For four days, we basked in glorious sunshine, surrounded by all manner of fancy dress efforts (from not tried very hard at all to been working on that since October 2011 and couldn’t fit anything else in the ruck sack.)

In addition to losing yourself in a field of madness for a few days, accompanied by happy people having a lovely time soaking up a spectrum of music, Bestival provides unique and effortless photographic opportunities.  The colour, the sunsets, the people, the outfits, the set up, the creativity, the transportation to another dimension. Bestival 2012 – some of it captured here for your pleasure.

New order performed a few of their most known tunes, like:

- Blue Monday

- Temptation

- Love Will Tear Us Apart

- Isolation

- The Perfect Kiss

- Bizarre Love Triangle

- Krafty

- Here To Stay

- 5 8 6

- True Faith

The Bestival also featured the presence of some legends like: Sister Sledge, De La Soul, Gary Newman among others.

Woah, what a weekend! Having travelled round the UK and even to Austria once for various festivals over the last 5 years I can certainly say that Bestival exceeded all expectations and Im glad to say it is one of the best UK festivals around. What a chilled out vibe all weekend, everyone in fancy dress (including a few cockroaches) and there to have a good time. As a dedicated Reading Festival fan I gave it a miss this year but was so glad to find that Bestival goes above and beyond to entertain absolutely everyone, from tea time cabaret to Karaoke and DJs on until 4am, and after that festival goers standing around a piano singing until the sun rises. 

Amongst the line up this year was The XX, Florence and The Machine, Friendly Fires, Justice, New Order, Little Dragon, De La Soul, Friends, Stevie Wonder and of course even Mr Motivator. 

Friday brought an absolutely stunning performance from The XX with a set from their self-titled debut and their newly released second album, Coexist. They had the crowd listening in silence and chanting along to their magical, eerie set covered in smoke. Followed by them was the Friday headliner Florence and The Machine, as always giving a performance full of energy leaping around the stage barefoot dressed as none other than what we could establish was a tree. She belted out her hits from both Lungs and Ceremonials and her voice echoed through the Robin Hill Country Park. 

Highlights of the weekend included performances from Justice, turning the Big Top tent into a bustling sweaty mess and smaller performances from the recently mercury nominated Alt-J who deserved a bigger stage as well as Brooklyn Band, Friends, with lead singer Samantha giving an entertaining performance with more big things surely to come from them.

Stevie Wonder topped off the weekend with a 2-hour set full of classics as well as covering Michael Jackson and ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon, which caused more than a couple of wet eyes in the crowd. Ending it all with ‘Happy Birthday To You’ Stevie Wonder walked off stage to an epic fireworks display over the Bestival site as the crowd watched the sky in awe. Bestival sure know how to throw a party and after selling out 2012 don’t wait too long to get your 2013 tickets as it is their 10th anniversary next year and guessing Rob da Bank and Josie won’t hesitate in pulling out all the stops. 

Check out performance on the Bestival Youtube Channel 

All images from www.bestival.net 

There was a tear in my eye at this point.. (as in when Sage rocked Makeshift Patriot.. wow.
and when he dropped ‘Best of times’ at the end. Amazing, big up the king)

(Nice one for the video Mr John Burns via You Tube)

S

We missioned down to Southampton straight from work on Friday and hopped on to our ferry (concentrating very hard to ignore the sea sick passenger on top deck!).  We docked, and immediately saw signage to turn off the Sat Nav and trust the yellow info signs.  Great!  Unfortunately I think Rob da Banks peeps may have overestimated the general publics’ ability to follow dotted about instructions as we were not the only festival goers to complete a couple of laps of the island before arriving at the site!!  However, as soon as we were in, it was all plain sailing and I loved every second…

Friday night – Florence and the Machine headlined.  Mainly playing tracks from the album ‘Lungs’, the crowd was mesmerised by the visually and audibly hypnotic performance.  She wore a beautiful flowing green dress which, teamed with her Ivy head garland echoed the wildlife Bestival theme brilliantly.  She was stunning.

The question on everyones lips?: How does she sing, dance, run the length of the stage, play the harp and drums, wear that trip-length dress and do it all with such poise and grace?  Answers on the back of a blog post please folks!

On Saturday, we joined in the fancy dress (obvs gotta get in to that Bestival spirit!) and headed down to the Wagamama stage.  Yes, that’s right – the noodle bar.  We didn’t think we’d read the venue right either!  Our favourite master of 80′s music trickery DJ Yoda wowed the crowd with a mash up of hip hop, 80′s pop and electronic beats all scratched smoothly together to whip the wildlife creatures into a party frenzy!  Because there were so few people (or animals?) at the intimate gathering, the atmosphere was that of a mates house party – see below.

