Bestival 2009 : The 4or The Record Review

Thank our merciful Lord. Anyone who attended Bestival last year would have had slightly brown pants when looking at the state of the weather leading up to this year’s event.

Memories were still fresh of people using the sweat infused, steam-dry, body heat method to dry their clothes from the beams of the Bollywood Tent and more annoyingly for many people, having Foals’ set decimated by God having his biggest power shower for many a year.

What a difference a year makes, the sun is out all weekend - literally. I know Brits love to harp on about the weather, but after you’ve managed to get back your July tan at a festival in mid-September you’re a happy camper.

After the drama of the previous year, the most charming festival on Planet Earth was back with a new site layout, a planetary space theme, a new fire breathing stage called the Afterburner and so much music you had no idea where to start.

The line-up on Friday epitomised how good Bestival has become in attracting a varied and awesome calibre of artist. A main stage consisting of Passion Pit, Friendly Fires, Soulwax and Massive Attack provide an awesome musical melee to start the weekend. Experimentalists Pivot shine brightly in The Big Top and take the 4or The Record plaudits from a disappointing MGMT on the Main Stage, this despite every man and his dog being there in droves.

Special mention goes to 2Many DJ’s. Whatever you may think of smashing out 50 odd tunes in two hours with no care for genre or style, this is literally the best party soundtrack you could ever wish to hear. Complimented by some brilliant visuals of the vinyl sleeves of each record, animated and synced with their flawless mixing, it makes for a truly dirty, hedonistic experience.

When the fancy dress appears on Saturday, it’s a welcome sight for hazy eyes. All kinds of space-related, foil adorned costumes make their way round the site. Top marks go to the eight-strong group of life size Shrek gingerbread men who completely ignored the space theme and just ran round the sight like nutters. Hilarious!

After the astoundingly good Delphic and the astoundingly hilarious Major Lazer, (during which, one uncomfortable chap received a lap dance from two buxom black ladies) Saturday night headliner Kraftwerk provide so much more than chin-stroking fodder for tech-heads. Theirs is the absolute weekend showstopper. Never has watching four German blokes standing at laptops been so fascinating. The minimal visuals and an electric atmosphere made the whole thing feel like you’d genuinely witnessed something very rare and special. Kraftwerk staples Tour de France and Radioactivity sound as brilliantly dated as you would hope. An utter education.

It’s probably an idea to say at this point most of the clientele can barely construct a sentence. We feel our way around the awesome Drums of Death in the brilliant and loud Red Bull Stage that over the weekend featured 4or The Record favourites Metronomy, Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, dubstep badman Joker and the Mercury Music Prize winner Speech Debelle. 

The beauty of Bestival is the complete randomness that often takes over proceedings. A group of us eventually end up in the woods, sat on a wooden bandstand in the middle of a pond chatting to some hippy that has two litres of decanted tequila at four in the morning. Who the fuck needs two litres of tequila at four in the morning? After quite the night cap we fall mercy to the morning and wake up with a headache that feels like we’ve spent two days wide awake at a Darius Danesh curated festival.

Sunday is a beautifully horizontal affair involving a rejuvenating Pie Minister and seven…yes seven bottles of water from the Women’s Institute Tea Tent. After finding our soul at the bottom of our pie and mash we are fit to continue. 

We get our head together enough to read The Sunday Times in the sun while watching Michael Nyman and his orchestra. We also have a strip dance-off with our mate and watch our favourite German tech-band; The Field, turn the Big Top into an ethereal wonderland.

After witnessing the finale from Elbow and the biggest bonfire we’ve ever seen, (seriously this thing was forty foot) we dance around the Afterburner Stage. This crazy construction can be described as a rocket with the DJ booth in the middle surrounded by smoking Victorian lampposts. It also spits fire out of the top. It’s mental and probably not what you need on Sunday at a festival. After watching Altern 8 re-create the 90’s with added fire we are fit to drop again. We don’t and find the energy to go and watch Rob Da Bank close The Bollywood Tent with his typical rabble rousing set, after which we nearly die.

And die we nearly do when it takes us eleven hours to get home on Monday. The only blemish on what is probably the best festival in the world.

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