Bestival 2009 review

Anneke Hak headed to the Isle Of Wight to mingle with some space-suited party-goers at the craziest festival of the year, Bestival.

Bestival is only in its sixth year but has already steamed ahead to become one of the most notable events in the UK music calendar. The festival has managed to retain the eccentric boutique mentality that made it so popular with original Bestival goers in the first place, and is now a mix of big festival thinking with an eclectic, free-spirited atmosphere.

But what can you expect from the festival that’s promising more and more every year? Well, the answer is simply everything! Robin Hill Country Park on the Isle Of Wight transforms into an escapist’s paradise, with small craft stalls, boutiques, fancy dress shops and much more nestled in next to the main stages, DJ booths and dance arenas, including the Bollywood tent (which does the best cocktails).

This year’s fancy dress theme was “A Space Oddity” and Bestival 2009 was deemed the “Year Of The Spectacular”. It didn’t disappoint, creating a strange mix of music being danced along to by a whole host of Buzz Lightyears, aliens, and spacemen.

Once our fancy dress was well and truly donned we caught Lily Allen on the main stage, where she performed LDN, The Fear, covers of The Kaiser Chiefs’ Oh My God and Britney Spear’s Womanizer, and our personal Lily favourite, F**k You. There were a few sound glitches along the way – she lost sound completely for about two minutes – but that didn’t stop her set from being anything but brilliant. As you come to expect from Lily Allen.

German group Kraftwerk, possibly one of the most influential bands ever, cut eerie figures as they performed on Saturday night. The group had declined to wear costumes, but didn’t look out of place among the 40,000 face-painted revellers, as they stood almost motionless behind their laptops and entertained the crowd.

Also playing at the event where La Roux, MGMT, Massive Attack, Elbow, Mercury Prize Winner Speech Debelle and Little Boots (who reportedly dressed as Lady Penelope and came on and off stage in a pink Cadillac)

If you tire of the music, which you most certainly won’t, there’s so much more fun to be had. Some friends ran off to watch their pal’s renew their wedding vows in Bestival’s own chapel, you can get yourself a Christmas dinner, or even go tobogganing. Bestival is everything and anything that you want to make it.

Head back to handbag.com's Festival special