Ah bollocks, I just got stung by a wasp, and my thumb's swollen up like a crab apple. Teach me for having ridiculous long hair to get wildlife caught in but I got my own back by mashing the wasp's head into the wife’s jacket potato. Don’t mess with a stressed da Bank.

The Bestival site started going up on Friday and it’s all ahead of schedule so far – the main stage skeleton is emerging out of the ground, the 6000 capacity Big Top is looming over the 24 Hour Field and the Jestival comedy tent and tiny bandstand are all up. This is my favourite part of the week, watching it all spring up out of the green fields. Then everyone turns up and ruins the scene!

continued...

There have been so many artist cancellations and changes in the last three days that I’m not even sure if this is the same show that I booked all those months ago. Luckily they’re mostly smaller acts and none of the biggies have pulled out - yet - so it’s full steam ahead.

I always forget how aneurysm-inducing running this show is – we’re not the biggest but we do have more artists than nearly any festival apart from Glastonbury, and our production standards are so high that every single aspect of every tent/structure and happening is checked to the smallest detail.

There was a huge storm last night that raged all night scaring any crew staying onsite in their tents but then the sun came out and we’re getting sunburnt again – with everything from gales to blistering sun forecast for the weekend I've give up on making predictions. I've got shorts and a sou’wester for any eventuality – and the theme for this years show is 30,000 Freaks Under The Sea so if it rains the masks, snorkels and shells should come in handy!

Quite a few surprises up our sleeves but I’ll let you in on some of it tomorrow…