Is the Bestival festival going to be worth the treck? . . . James Wharton discusses

It’s festival time boys and girls!

With a lot of the ‘BIG’ festivals, such as Reading and Leeds, V festival and Creamfields, all happening at the end of August you may be wondering is there anything to follow?

On the 8th September – 11th of September, Bestival will be taking over the Isle of Wight once again.

It is boasting a huge array of musical talent spread across four days and on 18 stages . .yes EIGHTEEN !!

With headline act’s such as; The Cure, Pendulum, Bjork, Primal Scream, Fatboy Slim, The Maccabees, Brian Wilson, Noah and the Whale and so many many more this festival is obviously one to clear your schedule for.

The catch? It’s a little more than a bus ride away.

Now if your like this certain reviewer, you can only really afford to go to one festival a year so choosing which ONE to pick is always the hardest decision to make.Hopefully with this article, Ican give you a bit of an idea if Bestival is the one for you!

Let’s start off with the location.
You can’t get much more South than the Isle of Wight. It’s all the way down there, at the bottom of the English Isles (just below Southampton and Portsmouth). So unless you live ‘Dawn Sawth’ your going to be looking at a long journey. On the bright side, you’ll get to spend more actualtime with your mates as your there for the full weekend and you may also get to visit places you might not ever see usually (such as a ferry terminal).

Next Up Ticket prices.
Unlike other festivals Bestival won’t be selling day tickets only full weekend tickets.
With prices set at £170 for an adult (£160 for students), £85 for 13-15 year olds and anyone under the age of 12 going for free, the prices are pretty competitive.Let’s look at the average price of an adult ticket at £170, compare this to Leeds/Reading Festival which is £192 or V festival £175 and Bestival comes out on top for value, but this can beg the question – does this lower cost make the quantity and quality of bands suffer?

The short answer is NO.
There are literally too many bands to even count playing at Bestival. As certifiable headliners go,it has at least 14 acts that would bring a HUGE crowd to any stage. The fact that this festival has 18 stages spread across the site means you will always have something to go and watch and it will cater to all musical tastes. Not only that but they also have exclusives – HEAR THAT PROMOTERS OF THE WORLD??? Exclusives… That means you won’t be seeing The Cure or a host of other top acts anywhere else this summer apart from here – bragging rites sorted!

Anything else?
If for some reason 18 stages and all of those bands doesn’t quite keep you entertained there is also plenty of other things to keep you busy. There are the comedy acts, DJ sets and plenty of activities such as fancy dress parades (dress up like your favorite rock star), The Underground Restaurant (enjoy an extravagant 4 course meal), a block party, heavenly healing, crazy golf, a wall of death act (crazy stunts and performances) and so many many more.

Depending on where you live the journey could prove to be a bit of an obstacle but this festival definitely has a lot to offer! An list as long a Prince set of stunning bands spanning over a wide range of music, more than 20 activities for you to get involved in through out the weekend and all at a real and reasonable price.

Its only my opinion, but it’s right – Bestival is going to be the festival to remember this year!

All the information you need on travel, line-ups, tickets and activities can be found at http://www.bestival.net