Festival preview: Bestival

by Jim Merrett

30,000 revellers on a dead man’s chest. That’ll be Bestival, then

"The dress code is optional rather than mandatory, but turn up in your usual togs and you're gonna stand out like Winehouse at one of her own gigs"

 Bestival
 When: Friday 5 September – Sunday 7 September
 Where: Robin Hill Country Park, Isle of Wight
 Official site: www.bestival.net
 Past New Noise coverage
 2007
 2006
 Click here for line-up details.

A few weeks before Glastonbury and they're still hawking tickets through official lines. Not since the days before the fuck-off Israeli-style fence was built has this happened. A symptom of the saturation of the festival calendar (as well as a few fields in Somerset)? Maybe. So why has Bestival sold out a good five months before gates open on its Robin Hill Country Park site?

It could have something to do with the line up, which includes rare UK festival outings for My Bloody Valentine and Aphex Twin, lots of old farts like Gary Numan, the Human League and the Breeders, staple party-rousers CSS and Hot Chip and the chance to put a face to a name by checking out up-and-coming (or recently arrived) treats from the likes Santogold, Crystal Castles, Chrome Hoof and Cage The Elephant. And no mention of Jay-Z. In fact, it's one of the best clutches of musicians in this hemisphere. Then again, perhaps the 30,000 punters are really holding out for the unlikely chance Amy Winehouse – another headliner – might actually turn up?

More likely, word of mouth has worked its magic. The 2008 shindig will only be the fifth Bestival but already the name has firmly established itself on the circuit. The brainchild of one man, Rob da Bank – a younger Michael Eavis who knows more about records than dairy cattle, you'd imagine – the festival has an organic-feel to it, as though there is more than corporate sponsorship at stake. Set sail for the Isle of Wight and you are plunged into a magical kingdom that makes Disneyland seem like the Third Reich. Okay – not hard. And maybe due to climate change, the sun always seems to shine on that one weekend in September.

But the real trick to this blowout? Fancy dress. The dress code is optional rather than mandatory, but turn up in your usual togs and you're gonna stand out like Winehouse at one of her own gigs. This reverse school uniform effect only heightens the sense of anything-goes freedom. Last year, pirates were out in force. This year, the theme is ’30,000 freaks under the sea’, so expect mermaids, mutated sea bass and probably more pirates. You can never have too many pirates.

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