Camp Bestival review 2015

After four days of awesome it’s not easy to pick out your two favourite moments from a festival that has so much packed into it but that's exactly what I asked of my Camp Bestival, camp mates, from this weekend. We are a diverse bunch, aged from 3 to 43. Proving that Camp Bestival really does have something for everyone. 

Boo 5

I really liked watching Ella (Henderson) sing and making pom poms with my friend Betty.

photo credit : Fi @Chilcare Is Fun

Betty 11

I loved Professor Green and a close second has to be the pasta from Red Tomato, Green Pepper. Camp Bestival just wouldn't be the same without it!

photo credit : Fi @Childcare Is Fun

Biba 13

Clean Bandit were awesome. We were right at the front and completely caught up in the audience vibe. After six hours of standing in the same spot we made our first new festival friends too. My second favourite thing was the pizza. You know I had been dreaming about that pizza since last year's CB! I need to have three things though because Professor Green was also pretty amazing.

photo credit : Clean Bandit Bibasphotos

Bryce 10

Clean Bandit were awesome. The food was pretty good too!

photo credit : Fiona Bryce

Clara 26

I absolutely loved the Train Of Thoughts. It was a brilliant idea and the guy leading our carriage was mesmerising. He had both me and my three year old son hanging on his every word as we were taken on a journey of discovery and wonder. My second fave moment was dancing with my little fella to Professor Green on Friday night. Smiles and laughter all the way.

photo credit : Kirsty @My Two Mums

Fi 40

I was really looking forward to Soul II Soul and they didn't disappoint. They were all kinds of awesome and more. I also loved Underworld and watching the littlest ravers that I've ever seen, dancing around with glow sticks - it truly was music for all ages!

photo credit : Soul II Soul +Camp Bestival 

Hannah 14

This was my first Camp Bestival and to be honest, it is really hard to choose just two things as the whole weekend has been brilliant.

Music wise, Clean Bandit were awesome. We were right at the front with a perfect view that really couldn't have been better.

The food has also been fab. You seriously can't make me choose one thing. Okay, maybe the nachos. Or the Thai curry we had on the first night... and the hot chocolate.

photo credit : Hannah Doherty

Kirsty 33

I loved Friday's Silent Disco! There's nothing better than old school tunes and throwing down some shapes with your buddies at 2am.

My second favourite thing was Saturday night’s Silent Disco, (yes I know I already chose the Silent Disco but...). I was supposed to be meeting up with some friends after we had all been for a nap but no one else woke up. After waiting around for them I decided to go on my own and I am so pleased that I did.

LM 3

The fireworks and the Train of Thoughts tractor ride!

photo credit : Hannah Doherty

O 4

I loved dancing with my friend (LM) but most of all I loved drumming along to all the singers on the main stage. When I'm big I am going to be in a band with my sister (B 5) and then we will be on the stage at Camp Bestival one day and you can all watch us.

photo credit : Hannah Doherty

Richard 39

The feeling of completeness when Ella Henderson sang Ghost. Although I don’t really like her as an artist there was a fantastic moment when I was caught up with the emotion of the rest of the crowd. That’s what gigs are about.

A close second was Bob Geldof singing I Don’t Like Monday’s. A great song, performed by a great performer. I collect those moments.

photo credit : Ella Henderson  +Camp Bestival 

Ruben 8

I loved the fireworks, they were really cool and the best music was The Cuban Brothers.

photo credit :  +Camp Bestival 

And me.....

Well for me Camp Bestival is all about the time spent with my friends. The singing, the laughter, our fabulous children and the joy that they bring out in each other, our competitive pom pom making, our non sensical conversations and the food, drink and memories that we are making. Of course none of that would be quite as awesome if it wasn't playing out to the Camp Bestival tune.

When they say that it's 'The greatest show on Earth', they aren't exaggerating. If anything they are under playing because Camp Bestival is simply out of this world.

For information on Camp Bestival 2016, please follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube or on their main website.

If you would like to read more about Camp Bestival 2015, please do pop over to MyTwoMums.

