Bestival 2018 incoming!

[Curlygirl]

12 hours ago, Brave Sir Robin said:

Not my experience - they were looking in everyone’s bags, but more for glass & substances than counting cans or for spirits. Had a long queue but it’s a lovely vibe in here

They were counting everyone’s cans in the group Infront of me. I only brought 8 in but because of that he was convinced I was smuggling. I was but he didn’t find it. 

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

I sailed straight in at about 6.30pm on the Thursday with no checks of the campervan at all. Apparently there was a policeman with a jacket covering his uniform (according to my wife) to our left as we drove in, but he was on the phone and waved us through. So, we got our goodies through, no problem. Met up with Curlygirl and doobie ninja briefly on the Thursday night. Spent all day in the heat there on Friday, and then decided to leave the festival early on Saturday morning and head to the coast instead. I've got one small festival booked in September, but fear that my festival days may be over now. I really couldn't get in to Bestival at all. 

[Spacey]

10 hours ago, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

I sailed straight in at about 6.30pm on the Thursday with no checks of the campervan at all. Apparently there was a policeman with a jacket covering his uniform (according to my wife) to our left as we drove in, but he was on the phone and waved us through. So, we got our goodies through, no problem. Met up with Curlygirl and doobie ninja briefly on the Thursday night. Spent all day in the heat there on Friday, and then decided to leave the festival early on Saturday morning and head to the coast instead. I've got one small festival booked in September, but fear that my festival days may be over now. I really couldn't get in to Bestival at all. 

Sorry I missed you. Enjoyed Bestival and met some great people including Curly Girl but it was so hot!

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

3 hours ago, Spacey said:

Sorry I missed you. Enjoyed Bestival and met some great people including Curly Girl but it was so hot!

Yes, sorry I missed you too Spacey. It was indeed brutally hot. That's one of the reasons we decided to leave the festival. I just had this overwhelming urge to get in to the sea and cool my blood down. I never got in the sea in the end, but did have a nice cold shower on a campsite. Glad to hear that you enjoyed it though. 

[Homer]

From a quick look on the Facebook page, the early responses seem to be positive. Unless the mods are editing out the bad ones! I guess the weather may well have helped.

[smogo]

I thought the lineup was pretty thin and underwhelming on paper, but it turned out that I was never short of things to do the whole weekend. I thought the new site layout and this year's selection of stages was well thought-out, stage sound was all good, the daytime heat was too much, which meant that the front of the main stage was quite empty as everyone hid further back underneath trees, but what can you do about that?

Most importantly, the crowd was one of the happiest and loveliest I've seen at Bestival in a while. I had a fantastic four days and it made me feel a lot younger than my 42 old man's years!

 

[eviepeach]

I won tickets in the local paper a few years back when Bestival was still on the Isle of Wight and at that time found the festival a bit lacking. Usually Glastonbury regulars but with it being a fallow year and only being a 20 min drive from the Bestival site we decided to give it a second chance. 

Here’s what we thought about it all:

Good: The crowd were, on the whole, a nice bunch of lads. Everyone seemed friendly. I chatted to a few people in the queue for the portaloos. Our tent neighbours were really friendly. 

There seemed a fair bit to do with something for everyone. Nice bit of yoga and crafts as well as music. 

Queues for the loos and the bars weren’t usually too long. Portaloos were generally fairly clean and stocked with toilet paper and hand sanitizer.

Bad: We left early on Sunday because it was too darn hot. We did the festival buddy pack not realising at the time that the tent was a 2 person tent. Waking up with a raging hangover cuddling your rucksack in 100% humidity is not ideal at all. To be fair, myself and my husband are used to sleeping in a motorhome at Glastonbury so have got used to luxury but I feel that a 2 person tent was too small for any couple let alone during a massive heatwave. 

The lineup was a bit crap. Nothing major jumped out as a must see.