On Sunday night, Bestival brought the curtain down on the UK’s summer festival season. Now in its ninth outing, Bestival has deservedly built a reputation for eclectic programming, a fun crowd and a fantastic atmosphere. This year was no exception. Here are some of my highs and lows from Bestival 2012.

The Highs

1. Stevie Wonder

An absolutely joyful headline performance at the main stage on Sunday, in front of practically the entire 50,000 crowd united in a buoyant, celebratory mood was followed by a spectacular fireworks display and closed out the festival on a massive high. Yes, the preachy banter was occasionally jarring for some, but it was entirely forgivable, given that it came from an absolute living legend and only lightly peppered a greatest hits set that was simply magical in places.

There were brilliant renditions of everything from ‘Sir Duke’, ‘Higher Ground’ ‘Isn’t She Lovely’ and, of course ‘Superstition’, to tributes to John Lennon (‘Imagine’, The Beatles’ ‘She Loves You’), Michael Jackson (‘The Way You Make Me Feel’) and Marvin Gaye (‘What’s Going On’). Stevie’s voice sounded as good as it ever has, his big band were in great form, and the crowd danced and sang back every word along the way. It was absolutely, positively, bloody magnificent.

2. The XX

Wow. On Friday night, in their only UK festival appearance this year, the XX proved that sometimes less is definitely more.  They warmed up for what actually turned out to be a bit of an underwhelming headline set by Florence & the Machine – too full of self-indulgence and unnecessary embellishment here - with a poised, tightly controlled and truly mesmerizing performance of their own. A surprisingly huge crowd had gathered in front of the main stage to witness the coming of age of a very special British band, and they could not have been disappointed with what they saw.

In stark comparison to Flo Welch’s massive set-up – with her band, a mini-orchestra, backing singers, a piano and a harp - the stage for the XX was smoky, starkly lit and empty, save for the band, clad in black. The minimal set-up perfectly reflected the band’s now landmark sound: achingly intimate and slow songs with a daring sense of space.

Love them as I do, I’ve long had my doubts as to whether the XX – not exactly performers of huge singalong anthems or with buckets of stage presence – are suited to playing to crowds of this magnitude. What was genuinely surprising, then, was just how powerful these hushed and introverted songs sounded, drifting through the night air from the main stage. The band worked their way through tracks from both their first and newly released second album, speaking rarely between them, and the massive crowd were collectively awed into revered silence throughout, only applauding loudly when each perfectly rendered number had come to an end. A truly captivating performance.

3. Brodinski

Brodinski absolutely blew the roof off a packed-out Bollywood tent with a blistering final set on a Saturday night which had already played host to Claude Vonstroke, Justin Martin and Eats Everything. An absolute DJ masterclass, he moved effortlessly between three decks, several genres and various BPMs, chopping and screwing between Cocoon-style dark, locked-in techno, electro and grimy hip-hop bangers, working the crowd into an absolute frenzy. Just too fucking sick.

4. A daytime skank-out in the Bollywood Tent

Yes, we witnessed bigger and better acts over the weekend (see honourable mentions, below). No, The Nextmen might not be the coolest new DJs or the Next Big Thing anymore (were they ever?), and yes, admittedly their DJ sets haven’t changed much over the years, but when a tried and tested formula is this much fun, why mess with it? On Friday, from 4-5pm, the Nextmen duly played a crowd-pleasing set of old-school and classic hip hop, jungle and drum n bass duttyness and, in doing so, generously facilitated the kind of mid-afternoon skank-out that the Bollywood Tent is famed for. And a fantastic, sweaty time was had by all. Cheers boys.

5. The atmosphere

In yet another year of rain-soaked, miserable wash-outs at UK festivals, the Isle of Wight basked in some fantastic early September weather, and Bestival goers were the supremely lucky recipients of glorious sunshine for most of the weekend, with the heavens only finally opening in the early hours of Monday morning. The great weather undoubtedly boosted spirits at a festival already renowned for good vibes. It also definitely helps that the dickhead quota at Bestival is about as low as you could hope for from a UK festival.

