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Bon Iver's Justin Vernon remarked from the Big Top stage that the day he had spent on Saturday at Camp Bestival had been 'The nicest day I've ever spent in this country'. His day was probably made even nicer with the enthusiastic response he and the other members of Bon Iver received from the audience in the Big Top . Bon Iver have evolved as a live band over the past 12 months and bring an added dimension to many of the songs which were performed relatively quietly in front of audiences last year. The addition of two drum kits were particularly useful in adding dynamism to many of the understated songs from the For Emma, Forever Ago LP.
Howard Marks reading children's stories to an adoring audience of under fives on the Bandstand was an intriguing sight as some of the Camp Bestival crowd started to head over to the Big Top for PJ Harvey's highly anticipated evening show in the Big Top. As this was to be Polly Harvey's only solo show of the year, the tent was already almost full as she walked on stage.
After opening the show with To Bring You My Love, Harvey announced that she would be performing some of her favourite songs in the way they were originally written. During the next 60 minutes she accompanied herself on piano, keyboard and guitars on familiar and less familiar songs. The electric harp she used to accompany herself during the spine-tingling Down By The Water was a particularly effective reinterpretation of a great song. As well as re-visiting older songs, Harvey also performed two new compositions for the first time (footage shot by a fan of Let England Shake and The Last Living Rose are already available to view on YouTube).
The inclusion of White Chalk, with its "Where Dorset's cliffs meet at the sea" lyric, seemed appropriate for Camp Bestival's Dorset coast location and received a little cheer of recognition from some in the audience. By the time Harvey started to end her performance with a rousing version of C'mon Billy, nobody wanted this uniquely talented performer to leave the stage.
It was going to be difficult to find anything to top the PJ Harvey performance on Saturday, but the late night skiffle session from the legendary Chas McDevitt in the Black Dahlia tent was certainly worth catching. There seemed to be some sort of attempt at recreating a 1950s skiffle session in one of the nearby tents as I trying to drift off to sleep. Luckily, I was too tired for the aspiring guitarist and tone deaf friends to keep me awake.
 Camp Bestival 2009:
Day 1 |
Day 2 |
Day 3
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