The Beat Surrender

After the success of last years event, Bestival returns once more on the 9th, 10th and 11th September and it’s bigger and better than ever.

Last year we sent our reviewer Graham Hunt down to the then little known festival on the Isle of Wight to see how it would compare with the more established festivals like T in the Park, Reading and Glastonbury. Click on the review link to read in full what Graham made of it, all I’ll say is that he came back gushing about the brilliant atmosphere, created by the friendliest festival crowd he’d experienced and all that was with a soundtrack of great bands and DJ’s in the background.

We weren’t the only ones though that were quick to praise the well run event, it’s almost immediately built a reputation amongst the press and fans alike as being the peoples festival, not too big to be tainted by commercialism, yet big enough to attract some of the biggest names from the many genres it spans across the three days.

So it was with considerable excitement that we watched the line-up start to take shape again this year, week after week the line up was being added to and once again our new favourite festival looks set to light up the musical world in September. The full line up for the main stage is now finalised as follows:

FRIDAY: The Magic Numbers, Mylo, Dreadzone, Grand National, The Dub Pistols Featuring Terry Hall (The Specials), Two Lone Swordsmen, The Earlies, Sebastien Tellier

SATURDAY: Röyksopp, 2manydjs, Soulwax, Saint Etienne, Ulrich Schnauss, The Cuban Brothers, Hot Chip, Tom Vek, Husky Rescue

SUNDAY: Super Furry Animals, The Go! Team, Lee Scratch Perry, The Egg, Emiliana Torrini, Fat Freddy’s Drop, VHS or Beta, Piney Gir, The Broken Family Band

Something for everybody in that line up, with relatively new artists on the scene being represented by Husky Rescue, Tom Vek, The Magic Numbers, The Go! Team and Grand National who have all released acclaimed debut albums in the last year, while older hands like Super Furry Animals, Saint Etienne, dub legend Lee Scratch Perry and second album artists like Royksopp, Soulwax and Emiliana Torrini are well established in peoples record collections and affections.

As with a lot of festivals though, it isn’t all about the main stage action, Bestival boasts a number of stages and venues within the festival boundaries, Rob da Bank has also invited BBC Radio One legend Annie Nightingale to join him and their other Radio One station mates Bobby Friction and Nihal in the decadent Bolllywood Cocktail Bar.

Continue