Five of the best at Bestival

Image: Bestival

With a theme for 2016 billed simply as 'the future', this year's Bestival will be a voyage through space and time when it comes to the Isle of Wight on Thursday 8th - Sunday 11th September.

A genre spanning musical journey is guaranteed too with the Bestival line up including the likes of Skepta, The Cure and Richie Hawtin. The budget doesn't just stretch to big name acts however as organiser Rob Da Bank constantly looks to keep attendees happy with a fondness for fancy dress and recording breaking attempts.

2016 sees the stakes raised as it features the world's largest bouncy castle, created by Bestival's organisers, that made its debut at Common People in Southampton earlier this year.

All of these quirks have not gone unnoticed and last year Bestival scooped the gong for Best Major Festival. Enough to tempt you? Make sure you check out our five unmissable acts from the festival.

Wiz Khalifa

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Seemingly the heir to Snoop Dogg's leafy throne, Wiz is as prolific as his mentor not only in his consumption of the green stuff but also in releasing records on the regs. Seven albums in ten years is not bad going particularly when you consider that he also starred in Mac and Devin Go To High School which spawned the massive hit 'Young, Wild & Free' (listen above).

The two are currently on the road together for their 'The High Road' tour, and with Wiz featuring on Snoop's latest album Coolaid there's a chance the D O double G may return to the festival he headlined in 2013 for a special guest appearance.

Henry Lewis

Like this? Check out Record Press: Terrace Martin

Carl Cox House Classics 

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The Bestival team have managed to pry Coxy away from Space Ibiza for a classics set spanning his 30-year career, sure to be complete with decade-defining tunes, nostalgia-fuelled tracks and a whole load of his signature energy.

Carl Cox will be playing at The Spaceport (which replaces The Port), a space oddity featuring a huge rocket that will tower more than 20 meters high, lit by lasers and giant astronauts. A suitably epic stage for what promises to be one of the standout dance sets of the weekend. 

Becca Frankland

Jagwar Ma

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Connecting the dots between experimental dance and nocturnal psych-rock that melts through the ear cavity like molten lava, Australia's Jagwar Ma are fair game for the average Bestival-goer. 

After touring with Tame Impala earlier this year, the band recently resurfaced with new single 'O B 1', enlisting Warpaint's Stella Mozgawa to handle drum duties.  

It finally solidified the promise of a second album for those that were hooked on the bands debut Howlin - back in 2013.  Mixed by Ewan Pearson, their sophomore pitch, titled Every Now and Then, will gain its first UK airplay on this exact date.    

Ben Smith  

Like this? Read Glass Animals tour the UK later this year

Greg Wilson's Super Weird in the Woods

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Greg Wilson is one of those nailed on festival certainties, a sure-fire party starter who you can always rely on to bring you a feast of crowd pleasers for some easy going grooves rain or shine - and has been a cornerstone of Bestival over the years.

His Super Weird Substance label and parties has also been a gloriously leftfield surge into the area of psychedelia (listen to Greg live form last year's Festival No.6), the perfect musical curveball to lose yourself in the woods to.

Jimmy Coultas

Read getting super weird with greg wilson.

Animal Collective

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Utterly bonkers pop music with splashes of 60s psychedelia, Bollywood soundtracks and manic vocal hamonies, few bands encapsulate the energy levels and unbridled creativity of Bestival itself as much as the Baltimore trio.

Having put out one of the year's best LPs in Painting With and wowwing us at their Manchester gig a few months back, we're itching to catch Geologist, Panda Bear and Avey Tare back in action, screwing with our minds and hearts the way only they can. Check out the crazed pop genius of 'Golden Gal' above. 

Mike Warburton 

Like this? Read Five of the best Live Acts at WHP. 

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