Security were OTT. We are used to how relaxed Glastonbury are with searches and bringing stuff in. I completely understand why they were like the way they were (as someone died last year), but my husband was subject to a search and one of the security guys was a complete nob about it. No need. He didn’t even have anything on him! Unfortunately it would put us off going again as neither of us like the added stress of sniffer dogs and searches. For us, festivals are a place of freedom and fun and that just put a bit of a downer on it all. 

Ticket prices were a bit too steep in my opinion. Especially when we found out there was a flash 2 for 1 sale! 

All in all, we probably wouldn’t spend that much money on going again because I just didn’t think it was good value for the price. Being so close is a major plus point for us, but it wasn’t a festival I would go out of my way to go to. If the lineup was better and tickets were a bit less then we would possibly reconsider. Sounds like people on here had a good time though. It’s made me even more excited for Glastonbury next year (ticket Gods permitting)! 

 

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

I've just remembered two stories from the Thursday evening when we were trying to find Caravanasia, and hook up with the efests crew. We couldn't find it at all, so walked up to one steward, and this is how it went;

Us - Do you know where we can find Caravanasia?

Steward - Eh? There's a load of Asians around that corner over there, if that's what you mean!

So, we walked off and went up to another steward further on, and this is how it went;

Us - Do you know where we can find Caravanasia?

Steward - Just think, think your way through it, think back, think back to where you left it. Just go backwards in your mind to how you got to ask me!

Us - (Realising that this bizarre man had actually thought we'd gone up and asked him where 'our' caravan was) Thank you, thank you so much. (And then we beat a hasty retreat, lest he turn on us!)

[amfy]

Despite uninstalling and re-installing my e-tests app several times, I just couldn't post or communicate with anyone on here to try and put some names to faces. I was disappointed about this

This was both my first Bestival and my first time working for Oxfam and I had a great weekend.

We worked at The Temple arena on Friday daytime, and Stacey's on Saturday night. The were both working gigs that we could dance right through. I loved that when you dance with a festival staff tabard on, it makes people smile and loads of people want to dance with you so I had lots of fun with this. Both of these were great venues with good crowds who were always ready to smile.

we had an amazing Sunday evening at The Castle Stage where we were quite blown away by Plan B and MIA - for is these were 2 exceptional sets. However - this wasn't a festival that was about the bill, it was about the festival. There were plenty of interesting and offbeat quirks around the place to keep it interesting. 

The vibe was lovely. The crowd were diverse, friendly and 'up for it' right across the ages & races.

Our night shift following that was the low - nights are so hard, especially at the end of a weekend where we'd worked and partied hard. Feeling well below par today as a result.

Off to Boomtown to do it all again tomorrow!

Edited August 6, 2018 by amfy
Just missed something Else I'd wanted to add.

[matthall95]

Was really really impressed by Bestival! Everyone incredibly friendly, stunning setting, fantastic circus acts, and really fun (if not big name) acts across the board. Highlights were Confidence Man, Idles, Ezra Collective, Dutty Moonshine Band and cycling along to Jaguar Skills. And the fireworks / projection show onto Lulworth Castle on the Saturday night was lovely. I do think it was a bit pricey and that the searches were OTT, but I would definitely return. 

We had a bad experience on our first night as we (like everyone around us) had bits stolen for our tent - although luckily nothing too valuable. However, the security were amazingly helpful and upped patrols leading to them catching and kicking out at least 4 thieves. 

Now to sleep and head off to Boomtown!

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

3 hours ago, amfy said:

Despite uninstalling and re-installing my e-tests app several times, I just couldn't post or communicate with anyone on here to try and put some names to faces. I was disappointed about this

This was both my first Bestival and my first time working for Oxfam and I had a great weekend.

We worked at The Temple arena on Friday daytime, and Stacey's on Saturday night. The were both working gigs that we could dance right through. I loved that when you dance with a festival staff tabard on, it makes people smile and loads of people want to dance with you so I had lots of fun with this. Both of these were great venues with good crowds who were always ready to smile.

we had an amazing Sunday evening at The Castle Stage where we were quite blown away by Plan B and MIA - for is these were 2 exceptional sets. However - this wasn't a festival that was about the bill, it was about the festival. There were plenty of interesting and offbeat quirks around the place to keep it interesting. 

