Bestival 2013

[JC-Mo'Fucka]

Was awesome.

Good stuff:

- the port - possibly the best stage setup i've ever seen. Freed up room in the big top also. I even enjoyed knife party on there which is amazing as i know they are absolute litter.

- fatboy slim smashed it

- Caravan Palace, sink the pink, DJ EZ, Hud Mo, crystal fighters, correspondents, MIA, duke dumont, clean bandit, mikill pane, chic, Yoda

- Caravansai was cool

- grand palace of entertainment

- bollywood on top form as always

- loads of happy people. I didn't really encounter any troubld.

Temple island was a bit of a flop for me personally, i'm not sure what happened thursday but i got told that t-williams was overcrowded so they had to call it off. That's all fair and well but a gutter as he is really smashing it at the moment.

The medical tent on sunday night was an eye opener as well, genuinely shook me up a bit.

Edited September 9, 2013 by JC-Mo'Fucka

[Ed209]

My first time at bestival and I thought it was amazing. Smashed glasto 2013 out the water in my opinion. Saw loads of great music, met loads of great people (which was not the case with glasto this year).

Agreed, port stage was one of the best festival stages I've ever seen. Day and night it looked mint.

So many highlights, but thought Elton John was a real festival moment. What a set!

[weirdfish]

Hudson Mohawke at The Port was the most amazing light and laser show I've ever seen. Should've spent even more time there, I hope it becomes a permanent thing 'cause it was unbelievable

[Alabama shook]

I think I was at a different event.

Smashed Glasto 2013? Of course it didn't!

Port lacked imagination. From the original description it sounded amazing but in practice came nowhere near to the beauty of anything created by Mutoid Waste, Arcadia, Block 9 etc. It was shoved in a bottleneck with thousands of pilled-up teenage chavs floating towards that one spot making it look like a dirty fairground of chlymidia. It lacked the atmosphere, community feel and edge that even the dullest parts of Shangri-la spew from every oraphis. Total let down.

The Line-up across the festival seemed to just blend into "boom boom boom" (with a few obvious exceptions like Chic).

Police presence and attitude was unreasonable and unsettling even for the innocent.

Good points: The very young crowd seemed unaware/uninterested in Flaming Lips, the ballroom, come dancing and most of the things I liked so there was space where I wanted.

The Ambient Forrest is fantastic and without doubt one of the best features of any festival in UK even though it feels quite artificial (but so does the whole event).

Don't know I'll bother next year.

Doesn't come close to Glastonbury!

Bestival line-up was +90% DJs playing Renegade Master. At my age I had enough of that in the late 90s.

I thought it was a little bit better than V festival but only because of the Forrest, without that it was a poor atmosphere and vibe throughout with narrow minded entertainment catering soley for kids on drugs.

At 29 years old I felt ancient and my favourite acts this weekend had all formed before I was born. There have been many new, good bands and entertainers in the last 3 decades, why stand in field for 4 days listening to bloke play records when you could see a charismatic performer attempting to push boundaries and express his/her real emotion? I'm guessing because it's cheaper! One of the many ways Rob DB and crew are trying to squeeze every single penny out of the clueless kids attending.

£4.30+ for a CAN of warm lager! Extra charges for most attractions like wall of death etc, so different to Glastonbury and the smaller festivals I'm used to.

Over priced, over hyped shite.

[Justiceforcedave]

In response to Alabama shook I have a couple of things to say. First up I agree with most of what you said! Second of all, don't lose hope in Bestival and depending on the lineup you should consider giving it another shot.

Glasto has always been my favorite festival with Bestival coming a close second it gets great bands, has lots of fun ideas and is usually full of people our age....this year was a different beast.

Although I enjoyed myself I couldn't help but notice that there was a severe change in both the age of the punters there and also the type of people that went. There seemed to be loads of chavs and younger people this year who just wanted to get wrecked and I can only assume that was down to the lineup. It's a shame because it kind of effected the whole atmosphere of the festival and sadly sapped a bit of the fun out of it at times. I love Bestival and I'll certainly go back again but if we get another year sodden with hip hop, recent dance and pop and less "alt" acts dotted through the lineup then I'll have to think carefully about if I want to buy a ticket or not.

....also for the record Elton missed a trick not performing Ghetto Gospel with a Tupac hologram

[Justiceforcedave]

Most of my fun was a result of the people I was with, not the rude little fuckers pushing past in crowds, shouting through acts, falling all over themselves and generally being unpleasant. Also there was a distinct lack of fancy dress this year!

[Alabama shook]

Thanks Justiceforcedave!!

Great to know all that! Thank you.

I think you are right in everything you said and where as I'd go to Glastonbury no matter what the lineup, maybe I should have to consider the acts booked when planning other festivals.

Well hopefully this year hasn't set a new trend and in future it will return to the times you fondly remember.

Similarly. We had a fantastic time thanks to going with a great group of people. I'd happily go to Glastonbury on my own if my usual crowd missed a year.

