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Camp Bestival 2010

Live Reviews

A truly unique atmosphere, and an exciting array of activities.

30th July 2010 - 1st August 2010, Lulworth Castle, Dorset / By Harriet Jennings
The Boy Who Trapped The Sun Camp Bestival is an interesting place, to say the least. Boasting an old castle, a circus and The Gruffalo as some of its most redeeming features, you kind of know you’re going to be in for something pretty special. Essentially, it’s a festival for grown ups. Not grown ups as in the twenteens that frequent Reading or Leeds, not the grown up 18-30s that head over to Benicassim every summer but grown up grown ups: grown ups with children.

It’s almost as if the organiser’s priorities went a little like this: fancy dress on a Saturday afternoon? Check. Face painting all day everyday? Check. Mr Tumble? Check. Great music? Erm, well, we’ll see what we can do.

A massive field flooded with food vans, trees and buggies probably doesn’t make for the easiest place to engineer sound for. Throw in a really big castle and I guess Camp Bestival have a bit of an excuse, that being said, the sound on the mainstage was hit and miss, at best. Even well practised festival acts ran into significant difficulties and if you were towards the back of the crowd, you pretty much stood no chance.

Elsewhere, the Big Top showcased some brilliant bands over the weekend. An unexpected festival highlight came from The Boy Who Trapped The Sun, a lovely little Scottish band with fantastic vocals and a gorgeous sound, who graced the stage on Sunday afternoon. Definitely one to watch at other events this summer, they sported folk flavours similar to the likes of Peter Broderick and The Mariner’s Children but with a younger and trendier vibe.

The comedy tent shuffled around the arena slightly but still managed to play home to some really great acts. Particular highlights included Tim Minchin and Tiffany Stevenson who shied away from the more obvious topics and gave genuinely hilarious performances from start to finish.

Camp Bestival has a truly unique atmosphere and an exciting array of activities on offer. Potentially not one for those that consider festivals to be soley about the music, it’s great for people with families or for those that like to explore the other side of festival life. Overall, a lovely little weekend.

Our 5 favourite things about Camp Bestival 2010
1. Getting our faces painted for charity. What more of an excuse do you need?
2. Sofas in the comedy tent. Best. Place. Ever. Especially for eating mash potato and gravy.
3. Speaking of, the fantastic selection of food on offer.
4. Someone fast asleep in the loudest tent we’ve ever been in.
5. The paintwork. How beautifully decorated is that place?

Our 5 least favourite things about Camp Bestival 2010
1. Being woken up through the night 7 million times (counted) by screaming babies/children/parents.
2. Poor sound on the mainstage.
3. The morning stampede to get to The Gruffalo.
4. Too much choice on offer in the food department. No one needs to lose three hours picking their tea.
5. 45 minute queues for the Ferris wheel. True story. Rating: 8/10
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