Camp Bestival 2009
Beside Lulworth Castle, Mumford And Sons are offering their light folk sounds to a relaxed audience.
As our two-man tents are swiftly erected, we are quickly lost among the frenzy of families and their second homes. In the shadow of their portable fortresses, we stand utterly emasculated. Three year-olds trundle up and down the rolling hills with their floor mats tucked under their arms, as their parents lugged the rest; one man wheels his cart with two stuffed toys strapped to the back.
Two hundred yards from our tent are ten brightly painted cubicles, compost toilets, the sign reads "1 scoop, 1 poop" spray-painted on to a large crate of sawdust. After initial hesitation, these toilets grew in popularity. Throughout the course of the weekend, one theme is prevalent: an environmentally friendly and waste-less one; from the delights of the compost toilets to bikes hooked up to charge mobile phones, the many vegetarian food vans, and the ingenious 'Butt Bins' (essentially old camera film cases, now intended for your cigarette ends).
Trekking to the main site, we are flanked immediately by two towering, yellow features either side of the Big Top tent - 'Hi De Hi' and 'Ho De Ho'. Kids are climbing through letters and painting the sides. Old sofas surround the campfire, four-poster beds are strewn outside the Bollywood tent; closer to the Castle Stage a piano can be found with grass crawling up its legs complete with children tinkering the keys. Colourful flags sore above the crowds beside a jousting arena and the impressive Lulworth Castle, people are transported into a fantastical and filmic representation of medieval times, thrown together with folksy bohemian.
Beside Lulworth Castle, Mumford And Sons are offering their light folk sounds to a relaxed audience. Stretched out over the grass, the sun manages to finds a break in the clouds for the duration of their set; one man is wedged into his child's buggy, shades on, soaking up the sun and their sound. Their penultimate track, the dramatic and yearning 'Dust Bowl Dance', wakes up the hazy audience. One vast oak tree claims the best seat in the house; it must have bore witness to much over the years as it stands across from the towering castle turrets.
This festival is not sold on its line-up, although this year PJ Harvey and Florence And The Machine somewhat contradict this. You won't get big names, you get offered the fresh exuberance of Rob da Bank's music taste, a festival full of hidden gems. The result is a weekend packed full of pleasant surprises. A few ciders later, Hayseed Dixie are talking quite crudely with the family audience. This is something that they'd become fast used to throughout their time at Camp Bestival, with much cursing from comics at the Big Top. Duelling Banjos entertains a knowing older audience, flashing back to that fateful scene in Deliverance.
Giles Peterson is spinning discs in the Bollywood tent late afternoon. It is a strange sight to see young parents dancing along to Peterson's jazz-driven set with their kids in tow. One lady shuffles back and forth, lost in the music, as her toddler runs circles around the buggy she thrusts her hand into the air, complete with dummy. One advantage to being a parent becomes clear as the mother bends down to reveal the wine box below the pram that she'd managed to sneak past security. A mix of wellingtons and sandals move across the temporary carpet, for the weather has yet to decide on its direction. To The Kids Garden, not before walking past a behemoth of a man clad in a t-shirt that reads 'Be Nice To Trees'. We are greeted by Gideon Conn, wordsmith and songwriter on the Bandstand, being enjoyed by a small audience spread neatly on the surrounding grass. A little further on, SpongeBob SquarePants is dancing to The Ting Tings.
As the sun is setting on the Castle Stage, Florence Welch throws vocals down the mic that she now raises high into the air. Barefoot with a daisy chain running through her hair she climbs atop a side amp, delighting the heaving crowd with her theatrical poses; 'Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)' ends with a dramatic collapse to the stage floor to the delight of all. It later becomes apparent that this was as similar to a festival crowd as you were likely to encounter all weekend, and yet, as Florence now points out her sister in the crowd, kids of no more than 10 years old are able to weave themselves through the masses to find a gap closer to the barriers. Curiously, there is an unusually relaxed atmosphere at this festival. As the light finally dies, not before Florence insists that all turn around to see the sunset behind them, and the clouds knit across the sky, it would be easy to be cynical, but equally important to fight it.