Disclosure

I am an official Camp Bestival blogger which means that I attended the festival but did not pay for my family ticket. All opinions are my own.

Is Morrissey Retiring?

I logged on this morning to see a Tweet from an old friend, with a link to a newly uncovered early The Smiths rehearsal tape. 

I obviously dropped everything and went for a listen, only to be met with an accompanying news story that Morrissey was hanging up his touring boots.

In an official statement, Morrissey writes, 

"It takes a lifetime to find the right words, and at the moment, I haven't got them. I've been a colossal pain where this continuously unpredictable illness is concerned, and now the physical limits have been reached. The tour had, in fact, been fantastic for all of us - a new slice of life full of concentrated power. The audiences everywhere have given so much, although I know that neither of us will ever receive our due. I hope this isn't the end, and I hope there will be other chances, minus the heavy burden of illness. Knots of grief today, but full of resolve for tomorrow."

All Morrissey fans knew that the time would come, sooner, rather than laster, especially after his last few tours have been plagued with illness, postponed gigs and cancelled dates. 

The sadness that I feel at the thought of never seeing him live again, I know is shared with each and everyone who has been shaped by his music over the last 30 years.

The evolution of the music player

It seems that just about every device you can buy has a music player embedded into it these days. But it wasn’t so long ago that we were taping Top of the Pops from the TV onto cassettes, shushing our parents if they dared to chat during The Smiths. As a John Lewis guest blogger I'm taking a look at the history of the music player from the 1920s right up to the present day to see just much things have changed.

Radios

Forget DAB radios in a range of cute colours to match your home decor. Back in the 1930s, if you wanted to listen to the radio you needed a set made of wood or Bakelite and a hell of a lot of floor space. It also came in any colour you liked – as long as it was brown.  Families huddled round their wireless sets to listen to sports, news reports and music, with modern jazz being the pop music of the day. The situation improved with the invention of the transistor radio in the 1950s and suddenly you could listen to the radio on the go and your faithful tranny was available in far more funky colours, too.

The classic Roberts radio

Record players

Something magical was also happening to the record player in the 1950s. Before then playing phonograph records had been seen as a rather poor alternative to listening to the radio. Records were large, heavy, easy to damage – and very expensive. But that changed in the fabulous Fifties when technological advances meant that records not only sounded better, they were cheaper, putting them within the reach of the era’s rock ‘n roll-loving teenagers. 

Cassette players

As exciting as records were, they were soon surpassed when the cassette became king in the 1970s and 1980s. What made audio tapes so attractive was the ability to record your own music onto them. The Top 40, Top of the Pops and compilation mixes for your pals and lovers to remember you by! Then of course there was the Walkman that cemented the tape forever in the mind of 70's kids like me. (I still have my original Sony Walkman).

CD players

Looking so awesome and shiny, it felt like they'd arrived from the future. CDs were the next advancement that music players saw and as much as we loved them our trusty old cassettes were left to gather dust. Billed as the last word in convenience and sound quality, the CD did indeed dominate record sales for more than two decades, until the digital music revolution made their sales plummet. 

I have one of these Kit Portable Panda Speakers... never travel without him

iPods and wireless music players 

Downloads now allow music fans to buy music in digital form direct to their iPod and things have gone even further. Thanks to the likes of Spotify (the most popular online streaming service, according to Ofcom) and subscription music services, you don’t even have to own the digital file to listen to your favourite tracks streamed through your wireless music player. 

LUST....Bang Olufsen BeoSound 8 iPod Dock

I was a late adopter to CD (I was a poor single parent back then), my first purchase was Lisa Stansfield's Real Love album in 1991 and my tapes have hung around probably a bit longer than most as I still have a cassette player in my Mini! But I was right there with the digital downloads with an original iPod (now long dead). 

Yes the sound's way better but I'm totally nostalgic for the furry sound of tapes. What about you?

This is a sponsored post for John Lewis for which I received payment that I'm going to blow on some new Air Play speakers for my birthday!