Bestival organisers apologise after festival complaints

Large queues, the quality of sound and headline acts were among the comments made by people both on social media and directly to organisers.

This year’s festival, which was held in the Robin Hill Country Park on the Isle of Wight, was headlined by Sean Paul and Major Lazer.

In a statement posted on Facebook, festival co-founder Rob Da Bank and his team said: ‘You guys were amazing and such a great crowd and really made a spectacle under the sunshine, spot of mud and occasional sprinkling of magic dust.

‘As ever we’re digesting all your feedback and noting all down.

‘We always listen to all the good and bad and it’s ranged from the best weekend of your lives to some mixed responses for lots of reasons.’

They admitted that the festival had been a ‘different beast’ compared to previous years, and said the lower attendance than normal was down to the cost and competition.

The statement added: ‘We did 40,000 which resulted in a more compact boutique vibe and back to our roots but by my own high standards sound and tent spec was not always what we would have wanted it to be - we can assure anyone coming back in 2017 that this will be rectified.

‘As far as the festival market goes we can’t dictate what will happen but we can promise that Bestival will be back to its very high standards next year and we will continue to listen to you and use that feedback to improve every year.

‘Thanks for coming and hope to see you next year.’