I went to Bestival 2018 this year with my boyfriend Richard, and the first thing to say is that it was unbelievably hot. To the point where I was walking around camp without any shoes on, which is the hottest festival I've ever been to, including Lost + Found which is in Malta. It's crazy how much the weather can have an effect on your experience at a music festival, and it was the biggest contrast to last year which was super muddy.
It's a few months late, but here's a recap of what I got up to!
Me in the campsite with my new bucket hat I got from House of Vans for free! (And look, no litter in the campsites!) And Richard with his creepy glitter moustache:
Sound-wise, Bestival was pretty good, although I wouldn't say it blew me away. It was definitely good enough, apart from disappointingly Bicep at The Temple seemed really quiet, so me and Richard didn't stick around (but I wasn't too sad as I saw them at Lost + Found in May and we're also seeing them at Printworks in November, yay!). The main stage was good, and it was definitely loud enough in most places.
We saw London Grammar and Idles at main stage which were highlights, and loads of good stuff at Caravanserai. Sadly a lot of what I wanted to see was on Sunday night and we had to leave early, so we missed out on MIA, Dutty Moonshine Big Band (who I thankfully got to see a weekend later at Boomtown), and Mike Skinner. We saw Confidence Man who Richard loved, but sadly Oneman couldn't show up who I wanted to see, but I've seen him before so I wasn't too disappointed, and I saw a lot of good garage at HMS Bestival to make up for it.
I always love HMS Bestival as that's where I can usually find garage, and we had fun there this year again too:
Our failed attempts at getting portraits with the Bestival logo in at main stage!:
I would say that Bestival is now a fun little festival that lacks some of the hedonistic craziness of say Boomtown Fair (or Glasto, but I only speak from what I've heard there, as I've never been), but has charm to it. It would probably be a great first festival to go to when you're younger as it feels really safe. (Albeit saying that security and the police seemed a bit overabundant this year!) Sadly for me personally it's missing that 'edge' that it used to have when it was on the Isle of Wight site, which I think is largely down to the fact it feels like it's downsized, but I don't regret going. It was especially nice to have a camping festival with Richard, which was our first one we've been to together.
Some of the best parts about Bestival this year were:
- The FOOD. Oh my GOD the food. It was a vegan dream this year, especially at The Feast Collective which had Biff's Jack Shack, and Happy Maki was there, too. I ate so well at Bestival haha, probably the best I've ever eaten at any festival.
- Bestival is no longer an arena festival, so there was no gated distinction between campsite and the music stages which I love as it means you can take your drinks with you wherever you go and wander about freely.
- The Loop were at Bestival this year which is great to see, as you know the organisers have put the safety of customers first.
- How clean the campsite was - a big contrast to the state of the campsites at Boomtown, and was probably helped by the fact there were easy to find eco bond points but also a lot less people, so naturally making a lot less mess.
