FESTIVAL PREVIEW: Bestival

**There are countless festivals this summer, all of them planned down to a tee and catering for thousands of fans. Which one you’ll be going to will depend on three factors: location, money and artists. Without a magic combination of all three, you’re unlikely to bother. Notably, this year will see Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake on the only UK stop of their joint tour, performing at Wireless in the Olympic Stadium and the long-awaited headline of The Rolling Stones at Glastonbury, which returns after a one-year hiatus.**

Whilst both of these are great, most of us haven’t got the money to go to both. You have to be selective when it comes to festivals and music, ensuring you’re going to get the best experience for your cash. I’m just going to make the choice really simple for you, by listing all the reasons why **Bestival** is the one for you, me, and everyone who has half a brain.

**It’s the only festival whose name rhymes with “festival”.** The literal translation of “Bestival” is “best festival ever”, and you can’t argue with that.

**It’s their birthday and they’ll rave if they want to.** **Bestival** turns ten this year – can you remember how exciting it was to get into double digits? Well, I can, and it was awesome. Something tells me it’s going to be one amazing birthday party, with cake and everything.

**Britain’s second-favourite Queen will be there.** Elton can’t compete with Elizabeth, but he can sure do some magic with a piano and microphone. Who wouldn’t want to be swaying in the crowd, belting out the lyrics to ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road?’ If you don’t know these lyrics, you clearly aren’t a music fan and I don’t know why you’re even reading this piece.

**The opportunity to ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’ in a field with 100,000 other people should not be ignored lightly.** I love dropping it like it’s hot in a dark sweaty club as much as the next person, but the chance to do it in a field with thousands of others, not entirely sober and potentially muddy and/or sunburnt spells pure magic to me.

**The other acts aren’t half bad either.** Who knows what **M.I.A.** will get up to? **The Flaming Lips** usually jump into the crowd in a massive balloon, whilst **Wu-Tang Clan** are, well, **Wu-Tang Clan**. Subliminal chilled-out music will be provided by **Jessie Ware**, **James Blake** and **Belle & Sebastian**. Besides this, you’ve also got **Angel Haze**, **Disclosure**, **DJ Fresh**, **Sinead O’Connor**, **Bastille**, **The 1975** and **Mark Ronson** vs. **Zane Lowe**. At time of writing, they haven’t even announced the third headliner yet. It can only get better.

**Rob da Bank wants you to pretend you’re on a boat.** Go ahead and sing **The Lonely Island**, because you’re on HMS Bestival. Every year the festival picks a theme; last year was wildlife, this year the festival sets sail. On the Saturday afternoon, there’s a fancy dress parade, with the winner getting tickets to the next year’s festival and other great goodies. A festival with its own themed conga line – I’m not sure it gets better than this.

**There’s a Women’s Institute tent and it’s the best food and drink you’re going to eat all weekend.** You can get a fresh cup of tea or coffee and a slice of home-made cake for about £1. The ladies are always comforting, happy and just lovely. Their tent is also set up on a little hill a bit away from the main stages, making it the perfect tea break.

**There’s an Ambient Forest That should be all I need to say, really.** Part of where the festival is held normally functions as an adventure park for kids, so you can run around between the trees, gape at an intricately-carved totem pole and lose yourself for an hour or so. If peace and quiet isn’t your thing, head to the Besti-versity and learn things, because knowledge is awesome, or perhaps grab a yummy treat at the farmers’ market. There really is something for everyone during those trance-y hours of calm before the live music starts.

**You can swing dance, grab a Byron burger and rave until 4am in the same field.** You can explore the whole site or you can stay in one place; the point is, you won’t be bored for a second.

**The atmosphere is second to none.** Everyone is there just to have a really great time. The vibe is positive, happy, carefree and fanatical about music. I agree that “we’re all in this together” is a general feeling in festivals, especially when it comes to using wet wipes like they’re going out of fashion. However, I feel this particularly strongly when at Bestival. It’s a strangely British event, as if the Isle of Wight’s second biggest festival is our best-kept secret (and it just might be).

Sure, it’s not as big as **Glastonbury** and it doesn’t have the history behind it; it’s the baby of British festivals and needs all the love it can get. But be under no illusion, this year will be the biggest yet for this four-day festival that provides the perfect last hurrah to summer.