50,000 Enjoyed Bestival At The Weekend
More than 50,000 revellers have enjoyed a weekend of music and sunshine at the last major festival of the summer headlined by Florence and the Machine, New Order and Stevie Wonder.
Revellers at the Bestival event on the Isle of Wight donned their fancy dress for the famed carnival parade yesterday which took the theme of wildlife.
People dressed up in myriad costumes from giraffes, squirrels and monkeys to earwigs and jellyfish.
The sell-out event at Robin Hill Country Park is the first UK festival to be streamed live on YouTube.
The first headliner of the weekend was Florence and the Machine.
Lead singer Florence Welch gave an energetic performance ending with popular favourite Dog Days Are Over.
She spoke of how she felt honoured to be headlining the event. Their set followed an atmospheric show by The xx, who gave their only festival appearance of the year.
Hotly-tipped Alt-J also attracted a large and enthusiastic crowd to their performance on one of the smaller stages.
On Saturday 8th, as the sun shone down on the event, many people sheltered in shady spots in between the acts which included Sister Sledge, De La Soul and the Earth, Wind and Fire Experience on the main stage, with Beardyman packing out the Big Top.
The headline act for Saturday night was New Order, who played a lively set including crowd-favourite Blue Monday.
They ended with a rendition of Love Will Tear Us Apart Again from the band's previous incarnation of Joy Division.
Bernard Sumner said: ''We are going to end with a song to end all festival sets.''
During the song, images of Ian Curtis and Joy Division were projected on the onstage screen.
Fan Florence Lehmann, from Southsea, Hampshire, said: ''They were a part of my youth, it was great to see them for real.''
In contrast to June's Isle of Wight Festival, which was hit by heavy rain, this weekend's event has been nicknamed ''Dustival'' by many because of the dry conditions, although the clouds and rain started to arrive later on Sunday 9th.
The main stage on the Sunday hosted Swedish four-piece Little Dragon, who enjoyed the last of the afternoon's sunshine, before Roots Manuva and Rizzle Kicks kept the crowds dancing despite the clouds.
MEANWHILE one reveller suffered a shock when her boyfriend proposed to her in a message shown on the screen of the festival's main stage.
Viv Craske pre-recorded the proposal to be shown to his partner Jenny Engvall at the conclusion of the Bat For Lashes set at Bestival on the Isle of Wight.
The couple, from Brighton, East Sussex, celebrated after Miss Engvall, who bakes cakes for a living, said yes.
Mr Craske, 38, who works in Facebook marketing, said:
"I wanted to do something special for the proposal.
"We came to Bestival a couple of years ago and saw Jenny playing with a friend's son and I realised I wanted to have children with her and we now have a son, Jasper who is 20 months.
"As we were coming back to Bestival I felt this was the place to propose as this is the place where we first became a family.
"I have been nervous all weekend waiting for this.
"I chose this moment because it was before Sigur Ros who is our favourite band.''
Miss Engvall said:
"It's fantastic, I am completely surprised, just shocked.''
