Anna has been a festival fanatic since her first ever outing to Download Festival back in 2001, she's got eclectic tastes and covers everything from metal to EDM and loves a chance to try out new festivals. Anna has covered a few European festivals like Snowbombing and Wacken Open Air, but mainly hits up her UK faves; Download, Bestival and Bloodstock!
The final night of Bestival is drawing in, a glittery crowd is itching to get it's disco on at the main stage area, and a floor sparkling with strewn sequins shimmers in the neon of the bars. The world record breaking giant disco-ball has been hoisted into the air via crane on the Magic Meadow and spotlights sent fragments of light all over the site.
Chic and Nile Rogers take to the stage in a dazzling array of white leather and gold, and Nile almost immediately breaks into tears and tells us "I just found out, we got a phonecall at the hotel room that my old guitar roadie Terry, died a few minutes ago". At this sad news, the Bestival crowd begins to chant Terry's name and cheer on Rogers.
Gaining composure, Nile and the band start strong with 'Everybody Dance' but a few more speakers would be useful behind the sound tent as it's quite quiet for those further back on the hill. The little extras start early as loveheart graphics fill the giant screen and red streamers are shot from a stage cannon, and Nile laments, "I just want to let you guys know… a little bit about why we're here to play for you… a few years ago I was diagnosed with very very aggressive cancer and they thought I might not be here… thank you for giving me the energy", but moves on to lighter subjects with quip "So when you hear us play a song by Madonna, I don't want you to get weird, cause I played that shit in the first place… Mojo… I wrote all that shit" and invites Bestival to sing along, "If you don't know the words, sing any old bullshit it sounds fine up here".
A huge medley of songs Rogers has written or had a hand in creating gets everyone up and dancing with proper disco moves, 'I'm Comin Out' and 'We Are Family' have the entire arena singing and going wild. Many are surprised at the sheer number of songs they know by Nile and the huge dance party is getting rowdier, despite the tired eyes and sore feet on day four of Bestival.
Madonna hit 'Like A Virgin' incites some very amusing camp dancing all over, and Duran Duran favourite (and namesake of the B.I.G.) 'Notorious' go down a storm, but Nile breaks down in tears again for departed friend Terry, and the crowd hold phone screens and lighters aloft in support. Daft Punk summer hit 'Get Lucky' is the song of the night, moving into 'Let's Dance', the hits keep on coming, as giant multicoloured beach balls are released into the crowd.
'Freak Out' sees the first explosion of stage fireworks and 'Good Times' is a jam session in which fans are hauled up on stage to join the party as glitter rains from the rafters. With the incredible voices and solid musical ability of Chic, as well as Nile's creative talent across the years, this makes for an amazing and memorable show, a perfect close to Bestival's Desert Island Disco. As Chic and Nile exit the stage, all eyes turn to the hillside where the massive closing ceremony fireworks light up the night sky in a magical goodbye to yet another stellar year here at Robin Hill. Rob Da Bank and co. just seem to know the meaning of party and more importantly, pull it off bigger and better every single time. Waiting a whole year is going to be hard…
With a clear sky and the cold creeping in after a soft ambient set from London Grammar, Bestival's Saturday headliners Foals alight the stage with little fuss or presence of entrance.
The arena is bustling with the anticipation and little snakes of people holding hands are making their way through to the front. Even the man in the gigantic box-cum-totem pole is making his decidedly difficult way through, much to the dismay of those who would actually like to see.
With their drummer sporting a feathery capelet and other band members rocking silver metallic leggings, it's nice that Foals are attempting to get into the spirit of Bestival. The songs are interesting and musically sound, 'My Number' and 'Blue Blood' are well received by the crowd but as Foals continue through their set staying true to type, there's a certain saminess that creeps in, and by the time 'Late Night' and 'Electric Bloom' come round the arena headcount has dwindled severley.
With the band expected to now go into an extended hiatus, "This is going to be the last show for about eighteen months" muses Yannis, the band give a deeply soulful set which understandably is missing the mark of drawing in those who are looking to Desert Island Disco tonight.