Add in the customary fancy dress Saturday, some great music and all the other fantastic stuff which makes Bestival so unique (the ‘time for tease’ burlesque and cabaret shows, the Swamp Shack, the Wishing Tree, wedding, roller and silent discos, the jaw-dropping Arcadia mechanical cabaret arena and, most memorably of all, a tron style ping-pong room, to name but a few), and it all contributed to one last great big celebratory love-in of the summer.

Honourable mentions:

Hot Chip

Playing the Thursday night in the Big Top wasn’t the easiest of gigs for the Chip, with many looking to conserve their energy for the proper kick-off on Friday, but the band delivered a barnstorming set that kept everyone moving until the end, the highlight being a crowd singalong to a cheeky cover of Fleetwod Mac’s ‘Everywhere’. A perfect warm-up.

SBTRKT

SBTRKT’s debut album has been thoroughly rinsed since it’s release last summer, but that diminished little from a banging set on Friday night in the Big Top that rattled through ‘Wildfire’, ‘Hold On’ and ‘Pharoes’ with panache, much to the jubilant satisfaction of the packed out crowd.

Justice

I wasn’t hugely fussed about seeing Justice on the Saturday night, mainly because I’ve already seen them a tonne of times before and was not a massive fan of their second album, but sheeeeeeeeit, were they good. By now, everyone knows what Justice are all about, and sure enough, they went HAM up in there, but they displayed a knack for keeping the crowd on their toes and a technical mastery which must have been honed through extensive touring across the globe over the past few years, because it was largely and endearingly absent when I last saw them. Ending, of course, with arguably the zenith of electro bangers, Phantom Pt II, they had already smashed the shit out of the Big Top by that point and left the roadblocked tent absolutely blown to pieces at the end.

The Lows:

1. Flux Pavilion

A late stage change which we were completely unaware of saw Soulwax shifted to the Big Top to accommodate this wanker on the Main Stage on Friday afternoon. Under the mistaken belief that Soulwax were simply running late and that this bleach blonde fuckwit was some amateur DJ competition winner who was simply filling time until the Dewale brothers came on, I stood in horror for a full 20 minutes as my ears were filled with spastic brown noise. At that point we realised our error and made a dash to the Big Top to catch the rest of Soulwax, but by then the damage had already been done.

Flux Pavilion is a purveyor of the very worst kind of predictable, moronic shitstep, and is not only the worst act I had the displeasure of seeing at Bestival this year, but one of the worst I’ve ever seen in my whole life. Incidentally, down the front is where the entire dickhead quota of Bestival were gathered, new era caps all bobbing in unison, all ‘licking shots’ at each ridiculous squelch and fart that came out of the speakers, so I’ve no doubt this chancer is revered as a God at places like Reading Festival and SW4. Look at that picture, for fuck’s sake, he’s got a little desk fan to keep him cool while he ‘does his thing’. What an intolerable cunt.

2. Queues

I accept that queues are inevitable at festivals, and generally I’m happily resigned to this, but while waiting times in the main festival site were rarely long thanks to well-staffed bars and loads of facilities, the lack of toilets, water taps and showers in the actual camp sites was mystifying and frustrating. We were in red camp site and counted only 10 portaloos at the top of the site, and the same again for long drops at the other end. We queued for four hours on Saturday for a shower, probably because there were seemingly only ten cubicles catering to three camp sites – several thousands worth of people. Please sort it out next year, Mr Da Bank!

3. DOOM

I was really looking forward to catching underground legend DOOM at Bestival this year, but his performance turned out to be a big anti-climax for me. Live rap shows can be a pretty dull affair if there’s no live instrumentation or improvisation and this was no different.  DOOM rocked the classic set-up of hype men and supporting DJ to spin the tracks and the whole thing just fell a bit flat, despite frontloading the set with blunted classics from Madvillainy and Doomsday. I lost interest and left half way through. Oh well, at least he turned up, and at least it looked like the real deal on this occasion.

4. The Big Top

Don’t get me wrong, the Big Top hosted some of the biggest and best acts of the weekend and the sound system was incredible in there, but it’s positioning near the top of the hill, where the Main Stage used to be a few years ago, combined with a lack of entrance points meant that it was often rammed and difficult to dance on such an incline in huge crowds.

On the Thursday night during Hot Chip, a random moment of unexpected moshing near the front created a shockwave which sent what felt like hundreds of us tumbling backwards in a domino effect, unable to regain our balance on such a steep footing, and eventually stacking it on top of each other. We were quickly on our feet again helping each other back up, and could see that people had even been caught up in it towards the back of the tent. Luckily no one looked badly injured and everyone quickly got back on with the show, but it just wouldn’t have happened had the tent been on more even ground.

