Known as one of the favourite festivals of the season, Bestival, enjoying perfect weather throughout, certainly lived up to its name.
65 days of Static took to the stage with all the energy of one of their own intimate club shows. Drummer Rob Jones played the intro on a stand-up kit of floor toms that fattened up the electronic beats before he took his place behind the kit for the full kick in with the band. Their impressively technical mix of rock and dance music (particularly techno) caused more than the odd ripple in the sizeable afternoon crowd. ‘Retreat, Retreat’ was as impressive as always and kept live instrument fans happy while the end of the set had plenty for dance fans to appreciate.
Having surely gathered an array of new fans through her many festival appearances this summer, Florence & the Machine were as clearly on form. Gleefully prancing up and down and hopping onto speakers her voice was immaculate as she soared through now familiar tracks such as ‘Dog Days’ and latest single release ‘Drumming Song’.
Proving that they’re hogging a whole load of talent, brothers David and Stephen Dewaeleand and their enviable DJ skills also took to the Big Top stage under their 2manyDJs guise. Playing their own arsenal of remixes along with a host of mash ups and re-edits numbering far to many to mention by name.
Always a festival favourite Dan Le Sac & Scroopilous Pip entertained an in-the-know crowd in the Big Top. Pip had barely taken to the stage before he was down at the crowd sprouting his endless flow of intelligent rhymes while Le Sac laid down their genre hopping tunes. ‘The Beat….’ was a heavy breaks stomp whose massive chorus got even those not familiar with the track involved. ‘Angles’ was easily the standout track as Pip treated us to “a bit of cabaret” by switching between different hats and glasses depending on the character he was playing in that verse.
Making their intentions clear of the show being a ‘Nite Versions’ set, Soulwax kicked off with the ‘Part of the Weekend Never Dies’ loop before ploughing into a ever crescendo-ing stomp towards the finish, with the ‘E Talking’ riff grabbing the crowds attention.
Saturday night headliners Kraftwerk put on a show that highlighted just how pioneering they were back in the day. Rather than video based visuals, the amazing animations where displayed on three huge LED screens behind the band. The crisp space age graphics matched the music perfectly as they beeped their was through classics such as ‘Man Machine’, ‘Vitamin’ and ‘Tour de France’. Other standout part of the set included ‘Trans Europe Express’ segueing perfectly into ‘Metal & Metal’ and the lads being replaced on stage by moving robot representations of themselves during, of course ‘Robots.’
In the Big Top DJ Yoda played a set that delighted existing fans and undoubtedly won him some new ones. Currently touring a new audio visual set he scratched and mixed his way through tunes and videos both obscure and well known. Susan Boyle, Tetris and the Super Mario Brothers all put in comical appearances while the Fresh Prince of Bel Air was matched perfectly with Inspector Gadget in what could be a new genre of TV theme tune mashups.
One of the biggest hits of the festival has to be the new Afterburner stage – a huge rocket structure encasing the DJ in the middle of a circular dance floor surrounded by huge lanterns that spewed flames into the air in time with the music. Although the stage was constantly busy, the main talking points seemed to be Krafty Kuts who took us on a crowd pleasing set through breaks and into drum & bass while
Layo & Bushwacka went for a full on techno set including obscurities that even techno heads would be hard pushed to place, although rather bizarrely a remix of the intro tune from the Lion King made for a tune everyone present could recognise.
Brighton locals The Qemists finished up their round of the summer festivals with a show in the Big Top tent. Starting with ‘Stompbox’ the lads assisted by Jenna G and Bruno put on a show that, due to the late announcement of the gig, struggled to fill the vast space of the sparsely populated tent. Playing the majority of the set from the ‘Join the Q’ album there was the odd preview from the next album Troublemaker(?), I’m pleased to report hasn’t strayed to far from the filthy D&B track.
One of the most anticipated appearances at the festival, MGMT was largely disappointing as even diehard fans commented that the band looked bored on stage. Saving all their most famous tunes ’til last might make for a grand finale it unfortunately made the earlier part of the set null and void for people not overly familiar with their tracks.
Massive Attack’s first live show in ten years was also met with a mixed response. Playing a host of new tunes the collective occasionally seemed to lose the crowd. The big tunes however are always a pleasure to hear over a big system. ‘Teardrop’ came mid way through the set to a huge reception and causing the passing stream of people to flood towards the main stage. The soaring vocals of ‘Safe From Harm’ did plenty to raise the hairs on the back of the neck before turning into a increasingly heavy guitar led jam that stomped to a sudden end. ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ was an excellent closer for the set reminding everyone that Massive Attack are the true kings of trip hop.
A large part of the fun of Bestival is the friendly atmosphere and fancy dress theme. This year was space oddity and people went to town with all manor of costumes present, be it lovingly prepared or thrown together from things found in the camp site. The variety was astonishing among the best being a huge Bender from Futurama (even Lily Allen mentioned him during her set), a group of Clangers complete with spoons for hands and a group dressed as Tetris blocks who would shuffle next to each other at the cry of “Tetris REFORRMMM.” A lot of effort also goes into the site causing it to be a visual treat as well as an audible one. The giant rose lamps lining the entrance, the fire field, the aforementioned Afterburner stage and the flag fields to name but a few things all looked stunning. Cannot recommend Bestival enough.
Tickets for Bestival 2010 are on sale now at bestival.net
Words by Chris Leggett
Photography by Gee
