Who: Alternative rock's least prolific pop-punk femmes.
Dress code: The exact correct level of scruffiness as befits women of their age. The Deal sisters, obviously, inhabit the Breeders so completely. And it's their special genius that the less effort they make, the better they look.
Who's watching: Celebs, alt-rock fans who forgot to pack their earplugs for MBV, perplexed ravers waiting for Chromeo and aging indie boys.
In a nutshell: This is an alt-rock night for old people, and those who wanted shelter from the rain. You really can't go wrong with the Breeders. And with a set featuring lots of material from their impressive recent album Mountain Battles, it looks like we have them back for good. Sure, the novelty of having them around has waned since the sisters Deal got clean and started gigging regularly and reliably, but with that has come genuine goodness at their job which, in this mud, is kind of nice. The modern-day Breeders play music of the lowest fidelity, but they dig out the biggest amount of soul.
Bestival: They'll hate us for saying it, but Cannonball. In fact, there was barely a duff song featured, but even the greatest of artists can only happen upon a song as good as Cannonball once in their lives. And amid all the slow-mo new stuff, it's a welcome shot of adrenaline.
Also: Kim, introducing Here No More: "My mother has alzheimer's. She's crazy, she losing her mind. But she still helped write the words to this song."
Worstival: It might have been only for one song, and it might have been Kelly Deal playing it, but playing the fiddle is not a pursuit to be encouraged within rock'n'roll, nor will it ever be.
