Bestival 2006 was the third annual Bestival organised by the Rob da Bank's Sunday Best label. It was held at Robin Hill Country Park on the Isle of Wight from 8 to 10 September. Around 17,000 people attended the three-day event. The Bestival is often referred to as a "mini-Glastonbury" with regards to the excellent atmosphere the festival generates.
Bestival 2006 had a distinct sense of environmental and social consciousness. Indeed, the Bestival is one of the most ethically aware of the UK popular music festivals. This is reflected in the eclectic crowd it attracts and the vast array of fancy dress displayed at the 2006 event, including a Jimi Hendrix complete with guitar and amplifier, as well as a Viking Longboat with crew.
Bestival 2006 won Best Medium to Large Festival at the UK Festival Awards.
There were fourteen musical venues at the Bestival 2006. These were - Main Stage, The Big Top, The New Bollywood Bar, The Blue Pavilion, Southern Comfort Fat Tuesday, Rock 'n' Roll Tent, Come Dancing, Hidden Disco, Bandstand, Sense 3D Area, Xbox Lost and Sound, The Guardian Lounge, Loose Tea Tent, Studio 3.
An album was released containing various Bestival tracks since its inauguration in 2004. The Bestival Bugle was a 2006 single sheet newsreel distributed every day throughout the festival, containing Bestival information, tips and comic features. Bestival Radio (87.7 FM) was also established in order to give Bestival goers a live tab on action of the event.
Triumphantly dubbed by organisers Sunday Best as, 'the festival of the year (because Glastonbury was not on this year)', this is a typical quote which encapsulates the ambition and humour that both organisers and festival goers give to the annual Bestival. However the claim had a greater foundation than most would imagine as a crowd of 15,000 were treated to a 3-day frenzy of Boutique festival madness which has quite rightly been dubbed the mini-Glastonbury.
Some of the most notable performances were produced by the Scissor Sisters, The Stranglers, Gogol Bordello, FAT Samba and Youngblood Brass Band.
The Scissor Sisters widely recognised as the best act of the weekend were inspirational using dry ice, strobe lighting, paper streamers and shooting various stage items onto the crowd to impress the crowd into submission. Witty conversation, Fantastic showmanship and a euphoric audience reception were some of the ingredients of the dish of the day.
The Stranglers drew upon their back catalogue and a large audience all singing to the tunes of Golden Brown and Peaches amongst others. Fat Samba drew on a large, excited crowd as they lead the fancy dress parade, tight drumming and eccentric costumes helped to win over the crowd. Gogol Bordello were an unknown quantity initially but after their set it became clear they were an eccentric, innovative and colossal quantity of music talent, lead singer Eugene Hutz was particularly entertaining, reminiscent of Freddie Mercury on stage. Youngblood Brass Band dazed the crowd with their no nonsense, get on stage and perform attitude. The unusual miz of trombones, trumpets, drummers, a tuba player and a rapper/snare drummer, the band performed an energetic set got the crowd jumping and dancing.
Following on from 2005's dressing attempt, the organisers of the festival decided to make this year's theme the circus and to have everyone dressed as clowns. On 8 July 2006, it was announced that this had been scrapped as festival-goers asked for refunds as they were scared of clowns. [1]
The Scissor Sisters opened their set dressed in clown costumes, [2] singer Ana Matronic joking "Sorry guys, we didn't get the memo." [3]
Norman Quentin Cook, better known as Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist for the Hull-based indie rock band the Housemartins, who achieved a UK number-one single with their a cappella cover of "Caravan of Love". After the Housemartins split up, Cook formed the electronic band Beats International in Brighton, who produced the number-one single "Dub Be Good to Me". He then played in Freak Power, Pizzaman, and the Mighty Dub Katz with moderate success.
The Glastonbury Festival is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most summers. In addition to contemporary music, the festival hosts dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret, and other arts. Leading pop and rock artists have headlined, alongside thousands of others appearing on smaller stages and performance areas. Films and albums have been recorded at the festival, and it receives extensive television and newspaper coverage.
Scissor Sisters are an American pop rock band formed in 2000. Their members include Jake Shears and Ana Matronic as vocalists, Babydaddy as multi-instrumentalist, Del Marquis as lead guitar/bassist, and Randy Real as drummer. Scissor Sisters incorporate diverse styles in their music, but tend to sway towards pop rock, glam rock, nu-disco, and electroclash. Forged in the "gay nightlife scene of New York", the band took its name from the female same-sex sexual activity of tribadism.
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V Festival, often referred to as V Fest or simply V, was an annual music festival held in the United Kingdom during the third weekend in August. The event was held at two parks simultaneously which shared the same bill; artists performed at one location on Saturday and then swapped on Sunday. The sites were located at Hylands Park in Chelmsford and Weston Park in South Staffordshire. In 2017, the final year of this format, the capacity of each site was 90,000.
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Bestival was a four-day music festival held in the south of England. The name Bestival is a portmanteau of the words best and festival. It had been held annually in the late summer since 2004 at Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight. In 2017 the festival relocated to the Lulworth Estate in Dorset. The event was organised by DJ and record producer Rob da Bank along with his wife Josie and was an offshoot of his Sunday Best record label and club nights. The initial Bestival attracted 10,000 people, growing to 50,000 in its final year, 2018. Bestival won 'Best Major Festival' at the 2015 UK Festival Awards, having won 'Best Medium-Sized Festival' in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009, 'Best Major Festival' in 2010, 2012 and in 2015, 'Fan's Favourite' in 2011 and 'Best Innovation' in 2005.
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The Bestival 2007 was the fourth installment of the Bestival a boutique music festival at Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight. It was held between 7 and 9 September. Tickets went on general sale on Friday 2 March, around 20,000 have been admitted for general release. Tickets were officially announced as sold out on 12 May.
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