Often the problem of overcrowding was exacerbated by putting so many big acts in there with nothing else of a similar appeal going on elsewhere to sufficiently attract enough people away, and it led to constant battles just to get in and for enough space to move, which threatened to (but didn’t) ruin our enjoyment of the likes of SBTRKT, Justice and Friendly Fires, who I should also mention were bloody brilliant, as usual.

I admit I don’t know if there is an easy fix here, but we were definitely not alone in feeling that The Big Top would be more enjoyable if it were on more even ground and less packed out every night.

5. BBSSS (Big Band, Small Stage Syndrome)

Did you get to see buzz bands Alt J or Django Django at the weekend? We didn’t even manage to get in the same postcode. There’s not much the organisers can do about the hype that has enveloped these bands since they were added to the bill, but it was disappointing all the same that we didn’t get to see them because they played such small stages.

Dishonourable Mentions:

Roots Manuva

Nope, sorry. Just wasn’t feeling this.

De La Soul

A huge crowd was gathered in the afternoon sun at the Main Stage on Saturday for a brilliant old-school set from Plugs 1 & 2 of De La Soul, which featured all the classics, EXCEPT ‘The magic number’. Maybe this was out of respect for the absent Maseo, but come on! Seriously! No ‘Magic Number’…?? The DJ even started playing the track at the end and the guys just walked off. Not cool.

The 4am curfew

Everything shut down at 4am every night, leaving lots of people who weren’t yet ready to call it a night no option but to return to their camp sites, waking up lots of early-to-bedders with their alcohol fuelled, drug-addled chat, instead of being able to burn it off for a few more hours in somewhere like the Swamp Shack or the roller disco. If a few things were kept going until 6am, everyone would be better off, surely?

Most heart-warming moment:

The gent who proposed to his girlfriend on the big screen after Bat for Lashes (she said yes). Ahhhhhhhhhh…

Most ubiquitous drug:

Laughing gas.

Most ubiquitous site:

A toss-up between leopard print and discarded NOS cannisters.

Best food:

Egg, sausage, cheese and salsa breakfast burrito. Filth.

Worst moment:

Waiting four hours for a shower.

Best moment:

The shower.

Best Day:

Sunday. Of course.

Best Stevie Wonder song:

Superstition. Of course.

Quote of the Festival:

“I’m high on life right now… And MDMA. And laughing gas. And alcohol…”

That’s all folks. Roll on 2013.

—Thursday—

The Ferry
Took the ferry to from Southampton with Chris, James and Nath. In the queue we met Max, who was kind enough to help us carry some things up the skinny staircases on the ferry, and Harry, who had come directly from Paris after an Interrail tour of Europe! At one point an attendant came around with free sausage and bacon baps! It was a good omen of things to come…

The Coach
While queuing for the coach we got chatting to these two crazy French guys, one of whom was massively drunk, and seemed to say nothing but ‘Dis guy!’ and ‘WAAAAAAAAAA!’.

The French guys on the left, and Harry on the right

Finding a camping spot
This took bloody ages, as the place was already choc-a-bloc. We found space once, but left after arguing with a nearby girl claiming it were her groups “Social Camping Area”; no sense camping near that kind of attitude. Eventually we found a bit of space by a main path, and when we looked at the people in the nearby tent and said ‘Can we camp here?’ their response was ‘Yay neighbours!’ We’d found our spot.

Wandering
After setting up, Chris and I went for a little wander around the Festival site, ending up in a couple of armchairs in the Ambient Forest talking to an Italian named Adriano, who had signed up as a Bestival Bin-man the previous day. We left when Security told us the forest was closed, and cheerfully thanked us when we pointed out the unguarded entrance they hadn’t previously known about.

—Friday—

Morning
Woke up around 9am in the glorious sunshine, and introduced ourselves to the group we were camped with; a group of medicine students from Sheffield Uni. I have to say that just hanging around in the sun with these people was one of the great pleasures of the weekend, so a huge thanks has to go to Andy, Pierre, Annabelle, James (yep, another), Hazel, Meg and Alex (I think). Somewhere along the way Pat arrived and joined us (after the four of us in penguin gear chased him down the path and mobbed him), then it was time for some music!

LIVE ACT – First Aid Kit
Absolutely brilliant. Blown away by how well those two girls sing with each other and perfect music for a sunny festival afternoon. Looking to see them again this year in November!

LIVE ACT – The Staves
Very gentle music; really nice to have playing in the background while relaxing in the sun. We only stayed for some of the set, but I might get some of their music.

