Bestival 2015 Preview: NME Picks 5 Must-See Performances

As the end of the festival season fast approaches, Bestival (September 10-13) is the last chance to dress like an escaped psychiatric patient, join a transvestite cabaret troupe, drink with dwarves and worship at a wishing tree before your job as shadow Home Secretary beckons once more. It’s the no-holds-barred party at the end of the universe (on the Isle Of Wight), but what are going to be the most unmissable bits of the weekend? Here’s our suggestions.

The Return Of Missy Elliott

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First ‘Compton’, now this. Ten years on from ‘The Cookbook’, Missy Elliott is finally gearing up to release her seventh album ‘Block Party’ and hits the UK for her first show since Wireless in 2010. There’s nothing like a horny hip-hop figurehead returning from the wilderness to get a festival’s freak resolutely on, and if her Super Bowl half-time show is anything to go by, she should draw a crowd of around 120 million people.

The Jacksons

Austerity? Growing tensions between the West and Russia? Another sodding tube strike? Blame it on the boogie. That’s what The Jacksons do, and it’s worked for them for almost 50 years. Bestival has a grand tradition of kitsch disco and they come no grander that Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Jackie foot-sliding away to ‘ABC’ in matching spangly jump-suits. You’ll want them back.

Flying Lotus’ Big Box

Skrillex has his spaceship, Kanye has his wobbly crane and Flying Lotus has his mega-tech fifteen-foot cube spraying out visuals like an IMAX screensaver, controlled by live operators. Skulls melt, inkblots expand and all manner of digital dazzle flies by as Steven Ellison wrestles his laptop in the centre in a black mask with illuminated eyeballs. It’s like Guillermo Del Toro directing Tron.

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The Chemical Brothers

Talking of visual spectacles, TV viewers who were blown away by the retina-bursting live visuals of The Chemical Brothers at Glastonbury will get the chance to soak them in live during their Bestival headline set as they gather their most Wright rockin’ beats for the occasion.

The Perthadelic Invasion

It’s Clash Of The Impalas at Bestival 2015 as Kevin Parker’s Tame Impala bring their more outgoing new album ‘Currents’ to the island while ex-bandmate Nick Allbrook turns up with his incredible Pond offshoot in tow. Too stoned to be Blur V Oasis, they’ll just settle for splattering the site with their warped psychedelic water colours like one massive musical paint fight.

For more information and tickets to this year’s festival visit Bestival here.

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