September is upon us and that means festival season is as good as over. Thank goodness then, for Rob Da Bank and his space-themed Bestival, a one last hurrah and glorious standout in a dizzying summer calendar. There's even the threat of sun this year.
Boasting possibly its strongest line-up to date, the Isle of Wight festival creates its own unique reality from an anything-goes fancy dress code and a wildly eclectic music policy – where else could you see Mika and Michael Nyman on the same bill? The usual Sunday Best favourites are joined by some rather big names, Kraftwerk, Massive Attack, Elbow, Fleet Foxes, Lily Allen and La Roux among them.
DiS will be looking out for our old mucker Bat for Lashes, while Friendly Fires, The Field, Metronomy, Dirty Projectors and Frightened Rabbit will all be taken in with heady interest.
There’s a good smattering of deejays too, including ‘Bonkers!’ inspirer Fake Blood, Italo revivalists The Bloody Beetroots, and the computerized dancehall riddims of Diplo and Switch’s Major Lazer.
And, since we love them so, here’s a Spotify playlist to ratchet up the expectation.
Elbow – 'Weather to Fly' Frightened Rabbit – 'Fast Blood' Dirty Projectors – 'Cannibal Resource' Passion Pit – 'Better Things' Friendly Fires – 'Paris' Efterklang – 'Mirador' Squarepusher – 'Hello Meow' Freeland – 'Do You (Joker Remix)' Little Boots – 'Remedy (Rusko's Big Trainers Remix)' Major Lazer – 'Pon De Floor' Toddla T featuring Mr Versatile – 'Fill Up Mi Portion' Buraka Som Sistema – 'General' The Bloody Beetroots feat. Steve Aoki – 'Warp 7.7' The Black Ghosts – 'Anyway You Choose To Give It (Fake Blood Remix)' Blue Roses – 'I Am Leaving' Bat For Lashes – 'Moon And Moon' Fleet Foxes – 'Quiet Houses' Doves – 'Kingdom Of Rust (Acoustic Version)' Kraftwerk - 'Autobahn'