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Wandering beyond the Kids' Garden Field, the excellent Victorian-style theatre of the Insect Circus proved that there was entertainment at the festival which could appeal to children and adults alike. The opportunity to take part in the Animal Magic themed fancy dress event on Sunday seemed to have both adults and children prepared to take part.
Leafing through the Camp Bestival programme, it seemed that the music line-up at this medium sized 'boutique' festival was as varied as any bill organised in the past by Rob da Bank and the Sunday Best team.
Hayseed Dixie have been performing their acoustic bluegrass versions of AC/DC and other familiar rock songs for a number of years. Their highly original attempt at covering Queen's Fat Bottomed Girls was a big improvement on the awful bombastic rock original and went down particularly well with the crowd at the Castle stage. Some of the children in the audience may have had problems grasping the humour behind their She Was Skinny When I Met Her song though. The encore of Dueling Banjos proved what fine musicians Hayseed Dixie are when they're not just performing for laughs.
The audience at the early Friday evening Castle stage was rather too crowded for the recently Mercury-nominated Florence and the Machine, so heading over to the Bandstand stage seemed like a good plan. But despite the attentive audience, The Smoke Fairies didn't seem to be particularly enjoying their performance on the small stage, but the guitars and violin which accompanied the close harmonies of the two female singers combined to create a captivating and haunting sound.
Midway through Mercury Rev's Friday night Castle stage set, charismatic lead singer Jonathan Donahue proclaimed that Camp Bestival was "one of the most beautiful festivals we've ever played". As we glanced back at an illuminated Lulworth Castle in the distance on a mild July evening, it was clear to see what he meant. As well as playing extended versions of the more experimental songs from last year's Snowflake Midnight LP, Mercury Rev also performed a selection of more familiar songs. Versions of Goddess On A Hiway, Holes and The Dark Is Rising were particularly impressive. Without a doubt, this performance was Friday's Camp Bestival highlight.
Kid Creole and the Coconutsproved that they remain a hugely entertaining live act when they rounded off Friday night's proceedings on the main stage with a big, colourfully choreographed show. It helps that the band have such a large selection of familiar twenty-year old songs to draw on, but August Darnell, dressed in his characteristic 1940s style high-waisted baggy suit, and his new group of Coconuts performed the likes of Stool Pigeon and Annie, I'm Not Your Daddy with an enthusiasm which made the songs sound as fresh as they originally sounded in the early 1980s.
Although the non-appearance of Red Snapper on the Bandstand stage was a bit disappointing, there had been plenty to entertain since arriving at the festival on Friday afternoon. We had also somehow missed the classic ska and reggae sounds of DJ Derek in the Bollywood tent earlier in the afternoon. With a wide variety of spoken word, DJs and live music on offer during the weekend it became clear it wasn't going to be possible to see everything during the next two days of the festival.
 Camp Bestival 2009:
Day 1 |
Day 2 |
Day 3
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