Red Funnel

2007 Review - Part 1

by Ross Purdie, Virtual Festivals

Johnny Rocket gets his dancing shoes on for Bestival. His feet are bare by Monday.

With at least 14 dedicated musical areas, featuring bands, DJs, comedy and performance, there was more than enough of everything for anybody's musical tastes a Bestival.

The journey had taken longer than anticipated, but by Friday night tent was pitched and ears were at the ready, the walk down from the drop-off point brightened up by the sounds of the wonderful Seasick Steve playing on the Bandstand in the Village area.

Steve (who says the name 'Seasick Steve' isn't a name, but a curse, and who didn't really enjoy the ferry crossing across to the island on strength of that) has been playing all across the festival circuit this summer. A soft-spoken genuine article bluesman and one-time hobo, Steve sings songs about real life. He's incredibly charming and churns out some classic dirty blues on his trademark three-string guitar.

2007 Review - Part 2

Johnny Rocket scratches the surface, digs underneath and touches the sky to discover just what makes Bestival the unique coming-together of brilliance that it is.

Big grins and happy faces define the weekend as 30,000 party-goers mass at Robin Hill, done up in their finest fancy dress finery for a music-crazed orgy of entertainment and love of life under the Isle of Wight sunshine.

The site is festooned with flags, with music blaring out everywhere. There's plenty of space, plenty of shade, and a host of atmospheres, from the happily intimate village fete halfway up the hill to the more mass market zones around the main stage and the incredibly chilled-out Restival area on the way to the main camping fields.

2006 Review

by Tamar Newton, Virtual Festivals

Like the last unexpected can of beer found in the fridge, Bestival is that final delicious swansong, the last dance before the clocks go back and reality steeps coldly in...

Its setting is positively Narnianesque, set in an undulating wooded valley over which can be seen the white sails of yachts from the distant harbour. Unfortunately every Eden has its snake, this one in the form of the ground being more pitted than the average teenager's face, but as Robin Hood walks past idly scratching his lurid latex bulge, the realisation dawns that this is going to be no ordinary festival.

If you suffer from even the slightest ADD tendencies then Bestival will mess with your hard wiring. For a such a small festival it crams in so many new bands, classic DJs, seminal names and sparkly things, it'll have you picking up greasy brown paper bags off the grass just to calm yourself down. Every festival this year has been standing on it's tip toes, straining to be the one to borrow Glastonbury's glory in it's absence. And whilst none can quite replicate the small town that appears out of the Pilton mists, Bestival has certainly picked up it's glittery elements. It's curator Rob Da Bank's fantasy line-up made real and then heavy decorated with Bollywood imagery, robotic horses, WI cake stalls and much much more.

2005 Review

It's not only the amount of people that have more than doubled since Bestival's inaugral outing on the Isle Of Wight last year. More venues, better bands, almost everyone dressed up; it's also double the fun!

With the small but perfectly formed festival site buzzing all weekend with an amazing end of summer party spirit, Bestival 2005 was truly like no other, mainly because, in just two years, organiser Rob Da Bank and his team have somehow managed to achieve what many have tried and failed to do, to take the best bits of Glastonbury and twist them into creating the next generation of small festival; something truly interactive that demands every visitor gets properly stuck in (those 'civvy-dressers' who felt stupid during Saturday's fancy dress party will know). A gamble perhaps, but one that paid off. Just ask the punters who cleared up in the casino.

2004 Review

by Ross Purdie, Virtual Festivals

Unlike its bigger, non-related rock equivalent, the Nokia Isle Of Wight Festival, Bestival is small. Very small. That shouldn’t be a problem, small can be beautiful, and if you’ve got great acts (like here, Fatboy Slim warming up for Basement Jaxx) and a good vibe then it shouldn’t matter. But when it looks deserted, then you’ve got a problem. Searching around, it’s often difficult to believe the site is anywhere near full, especially on Sunday afternoon when a decent but damp-weathered set by reggae revivalists Ori-Jah-Nal is watched by no more than 50 people. And the first thing Sia says, when she joins Zero 7’s headline performance is, “Thanks so much for sticking around.” It’s just as well people have done because the band are the highest paid act of the weekend.