A pretty poor attempt at crowd-walking during encore finale 'Two Steps Twice' is comedically ironic as one step was all it took for Yannis Philippakis to go straight through the clutching hands of fans to the arena floor, and a huge ticker-tape and streamer explosion snows over the Bestival night sky with a bang.
The quality of the headline acts here at Bestival 2014 is undeniable, but with Basement Jaxx filling the Big Top to dangerous capacity and beyond only an hour later, it's a little confusing as to why they were not main stage, where big beats could go arena-wide for everyone, and Foals were instead in the Big Top where nuances of sound could be enjoyed by fans – which was struggling to come across outside.
Photography by James Bridle, please do not use without prior authorisation from the photographer.
Highly anticipated Friday headliner Outkast were set to be something special at Bestival 2014, with a set of high adrenaline dance numbers and some Andre 3000 style cheekiness. As such, the arena is holding a ram jammed sardine can of bodies lined up ready to get their krunk on.
With an epic visual intro and some blindingly bright lights, Outkast hit the stage with gusto to a backdrop of a greyscale American flag. Opening with 'Bombs over Baghdad' the sound isn't great across the site, there's a heaviness missing from it.
Wearing some sort of wig/furry hat that looks like frosted roadkill and a jacket sporting the slogan "My Dad has cool albums", Andre bounces about the stage and hypes up hit 'Ms Jackson' as the crowd roars. Bestival has always been known for great crowd participation but the high pitched 'oohs' were especially loud and proud tonight. 'Ghetto Music' is accompanied by a frankly pointless screen loop of faceless ladies gyrating their backsides at the camera, and the arena crowd begins to thin. For those who know only the Outkast hits, the rap filled tracks are less lively, and wide-eyed revellers head off for rowdier pastures.
Krumping or twerking attempts aside, 'Hey Ya' is definitely well received with everyone trying their best to 'shake it like a Polaroid picture', in an extraordinarily British and sort of rubbish way, but the rest of the set is lukewarm and the crowd has halved at least. It's a shame but there's so much on 'after hours' at Bestival, it's not the end of the world, or tonight's adventures…
Thursday night saw yellow camp beset by a raft of attempted and accomplished theft. Strange men unzipping tents, hiding in porches and slinking around were reported all over before stories of missing wallets, phones and even car keys were reported to security. Police quickly responded and a mere hour later, the four guilty parties were having their Miranda's read, their tents ransacked and being driven off in the Police golf-buggy of shame. ID cards, bank cards and car keys were found strewn discarded between tents, as the perpetrators were only after cash and phones – which were found in their tent-stash, along with a mighty haul of powder based drugs stored inside deodorant cans. Nice work Bestival cops!
Back once again to raise the roof in a quiet little corner of Cornwall is The Eden Sessions. Held in the futuristic agricultural experiment, The Eden Project – these one night concert spectaculars have seen some incredible names grace the stage in front of the Biomes over the years, and this year sees the likes of Ellie Goulding, Pixies and Elbow top the bill.
However, tonight is the night Eden comes alive with a dose of electrifying bone-shaking beats from misfit messiah DJ Sonny Moore, aka Skrillex.
After a heavy-handed search by the mass of event security (we are told that quite a lot of 'interesting' items have turned up already and that searches have been significantly upscaled for this particular night of the sessions) we head out to take in the view of Eden from the top of the hill. Giant caterpillar-like Biomes nestled in a lush valley of vegetation are the sci-fi lovers wet dream, and with their burst looking skylights you could almost imagine some kind of alien escape scene. As we stroll down towards the stage and café area, a screeching man flies past attached to a perilous looking zipwire.
The cafes offer pasties, burgers and sweet potato fries (all Eden specials of course, no rubbish festival food here) and the hippy-tastic Carrot, Lemon & Sesame burger with a dollop of extremely hot Eden-made sweet chilli sauce is exactly the kind of meal you need before you spend a few hours raving in a garden.
The arena itself faces towards the hillside and visitor centre, with the Biomes making for a stunning backdrop, and the curved amphitheatre has a grassy area for reclining, which many people are doing in the sunshine.
Warm up DJ's Chris Lorenzo, followed by Tchami are perfect for the event, a nice mix of heavy drum and bass, and samples of stuff everyone knows to get us in the mood. Running in to join/take over from DJ Tchami, Skrillex in his signature black uniform, black scruffy hair and black Wayfarer sunglasses – looks so out of place at the vibrant Eden, but gets down to business straight away with devastatingly loud bass-drops.
