Here’s the next instalment of guest writer Jack Phoenix’s account of his time at Bestival 2006. His personal view.
King Creosote gives us a beautiful set on main stage, but the guy i’m really waiting for is the great John Martyn . . . he seems resolutely cheerful despite huge weight-gain after being wheelchair bound following the amuptation of a leg . . . “Fratricide is when you kill your brother,” he says, “and it’s patricide when you kill your dad . . . but countryside – that’s when you kill George Bush” . . .
… he’s totally absorbed in his music, a gorgeous sonic bath of euphony . . . he has the most wonderfully soulful voice, and soon i’m emotionally overwhelmed . . . so much so that i have to leave the crowds & go sit somewhere on my own . . . like John, i don’t want to know about evil . . . i only wanna know about love . . .
. . i meet up with the IoW gang as The Bees Sound Selection spin some discs in the Southern Comfort Tent . . then food & chat before heading off to the main stage again for the Rachid Taha Band with Brian Eno . . . unfortunately the band is preceded by a bit of vainglorious sermonizing from someone from the Stop the War Coalition whose arrogant presumption makes him sound like a Rick-from-the-Young-Ones stylee, bellicose 80s student . . . i would have expected something a little more sophisticated . . the arguments for not killing people are simple, straightforward & inarguable . . asking for peace through belligerent means seems to me pure hypocrisy . . . my friends & i are incensed by this intrusion, & it really takes the shine off Rachid Taha’s performance . . added to that, Brian Eno’s computer malfunctions badly . . .
. . . i can’t take any more, so head off for more free cake & tea at the top of the hill . . i’m just in time to take in a wedding in the vulva-like, pink interior of the inflatable church . . later that night, someone nicked their windows . . . i pause for a moment to take in the view. . . the sight of the Moon over the valley is really breathtaking . . . we love the Moon . . .
More later …