The Bacon and the Bath.
Headed back to camp, and Pat had brought BACON! We got the stove out and Pat cooked the whole batch and made bacon sandwiches for everyone. We offered some to our new friends, which seemed to gain their loyalty instantly. Andy later christened Pat “The Hero of Bacon”. We were then told by some yellowshirts about a promotion by which they could get free luxury showers for the rest of the festival (Hazel’s face lit up at the mention of “straighteners”); all they had to do was find a man in a bath and give him a card, then he would give them a wristband for shower access. Chris, James and Nath left immediately, as they’d seen him earlier, and duly got their wristbands. Pat had a look shortly later, but he’d moved…we would have to keep an eye out. We then donned our penguin costumes; it was time to go.

(Left to right) Me, Chris, Pat, James, and Nath on the floor

LIVE ACT – The Horrors
Not really my thing, so a couple of us headed outside for a drink or two in the meantime.

LIVE ACT – Soulwax (ish)
We were waiting for Soulwax for quite a while; until we found out they’d swapped stages with Flux Pavilion, so we eventually found them for their last two songs. Good, but I really want to see a full set sometime!
LIVE ACT – SBTRKT
A bit monotonous for my taste.

LIVE ACT – 2ManyDJs
Parts of this set were fantastic; I loved their mix of Kavinsky’s Night Call. But most of it was just fairly repetitive dance mixes.

—Saturday—

Being Penguins…
A lot of the events of Friday and Saturday were shaped by all five of us being dressed as penguins. This meant us being constantly approached by people for photos, hugs, and when encountering other penguins (there were many) bouncing group hugs generally ensued. I don’t know what it was about being penguins that did this; as @Yankeepapa_13 tweeted: ‘Random observation from Bestival. Otherwise strangers dressed as penguins have an affinity for each other not shared by zebra or tigers.’

At one point we found a piano in the Ballroom Field, and in full view of a lot of parents and children I played Sabre Dance with the other four running, dancing and fighting around me. The kids especially seemed to enjoy this ridiculous sight, which was rather heart-warming.

LIVE ACT – Mr Motivator
So very surreal and really great fun, compounded by the fact that we were in a group of around twenty penguins. Perfect for a Saturday morning.

LIVE ACT – Skinny Lister
A mixture of sea shanties and Flogging Molly. Released a troop of “Skinny Sisters” in pretty dresses into the crowd to smile and dance with people. Quite entertaining, and a bit different, so I’m glad we saw them.

Clay thingies
We were looking for somewhere to relax, and found a tent which had clay you could make things from, so we had a go. Here are the results:

Our clay creations

LIVE ACT – Earth Wind and Fire
Only came in about halfway through, but really enjoyed the set. The disco-funk made a refreshing break from the dubstep that surrounded us.

Hurly Burly shenanigans
This was completely unexpected. We were just wandering around, and we approached the Hurly Burly café. I looked in, turned around and said ‘Nah, not much going on here.’ Then Chris said ‘What do you mean ‘Nothing’? Turn around!” Some music had started playing, and the bar staff were creeping to the front of the bar and did a full dance routine to the track. Very surreal and great entertainment.

LIVE ACT – Mr.B The Gentleman Rhymer
Great stuff, really bouncy music and great entertainment. Very funny man; may have to look into him further, as I’d never heard of his act before.

LIVE ACT – Two Door Cinema Club
Another new discovery for me, these guys give an excellent performance. Good to see a solid rock band this weekend. Will have to look into their music further.

LIVE ACT – New Order
Stayed for the first song and left. Sounded weak, and were very unimpressive. Bit of a shame.

LIVE ACT – Justice
This was right up my street. Although some of it got a bit samey, it was fun being in a solid mosh to some powerful electronica, and they actually have MELODIES, unlike a lot of the DJ stuff we’d seen recently. Would happily see again.

Silly wanderings with Pierre and Andy
After Justice we headed back to the camp, and James, Pat, Chris and Nath called it a night. However Pierre, Andy, Annabelle and a friend of theirs I forget the name of were up for heading to the Big Top tent to carry on the night. When we got there Andy and Pierre wanted to go check out some of the other tents, so I went with them. A routine shortly developed: We would arrive at a tent, Pierre and I would start dancing and enjoying the place, Andy would take another swig of gin and decide to move on somewhere else. He steadily got more drunk, and singing the Pokémon theme at people in animal costumes. We got back at around 4am, and just hung around talking about Pokémon and video games with Nath, who’d woken up. Great night!

