Songs of heartbreak and defiance

Bestival, Robin Hill Park, Isle of Wight, 8-11th September 2011

This was a new one. Waiting so late in the year for my main festival fix and holiday in general. The weather being what it has been this year, it did feel like we were going to pitch a tent in bleakest midwinter. As it happened, the big storms they predicted never actually hit us until Monday. Fair do’s, when it did hit us it was the remnants of a hurricane, but I’m getting ahead of myself…

Another new one was being driven to a festival. Untold luxury compared to the trains and buses I’ve had endure before. It was the furthest I’ve ever travelled to a festival, and a joy to return to the Isle of Wight, home of many a childhood holiday.

Thursday saw a full evening of entertainments being put on, but the only one we were really interested in was the return of Santigold. I last saw her back in Leeds 2008, and since then she’s expanded the band and the wardrobe. L.E.S Artistes was played ever as usual and reminded what a bloody perfect song it is. Tracks from her forthcoming second album made it sound like a very exciting prospect indeed. She even through in her Major Lazer collab Vibrate. All kinds of amazing.

Friday’s first attraction was Beardyman, looping and cutting his own voice at an unbelievable pace. The sounds he produced rivalled any instrument. Bonus points for dropping in I Think I’m In Love by Spiritualized.

Then came a rare chance to see Australian kings of cool-as-fuck dance Cut Copy. Skinny bastard frontman Dan Whitford had itchy feet behind his keyboard stack, barely keeping still for the duration of their all too short set. The sun came out and the Big Top tent became more and more full as several conga lines of drunk teenagers came in to feel the noise. It was good to hear Saturdays off their debut Bright Like Neon Love, but it’s a shame Going Nowhere couldn’t have joined it. Several tracks of In Ghost Colours got a good reaction, but it was newie Zonoscope that was the main attraction, with Need You Now bringing things to a loud and emotional climax.

Next came Patrick Wolf, a bit of a favourite of mine if you’ve been paying attention. I’ll admit Lupercalia didn’t immediately grab me like previous albums have done, but soon enough it opened up to reveal a collection of beautifully positive songs about love and that. And it was from that record that this set mostly populated, his touring band now expanded to include a woodwind player. I wasn’t expecting to hear anything from Lycanthropy, but it was odd that The Batchelor was ignored. His new album was always planned to be an opposite to its predecessor, but perhaps there just wasn’t enough time. He was playing later in the day than I had seen since 2007, but it was still only a 50 minute set. “Oldies” came in the shape of The Libertine, Accident & Emergency and a humongous singalong for (what else?) The Magic Position. But I think the night belonged to the new. House, Bermondsey Street and Time Of My Life all sounded spectacular, especially with the added muscle of the live environment. Together and The City were two of my favourite performances of the festival. Patrick Wolf just doesn’t know how to disappoint.

Saturday was Big Dressing Up day, which annoyingly coincided with the worst of the weather. That only amounted to a brief but heavy shower, and with that out of the way we made it back into the arena in time for most of Dan Le Sac vs Scroobious Pip. It had all the wit and anger you could ask for, although I did spend most of the set looking around me wondering who everyone else’s costumes were meant to be.

Some exploring around the site lead to a science tent with, amongst other things, a soldering class, a sound table and a TARDIS. Wonderful stuff.

A few hours and many ciders later, we found Cocknbullkid in one of the smaller tents. Within the space of 2-3 spins, Adulthood became one of my favourite albums of 2011. Lively in tone, self-deprecating in lyric and resplendent in her attire, Anita is a star and has the tunes to prove it. Another set that went by all too quickly, I was right down the front making an out-of-tone fool of myself. And I didn’t care.

From out of nowhere, PJ Harvey is having one of the best years of her career. Unfortunately for alcoholic reasons I wasn’t really paying attention. Not being too familiar with Let England Shake, and also as a result of her playing around with the arrangements of other songs, I only recognised a couple. But fair play to her, you get the feeling she’s only ever done things her own way.

A theme is forming, unfortunately I’d had too much to fully appreciate a 2 ½ hour set from The Cure. Robert Smith still sounds every bit as haunting as he probably did several years before I was born, and I had a good little dance to Love Song and Just Like Heaven, but unfortunately the bad apple juice got to me and we bailed. As a punishment they went and played all the massive tunes after I left. Bastards!

Needless to say, Sunday started out a little slowly, but eventually we got started and had more of a wander around the site. This is certainly one of the more beautiful festivals I’ve been too. The atmosphere and the people a lot more on my level than others I’ve attended in recent years.

When I saw Kelis at Parklife back at the start of the Summer it was a far cry from the superlative performance of the year I’d seen at Big Chill 2010. However this blip was soon forgotten as she owned the afternoon. The addition of a live drummer put a bit of much needed pulse into the backing tracks. Kelis had arrived as Master of Ceremonies, killer pins on show and giving it her all. It was the third time I’d seen her do this set, other people’s songs thrown in and everything, but her charm and honestly shine over everything. Bounce got a huge reaction, as did Milkshake and Trick Me. But still nothing from Kaleidoscope! Curses. Acapella will always be amazing. End of.

Sunday evening contained the two acts I was most looking forward to, having never seen full sets from either of them before, so we claimed a spot down the front and prepared ourselves.

Robyn was probably the highlight of Bestival for me. Body Talk is a sensational album, songs of heartbreak and defiance fighting against a punishing backdrop of beats. She moved, she grinded, she took off her clothes AND she ate a banana. Not really sure what it meant, but it was bloody amazing. The Girl And The Robot never sounded better. Be Mine, Dancing On My Own and Don’t Fucking Tell Me What To Do all equally spectacular. And Indestructible. It was an exercise in How To Be A Star. We can only watch in awe.

Then came Bjork, another act who’s only ever answered to herself. Accompanied by two instrumentalists, a 30 piece choir, a whole load of apps and a bloody huge wig, Bjork admitted it wasn’t the perfect time to play an unreleased album in its entirety “but I’m going to do it anyway”. Crystalline was the most familiar of the new songs, with its 8-bit app looking like a Game Boy game of old. Hidden Place came along at just the right time, and from then on the set played just the right balance of old and new. It would have been preferable to be more familiar with the new record, but it didn’t stop her performance to be anything other than breathtaking. The choir were a definite highlight, well choreographed and sounding divine. Joga, Isobel and Hyperballad all came with new arrangements, Joga sounding like heaven itself as the choir took on the string arrangement. Declare Independence close the set, the day and my first Bestival with a thundering cry to match the storm we battled the very next day, with all the choir joining Bjork for a literal wig-out.

Then came the fireworks, the giant glowing men and the end of yet another festival season. To say I waited so long for this one, I certainly wasn’t disappointed. With no Glastonbury in 2012 I can’t think of a better festival to replace it in your schedules and in your souls.