The vibe was lovely. The crowd were diverse, friendly and 'up for it' right across the ages & races.

Our night shift following that was the low - nights are so hard, especially at the end of a weekend where we'd worked and partied hard. Feeling well below par today as a result.

Off to Boomtown to do it all again tomorrow!

Would so have liked to see Plan B and Mia, but it wasn't to be. Sorry to have missed seeing you also. Have a great BoomTown. 

[amfy]

11 hours ago, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

Would so have liked to see Plan B and Mia, but it wasn't to be. Sorry to have missed seeing you also. Have a great BoomTown. 

Thanks Yog. It's a shame you couldn't stay. On Thursday evening I was wandering round just seeing festival box ticking, but as the weekend went on it just got better and better. Maybe we will manage to meet up somewhere sometime - in a year or so you may be ready to give another festival another one last try!

It really is a shame that you missed Plan B & MIA if they were on your list because they were so worth seeing. 

Plan B started slowly but his set built and built. 'Guess Again' properly went off. There was some great moshing for that and 'Ill Manors'.

There were a couple of girls who were maybe just either side of 20 years of age watching from the edge of the mosh, obviously dying to join in but scared. I said 'If you fall, someone will pick you up, it's literally instant, that's how it works'. She asked if I was sure & then asked me to hold her sunglasses and they went for it. I loved watching the 2 of them in there having the time of their lives and knowing I enabled that to happen. These are the things that are festival moments!

I didn't know how MIA could top Plan B but she actually made me cry about 3 times just with her sheer amazingness! I loved her!

[Harry3]

Dont suppose anyone knows who was playing in Caravansia at like 3.30am on Saturday night, like super fast balkan stuff? Looks like the Woov app deletes past events and I didnt get a proper schedule :/

[smogo]

18 hours ago, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

I've just remembered two stories from the Thursday evening when we were trying to find Caravanasia, and hook up with the efests crew. We couldn't find it at all, so walked up to one steward, and this is how it went;

Us - Do you know where we can find Caravanasia?

Steward - Eh? There's a load of Asians around that corner over there, if that's what you mean!

So, we walked off and went up to another steward further on, and this is how it went;

Us - Do you know where we can find Caravanasia?

Steward - Just think, think your way through it, think back, think back to where you left it. Just go backwards in your mind to how you got to ask me!

Us - (Realising that this bizarre man had actually thought we'd gone up and asked him where 'our' caravan was) Thank you, thank you so much. (And then we beat a hasty retreat, lest he turn on us!)

I think your problem there is that it's not called Caravanasia! It's called Caravanserai.

[Joshuwarr]

Still recovering from all the madness of the weekend now, but I have to say it was one of my favourite festivals ever. I really liked the site (last went to Bestival in 2015) and thought it was brilliantly organised. 

Pros:

- Great site layout which stayed clean throughout the festival

- Diverse lineup which meant we were always discovering something new and unexpected

- The evening entertainment was fab, although a shame that it finished early on Thursday and Sunday!

 

Cons:

- We got the impression they had still not quite managed to sell out the event, particularly with a number of big artists not drawing the kind of crowds we expected. Killed the atmosphere on some occasions.

- The heat! But I shan't blame RDB and the team for that one  

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

5 hours ago, smogo said:

I think your problem there is that it's not called Caravanasia! It's called Caravanserai.

That could well have added to the confusion, I guess. Oh well, I managed to get there in the end. 

[doobie ninja]

well...that was my first bestival and boy O boy was that fun!!

 

sailed straight into the carpark, got to the front off the fast track lane as the gates opened, nearly got caught with something in the search, randomly bumped into Curlygirl, then from then untill Monday i just danced and got sun burnt with the solo group! I saw 2 thirds of what i planned to see. Loved Rudimental, stanton warriors, Crafty Kutz, Holy Goof. i found Silk City suprisingly good too. Saw some of Plan B but his arrogance pissed me off after 3 tracks. plus....the sun was killing me!! Cuban brothers were fantastic and so were Oh My its the church.

