HMS Bestival is finally steaming back into home waters. Our trusty and now slightly rusty ship and crew have just spent the last decade cruising the high seas, dodging pirates in tropical climes and partying with natives on moonlit beaches. Now it’s time to come home to celebrate 10 years of Bestival on the Isle of Wight. All aboard for the journey home to The Port!
Bestival HQ have been busy working on how to mark a decade of Bestival’s passing and have come up with our most ambitious and largest project onsite since we began. The Port is a landlocked harbour with HMS Bestival as its centrepiece surrounded by a pier, nautical sideshows and all the action of a bustling port…in a festival!
The Port will boast state of the art sound provided by Funktion One, hi-tech lasers and LED screens and a boatload of pyro exploding from HMS Bestival’s funnels. DJs will man the bridge, steering the good ship through day and night of techno and house with many of the world’s leading DJs playing on this hyppereal ship.
Taking a little time out from reaching for the lasers Rob da Bank says: I'm probably more excited about this new stage for Bestival than anything else in the last decade of creating fun and mental spaces for people to party on. We've got a tree you can rave inside, a forest with films and a giant metal spider that breathes fire but we've never had a life sized ship transmitting the best techno and house DJs across the waves while lasers strafe the crowd and a lighthouse booms its foghorn!
“This whole new field is going to be an all night maritime adventure with dirty little rum bars, enticing brothels and sea shanties ringing out from random sailor folk in every corner. It'll have crazy aerial displays and a bucket load of pyro that will blow your mind, it's the dance arena to end all dance arenas and it’s gonna go off. If you want to know where the party’s at, it's at The Port."
Manning the bridge of our incredible 24m long ocean going liner will be a cavalcade of the finest names to grace club culture, a veritable who’s who of Bestival Classics. Friday night headlining action will come courtesy of the Plastikman himself Richie Hawtin. Saturday will see a triumphant Annie Mac Presents selection and Sunday will be brought to a cataclysmically joyous end by the one and only Carl Cox. We will also have the cream of the dance music scene to smash up The Port’s dancefloor, including the newly announced Knife Party’s explosive fusions of bass and beats, Kiss FM’s DJ EZ who will be dropping majestic garage goodness, the mighty Toddla T Sound who will be ripping up the fiery techno-dub, hirsute duo The 2 Bears who will administer some euphoric hands-in-the-air action, turntable ninja Jaguar Skills who will be serving up his genre swerving cut & paste bedlam, and back to back mayhem from Bestival favourites Phat Phil Cooper And Russ Cuban.
Commenting on his Friday night headline slot, Richie Hawtin said: "I'm excited to return to Bestival this year for the 10th anniversary. I'm not sure what I'm more excited for – headlining The Port, or having the chance to hear my brother Matthew play again inside Bestival's incredible Wishing Tree."
Commenting on his Sunday night headline slot Carl Cox said: "Bestival's always an amazing festival with great people, and hopefully good weather! Cannot wait to return and check out their brand new arena – The Port".
And remarking on Saturday’s AMP line-up Annie Mac added: “We're so happy to be back at Bestival for 2013 and bringing AMP to the all new Bestival Port stage! We've got such an exciting mix of DJs from the UK garage legend that is DJ EZ, to the Bristol house dons Julio Bashmore and Eats Everything. We'll be bringing proper party carnival vibes through Toddla T Sound, as well as showcasing brand new talent from the likes of Cyril Hahn. AMP at Bestival 2013 is looking forward to offering up one of the most skilled and fun line up of DJs we've ever had, DJs who will no doubt provide you with many a special Bestival moment. Cannot wait to see you there!”
With a lighthouse come helter skelter a Dockers Bar, amazing aerial performances from a huge crane, delicious dancing girls and camp sailor boys on stage, plus dance podiums throughout the arena for the crowd, a coruscating brilliance of unbelievable pyrotechnics, sparkle, flame and fire effects, confetti, and smoking funnels, The Port is where you’re going to want to be. There will be a mega DJ line-up all weekend long that will include the previously announced Seth Troxler, Julio Bashmore, Maya Jane Coles, Erol Alkan, Duke Dumont, Eats Everything, Cyril Hahn, Hospitality Bestival Take Over Featuring High Contrast, Danny Byrd, Nu:Logic, Fred V & Grafix Hosted By Wrec & Dynamite, Marcel Dettmann, Heidi, Ed Rush and Jesse Rose.