Jumping atop the deck rig as flame and smoke canons erupt, Skrillex yells "Yo everybody is participating, I wanna see your hands up like this" and initiates a side-to-side wave from the crowd, whilst simultaneously keeping the music going and smoking a cigarette.
As an artist who travels seamlessly between songs and samples, it can be difficult for fans to snatch a bit of tracks they know, but Skrillex makes sure the major favourites are included in snippets all the way through as he energetically leaps and bounces through the set.
After a particularly weird set of VT's involving aliens and computer error messages, the opening scenes of Disney's The Lion King appear on screen, accompanied by a heavily remixed and scratched version of 'The Circle of Life' and Skrillex screams "Light it up Eden" to an ecstatic crowd.
Fan favourite 'Kill Everybody' goes down a storm, with everyone up and dancing, throwing clothes and shoes to the floor in an attempt to be more free, and Skrillex wears his white headphones around his forehead like a halo as the sun dips on Eden.
For ex-girlfriend and ex-collaborator Ellie Goulding's Skrillex track 'Summit' the stage is filled with stars and white beams of light, but the wonder is short lived as the song is well and truly clipped short in favour of 'Vikings' and 'Rock and Roll'.
Calling "Shout out to mother nature for giving us a beautiful day, no rain! Shout out to eden for saving mother nature" Skrillex gives the frenetic crowd what they want, 'First of the Year (Equinox)', samples of MGMT's 'Kids' and some seriously heavy basslines.
With Nyan-cat floating across the screen, the night drawing in and the lasers getting sharp, 'Kyoto' is enough to flutter the eardrums of the furthers alien planets, and 'Bangerang' (with a little sample of 'Work It' by Missy Elliot in there) as expected gets the biggest roar of the night. During a 'crowd participation' moment where Skrillex implores everyone to "…get low! We're going to blow this shit into outer space and colonise mars…" the true nature of the night is shown – everyone is joining in, ready to go big on the beat.
Skrillex's "Shout out to those twin kids, dudes! Start them young! When I was 9, my dad took me to see Metallica, I loved it. Speaking of Metallica, is anyone going to Glaston-berry?" is met with tumble-weed like silence but his appreciation of the Project "So blessed to be invited to Eden, did you guys see that biodome over there? That shit blew my mind" is met with rapturous applause.
'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites' have people dancing like they aren't being filmed… which they are, you can catch it on Eden's youtube channel… and Skrillex closes out this session with an abrupt but warm departure. Despite the crowd chanting for more, it's the end of the night, and the mass of sweaty bodies and red grinning faces say it's been a damn good night.
An overnight wash out and soggy campsites do nothing to calm the excitement of the campsites, particularly not the shock-and-awe naked guy who leapt into our front garden (code for hangout area in between tents) yelling loudly that he wanted everyone to join him in being “Tattooed and handsome”, but the sun is peeking out here and there as the dressed up masses head towards the main arena. Walking around, it’s clear to see the rain hasn’t dampened the British love for dressing up, as mer-men, sailors, jellyfish and sharks roam freely. We asked one enterprising soul if her freezer was now full of fish fingers, as she’d fashioned a costume from Birdseye boxes, she replied “Yeah, we’ll be eating them all winter…”.
2013 debut album smash-hitters Bastille turn out in style dressed as members of Team Zissou and play all the favourites to a packed out arena. ‘Bad Blood’ and ‘Icarus’ go down a storm but it’s ‘Flaws’ that really packs a punch and a cover of ‘Rhythm of the Night’ is weird but kind of brilliant at the same time. Ending with ‘Pompeii’ Bastille do themselves justice, with the whole crowd singing along.