—Sunday—

Return of the bath

Me: ‘Hey guys, what kind of bath was the guys sat in?’
James: ‘Tin.’
Me: ‘You mean like that one?’

Yep, the people with the bath were right by our campsite, so all of our group that had previously missed the shower bands got up and followed them until the staff stopped and gave up the tokens.

Don’t let it get away!

While they were doing this James and I headed off to retrieve the clay models, as the others wanted to take theirs home. On the way I ended up offering to carry the trombone of a girl from Perhaps Contraption, as we were heading the same way. Didn’t get a chance to see them play, unfortunately.

LIVE ACT – Roots Manuva
Not really my kind of music, but the performance was quite good. Some nice reggae bits and fairly funky beats.

LIVE ACT – Rizzle Kicks
Bloody good entertainment; their band was tight as a drum, and the two main guys had a lot of good banter and playing with the crowd. Only criticism: Down with the Trumpets needed a bit more power behind the brass, but that’s all.

LIVE ACT – Bat for Lashes
This woman has an incredible singing voice, at one point we mistook her for the Theremin that had been playing earlier. Lovely songs and a great performance.

LIVE ACT – Sigur Rós
Despite technical problems at the start, this was one of the most intense musical experiences of my life. I’ve been listening to their closing song on repeat for the last day and a half while writing this. Desperate to see them again.

LIVE ACT – Stevie Wonder
This was ok…alright I’m kidding, it was spectacular. Such a charismatic performer and excellent musician. Really enjoyed the banter between him, the other musicians and his daughter Ashlee Morris, who was one of the backing singers. A great feel-good finish to the main stage of the festival.

LIVE ACT – Orbital
I was swigging mojito for most of it, but really enjoyed the set. Great atmosphere in that tent. After this I found a deckchair in the Ambient Forest and passed out till security kicked us out again.

—Monday—

Dodgeball quotes
Getting up around 6 (I’d passed out in the tent around 4:30) we were completely fried, and while packing up we seemed unable to cease quoting Patches O’Houlihan from Dodgeball, even though the rest of the coach queue seemed silent.

Photo with Capital
There were a few girls from the Capital FM chatting to people and getting pictures. I, Pat, Chris and Nath are in image 36 of 99.

http://www.capitalfm.com/southcoast/photos/street-photos/bestival-monday-southampton/bestival-monday-southampton-38/

Roughly six hours after leaving the campsite, we got back to Southampton, and the adventure finally came to an end. My only disappointments with the weekend were missing Soulwax after their stage switch, and the fact that the information points never seemed to have any answers. Still one of the best weekends ever, with no exaggeration.

Notes for next year:

• I think I’m going to join the “Swim to Bestival” endeavour.
• Take an instrument or some kind, possibly a Mandolin.
• If taking passenger ferry, go to WEST Cowes.

I’ll be heading towards the highlight of my 2012 festival summer – Bestival. Known for it’s huge fancy dress following, this year the theme is wildlife.

I however, am not known for being great at dressing up in hilarious costumes. So my first port of call was to go shopping in my wardrobe, and I surprised myself at just how much leopard print I own. From then on it was obvious; wear as much leopard print as possible, add a shop bought pair or furry ears, a tail and a cute little bow tie = fancy dress my way.

Fancy enough for me, but will it be wild enough for Bestival?

It’s such a broad theme & can be interpreted in many ways. What would be in your dressing up box for the weekend?

Check out the hashtag #bestivalwildlife for some really creative efforts.

my bestival wild style

scarf £4 Primark / t-shirt Topshop £18 / jeans Dorothy Perkins sale £10

Its now 9 days till Bestival (not that I’m counting) and once again I’m going to be heading down to the IOW with the SDK guys and girls.

Now to most people catching a ferry, then carrying your own body weight in tents down what seems like a never ending pier, just to spend 4 days living in a muddy field during the coldest part of the British summer is less than appealing.

But to be honest… It’s where I feel most at home, living with my festival family in our canvas dome. There’s just something very freeing about being able to dress as a welly boot wearing monkey, who’s one priority is to cram as much food, live music and world class DJ’s in to one weekend as possible.

Now to decide if I’m more excited for Stevie Wonder or Mr Motivator.

I was extremely flattered to be asked to model for the ‘Peacock’ make-up, and obviously couldn’t take my own photo in this instance! When airbrushing and retouching, I kept the looks as natural and as realistic as possible. As someone trained to airbrush photographs, I like to keep the subject looking ‘human’ and naturally beautiful! I used Photoshop to edit the pictures.

