And just like that, Sunday appeared. As always, the festival went too fast. A blurry, long weekend comes and goes, and you’re left with muddy shoes a hangover and hopefully a few wonderful memories.
For many, however, Sunday at Bestival was the chance to escape the island. With the whisper of storms brewing and the threat of cancelled ferries, streams of people headed out to see and back to the comfort of their homes which, probably, have the luxury of walls and ceilings.
This outpour of people had no effect on the Dimbleby and Capper crowd though. Of course the music so far at the Replay tent had been fantastic, a medley of the next big things on the music scene, but Dimbleby and Capper had something else: attitude. And porcelain doll dancers.
Laura Bettinson belted out track after track of innovative pop music framed either side with white-wigged dancing dollies, and backed up by a rabbit bassist and a frog drummer. Obviously. But it worked, and the simplicity of the choreography was sexy and charming. It wasn’t all wigs and lipstick though; Bettinson had the voice to match. Dimbleby and Capper’s cover of Phil Spector/The Crystals’ ‘And Then He Kissed Me’ was the icing on the avant-garde cake.
Leading into Apollo’s Arrows a well-spoken voice boomed out over the speakers announcing “Hello. We are called Apollo’s Arrows.” This was surrounded by an impressively prog rock intro which emerged into a steady set of grunge. Starting the band’s life as Resonate back in their home town of Exmouth, Devon, these boys have notched up a serious amount of gigs and they can generate a surprisingly big noise. Their set at Bestival 2011 culminated with the second front man of the weekend ending up in the crowd at the Replay tent.
Gypsy death funk is how The Stagger Rats pigeonhole themselves. Although that might be hard to imagine, it sort of makes perfect sense. Their entire set wavered across choppy guitar riffs and spooky solos. Song titles like ‘Sleeping Off Ecstasy’ and ‘Fuzzy, Fuzzy’ seem fitting to certain aspects of The Stagger Rats, but their eclectic sound meant there was something for everyone. Dreamy ballads and gypsy punk.
The Replay tent hosted a wealth of musical energy this weekend, but they saved the most animated performance of the weekend for last. Skinny Lister headlined the Sunday night with an impressive amount of vigour for the last night of a 3 day fest. The connection between the band was clear to see – nudges, winks and on-stage banter showed their adoration for the music and each other. This was reciprocated from the audience who revelled in the hoedown.
“Come and party with Skinny Lister!” ukulele player Lorna beamed before the stage was overcome with dancers from the crowd. When they were banished from the stage, they didn’t stray far as Skinny Lister bounded into a cover of ‘New York Girls’ prompting everyone to get involved.
The whole weekend at the Replay tent was a mass of new music, arts and crafts. The khaki-clad tent provided a refreshing range of diversity – a veritable feast of music, fashion and fabulous festival times.
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Find out more about Replay’s Road Trip To Bestival on ClashMusic.com HERE.
