along in the crowd. An encore of ‘Take Care’ by Drake (courtesy of Jamie xx and Gil-Scott Heron), which Florence dedicates to The XX and then finished with a rousing, ‘Dog Days Are Over’. An emphatic end to a brilliant first day.
! SATURDAY After over-indulging in the party atmosphere on Friday night and waking up in a sweaty tent, the thought of putting on fancy dress in 25 degree heat for the yearly Bestival tradition was the last thing anyone really wanted to do. After a good cup of tea and a sausage butty though, we bit the bullet and put the cow costumes on we’d bought the week before the festival, this year’s theme being wildlife. Needless to say, it was a tad hot.
Singer-songwriter Ben Howard was the first on today’s list of people we wanted to see, however it seemed due to his recent success everyone else had the same idea and we ended up sat outside watching on a screen. ‘Only Love’ and ‘Keep Your Head’ in particular went down well with thousands crammed into the arena.
Next up was the mightily impressive human beatboxer, Beardyman (aka 30-year-old Darren Foreman). One of my personal favourites from the weekend and you tell by the smiles of disbelieve from other people that they were enjoying it. It’s pretty amazing the music one man can make with just his mouth and a sampler – from robot noises, to TV theme tunes to animals and beats, there’s literally nothing Beardyman can’t do. Perfect Saturday afternoon viewing in the sunshine.
We then managed to catch the tail end of the ever-bonkers Cuban Brothers whose brand of hip hop and immature jokes had the crowd dancing and laughing throughout. The moustached musical caricatures are fast turning into one of the staples of festival season – and rightly so.
Irish three-piece Two Door Cinema Club are up next, with their recent album Beacon up to number 2 in the UK album chart, it’s no surprise that there’s a big turnout to watch them. With singles ‘What You Know’, ‘Undercover Martyn’ and ‘Something Good Can Come’ proving to be good sing along indie anthems, the only criticism that can be levelled at them is that it all quickly turns into one homogenous indie mush.
With nightfall finally descending, making my cow costume somewhat more bearable, it was over to watch bona-fide music legends New Order headline the Main stage. Kicking off their set with ‘Elegia’ from their 1985 album Low-Life, the veterans then flit back and forward between older and newer tracks with a surprising lack of crowd interaction. Maybe it’s Bernard Sumner’s dad dancing?!
Unsurprisingly, it’s the classics that finally spark the crowd into euphoria. ‘True Faith’ sounds truly transcendental and is greeted with a phenomenal roar while a thunderous ‘Blue Monday’ (a track that’s very much the blueprint for the techno sounds going on in the big top) takes things into even higher realms. Incredibly they manage to surpass this with a closing rendition of ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ that will forever be etched into my memory.
Having seen a lack of techno music over the course of the weekend, we venture over to the packed Bollywood tent to check out the Dirtybird Showcase featuring Claude Von Stroke, Justin Martin and Eats Everything. Whose Afraid of Detroit rings out loud within 5 minutes of getting into the tent, and the large owl suit (presumably containing Claude Von Stroke) dances about behind the decks. It signals the start of hours of messy dancing…
! SUNDAY Another bleary-eyed morning and we’re all feeling a little bit de-motivated – queue Mr Motivator. We head down to the Roller Disco and find a rather empty tent, however one minute before his arrival and the crowd backs up 10 metres behind the sound desk. I’d say that what ensued was possibly my most enjoyable event of the weekend. Whoever thought that doing an exercise routine to Benny Benassi’s ‘Satisfaction’ led by a hyperactive man wearing a bright coloured spandex outfit would be such good fun?!
The next few hours are spent wandering round sampling the large choice of festival cuisine and checking out the random events going round the site which are reminiscent of Glastonbury. Some examples – a toboggan run, watching a friend attempting to ride a bike which the handle bars turn in the opposite direction to the wheel, a rather strange poetry reading in the enchanted forest and the spectacular Wall of Death in which two women and a man ride side by side round a vertical wall.
Back onto the music, ethereal Icelandic post-rockers Sigur Ros are up next on the main stage. Demoted down the bill to accommodate the upcoming legendary headliner, it’s a curious experience watching the band (who look even more sombre than usual) in the daylight. Not quite the spectacular, laser-strewn visual feast we were hoping for, Jonsi and co. make up for it however with genuinely spine-tingling and epic moments like ‘Hoppipolla’ and sprawling closer ‘Popplagið’.
There’s then a pretty big gap before Sunday’s headline act, Stevie Wonder, and it seems that as well as being top of the line-up, he’s at the top of every single person there’s list of artist’s to see. A huge crowd has gathered and he certainly did not disappoint. Opening with Marvin Gaye’s ‘How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)’, ‘Master Blaster (Jammin)’ closely follows as well as a jubilant ‘Higher Ground’. ‘Superstition’ is a personal favourite as well as a cover of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’. ‘Happy Birthday’ is the final song of the set followed by a spectacular firework display. I think the majority of the people who saw Stevie Wonder will know that they experienced something pretty special and it’s a great way finish the main stage.
As always at Bestival, the night’s still young though and we head over the Roller Disco to check out Four Tet and Caribou. Unfortunately though, despite the organisation being spot on up to this point, it seems there’s been a massive over sight and after 10 minutes of being crammed against the sound desk unable to move we decide to give it a miss. The music was excellent though and they’re definitely two live acts I’ll be checking out more of.
All in all it was a spectacular weekend in the sun at Bestival – one that offered countless musical delights, plenty of surprises and a party atmosphere that’s almost unrivalled. How Rob da Bank will top this year’s event we don’t quite know, but we wouldn’t put it past him! Roll on 2013!