Here are the 3 final photos. We have the Leopard, Peacock and Butterfly make-up looks. I hope you like them!

]]> http://frenchiefest.wordpress.com/2012/06/05/sigur-ros-the-best-song/ Tue, 05 Jun 2012 15:40:25 +0000 frenchiefest http://frenchiefest.wordpress.com/2012/06/05/sigur-ros-the-best-song/ Or Café de Flore’s soundtrack..

Head to the official website, Nina Nesbitt in Bestival 2012

-j (NinaNesbittPH)

SIGNED, SEALED & DELIVERED – STEVIE WONDER TO HEADLINE SUNDAY AT BESTIVAL

Ever since organizers found out that the Sunday night headliner was confirmed they have been madly desperate to shout it from the rooftops. The Bestival bunker is fit to burst with utter joy as a real, bona fide musical giant will be amongst us this September!

“What can I say? What a day! I see part of my job at Bestival as giving you acts you may never have seen or will get the chance to see again… so, I’m hoping you feel as happy as I do as we announce the legendary Stevie Wonder as Sunday night headliner! A winner of 25 Grammy Awards, the most ever for a solo artist, this man’s music has always been part of the da Bank home listening experience and also a favourite at our Sunday Best and Bestival parties and this is a very rare chance to see a legend in action. See you there!” Rob da Bank

A man of unparalleled fame, Stevie Wonder is our musical definition of sunshine. From his first number 1 hit, ‘Fingertips, Part 2’ at the age of 13, to the present day, he is one of the most celebrated and prominent figures in popular music. With a run of 5 classic mid-70s albums that included ‘Talking Book’, ‘Innervisions’ and ‘Songs in the Key of Life’ and platinum selling albums in the 80s, producing a string of hit singles including ’Superstition’, ‘Higher Ground’, ‘Living for the City’, ‘Masterblaster (Jammin’)’ and ‘Happy Birthday’ which became the rallying song of Stevie’s efforts that helped make Martin Luther King’s birthday a national holiday in the US, his influence is timeless.

And, almost unbelievably, he is coming to the Isle of Wight to close Bestival 2012 in a UK festival exclusive with a live performance tour de force and we are about as excited as we’ve ever been! So, make sure you join us at Robin Hill Country Park this September to witness one of the greatest acts of all time.

For more BESTIVAL 2012 information and line up – click  here >>>

BESTIVAL ADDS BAT FOR LASHES, BEN HOWARD, SBTRKT & MORE…

Recent confirmations for this year’s “Wildlife” themed Bestival are lead by Bat For Lashes, Ben Howard and SBTRKT.
    
Joining them today are Roots Manuva, Alabama Shakes, Sage Francis as UK festival exclusive, Grimes, Chairlift, Gesaffelstein, Iceage, Ren Harvieu, Factory Floor, Porcelain Raft and Toy.

Not wanting to stop there, we can also confirm that Kindness, Dismantle, Dirty Beaches, General Levy, Top Cat feat. Sir Coxsone Outernational, Josh Kumra, Errors, Trailer Trash Tracys, Forest Swords, Stay +, Skinny Lister, Misty’s Big Adventure, Ryan Keen , Nina Nesbitt, Big Kids, The Lovely Eggs, Alt-J, St Spirit, Charming, Shepherds and Sean McGowan will also be heading for the Isle of Wight this September.

DJs taking to the decks at Bestival are Moodymann, Kavinsky, and Girl Unit, with Mixmaster Morris, Chris Coco, Phil Mison, and Pete Gooding confirmed for the Ambient Forest.

There are still two more headliners, and many more still to be announced.

For more BESTIVAL 2012 information and line up – click here >>>

BESTIVAL’S SATURDAY HEADLINER REVEALED – NEW ORDER!

The excitement never stops at Bestival HQ! Following the first line-up announcement, which included the amazing Sigur Rós, The xx, Two Door Cinema Club, Justice, Hot Chip, 2manydjs, Annie Mac Presents and loads more, plus the acts that have been announced on Twitter in the last week, organisers are beside themselves with joy to be able to let you known just who our fantastic Saturday night headliner is and we’ve got even more tasty treats to boot!

Rob da Bank Says: “So I’ve got Blue Monday blaring out of the Bestival HQ office speakers as we unveil our iconic Saturday night headliner New Order. It doesn’t get better than that… but it does! True Faith, Bizarre Love Triangle, Fine Time, Regret – so many amazing records I grew up listening to and still listen to now and they still sound immense, pioneering, legendary. See you down the front!”

