Best of all… Bestival 2018

Last year after a tricky start at their new home Lulworth Castle from the Isle of Wight, Bestival on its 15th anniversary has done well to entice the fickle festival goers this year. As there are so many summer festivals to choose from these days, it can be difficult to know which one to spend your money on unless of course you have endless amounts of crispy in your pocket, that allows you to do a festival every weekend throughout the summer.

Like many things you can’t please everyone all the time and it must be an enormous task to curate a festival where bands are happy with timings and staging and festival goers are happy with the lineups and facilities. Who would want that job. When I spoke to Rob da Bank at Camp Bestival only the week before, one of the first things he said and I guess it must’ve been on his mind ..  ‘you must think I’m mad staging 2 festivals in 2 weeks’. It seems like a cool thing to do, but really who would want to do it.

All things considered Bestival was a great success with great bands, amusements, trapeze acts, food, accommodation and a location second to none and as we all know the weather this summer has been amazing, so no complaints there.

The lineup for Bestival this year had some legends as well as some extremely popular acts that included London Grammar, First Aid Kit, Mark Ronson and Diplo as Silk City, Chaka Khan, M.I.A, Plan B, Rudimental, Camel Phat, David Rodigan and the Outlook Orchestra, Songhoy Blues, Jimmy Cliff, Faithless DJ set, East 17, Goldie, Hot Chip DJ set, Rob Da Bank and for VIVA the highlight of the weekend was Grace Jones who was captivating on saturday evening’s Castle Stage. The list goes on and on and if you couldn’t find something to like you weren’t there. A special mention also goes out to E.M.A the up and coming DJ originally from Bournemouth but now in Manchester who completely smashed the Bollywood stage on sunday afternoon with her house set.

Away from the main stages and music was Ambientland where you could chill out amongst the trees, slow the body down and relax. With Crafty Corner you could have a go at making peace signs with CND, join crochet creative babe Katie Jones for her amazing workshops, Dream Catcher creating & enter the colourful wonderland of Cosmic’s Art Space. Or Find your way to the Frozen Mole through the woods and discover some late-night revelry in the twinkly barn at the end of the woodland, which descends into the early hours with DJ’s and some unexpected fun to be had. If you where done with the booze you could try a warm welcome and a kettle simmering on the fire. The Magic Teapot was the space for stories, conversations, songs and gathering new friends over a cuppa around a cosy fire. The cosiest and friendliest of festival venues.

The Crafty Cabin At the back of the woodland was the place to grab a drink and get stuck into the workshops on offer, from Tie Dye mayhem to postcard making to jewellery making sessions to while the day away.

No Festival can be perfect but as festivals go this is up there with the best and long may it continue at Lulworth with it’s amazing setting and sea view, easy access and easy to get around site. What more could you want.

Hats off to Rob and Josie Da Bank to going to so much trouble to put on one of the top events of the summer.

Put it in your diary for next year … for more details

http://www.bestival.net