Seven o'clock the next morning, this feeling fades as screaming children wake the campsite. No nursing hangovers until midday here, the smell of bacon wafts over as a loud "Hi De Hi Campers!" from a distant speaker blares out, to which many replied "Hi De Ho" - the surrealism is not weighing. The Big Top, transformed into a comedy evening hosted by the Canadian comedian Craig Campbell, a little girl is wrapped in laughter at his rude outbursts. She is now asleep in her mother's arms, and is soon led out of the tent, which now packs with people, standing in anticipation for Frankie Boyle. Boyle's grossly distasteful opening joke about Jade Goody signals the end to the family day out and beckons forth a night of adult fun and frolics.
Saturday's Big Top line-up looks like folk pop from Laura Marling, yearnings from indie-folk band Bon Iver, and the headline act, the elusive PJ Harvey. Laura Marling delighted a lightly packed tent with her soulful guitar-led sound, joined by Pete Rowe and half of Mumford And Sons; it becomes apparent later that her lyrics don't quite ring true when she begins to sing "my husband left me last night". 'Ghosts' expectedly receives the warmest applause.
Guitar strumming begins from Bon Iver, here to perform songs from their acclaimed debut album 'For Emma, Forever Ago'. The crowd fall silent in awe, except for the occasional frustrated moaning from children. 'Skinny Love' has its chorus sung back to the band, which is duly appreciated. For a band with such intensity of emotion in their performance, Justin Vernon isn't as aloof and introverted as you might expect. It becomes tiring to stand to such slow emotive pieces, many instead sat gathered around the big screen outside, alongside Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Florence Welch, as the sun began its descent.
The Camp Bestival crowd are now offered a rare treat in a stripped-down PJ Harvey set; the sun has now fallen from the sky, mirroring the chattering heads of children, that begin to sink slowly into their parents' arms. A raw 'Dress' garners the most applause. Harvey leaves the stage to loud applause as parents begin to take their sleeping children back to camp. A crowd that had so far this festival not been presented with an encore, are unprepared when she returns after an oddly prolonged absence. As the last children filter out of the gates, the site turns once again into burlesque bars and DJ sets.
Golden Silvers warm the sky above the Castle Stage for the third day of festivities, with 'Arrows Of Eros' and 'True Romance' managing to get everyone up to the barriers and dancing. It was then to the Big Top for Marina And The Diamonds. Clad in a glitzy jacket over her pyjama top, she struts confidently, showcasing her left-field pop and creating dramatic visual shapes, stand-outs being 'I Am Not A Robot' and the uncomplicated 'Obsessions'.
Outside of the tent, the, once upright, four-posters are beginning to sink into the fast muddying field, nature reclaiming the land as it begins to pull the festival in. As the wellies have won the footwear battle, you'd expect the Big Top to become a little fuller, especially for the much-hyped Micachu And The Shapes, but the tent remains with a sparse gathering of eager onlookers. And so begins those indefinable, experimental sounds from Micachu; with cowbells and wine bottles aplenty, you imagine they all grew up in the same cul-de-sac, banging on their mother's pots and pans.
The Bookworm Tent offers up spoken word all weekend. The tiny tent with a crude sound system is heaving, awaiting a reading from Scroobius Pip, who teases the patient group by compering the evening. His reading of 'Letter From God' gains a knowing appreciation, and Scroobius asks "did I get all the words right?", referring to the distraction of the Bollywood Tent's thumping bass, their proximity to each other an oversight by the organisers. However, he is confidently assured by a couple of fans sitting at the front. Andrew Maxwell's Fullmooners attempt to compete for an audience against fireworks shooting from the castle. Now to Bollywood, to hear the business end of Rob da Bank's DJ set. He asks the bedraggled but buoyant crowd what they want him to play, before turning up crowdpleasers like Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now' and Dolly Parton's '9 To 5'. He ends with an Oscar speech of thank yous before the wet but happy festival-goers make their way back to their sopping campsite.
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