 

Loved the Caravansari....and that little place called Sunday Best.

Site layout was good, but it really pissed me off that The Temple and HMS Bestival werent on level ground. kept dancing down the hill    if it had of been wet, that site would NOT be fun.

Security was OTT quite a few times. shame there were non around on the first night when i woke up to a guy half in my tent going through my bag. I kicked him back into the porch where he the dazzled an LED tourch in my eyes to blind me, He just said "oh wrong tent" and dissapeared as i lay span out trying to figure out if i was awake or not !

 

[jackarmy]

Overall I would say Bestival was a pretty good success. We won a load of tickets last week, which obviously made up for the poor lineup.

I thought the security was WAY over the top with searches, I was pulled by a sniffer doggo on Friday morning re-entering site. Luckily all I had was a cool bag of food. To be fair to them they did apparently tell security to be less rigorous with the searches on Thursday afternoon due to the queues.

Highlights for me: Confidence Man, Thundercat, Grace Jones, Chaka Khan, Django Django, Purple Rave, and everything I saw in Caravanserai (they really should consider giving Chris Tofu a bigger budget because everything he touches seems to turn to gold). Also thought it was great how they didn't have an arena/campsite split this year, although that might have had something to do with the lower numbers of volunteer stewards on site?

I'll be interested to see what happens next year after the problems selling tickets this year. I do still sometimes wonder if they're spreading themselves too thin with the amount of events they run...

[Joshuwarr]

Interesting to hear reference to long queues as we somehow managed to be the 5th and 6th in the queue to get into Emerald Campsite on Thursday. It was really strange as we'd never managed anything like that. By the time gates opened at 11 it seemed there were less than 50 in our queue and we were easily the first fully set up. Made the searches a bit scary though as the security had no issues with taking their time...

Also glad to see lots of people saying how much they enjoyed Confidence Man. SUCH a highlight and thoroughly enjoyed dancing like a loon at the front to them.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

3 hours ago, doobie ninja said:

 

Loved the Caravansari

Caravanserai, I am reliably informed. I'm not sure why, but I'm a little dyslexic on this one. One could conclude that ours was some sort of issue with Asians - I called it Caravanasia, and you called it Caravansari. However, that doesn't really fit because it just doesn't. I could explain further, and will, if pushed, but am too tired now to write 'properly'. There is another word that I get confused with which has nothing to do with race, creed, sexuality etc. I can't remember it now, but do know that it's 'out there'. 

[tillyandthewall]

Ah bugger, I was going to do a review with Woov helping me to piece together what happened, but that's gone now...

Got there at 3pm, the queue was about 40 minutes.  A small rummage in rucksack but nothing major.  Emerald City was half-full, the furthest part from the arena was completely empty.  Usual decent mix of folks camped around us, and refreshing that there was room to walk between tents.  Bit gutting about the showers being non-existent, plus the toilets were out of blue stuff and mingin early Thursday evening.

The lack of arena check was welcome, still needed some cold cans throughout the weekend though so it didn't affect my contribution to the bar sales.  

On each area, I saw over the weekend:

Main Stage:
Son of Dave - lively one-man blues 
OMG It's The Church - silly Americana (even though one of them works at Costa in Brum)
The Big Moon - have come on leaps and bounds - a genuine main stage act
First Aid Kit - a little polished these days but still in awe at their talent
Chaka Khan - funky legend (did she do her new track? I arrived late)
Grace Jones - What presence.  Must've hulahooped for 10 minutes
M.I.A - Perfect for the mixed music genres that is Bestival.  
Silk City - Disappointing.  Empty field, and couldn't see the guys on the screen
London Grammar - Their sound is too delicate for a festival with stages in close proximity

Big top:
Casisdead - Nice introduction to the weekend
Confidence Man - Performance of the festival.  Kept it moving in the heat
Sink The Pink - Sleazy dance routine - perfect late night stuff
London Astrobeat Orchestra performs Talking Heads - I expected something more orchestral than bluegrass

Plus the other highlights round the site were Purple Rave at HMS Bestival, the Indonesian beef curry in the Feast Collective, Blind Date in the comedy/cabaret, an indoor fire pit at the far end of the forest, and watching the young folk do their jive dancing outside Pig's Big Ballroom late at night.

