In this final post on Bestival, we finally get around to addressing the bands that were actually playing. You know, the reason we were there in the first place.

The variety was bewildering, broad and mostly enviable: witness Public Enemy rubbing shoulders with Brian Wilson; DJ Shadow with Boys Noize; awful Adele dubstep remixes with awful Adele Drum ‘n’ Bass remixes.

Out of bloody-mindedness, the following article is presented in a series of notes and bullet points.

THE NEW BANDS:

Yuck proved to be all you’d hope for in a young, new band – bright, noisy, carefree and juggling a …

Since music festivals became part of the summer social scene, and started to get crowbarred into mobile phone companies’ TV ads as part of yeah-we’re-down-with-the-kids campaigns, and become an item to tick off a tedious bucket list, the way they are reviewed has had to change too.

Before, you could get away with simply writing about the bands. The parameters are different now – it’s about the experience, yeah? As such, this article is about the festival itself – reports on the music will arrive tomorrow.

Here’s how to spot a music festival veteran: look at the left …

ANBAD is still enjoying the long, deep sleep that can only be fully appreciated in a normal bed after a few days of camping in a field* at a music festival; thus the written review will follow when consciousness has fully returned.

In the meantime – here’s a picture gallery of things that flashed before our eyes at Bestival when we were aware enough to be holding a shonky camera that could record it. Fair Warning: there are a lot of pictures of the AWESOME LASERS in the Big Top tent.

After being thrilled by such a carefully-chosen slew of …

Remember Record Store Day? It was only a week ago. Has it changed your shopping habits?

Will you keep buying your exclusive, 1000-only, limited edition, 7″ glitter-flexi-disc vinyls from your local shop now? Or will you continue to order it off the internet like you did before?

Record Store Day enjoyed its highest-ever profile this year. Stories about eager music fans queuing to buy one-off singles featured in the news on non-music radio stations, and every newspaper trundled out someone capable of writing a thousand words on the joys of purchasing a CD without hesitating to think …

***Advertorial***

ANBAD is more than willing to champion anyone who also champions new music, especially when it’s an initiative that is not only enjoyable but also explores the music world to a little more depth than usual: providing musical Edutainment, if you’ll allow such heinous terminology into your life.

That closer peep into new music is to be found in the AllSaints Basement Sessions – a minor treasure trove of videoed live performances from new bands; lectures and discussion groups on new music; and, perhaps most interestingly, interviews with musical movers-and-shakers that are bold enough to progress beyond the usual …

Today, a rarity:  an ANBAD live review. It’s one of an interesting gig for those interested in new bands, though: the NME Awards tour, which provides a helpful snapshot of what is deemed to be now in the UK by both the NME and the teens that treat it as the music bible.

The Shockwaves NME Awards gig at Manchester Academy drew curious punters from across the social spectrum, but for the hoards of teens, it was Mecca. Finally, the bands they have only read about, or listened to online, or squinted at garbed videophone footage were playing for …

FYI: ANBAD is away for a few days R&R, and will return refreshed next week. That’s three Initialisms in one sentence, BTW. Wait – four. FTW!

ANBAD spends most of its time blah-ing about very new bands that make no money from their passion, but who do it in the hope that one day they will. When they do, they’ll make most of it from live ticket sales – the one side of the music industry that actually makes any money now.

Suddenly, tickets sellers are richer than ever - and to keep the swimming pools on their yachts …

Before thoughts turn to further gluttonous over-consumption during the forthcoming New Year’s celebrations (and before you have to wade through acres of tedious ‘Hot Tips For 2011′ articles), how about one final glance back over some of the writing that was on ANBAD, but not directly about a specific new band?

Here, then, are the pick of the various articles written by me and the generous contributors over the course of the year:

A Triple Threat of articles first; a quasi-provocative couplet of articles in the shape of:

The Trouble With Live Gigs [Part One and the even less …

I nuzzled up against the creative people behind the advert and, accompanied by legendary band-troubler James Endeacott – who signed The Libertines and oversaw The Strokes’ UK career, we settled down with tea, biscuits and moderate harmony to go through the shortlisted bands.

In the end, the decision was a complicated one due to the high quality of the bands that submitted tracks. Still, after much heated discussion we came up with a favourite. The winner, tantalisingly, will be announced in the new year.

In …

Now that you’re lying comatose in front of the fire and pondering on the fact that your intestines are now 80% solid Turkey meat, why not drag yourself away from the dull repeats on the TV, and read some excellent repeats here on ANBAD?

Wait – unless it’s Die Hard on TV. Watch until the end of that, and then read on.

There was a glut of interviews with exciting and thrusting young bands this year on ANBAD, all of which gave us a glimpse into the thrills of belonging to a new band. Here are four of the best:…