Following Bastille is A-Yo featuring Mark Ronson Vs. Zane Lowe with a Bestival party-mix, and over on the big hill, the Bandstand is playing host to the Zee Guveya Heritage Band. Getting up for ‘The Pizza Dance’ whilst a cardboard Viking longship (with a Viking hoarde aboard) sails/walks past is extremely bizarre, but sipping our Bestivale’s and sampling the amazing food on offer provides a little Bestival downtime. We munch our way through fresh grilled corn on the cob and the most delicious lobster and chips (which were caught just round the corner in Ventnor apparently) before dragging ourselves to the peak of the hill for a look across the site. The magnificent scale of Bestival is only surpassed by it’s colour, from the tents to the arena areas, the flags and the works of art – Bestival really is a beautiful place.
At the top of the hill is the secret hideaway for lost souls known as The Solace Tent. The interior is all leather chairs and wicker sofas, comfy cushions and tables you can write messages on – enough of a sanctuary in it’s own right, but the lovely bods there will give weary travellers a cup of something hot and a tasty bit of cake (baked by IOW churches)… for free! Re-energised by the Solace saints, a trip to tiny town is a giggle – the kid sized village which you can take amusing photographs in, before heading back down the hill via a rummage in the second hand tents (nanna-knits everywhere) and a few cheeky tasters at the Crabbies bus.
On the main stage, Rudimental are showing off their status with an absolutely packed arena, busting out big hit ‘Right Here’ accented by a weird burst of what tasted like flavoured smoke (?!) before a cover of Fugees’ ‘Ready or Not’ and closing with the huge ‘Feel The Love’, with everyone pogo-ing like mad. Next up are Glaswegian punk-pop rockers Franz Ferdinand with a blast of hits starting with ‘No You Girls’. ‘Do You Want To’ is only slightly marred by the enormous downpour that drops in, but as the skies clear, the boys of FF bring it home with ‘Take Me Out’. They might be accused of being a bit samey sometimes, with jarring chords over marching-band beats, but they do what they say on the tin, and perform well. It’s probably a shame for them that they’re playing right before their practical antithesis – Snoop Dogg.
With giant red, yellow and green Rasta banners and posters of his own face – it was inevitable that Snoop Dogg would roll out with as much swagger and self-confidence as he displays on screen. Rocking a leather jacket and Adidas sweatpants, The Doggfather churns out hits ‘PIMP’, ‘Gin and Juice’ and Katy Perry cover ‘California Gurls’ featuring the dancing skills of some scantily dressed ladies giving him a lapdance. ‘Next Episode’ and ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’ prove Snoop to be a great showman, and he finishes Saturday night on a high (probably quite literally in his case). See the full headline review for more details!
Sunday is a soggy morning too, but everyone seems determined to go full out for the last day of this truly special festival, so it’s on to do a bit of dancing with Bestival mascots The Cuban Brothers. With quite a lot of swearing, manly gyrating and costumes that leave absolutely nothing to the imagination (fringed, metallic lycra jumpsuits to be precise) they’re probably not the act to take your kids to, but damn are they good fun. Guest vocalist Mica Paris belts out ‘So Sweet’ which is from the new Cubans album ‘Yo Bonita’ (which we later got signed by Miguel and Kengo-San over at the Sunday Best tent) and breakdancing skills are busted out by Archerio, Kengo and newbie ‘One-Erection’. Miguel gets suitably excited about all the dancing (after having a broken foot and not being able to participate last year), takes off his white captain’s pants and thrusts the mic-stand like a pro. After telling a story about their times at Bestival… “We were in the woods eating philosopher’s stone mushrooms and we were lost… we were so cold we had to set our socks on fire to keep warm” and stuffing the mic into his spangly undercrackers, it’s time to say goodbye to the crazy Cubanos for another year.
Next up, Tom Odell croons his way into the ladies hearts with his soulful piano laden music, but it is a bit of a comedown after the hype created by The Cuban Brothers, but everyone warms up again for Chic feat. Nile Rodgers and a bit of boogying on down.
Disasterously scheduled at the same time as the Sunday headliner – Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip’s Swamp Shack appearance has nevertheless garnered a pretty massive crowd around the strange run down house style stage, and as the smoke billows from the beat-up cars that set the scene, the duo drop right into classic ‘Beat That My Heart Skipped’, sending fans wild. Calling out “I’m all adrenaliney, I’m all shaky” Dan busts out the beat for ‘Sick Tonight’ and Pip launches into it with power, swinging on the (actually quite fragile) porch of the shack. After being handed two curly wurlys by some odd gentleman in the front row, Dan and Pip give us a tasty treat back in the form of new tracks ‘Stunner’ and ‘Gold Teeth (feat Flux Pavillion)’, the latter played for the very first time ever. Taking on a darker side the songs have everyone getting rowdy with Pip swishing water off the Shack’s decking to the beat.
