Area 51 injected ingenuity and idiosyncratic inspiration into one of Britain’s best-loved festivals.
The company played a significant role in the success of Bestival, which began life as an environmentally conscious boutique event, and grew into an award-winning major festival that attracted revellers from all over the world and showcased some of the biggest names in music.
Acts from Area 51 entertained with aplomb, starting at the smaller Robin Hill country park site on the Isle of Wight, and then later in Dorset, after the event relocated to the much larger Lulworth Estate where audiences grew to 50,000.
Dancers, specialist circus acts, stilt walkers and a slew of other performance artists and characters worked hard to help deliver a banging experience across a number of years for the festival which was organised by former Radio One DJ and music producer Rob da Bank along with his wife Josie as an offshoot of his ‘Sunday Best’ record label and club nights.
Bestival began life in 2004 and ran until 2017 while organisers also launched a family-friendly sister event called Camp Bestival in 2008 and that event continues to be held annually at Lulworth.
Well known for its fancy-dress themed days and supporting a number of social and environmental causes, Bestival quickly established itself with a legendary reputation and among Area 51’s favourite moments was its involvement with the event’s Port stage, an outdoors DJ setting based on a life-sized ship complete with towering funnels.
Manned and stage managed by Area 51’s crew with all hands-on deck, the Port Stage featured legendary DJs blasting out tunes while performers put in back-breaking schedules, splicing the main brace and working on stage or as walkabout characters and also starring in the big-draw festival procession.
Area 51’s ubiquitous and world-renowned psycho circus sideshow squad, Igor Rasputin’s Caravan Of Lost Souls, also got stuck in to the Bestival spirit and appeared at the event when it moved to Lulworth.
Continuing to tear up the circus rule book and reinventing the medium, the Lost Souls unleashed a number of jaw-dropping performers including the bizarre Hannibal Hellmurto (real-name Kirchmeier), who once tore a four-inch hole in his oesophagus while swallowing a neon light bulb! At Bestival he drew gasps after swallowing a saw blade among other objects in a show that was best described as not for the squeamish.
The superb Ed Mondo also starred jugging bullwhips while a dozen Area 51 fire dancers delivered a red-hot climax to the Caravan’s eye-catching production.
