I have been lucky enough to go to Bestival for the last four years (#keen) and I cannot begin to explain to you how much I was looking forward to this year’s festival after a summer with no holidays and lots of work. For those of you who don’t know, Bestival is a magical festival for over 18’s held every year in Robin Hill Park on the Isle of Wight. Before you say ‘TREK’ it is absolutely worth it, because quite frankly, it’s like no other festival you’ve ever been to!
The theme
Every year Bestival has a theme, and the idea is that you dress up and go all out on the Saturday (the festival runs Thursday- Sunday, and Sunday is the big finale) and try and make yourself stand out. A lot of people dress up every day while some make absolutely no effort, but it’s fine either way. This year’s theme was ‘Summer of Love’ so think hippies, bright colours, lots of love and some very crazy outfits. The park itself was transformed: there was a hippy commune at one side of the camp with vans and huge peace and love signs, as well as a giant robot holding a flower with a peace sign on its chest. A mixed bag, but definitely one of the most creatively decorated festivals I’ve ever seen.
Above are my friends and myself dressed up on the Saturday. I have to say that my friend James (centre) put us all to shame a bit with his extra skin-tight leotard…
The massive ‘Love-bot’ – it lit up at certain times during the day, asking for love!
Above is the beautiful Wishing Tree! It lit up as soon as it started to get dark and people were often found dancing around it…
My friends and I at the very top of Robin Hill Park.
The acts
The best thing about Bestival is undoubtedly the variety of acts that Rob da Bank (creator of Bestival) manages to line up every year. I find it absolutely insane that I can say I have seen Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Sam Smith perform on the main stage in previous years, when getting to see them in concert would be near impossible. This year’s highlight on the main stage for me would be a tie: between The Jacksons and BBK. Whilst there were a lot of people speculating that The Jacksons were miming throughout their performance, I can’t even pretend that I cared because I had the most amazing time dancing and singing along to all their hits, many of which I didn’t realize I knew. Their dancing was slick and sharp, and they were so charismatic that I lost my voice by the end of their set.
BBK are the complete opposite of The Jacksons, but they also pulled in a huge crowd of people, despite being on pretty early. They got people shouting, making mosh pits, and the crowd was incredibly lively by the end of their set. My only complaint would have to be: WHERE WAS WILEY?
The Stage
The picture above really doesn’t do it any justice, but that’s a snap of The Port (personally my favourite stage) in action. It’s essentially a massive boat, with acrobatic performers suspended mid- air above the vast sea of people that flocked there night after night to see DJS such as Jaguar Skills, Hannah Wants, David Rodigan and many, many more. The atmosphere at The Port was electric night after night, and the fact that Bestival is in such an isolated spot of land away from local residents meant that there was no 10pm curfew (Parklife anyone?).
If I haven’t yet convinced you and you still think Bestival isn’t for you, I’m afraid you are simply wrong. If you’re not into camping, there’s a glamping option available so you can feel more at home and less like you’re sleeping in a tent! If you’re worried about the dirtiness and not feeling clean, a new-ish feature of Bestival is that there are hot tubs available as well as the opportunity to shower, blow-dry and straighten your hair. At £35 a pop for 2 hours, it might seem like an extravagant option, but I honestly felt like a new woman after a soak in the hot tub with a classy glass of prosecco in hand (at 9am in the morning, oops)!
After being very cynical about the hot tubs last year, it was a well spent £35!
If you don’t think that you could spend so much time in one place just drinking and going to see a few people play per day, don’t worry, because there are so many other activities to do. I walked past reggae aerobics one day which looked hilarious and a lot of fun (although not so much for a slightly worse-for-wear me)! My friends decided that they wanted to go and meet some llamas one day, so they paid £3 and got to dress up and stroke two very cute, sassy llamas.
Llama Karma and Alpaca petting was surprisingly popular this year
So, to sum up – go to Bestival 2016. I promise that you will not regret it! Early bird tickets are out now (I’m not a promoter, honest) and trust me when I say that you will have an amazing weekend that will other festivals and even holidays to shame.
Image SourcesAll images were writer’s own.