This year’s Bestival will have a ‘Desert Island Disco’ theme according to organisers.
“In 1977, a strange piece of flotsam washes up with the tide on an island somewhere in the South Atlantic,” a statement begins. “The victim of a wild party hundreds of miles away, a giant and abandoned disco ball finally comes to rest on the beach. Squinting at the sunlight reflecting off its hundreds of mirrors, a tribesman gently lifts it from the wet sand, feels the tides turn, and runs it back to the elders.”
“Night falls and the tribe dance around their new talisman, flashes of fire reflecting off the disco ball, splashing sparkles across their feathers and spears. As the ball spins and spins, their drums find a new rhythm. Entranced by the glittery orb a four-to-the-floor beat surges through. The tribesman on the 3-string hootoo begins to whap at his bass string.”
Since launching at the start of the last decade, Bestival has evolved into one of the leading lights of the UK’s summer festival season, and was headlined last year by Fatboy Slim, Snoop Dog and Elton John. Today, it has laid bare its first headliner for 2014, namely Outkast.