We have to admit to being a little apprehensive at first, seeing as this summer has been one long wash out. However, the powers that be deemed Bestival important enough to designate one long weekend of sunshine to the cause, resulting in a late summer extravaganza of epic proportions. Over the following pages we bring you our interviews with Friendly Fires, The Maccabees, The Early Years, Jackson Analogue, Foals, The Bees, Slow Club, Jape, and Mr Nice himself….Howard Marks.

Bestival, the self proclaimed 'Best of all festivals' certainly lived up to its name, with a manageable head count of 30,000 and apart from the traffic jam to get to the site on Friday, no ridiculous queues at the bar or for toilets! Joy! And whilst Bestival did offer a truly monstrous main stage line up this year, including the mighty Chemical Brothers, the unstoppable Primal Scream, and two sets (no less) from the irrepressible Beastie Boys (all reviewed for your reading pleasure) its true beauty lies in the incredible diversity of the smaller stages and tents….

Fancy a mug of tea in the sunshine whilst some guy tinkles away on an old upright piano, fine! Fancy dancing lessons to ease the pain of your two left feet? Spend the afternoon in the Come Dancing ballroom. Feel like catching a burlesque show whilst munching lunch? Check out Time for Tease! In fact, the biggest unsung heroes of the festival are the crowds themselves. You will not see a more impressive collection of mad hatters, wizards and animal costumes in your entire life. The fancy dress theme this year was loosely pirates and sea creatures, although this merely served as a guide.

To sum up, describing Bestival in such a short amount of words is always going to underplay its true charm. Any such description can merely hint at what it has to offer. The best way to find out is go there yourself, just remember, that tickets for this year sold out 5 months in advance, and as there seems to be little chance (thankfully) of a capacity increase any time soon, you'd better get in there early!

http://www.bestival.net/