Bestival: Pictures to take you back to the 2011 festival on the Isle of Wight with The Cure and Public Enemy

This time it’s a throwback to the Bestival festival in 2011, and specifically the Saturday night.

Paul said: ‘One of the privileges of covering music photography for The News is photographing music festivals. There is no greater feeling than being in the photo pit with 1000s of fans behind you.

‘I have been lucky to cover several Isle of Wight festivals as well as all the Victorious festivals, but I will always remember Bestival in 2011 when on Saturday there was what I consider the best one-day festival line-up.

‘The day started with Toots and The Maytals, one of my favourite reggae artists. This set was followed by – and this is the beauty of Bestival – disco legends Village People. My esteemed colleague Chris Broom was in the crowd nearby and confided to me later that he’d been doing the YMCA hand gestures wrong for 15 years.

‘Next up, hip hop giants Public Enemy who played a blistering set of their greatest hits, and they were followed by pop princess Paloma Faith who committed the cardinal festival sin by saying “we are gonna be playing some new songs” – cue a stampede to the bar. When will bands learn at festivals all the fans want is the hits?

‘As the light faded , the goths started started to surface in anticipation of the headliners, but first the mercurial PJ Harvey turned in a rare set of her usual quirky tunes.

‘As the dry ice started to fill the stage, all of a sudden the famous bird's nest hair and smudged lipstick of lead singer Robert Smith appeared. The Cure proceeded to wow the crowd with a stunning three-hour set, later released on DVD.

‘Making my way home it was clear this was the biggest crowd I had ever seen for one band at Bestival, and worthy of a typical eclectic day at one of my favourite festivals, sadly missed.’

Bestival was first held in 2004 on the Isle of Wight and ran in various guises until 2018, with the last few years being held in Dorset. The company went bust in 2018, leaving Camp Bestival, a family-friendly version, still running.’