LIVE: Santigold / Johnny Flynn / King Creosote & Jon Hopkins / Yuck / Mr. Motivator / SL2 live PA performing “On A Ragga Tip” + SL2 / Foreign Beggars / Dutch Uncles / Ulrich Schnauss / Alice Russell / The Secret Sisters / Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer / Young Rebel Set / Chris Read
DJs: Joy Orbison / Busy P / Mary Anne Hobbs / Modular – Sneaky Sound System, Bag Raiders / Howard Marks (Dubstep Set) / Benji B / Jaguar Skills / The Heatwave Carnival -The Heatwave, Sticky, Lady Chann / Loefah / Bullion / Huw Stephens / Jaymo & Andy George / Kirk Degiorgio / Jon Hopkins / Firas & Jay Karim / Flying White Dots / Drm Rll Pls Dj’s / Sunday Best Forum Allstars / Prince Tribute Trio / Johnno’s Bugged Out New Years Day Set / Fragment Djs / Shepdog
PLUS: Bloco – Bestival Block Party / The Ambient Forest / Swamp Shack / Boom Boom Club / Black Out Gigs / Wunder Kabinet / Classic Album Sundays
AND: Grandmaster Flash Has A Message!
Putting old PT Barnum to shame, the Bestival crew’s unending quest to bring you the greatest show on earth continues apace with even more amazing acts joining The Cure, Pendulum, Primal Scream, PJ Harvey, Brian Wilson, Public Enemy, Mogwai, Kelis, Fatboy Slim and Groove Armada on the bill plus some very special festival exclusives. Spread across 15 stages from September 8th to 11th and curated by renowned arbiter of taste Rob da Bank, this year’s Bestival has it all like never before, from the great and good to your next favourite band, all topped off with the magic and madcap merriment that make our Robin Hill shindig a true one of a kind.
Rob da Bank says: ‘So we have another teasing taster of what we’ve got to invade the island with come September! Watch out for Santigold, Johny Flynn and King Creosote & Jon Hopkins, some of my favourite live acts at the moment plus DJs Ed Banger boss Busy P, dubstep dons Joy Orbison, Mary Anne Hobbs and Loefah and our Prince Tribute expanding to a threesome playing the Purple ones greatest hits! One of the things I’m most excited about this year is going to be the Block Party – a Rio style carnival procession with floats funded, designed and created by you lot. Roll on September.’
Philly pop sensation Santigold is the first name out of the hat for the latest line up additions. Sassy and super-stylish Santigold’s jack knife beats, bouncing bass and soaring vocals are all that’s needed to light the blue touch paper for a coruscating crowd pleasing set. Nu-folk hero Johnny Flynn has quietly been making a name for himself gaining accolades aplenty for last year’s ‘Been Listening’ long payer, so we’re delighted that he will be delivering his pastoral and plucky gems for one and all. The obscenely prolific King Creosote AKA Kenny Anderson will be teaming up with Jon Hopkins to treat Bestivalites to a taste of their lauded ‘Diamond Mine’ long player and Nu-gazers Yuck whose slacker pop has been getting those in the know all hot and bothered will be crossing the Solent to wow the masses with their glorious melodious fuzz. In a UK festival exclusive Mr Motivator is back by popular demand, an unstoppable force, Mr Motivator will be moving and shaking his way through Robin Hill once again in his infamous 80’s onesy. Keep your eyes peeled and your limbs limber, the Motivator can strike at any time! Other acts bringing the goods to Robin Hill include SL2 live PA performing “On A Ragga Tip” + SL2, heavy dubstep purveyors Foreign Beggars, scratchy and angular Mancunian indie-popsters Dutch Uncles, blissful soundscape architect Ulrich Schnauss, silky voiced chanteuse Alice Russell, vintage country duo The Secret Sisters, gritty folk-punk seven-piece Young Rebel Set and soulful acoustic pop troubadour Chris Read.Manning the platters that matter are a slew of selectors including lush genre-smashing genius Joy Orbison, ED Banger’s Busy P the mighty Mary Anne Hobbs, the one and only Mr Nice AKA Howard Marks performing one of his extolled Dubstep sets, Radio 1 funkster Benji B, ninja mash-up master Jaguar Skills, The Heatwave Carnival with The Heatwave, Sticky, Lady Chann and special guests, Jungle infiltrator Loefah, chillwaver Bullion, BBC Radio 1’s Introducing stalwart Huw Stephens, jump-up electro duo Jaymo & Andy George and UK techno legend Kirk Degiorgio. Firing long into the night there will also be sets from Jon Hopkins, Firas & Jay Karim, Flying White Dots, DRM RLL PLS DJ’S, our very own Sunday Best Forum Allstars, the Prince Tribute Trio featuring Bobby Friction, Nerm, and Tayo, the Modular crew with Sneaky Sound System and Bag Raiders, Johnno’s Bugged Out’s New Year’s Day Set, the Fragment DJs and Shepdog.
We are super excited to introduce the all new Bestival Block Party for the Saturday afternoon. We know you all love dressing up and the Parade has traditionally been the pinnacle of the craziness on the Saturday but we’re going one step further with you guys and girls and getting much more involved in 2011. Taking inspiration from the Bloco’s or individual sections of Brazil’s Rio carnival, the Block Party will be a parade divided up into a number of blocks, each one with its own name, identity and uniform designed and funded by you and your block mates!