Plus more live music Friendly Fires, Death In Vegas, Django Django, Daughter, Drums Of Death, Zulu Winter
Plus Brainfeeder Presents Thundercat, The Gaslamp Killer, Teebs, Lapalux, Jeremiah Jae & Dj Kutmah
And more DJs Doctor P, Pearson Sound, Borgore, Flux Pavilion, Max Cooper, Gemini, Pangaea, Pariah, Billy Daniel Bunter, Trolley Snatcha, Blawan, KOAN Sound, Warm & Electric Minds

For more BESTIVAL 2012 information and line up – click here >>>

It was 1am on the final night of Bestival 2012, and amongst the swathes of waning festival-goers I stood patiently waiting for Clock Opera to begin their set in the jovially named ‘Psychedelic Worm’ tent. The weather had begun to sour, as if it had been waiting for Stevie Wonder to complete what was one of the most astounding sets of all time. I for one was hoping that the weather wasn’t to be indicative of the fast approaching set from the critically ambiguous Clock Opera. My experience of the band was minimal at this point, a year and a half previously I had read somewhere that they were tipped to be one of the “hot” bands of 2011 and, being a great fan of warm things, I purchased ‘Once and for All’ from the EP and the ‘A Piece of String’ single. Both impressed me, the dense layers of sonically experimental samples and traditional instrumentation making for a delightfully unusual listening experience. Alas, that was the last time I’d hear of them until this fateful night in the early hours of the 10^th of September, deep in the bowels of the ‘Psychedelic Worm’.

Their live set was something to behold, for a four-piece the sounds they managed to emit were devastatingly and complexly beautiful. Lead singer and founding member of the band Guy Connolly wooed the audience through a combination of his flawless quirky-tenor vocals and an enormous black beard symbolic of the music of clock opera itself; dense, intricate, sonorous, and just a little bit bushy. Connolly is an excellent front man, understated but still engaging with each song thoroughly, living each bleep and chitter as if they were the sounds of sparkling synapses within his brain as he constructs each song piece by piece. Another notable stage presence was Dan Armstrong on what appeared to be keys and samples, the side order to Connolly’s main dish. Armstrong managed to appear effortless on the array of devices laid out in front of him whilst at the same time engaging the audience and being a joy to watch. The early growls of turbulent weather outside actually played into the hands of Clock Opera; during ‘Lesson No. 7’ a large quantity of stage smoke was benignly wafted onto the stage, where it was consequently whipped into a whirlwind of haze at the climax of the epic feeling, up-tempo song. Maybe it was the mystic wind, or perhaps it was the song itself. It could have even been the fact that I was wearing sunglasses spattered with specks of fresh rain that reflected and refracted the already impressive light show, but this set seemed like a fittingly visceral end to Bestival 2012.

Having experienced their live show and become endlessly impressed, I immediately purchased their album ‘Ways to Forget’ upon my return home. Away from the grandeur of the Festival and the excitement of a live show, I was worried that perhaps I had at the time been still spellbound by the bedazzling Mr. Wonder, and without being bathed in the glow of Stevie magic, Clock Opera might just disappoint. The melodious “chop-pop” style enchants the whole album, giving it that quintessential and completely original Clock Opera sheen. A widely published criticism is that the music is simply too complex, a comment that I disagree with wholeheartedly as I think it’s that very quality that makes the album. Their originality and idiosyncratic methodology serves to demarcate them from the cacophony of just-that-bit-too-similar indie-rock bands. This does, in turn, require the listeners’ undivided attention as well as an audio medium of reasonable quality. Without these things the listener would miss the multitude and magnificent moments and instead hear only the mass of messy samples that overshadow the moments of genuine musical mastery.

Aside from having a truly fantastic name, Clock Opera are a band worth their sample-ridden salt, delivering a flawless live performance that’s a credit to their innovative and effusively original music. Because of the complexity of the music they are an acquired taste, but I would argue that rather than trying to strip down their music to please a few uppity critics, that it’s refreshing to have music that’s both melodic and progressive. My advice is this, don your favourite pair of dancing flats, sling on some trendy slacks, kick up those heels and head to Oxford on the October 20 for ‘Gathering’, a mini-festival at which the Opera are playing. Tip: a pair of mildly damp sunglasses found in a field are a must.

Monkey & Lion ~ Bestival 2012

The Wall of Death Riders!