Heading over to join the biggest crowd of the weekend at the main stage, Rock Royalty, Sir Elton John is giving us a tour through his vast collection of hits, wearing a trademark sparkly jacket. Elton’s packed set includes ‘Candle In The Wind’, ‘Crocodile Rock’ and ‘Rocket Man’, with the crowd singing along to closing ‘Your Song’ (See the full review for more details!). As the stage goes dark, Bestival’s closing ceremony commences, with an even bigger firework display than last year, a giant circular 10 being set alight and ticker tape explosions from the stage. Way to go out with a bang.
As usual, it doesn’t end there – Knife Party are playing at The Port and Easy Rider is on in The Amphitheatre… the night is young at Bestival, and we intend to make the most of it before we have to leave it behind for another year, but it’s safe to say that Rob and co. went all out this year, it truly has been a spectacular celebration and we would like to doff our captain’s caps and say HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY BESTIVAL!
Photos by James Bridle for the Summer Festival Guide
As the late summer nights begin to draw in and the end of the festival season is in sight, while many have packed away their daisy dukes, the Bestivalites are suiting up sailor style for the magical mayhem of HMS Bestival 2013 – Robin Hill park is adorned with swaying flags, the ferries are full and the campsites are primed for partying.
Thursday’s foray into the mad world of Rob Da Bank’s imagination sees a brand new area – Temple Island (which we managed to explore before it all burnt up – apparently part of the act not an act of pyromania) and a host of new ‘bubbles’ with a stage, chill out areas and sculptures as well as a heap of amazing places to eat (our particular favourite is Anna Mae’s Mac n Cheese).
Heading into the main arena past the giant illuminated Big Wheel, the Big Top is already chocka with people for The Correspondents. Mad frontman Mr. Bruce is spinning wildly in his humbug-harlequin frilly getup during ‘What’s Happened To Soho?’ before launching headlong into heart thumping jungle tunes, to which the crowd goes mental. Yelling “This is about as dirty as a gentleman like me gets on a Thursday” before leaping onto the sea of arms in the audience, Mr. Bruce crowd surfs to the halfway point in seconds as DJ counterpart DJ Chucks lays down the beat. Calling out “I’ve gotta be honest, this is overwhelming…” Mr. Bruce isn’t kidding – for anyone who hasn’t seen The Correspondents before; they usually play to pretty tiny crowds, and tonight The Big Top is overflowing and going top notch wild. Elsewhere, Tankus The Henge bring a punky edge to the adorable Polka Tent and every single person we pass has a giant grin plastered on their chops.
Friday sees drag spectacular Sink The Pink (usually found gyrating at The Grand Palace of Entertainment) joined on the main stage by members of The Royal Marine Reserves for a thoroughly jolly workout session, “On behalf of the armed forces, we thank you” and “On behalf of transvestites we thank you” are not two sentences you expect to hear at a festival on a Friday afternoon but it did make us giggle. French electro band Caravan Palace are a surprise with their interesting mix of what’s being termed ‘gypsy jazz’ alongside some proper swing-dancing, but the crowd really draws in for the hotly anticipated return of American hip-hop crew, Wu-Tang Clan. Despite the fact that pretty much everyone only knows one song, the band manage to produce enough hype to get the crowd jumping, before busting out 2001 mega hit ‘Gravel Pit’. DJ Mathematics pops off his shoe and proceeds to work the mixer with his foot to the chant of “When I say Wu-Tang, you say forever…” as a mass of ‘W’ hand signs are thrust skyward in appreciation. Though their set seemed to a lack a bit of punch overall, the nostalgia factor made up for it.
A quick jaunt to check out new area The Port reveals it to be a giant boat with Diablo acts, fire poi spinners and a massive mermaid, alongside some banging music from DJ’s atop the structure and a huge crane providing an aerial dancer a place to do crazy tricks above the awestruck crowd. It’s sort of reminiscent of our beloved (missing) Arcadia from the last couple of years, and really comes into it’s own at night, with regular fireworks, flame cannons and an amazing DJ lineup.
