Bestival 2010 Clockwatch – Saturday, September 11th (Part 2)
18.00: If you get chance to see Darwin Deez live, I strongly recommend that you snaffle the tickets before some other lucky fellow grabs them. Playing on Arcadia's giant metal spider, the New York fabulous foursome dress like the kids from Fame and have the dance moves to match; their routines performed to mash-ups of 80s classics with their own tunes. The sun is shining for the first time, and for the whole crowd at this outdoor area of the Fire Field (a much improved equivalent of last year’s Jim Beam stage) the group’s slant on Pavement enchants, particularly a medley of Single Ladies by Beyonce and The Bangles' Walk Like an Egyptian. There’s no doubting the set highlight is Radar Detector, a catchy and infectious pop song that will no doubt be heard on The Inbetweeners and T4 indents before long. AF
19.45: Mumford & Sons are delivering a much better performance here than they did at Green Man last month, where they had the piano turned up too loud and yelped just that little bit too much. Dressed as knights of the realm (not one in a waistcoat, and as Charlotte points out, that's another Bestival Bingo square you can tick off if you're playing), Little Lion Man instigates some prime hoedown foot-shuffling and singing along in the vicinity of your editor. KG
20.00: Mumford & Sons are playing “folk by numbers” on the Main Stage, according to Chris. He’s not a big fan, as you can probably guess. We hear them explaining to the crowd that it’s their “last festival of the summer… yada yada” while we wolf down a fairly average burrito. Really we’re killing time before the next act, Roxy Music, take over the reins of entertaining the masses in the Fantasy Field. AF
20.45: My dad loves Roxy Music. Every man of a certain age wants to be the debonair and effortlessly cool Bryan Ferry, and every woman of that era wants to sleep with him. They embody a sexual art-rock renaissance in musical and lyrical terms in Britain in the 1970s, that is summed up so well in the inimitable Love Is The Drug.
The band are showing their age, as one may expect to see in a band who formed four decades ago, and there is too much emphasis on new material for an unfamiliar audience, with proggy guitar solos and self-indulgence for the first two-thirds of the set. Fortunately The Strand, Virginia Plain and closer Jealous Guy ensure the crowd are entertained and satisfied in equal measures, all in time for Mike Cuban of Bestival favourites The Cuban Brothers to take to the stage for some slightly more risqué stage moves. AF
22.15: The Flaming Lips and Bestival seems like a match made in heaven, and in the face of such an obvious pairing, it’s weird how long the partnership has taken to finally be united. Wayne Coyne is possible the most exuberant showman I have ever had the pleasure to witness; from his incredible introduction in an inflatable ball in which he walks in the crowd, he is always doing something animated, like a small child who can’t sit still with excitement.
The youthful and vigorous Coyne states in his Oklahoma drawl, “I’ve never seen so many freaks in one place, with green and blue paint on their faces”, and screams inbetween songs “come on Bestival, it’s Saturday fucking night!”, as he feels, quite reasonably, that the crowd isn’t quite as crazy as he is. She Don’t Use Jelly sounds fresh as raspberry jam (not KY Jelly), while Wayne gets up to more nonsense by climbing atop of the shoulders of a giant bear. The somber, yet uplifting Do You Realize?? has everyone singing along, while canons fire orange ticker tape into the night.
Coyne seems suddenly in love with Bestival when he says “I wish this festival could go on for 100 years so we could come along and play every couple of years”. Chris is hoping for the inclusion of Race For The Prize in the encore, but is left disappointed. “Perhaps they’ll play it in 2012,” he says optimistically. AF
23.45: Sadly retiring to bed early with Bestivalitis. After Rowan got struck down with food poisoning last year on Saturday night (rather ironically, just before Seasick Steve played on the Main Stage), it seems like one of us has to take the hit each year. Kind of wishing it wasn't me, though - I was up for an adventure tonight, having barely had chance to explore the site since arriving. And, after all, Wayne Coyne did invite each and every one of us back to his tipi.... KG
words and pictures: Andy Fairclough
additional reporting by Kate Goodacre
www.bestival.net
@bestival / @robdabank
