Bestival Day 3 - Johnny Woo

"You bunch of faggots! What are you lookin at?! What the fuck are you looking at?!" pipes Johnny Woo to the crowd waiting for his next move. Yes he is scantily clad, yes he's wearing a bikini and yes he's just led the Bollywood tent through an outrageous Footloose dance-off. Trashy italodisco is now pounding out. Yes, this is why we love Bestival.

Bestival Day 3 - Moot points for the weekend

Delphic - do we need another indietronica band?

Fleet Foxes - yay (me) nay (Tim)

Is bestival getting too chavvy and leery?

Is it worse going to a hot and dry festival without a shower or a wet and damp one?

Bestival Day 3 - Back in the groove

Afternoon all, late night last night (no sleep til 8am).

I have joined Tim in having the thousand yard festival stare as well. A serene midday performance from the ever improving Peggy Sue and a suitably uplifting Michael Nyman-conducted set have eased this tired head and these weary eyes. Bjorn Again and Fleet Foxes should do the trick shortly.

Bestival day 2 - couture

Check out these cossies!

Bestival day 2 - Speech Debelle..

... is the most original and worthy of merit in the British album stakes - I wonder what planet some of our 'tastemakers' are on. An upgrade to a quarter-full big top tent for a drab half hour did nothing to justify the hype. Next.

Bestival 2009: Day 1 Recap. Whatever Happened To Volume...

So to recap. That was day 1 of Bestival. At least we think it was. In some ways it's hard to tell. Out of the four acts we saw on the main stage (Friendly Fires, Florence And The Machine, MGMT and Massive Attack) we only heard one - the Bristolian trip-hoppers. And that was only because there was enough of an outward migration to allow for easy passage to a more central position. 

Is it atmospheric? Is it geographic? Is it symptomatic of a larger problem affecting festivals all over? 

Because, you know, when people go to a music festival isn't the expectation that you want to hear something of the artist performing? You can't help but feel that the moving of the main stage to a position proudly atop a hill wasn't the best decision. Good for defending against Viking hordes. Poor for festival crowds. And the atmosphere has really suffered. Will things improve? We shall see... 

Bestival Day 2: A Space Odyssey

Morning all. Apologies for the lack of bloggage and hope you've been following the tweets. Technical hitch finally overcome, normal blog service will be resumed today. 

Day two is breaking across the valley which surrounds the Bestival site - the sunrise and sunsets down here are stunning, the sort of thing you expect to see in Peake District adverts. It is officially fancy dress day and we expect even more aliens, astronauts, robots etc to be out in force. 

As you may have guessed the theme is "from outer space" (though try telling that to my colleague Tim "The Pimp" Lee). We'll be snapping and posting some of our favourite outfits later. You don't need to be Gok Wan to notice popular combos for the girls involve something spangley or spandex. For the gents it seems to be dresses, boob tubes and other worrying wardrobe choices. I have settled on a Star Trek uniform which looks a little cheaper than Tim's purple hat. 

It's now time for breakfast. I wish I had a replicator for French toast and scrambled egg.

Bestival Day 1: Fancy dress

Representing musicOMH @ Bestival, we give you Tim Lee in costume:

Bestival 2009: Day 1 begins

Well friends, hello again.

Two of musicOMH's festival desperados are bunkered down at Bestival for what promises to be a fantastic weekend of music and mischief. Even our ed wishes he could put aside his fear of camping and join us in the trenches. 

It's a sunny if breezy start to day one and the arena opens in a few hours which means time for a few more mochas. As long as our phones stay juiced and Tim keeps his hip flask holstered we'll be blogging and tweeting @musicomh across the weekend. Stay with us, people.

Leeds Festival Snapshot: Day 3

And so, it's all over for another year. Apologies for the lateness of this blog, due to iPhone/Safari disagreements. Full review to follow, but here's some random thoughts of Day 3 of the Festival Republic end-of-summer shindig:

Faith No More - Most people had gone to swoon over Caleb and his Kings of Leon on the Main Stage, but those people left in the NME tent were treated to a performance of quite awesome power from Mike Patton and his reunited men. And, for some reason, they treated us to the Eastenders theme tune too.

Little Boots - Maybe not the typical 'Leeds Festival' type of act, but she had the whole tent jumping in unison to Stuck On Repeat. She even invited her amusingly inebriated brother up on stage to wish him happy birthday, and then her entire family invaded the stage. Bless.

The Horrors - Considering their latest album is so damn good, this was a major disappointment. I know it's their shtick to be a bit grumpy and mysterious, but they looked disinterested and bored throughout. Shame

Florence & The Machine - Last year, she played to a handful of people on the Festival Republic stage. This year, she's Mercury nominated and drew the biggest crowd of the weekend to the NME tent.

The Big Pink - On at the same time as Florence, but those who ventured out of the rain into the Festival Republic tent were treated to a fine set from one of this year's best discoveries. Dominoes already sounds like an anthem in the making

Jack Penate - The year's most unlikely reinvention continues with a show of unrestrained energy and joy. He even lost his natty white shoe when diving into the crowd during Let's All Die. So he did the rest of his set barefoot.

Jamie T - Another packed out performance, and judging by what he played on Sunday night, the upcoming album Kings & Queens should quite a listen.

Instigate Debate - Carl Barat, Clint Boon, Jon McClure, NME journo Jamie Fullerton and a competition winner called Sophie debated the future of British music. Very entertaining, especially with Rev McClure in full on rant mode, tearing into the NME ("when you've got young kids in their bedrooms dreaming of making it onto your cover, and you stick two fuckin' comedians like The Mighty Boosh, or a fuckin' kids programme like Skins on the cover - well, that's a fuckin' disgrace Jamie") and lambasting 'landfill indie' ("any band who says they're indie and they're signed to Warner Bros - well, they can just fuck off"). I often find the Rev a tad annoying, but he was spot on throughout this debate. A good way to kick off Sunday.

Weirdest rumour of the weekend  - Overheard on Saturday night: "Quick, get yourself to the Alternative Tent. Jay Z's playing now. Honest". He wasn't.

And now we're back, away from the rain and the mud and already thinking of next year's festival. Who'll be headlining? The rumours start now (our money's on a debut solo show from Noel G...)