Over in The Big Top, Sinead O’Connor pokes her signature shaved bonce out onto the stage to a decent crowd for a stirring rendition (with added crowd participation) of her iconic Prince cover of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, giggling, Sinead says “Thank you, you sang beautifully”. Main stage veterans The Flaming Lips are as bonkers as ever, with frontman Wayne Coyne cradling a baby-doll atop silver spheres, in front of a light-waterfall before spinning a flaming orb around his head like a talisman. Amid the madness and glitter ticker-tape, it’s actually a decent set, but the bafflement on the faces around us suggest they’ve gone a step too odd/dark for the Bestival crowd this time.
The Big Top welcomes Belle & Sebastian with an almighty roar for ‘Cuckoo’, and their soft melodic rock lights up the rammed tent, as the rain begins to pour outside. Joking “I hope you haven’t taken all your drugs at once, remember it’s a marathon not a sprint” frontman Stuart Murdoch launches into ‘Another Sunny Day’ and grabs a host of lucky fans from the crowd to join them on stage for ‘Boy With The Arab Strap’. The Scottish Belles definitely put on one of the best performances of the whole weekend.
Despite the extreme soaking the thousands at the main stage just received, the crowd is going absolutely hyper to the sounds of Fatboy Slim’s Bestival Birthday Bash (See main review for full details), with lasers, fireworks, a great AV show and absolutely banging beats. Norman Cook was absolutely made for Bestival and it’s great to see him filling up the main stage instead of either getting crushed in the Big Top or on the fringe watching the fun happen from the outside. ‘Right Here Right Now’ and ‘Rockafella Skank’ are just absolutely massive, heart pounding, raving beasts of tunes and the whole arena is jumping and waving glowsticks like there’s no tomorrow.
At Bestival, the headliner isn’t ever the end of the action – if you go back to your tent, you’re missing out on the most magical hours at Robin Hill. Staggering about the Ambient Forest, with it’s Chinese lanterns and kids play areas, tiny stages and secret hideouts is honestly like being a kid again. Stick on a forest dwelling animal onesie and you may as well have been dropped into Where The Wild Things Are. It’s totally surreal. As if that wasn’t enough, sneaking past Bollywood and The Port, the top left corner of the forest has a hidden jewel in the form of The Ampitheatre. During the day, this plays host to a huge array of acts (notably, Scroobius Pip’s Satin Lizard Lounge of amazing spoken-word artists) but at night they show bizarre and melon-bending movies for the drunk and delusional. Tonight’s effort is an 80’s hip-hop spectacular ‘Beat Street’. The movie itself is kind of confusing and terribly acted, but the atmosphere of the dark benches hidden in the trees, the bunting and the secret snuggling is what The Amphitheatre is all about, oh and the really exceptionally drink-and-or-drug addled couple falling all over people on their 30 minute attempt to leave – comedy gold.
How do you close an epic teniversary, four day festival extravaganza, in a field full of the happiest souls in the country? LIKE A SIR. That’s how. Sir Elton John to be precise, Great British rock royalty doesn’t get better than this. Elton’s coming is preceded by shoulder-to-shoulder, asscheek-to-asscheek, barely standing room only arena-fullness and an air of excitement you can practically inhale. Despite worries of cancellation due to appendicitis earlier in the summer, Elton practically bounces on stage with aplomb in a bejewelled jacket emblazoned with ‘Madman Across The Water’ for comically entertaining ‘The Bitch Is Back’.
Ballad-tastic ‘Tiny Dancer’ and ‘Candle in the Wind’ were clearly loved by Elton fans, but a yawn here and there betrayed more than a few people hanging out for the rockier hits like the truly epic ‘I’m Still Standing’ and ‘Crocodile Rock’ – complete with crowd participation (especially from the few people dressed in crocodile onesies that night, perfect). ‘Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting’ prompts shadow boxing all over, and a few ill-timed jokes result in mates accidentally punching each other and then falling about laughing, and karaoke style lyrics on screen for new single ‘Home Again’ keep everyone singing along and engaged.