[Ed209]

Interesting. Different experiences for different people. This was my first bestival at 31, and yes, the crowd was very young, but I found them really engaging and friendly. I found the late night areas at glasto far more antisocial and druggy this year. Saw more good music than at glasto, met far more great people, generally enjoyed the atmosphere a hell of a lot more.

Security were far better than at glasto as well. Hardly noticed they were there whereas at glasto they're very noticeable.

[Alabama shook]

Oh and Elton played Tiny Dancer, Yellow Brick Road, Philadelphia Freedom then as he began Rocket Man the girl behind me sighed and yelled "play something we know".

For everything else there's MasterCard.

[Alabama shook]

Agree with Ed209 that security staff were better at Bestival!

Saw some hairy moments I thought they handled too heavily but I've definitely see far worse at Glastonbury.

[JC-Mo'Fucka]

there was a lot of pilled up kids.. but i didn't see / have any trouble with them. It seemed no worse than shangri-la and is still a mile off the likes of creamfields for trouble, drugs and chavs.

in regards to drink, it's pretty hard to get a pint at glasto four under 4 quid and you have to go out your way to a smaller bar to get a decent pint. doesn't effect me as i just bring my own, really isn't hard to get a handful of tins of thatchers past the checks at besti.

the crowd aren't getting involved in the fancy dress as much which sucks though.

[Justiceforcedave]

there was a lot of pilled up kids.. but i didn't see / have any trouble with them. It seemed no worse than shangri-la and is still a mile off the likes of creamfields for trouble, drugs and chavs.

[JC-Mo'Fucka]

i agree the crowd was young, think the demographic for next year will depend on the line up. The likes of elton and chic were always going to appeal to a lot of younger people despite being older acts.

Did anyone enjoy temple island? it seemed crap to me on the thursday so i didn't return but i feel like i didn't give it a proper chance

[smogo]

i agree the crowd was young, think the demographic for next year will depend on the line up. The likes of elton and chic were always going to appeal to a lot of younger people despite being older acts.

Did anyone enjoy temple island? it seemed crap to me on the thursday so i didn't return but i feel like i didn't give it a proper chance

[Matt - Ed Banger Records]

For me this year was my favourite one yet, this probably has everything to do with the people I was with though. Whilst I thought the Port was a great set up and had a great soundsystem I found the crowd to be my least favourite of the weekend. I spent a lot of time up by the Red Bull stage and couldn't fault the atmosphere there.

Some really good stand out performances for me were MIA and Jon Hopkins, I did feel like the demographic has shifted somewhat since I first attended 4 years ago but I think that's largely due to festivals and specifically the music that Bestival has a lot of being the current thing to listen to, a lot of SnapBack wearing lads who wouldn't seem more interested in looking good than having a great time. Having said all of that I still thought on the whole the crowd were good and as with most events it was pretty dependant on who you were watching.

[Ed209]

I thought MIA was dreadful. We left half way through

[Matt - Ed Banger Records]

I'm a massive fan so despite it being chaotic I still really enjoyed it, the sound mix was pretty poor though

[Alabama shook]

This forum is selling bestival to me. So much friendlier than the Glastonbury section of efestivals.

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

I thought MIA was dreadful. We left half way through

[Leggins]

So it was my first Bestival and on the whole I had a great time. Musical highlights aplenty including Dog is Dead, The 1975, Lissie, London Grammar, Elton John, Belle & Sebastian, Sean McGowan, Nina Nesbitt and Bastille.

On the negative side, I couldn't believe how bad the sound bleed was. At practically every stage I was at, I could hear the other stages overwhelmingly to the point where I didn't even bother staying in certain areas because the next stage was too over powering. The Polka Tent for example, was a tiny stage which was far too loud, often spoiling what was going on in Replay. The same up at the Waggamamas stage/Redbull stage/Disco Shed. They were all competeing with one another and it ended up being unplesant to stay at any of them, so we moved on.

My other major gripe was the lack of alternative entertainment after hours. There seemed to be little choice in the late night areas for people who didn't just want the BOOM BOOM BOOM of the latest Ibiza anthems. It was dance DJ after dance DJ at every venue. We found some fun stuff going on in The Grand Palace of Entertainment, which was fun, but didn't want that EVERY night. Were we just not looking in the right places or is this festival a dance music only zone once the main stages have finished?

EDIT: typos

Edited September 11, 2013 by Leggins

[tjamest]

Oh and Elton played Tiny Dancer, Yellow Brick Road, Philadelphia Freedom then as he began Rocket Man the girl behind me sighed and yelled "play something we know".

For everything else there's MasterCard.

[dan8k]

This forum is selling bestival to me. So much friendlier than the Glastonbury section of efestivals.

[rug568]

This is very true, the glastonbury side of efestivals used to be full of nice people, now theres some right bellends there. Which also kind of sums up Glastonbury aswell for me now.

[eFestivals]

Full of cynical, miserable 40 year olds.

a bit like Glastonbury itself.

[Dave The Hedgehog]

I won't add fuel to the fire or gloat over people's negative experiences with Bestival but I will say it's reassuring to see people being objective about it in a constructive way. A lot more groupthink going on over on the official forums.