The first time I saw Fatboy Slim it was in the dark, strobe-filled room of a Birmingham club, some time in the midst of the early 2000s.
It was ravers, UV hair gel (nightmare to get out, ruined a lot of my mum’s pillow cases), staggering out into the light at 6am, and naughty escapades that make you now glad there were no camera phones to capture.
My memory not being what it was, all I can recall is there was an air horn, and Fatboy Slim – real name Norman Cook – played Perry Como’s Magic Moments to a bunch of trance kids, and everyone loved it.
Now, a mere couple of decades later, I’m sat on Amazon looking at an array of handcarts in preparation to see him again.
Because Mr Norman Cook is taking over the entire final day of Camp Bestival this summer and I’m going to need something to lug my five and three-year-old around Dorset’s Lulworth Castle when they start complaining their little legs are tired.
I’ve also found myself mulling over their musical education, considering when to start weaning them off their usual diet of Nick Cope’s Popcast and annoying TV theme tunes – though they are partial to a bit of Kraftwerk – and on to Right Here, Right Now or The Rockafeller Skank.
And my journey (since X Factor, everyone’s got to have a ‘journey’) mirrors that of the festival itself.
An off-shoot of Rob da Bank’s London club night and record label, Sunday Best, Bestival started out as a boutique festival on the Isle of Wight, the first year bringing 10,000 people together for sets by the likes of Basement Jaxx, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and that man again, Fatboy Slim.
An off-shoot of Rob da Bank’s London club night and record label Sunday Best, Bestival started out as a boutique festival on the Isle of Wight
It didn’t take itself too seriously, with world record attempts for size of a crowd in fancy dress soon following.
And as the creators and their original crowd evolved, so did the festival.
We all know those friends who were at the centre of everything, then suddenly, ‘we’re not going this year – we’re expecting.’
Over time, one dropout becomes another, and another, and then it’s you.
So, not long later, the husband-and-wife team behind Bestival (Rob and artist Josie, themselves parents to four boys) gave it a ‘little sister’ – Camp Bestival.
A festival by a family, for families, attracting those for whom the music never dies but now have to think about night-time books and bedtime – in their own tent, not someone else’s.
Up-and-coming acts are given a nudge alongside more established names. There were real ‘I was there moments’ when future Glasto headliners Florence and the Machine, before anyone knew Dog Days Are Over, took to the stage in 2009. And some lad with a guitar called Ed Sheeran played to 30 people in the woods in 2011, just as world domination beckoned.
So, however much we like to kid ourselves that we’re still 21, all that old Bestival malarkey (which played its final tune in 2018) would put many of us in bed for several days straight now.
Rob, known to many from his old Radio 1 days, says: ‘We loved Bestival and it had a time and a place, and I think we nailed it with what we did, but it kind of ran its course.
‘Whereas Camp, we just can’t really see that it could ever dry up. There’s always new families wanting to go and have an amazing time with their kids and grandparents and the whole gang.‘
It offers a range of acts for all ages, a wellness area, allotments, beekeeping and bread making, Silly Science shows and even Shakespeare’s Globe workshops
Fatboy Slim took over the final day of sister event Camp Bestival this year
Josie, the creative brains behind it all, continues: ‘I think it’s really good for children to see their parents happy and letting go and just having fun.
‘Because life is hard, isn’t it? Always thinking about what’s for dinner or then bedtime and work and finishing an essay, it’s just relentless. So yeah, so it’s an opportunity to just be present.’
That means that come the end of July, we’ll pack the car up, bring enough snacks for a week (which will be gone in a day), and set off for the dramatic Jurassic Coast.
Like Jurassic Park, I’ve warned our eldest, if you wander off you might get eaten by a Raptor. Cue nightmares for a week…
A repeated ‘Best Family Festival’ winner, Camp Bestival promises loads of space for the little ones to run around in, in the actual outdoors like we used to – everyone there for the same vibe, and no silent glares that you’ve brought kids into an ‘adult space’.
Rob says: ‘Two years ago, we made it so under-fives go free. And this opened such a big new audience, a lot of younger parents bringing younger kids.
‘So that’s not to say to anyone who’s reading this thinking, “oh God, it’s just gonna be loads of screaming babies”. Not at all.
Under-5s go free, and there are ‘festival nannies’ on hand, should you wish to let someone else take the strain for a little while
The husband and wife team behind the events, Rob and artist Josie, are themselves parents to four boys
‘There’s still a massive mix of kids from 0 to 18. But it’s been really great for us because when you’ve been doing a festival for 18 years, sadly you can’t keep those older parents, you know, in their 50s and 60s like us.
‘We’re in our 50s, but you have to reinvent the audience. You need 20-something parents, you need 30-something parents to come and keep the festival vibrant.’
So while most will be there for the music – alongside the aforementioned Mr Cook, this year sees De La Soul and Billy Ocean alongside the likes of Self Esteem and the all-vinyl Bristol Northern Soul Club – you could not see a single act the whole three days and still be thoroughly entertained.
2026 sees a dialled-up wellness area, Solmo, to bring a bit of peace into our hectic lives, plus allotments, beekeeping and bread making, Silly Science shows and even Shakespeare’s Globe workshops.
Josie says: ‘I think we all know how relentless it is to get our kids off a screen and get them outside.
‘So Camp Bestival’s brilliant in that you’re sleeping outside, there’s no Wi-Fi really, so those two things are resolved as soon as you come through the doors.
‘And there’s so much to do, there’s so many activities to do that you wouldn’t cross paths with in everyday life, and they’re all really exciting and they appeal to mums and dads and kids.’
Rob adds: ‘There’s almost too much going on to actually have time to grab that screen.
‘But we’re not being some kind of evangelists on this. Our kids go on screens, you know, and we go on screen, so we’re not saying, “Oh, thou shalt not use a screen.”
‘It’s just that we think it’s the one weekend, and so many people email us afterwards and say, “Thank God for that weekend because it’s kicked off the summer holidays in the right way,” and, the kids just want to play outside and build dens and make tents and stuff, get stuck in, make a mess.
‘So they soon hopefully forget about the iPad and the game that they’re slightly addicted to.’
There’s even the fabulous-sounding festival nannies, should you wish to let someone else take the strain for a little while. I’m thinking Mary Poppins if she disappeared every summer to Ibiza. Practically perfect in every way.
Now grab your glow sticks and I’ll see you down the front for the biggest crowd of the weekend – Mr Tumble, obviously. Sorry, Fatboy…
TRAVEL FACTS
Camp Bestival presented by Debenhams will take place from Thursday July 30 – Sunday August 2, 2026. For more info and day and weekend tickets with a range of camping available, visit campbestival.net.
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