Calling out “You’ve been amazing, I’ll never forget this” Elton says exactly what’s on everyone’s minds, and there’s a kind of mutual community in that – something special to Bestival, a shared emotion between artist and fans experiencing something together, and this certainly is the kind of memory that lasts. Elton finishes up with a huge sing-along ‘Your Song’, with people opening their voices into the sky before the enormous closing firework display. It’s been a belter.
Has there ever been such a hotly anticipated, or completely bonkers act booked for Bestival than the D-o-double-G? With giant Rasta-flag stage projections emblazoned with his noggin, and a nonchalant slither onto the stage to ‘Here Comes The King’, it’s clear that Snoop Dogg has lost none of his cool and is determined to do things his way (otherwise affectionately known as Doggy-Style…). Wearing trademark baggy Adidas trackies, oversized tshirt and a leather jacket, with a confident swagger – Snoop looks like he rolled off a sofa somewhere and decided to do a show… to thousands of people, he just oozes ease. Calling “If you’re smoking weed, now’s the time to light that shit up… Snoop Liiiiooonnn”, Calvin Broadus Jr.’s newest alter-ego is a lot more reggae and a lot less rap, but that doesn’t appear to affect his having some scantily clad ladies join him on stage.
Asking the crowd to wave their hands from side to side, Snoop burns through ‘PIMP’ and ‘Gin and Juice’ before a sneaky Katy Perry ‘California Gurls’ cover, clips of Calvin Harris’ ‘Feel So Close’ and straight into his more controversial section of the show. Dressed in hungry-bum style leather hotpants (you know, the permanent wedgie kind worn by every other Rihanna-wannabe at festivals) the gyrating girls proceed to give Snoop a public lapdance, whilst he’s singing Akon track ‘I Wanna Fuck You’ to the amusement/bewilderment of the crowd.
The famous refrain of Dr. Dre/Snoop collaboration ‘Next Episode’ elicits a roar of excitement from the audience and hilarious dancing ensues for ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’ (most funny was the extraordinarily tall skinny kid in front of us, dressed as a member of Team Zissou, trying to twerk). A quick acoustic rendition of ‘Lodi Dodi’ and an ultimate sing along of ‘Who Am I (What’s My Name)’ and the Doggfather closes out the show with the words “I’ll be back in England whenever you want me”. Yelling“I got some last words… SMOKE WEED MOTHERF**KERS!” and Bob Marley’s ‘Jammin’, he slinks casually off stage. It’s safe to say Snoop lived up to the hype, whilst staying effortlessly at ease – it’s all part of the charm and nostalgia, and Bestival definitely got a big Doggy-dose of it tonight.
Friday headliner, superstar mixmaster Fatboy Slim ascends the dizzying heights of Bestival’s main stage to the tune of Happy Birthday, for Bestival’s ten year anniversary spectacular. A ram-jam arena and deafening screams confirm that Rob Da Bank has made the right choice booking beat-tastic Norm for the job, as he drops into an aural assault accompanied by an awesome AV, laser and light show.
Remixing summer’s big hit from Daft Punk ‘Get Lucky’ has the crowd grooving along, and a little of Zombie Nation’s ‘Kernkraft 400’ goes down well with the 90’s kids, but it’s Fatboy hit ‘Right Here, Right Now’ that spins the arena into a frenzy of flailing limbs, especially when a host of white beach balls are released onto the dancing masses.
With somewhat disturbing images of Norman’s face in an array of facepaints, the hypnotic ‘Eat Sleep Rave Repeat’ encourages some proper old school rave moves like the sprinkler being busted out, and a quick blast of ‘Simply The Best’, complete with images showing ‘Simply the Bestival’ is met with guttural yells of agreement from the entire arena. Iconic ‘Praise You’ brings out the best of circular congas (if you haven’t seen the video, to be honest, you’ve failed at your generation.) and is accompanied both chorally and by Rob Da Bank himself on piano.
Bursting back on stage wearing a Titanic life vest to fireworks and glitter cannons, Fatboy Slim goes out with a bang, to the tune of anthemic ‘Rockafella Skank’ – and yes, we’re all doing the dance from She’s All That, shame on us.
