Performing at Bestival 2010

The innovative late-summer boutique music festival is back for the seventh time, bringing a degree of musical entertainment to the Isle of Wight unmatched since Queen Victoria watched Prince Albert play air-cello at a Brahms recital in the Durbar Room at Osborne House. Headliners for 2010 include Dylan Mills, better known to you and I as Dizzee Rascal, bustin' up a storm of moves with "Dirtee Disco", Roxy Music, re-setting the dial to 1972, year of their artfully glam-rockin' debut single "Virginia Plain" (check out Brian Eno's synths and Phil Manzanera's improvised guitar solo), and the Prodigy, unloading a head-mulching barrage of sonic weaponry with "Invaders Must Die". From a whisper of alt-country to a burst of energized electro . . . our Bestival 2010 Next Steps section has it all.

Once you've stepped away from Bestival 2010's imposing tower of headliners, you'll discover a cornucopia of musical delights harvested from the cream of current groundbreaking artists. Camden Town's Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, arriving on the Isle of Wight with fresh-off-the-presses debut album The Golden Years, does irresistible things with '80s-influenced electro-pop on "Dance the Way I Feel", while Matthew Houck, mastermind behind Phosphorescent, channels an easy, breezy, mellow '70s Americana vibe on "Nothing Was Stolen (Love Me Foolishly)" from 2010's perfectly titled Here's to Taking It Easy. King Charles meets Marc Almond, and we cue up French Horn Rebellion, in Deep Cuts.

Getting lost in the fringes of Bestival is traditionally like making an Alice in Wonderland-esque detour through the wilder and more colourful meadows of pop's contemporary landscape, and the 2010 gathering sticks to that meandering script. Here you'll find New York-based French Horn Rebellion (brothers Robert and David Perlick-Molinari) getting funky and playful with their synths, while classically trained cellist King Charles looks set to inspire a fresh set of followers with his irresistible "Love Lust". Marc Almond confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt on "Tears Run Rings" that great, soulful pop should never suffer for lack of excess melodrama.

Don't you just adore Bestival? The creative vision of organizers Rob da Bank and his wife Josie has ensured that, year on year (since 2004), it's an unforgettable experience, not just for the mass fancy dress, hidden disco and Bollywood cocktail bar, but for the incredible range of performers on show. A home in Robin Hill Country Park on the Isle of Wight is entirely fitting — the location has strong traditional connections to creativity (island residents have included poet Lord Tennyson and photographer Julia Margaret Cameron) and plugging into these Essentials offers an instant hit of wonderment and inspiration, thanks to the likes of Echo & the Bunnymen, Jonsi, the Flaming Lips, Gil Scott-Heron and a host of emergent groundbreakers.