Other thoughts:

• Was Club Dada merged with Staceys?  Didn't work for me, it's more late night fun weirdness.  I popped my head in about 6pm on Saturday and some oompah band was on.  I couldn't pop out again immediately as it was just me and two others in there.
• Caravanserai was always heaving after 11
• I now have a terrible hacking cough.  Not sure if it was because of the dust or going on the fags as I forgot my vape.
• those stripey catsuit things (kind of what a trapeze artist would wear) seemed to be everywhere.  Not sure if it was because of the circus theme or whether they're the new cutoff jeans and wellies.
• The Saturday projection was a welcome bonus, with the nautical theme it may have been used at Camp Bestival too (but I'm not complaining)

Despite the heat I gave it my best go - I now know where every bit of shade is on the site.  Would I go back?  Yes, but the trouble is that now they did the late deals, there's even less incentive for me to pick up an early bird when you can just wait till a week before.  Hope that doesn't affect sales for next year.

[smogo]

Surely the nautical projections and subsequent fireworks would've been used at Camp Bestival, but because their Sunday was cancelled, we got them (slightly modified) as a bonus instead!

[Curlygirl]

I had the most amazing time at Bestival. Arranged a camp solo and then coincidently  met and camped with Doobie Ninja... all such a lovely group of people. We camped in Rainbow Rave which was great until people camped in the fire lanes and I lost my tent on friday morning. Only complaint with the camping was the lack of toilet facilities. First thing in the morning the queue could be up to 40minutes long! 

Thursday wasn’t the best day for me due to spending quite a bit of time sorting the bar code thing to buy beers, and waiting for camp solo to arrive, Friday was also an off day due to exhausted from festivalling (this was my 5th), but Saturday and Sunday were fantastic!! Confidence man (thanx for the recommendations) was bloody brilliant. My faves were Dubioza Kolektiv, Oh my god it’s the church, first aid kit, Elvana, Beans on Toast, and I cried real life happy tears to Jimmy Cliff! What a beautiful man he is! My absolute highlight was meeting Jay (Beans on Toast) and then being invited backstage on Sunday night. I am still buzzing from that. Caravanserai was an amazing place and I spent every night in there. It was an absolute pleasure to finally meet Yoghurt on a stick! And him leaving early explains why I couldn’t find him again! RDB is a lovely fella who was genuinely interesting in our opinions. I’d defo go back!! 

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

1 hour ago, Curlygirl said:

I had the most amazing time at Bestival. Arranged a camp solo and then coincidently  met and camped with Doobie Ninja... all such a lovely group of people. We camped in Rainbow Rave which was great until people camped in the fire lanes and I lost my tent on friday morning. Only complaint with the camping was the lack of toilet facilities. First thing in the morning the queue could be up to 40minutes long! 

Thursday wasn’t the best day for me due to spending quite a bit of time sorting the bar code thing to buy beers, and waiting for camp solo to arrive, Friday was also an off day due to exhausted from festivalling (this was my 5th), but Saturday and Sunday were fantastic!! Confidence man (thanx for the recommendations) was bloody brilliant. My faves were Dubioza Kolektiv, Oh my god it’s the church, first aid kit, Elvana, Beans on Toast, and I cried real life happy tears to Jimmy Cliff! What a beautiful man he is! My absolute highlight was meeting Jay (Beans on Toast) and then being invited backstage on Sunday night. I am still buzzing from that. Caravanserai was an amazing place and I spent every night in there. It was an absolute pleasure to finally meet Yoghurt on a stick! And him leaving early explains why I couldn’t find him again! RDB is a lovely fella who was genuinely interesting in our opinions. I’d defo go back!! 

It was a pleasure to meet you too Curlygirl. Happy to hear that you had a fab time. 

[jr1312]

What was the bar code thing for beers? I heard a few people mention it but never found out exactly what it was