Each block has a, a vehicle, a band and performers styled around a specific sub theme blending elements of music, fashion and icons of popular culture. Bestival is teaming up with a crowd funding site and ticket holders will then choose their parade block and donate to fund the creation and build of their chosen group. Watch this space for the Block names and ways to enter in the coming weeks…
We’ve got some crazy new spectacles for your pleasure this year including The Ambient Forest, which is Bestival’s newest area, hidden deep in the woods. By day our bearded chum and poet extraordinaire Scroobius Pip will programme spoken word for anyone wanting a break from the 4/4. Line up coming soon! After signing David Lynch to his record label Rob da Bank has invited the David Lynch Foundation to join us in the Forest with meditation workshops and leftfield musical offerings… watch this space for much more info. And lastly for the Ambient Forest, during the evening and into the night the best ambient and horizontal DJs in the world from Tom Middleton to Chris Coco, Phil Mison to Pete Gooding will play pure ambient for your brain and body.
We’re beyond mega-excited about something else completely brand new for Bestival 2011 – Swamp Shack! A festival exclusive, at the far end of the Wishing Tree field, stands a ramshackle Louisiana bayou juke joint, topsy-turvy on rickety stilt-legs and wreathed in dry ice…On the porch an undead Honky Tonk piano player tickles the ivories, as a dreadlocked Voodoo Blues Queen howls at the moon… All of a sudden, the piano bursts into flames as the moon starts howling back…Welcome to The Swamp Shack darklings… Created in collaboration between Trash City co-creative director Ruby Blues and Block 9, the set-design pioneers behind the legendary NYC Downlow Gay bar, The Swamp Shack is a brand new music-and performance venue, straight from the pages of a Sothern Gothic fairytale…Populated by an interactive cast of True Blood-style Deep South vampires, fading Southern Belles and a host of other unwholesome night-crawlers, the venue will also play host to some of the best bands and DJ sets from the UK underground, headline appearances from some very special big-name acts and late-night live drumming old skool Jungle sessions!
Taking over the Cabaret tent on Friday night will be East London’s purveyors of gin-soaked entertainment Boom Boom Club. Acid-tongued host Dusty Limits will present a cocktail of hand-picked headline acts including king and queen of the educational pop mash-up Frisky And Mannish, the matador king of oral ping-pong ball juggling and songs Paul Morocco, Chinese pole and acro-balance husband and wife duo Frayed Knot Circus, striptease unicyclist gentleman Count Adriano Fettucini, Banjolele-toting dandy rap superstar Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer, daredevil fire performer and unruly showgirl Kitty Bang Bang, versatile character actress and inventor of “chav-burlesque” Kiki Kaboom, glow-in-the-dark hula girl Jessie Rose, big hitting show tune crooner Frank Sanazi and ivory-tickling genius accompanist Michael Roulston.
There’s even more surreal fun to be had at the Blackout Gigs every evening in the Countryside Centre at Robin Hill which will see audiences kept in the dark – literally. Another exclusive to us, live performances by acclaimed acts will take place in complete darkness, and the bands’ identities will never be revealed! This unique idea is the result of a collaboration between eclectic promoters Eat Your Own Ears and young artist Sam Potter, lately of Late Of The Pier. Blackout audiences can focus on the subtleties of sound brought about by the sensory distortion of total darkness, whilst the artists can perform and experiment free from expectations and preconceptions thanks to the absolute anonymity that the Blackout gigs offer them. We can’t wait!
The exclusives keep on coming as Marisa Carnesky, modern day show woman and creator of the Ghost Train, will be hosting Sunday night in the Cabaret tent with an exclusive Wunder Kabinet show. Expect performances by the weird and the wonderful, a rag-and-bone style magicians workshop of illusions, mine, drag and surreal acts, with Marisa weaving in her twisted dark comedy in between. This is cabaret but not as you know it.
Classic Album Sundays are also set to join the throng putting on a Communal and Audiophile Listening Experience at Bestival that will give you a rare chance to fully listen to a classic album in it’s entirety on a Class A audiophile system. It will elevate the listening experience to greater heights and take you as close to the studio recording of the album as possible. In the communication age, where we’re always on call, texting, tweeting, emailing and more, when is the last time you ‘listened’ to an album from beginning to end undisturbed and focused? For many of us, it has been a while and for most of us, never in an audiophile way. So grab yourself a tea, and hole up with us at the Countryside Centre for an hour of uninterrupted aural bliss.
Lastly, Rob da Bank recently caught up with the previously announced Grandmaster Flash who had this to say about his appearance at Bestival!
There’s still one more headliner to announce and tons of far out fun and frolics to unveil so keep on checking www.bestival.net for all the up to the minute news.
Bestival Ticket Info:
www.ticketline.co.uk/bestival-tickets / 0844 888 4410
Ticket only or ticket and ferry packages:
www.redfunnel.co.uk/bestival / 0844 844 9988
www.wightlink.co.uk/Bestival / 0871 376 1000
Bestival 2011 Prices:
Adult Weekend Ticket (inc. camping) – £170
Student Weekend Ticket (inc. camping) – £160
Age 13 to 15 Weekend Ticket (inc. camping) – £85
Age 12 and Under Weekend Ticket (inc. camping) – FREE (but you must obtain a ticket)**
Campervan Tickets: £65 (per vehicle)
All Tickets:
– include camping.
– will incur a booking fee.
– there are No Day Tickets.