UPDATE: Baa‚¬a„¢estfest music festival returns with green location, new artists confirmed

B’estfest will return this year with a new, green, location, in north Bucharest. Skunk Anansie and Pendulum are the first confirmed artists for the fourth B’estfest, bound to take place on July 1, 2 and 3.

The new location of the festival, “B’estfest Camp”, is located in the Pipera-Tunari area, in northern Bucharest, on a 10-hectare surface. As is tradition, the festival will have a main stage and more secondary arenas and the audience will have access to unconventional exhibits, creativity workshops, relaxation spaces, games and hand-made fairs, as well as terraces, bars and restaurants. The main stage will function until after 12 o’clock in the night and several entertainment areas will activate until morning.

Emagic CEO, Laura Coroianu, explained why this location change was necessary: “Since 2007, close friends and faithful audience members have asked us to move B‘estfest from the concrete location, because a festival means more than a series of concerts, it is an expression of unconstrained freedom.”

Skunk Anansie (in picture) are a representative name in the britrock genre, formed in 1994, to be later included in the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums, with 141 weeks spent in the specialized music charts. Skunk Anansie’s concert in Romania will take place on July 1. Australian band Pendulum mix live shows with electronic and visual effects. The will join Linkin Park in a US tour and will perform at B’estfest on July 3.

The festival, organized by Emagic, took a year’s break and did not have a 2010 edition. In the past, artists like Nelly Furtado, Alanis Morisette, Pink, Kasabian, The Killers, Reamonn, Santana, Stereophonics, Franz Ferdinand, Alice Cooper, Marylin Manson, Morcheeba, Moby, Motorhead or Faithless, among many others, were featured in the B’estfest’s lineup (previously known as B’estival).

UPDATE: Tickets for the fourth B’estfest are available for purchase starting March 1. They cost RON 125 for one day, while a pass for the festival’s three days is RON 265. Camping access will be an extra RON 15. By March 22, tickets may be purchased at a 20 percent discount. Tickets are available for purchase in the Diverta chain and on www.myticket.ro. Tickets may also be purchased in the days of the festival for RON 150 per day and a three days’ pass for RON 285, but only in the first day of the festival.

UPDATE 2: One of the best known live electronic bands in Europe, Asian Dub Foundation have announced that they will be arriving in Romania at B’estfest. Showcasing a mixture of various styles as rapcore, dub, dancehall and hard ragga-jungle, guitar accords , ethnical sounds and punk-rock influences, the 18-year-old band has launched a new album this year, A History of Now. The band currently is formed of Chandrasonic, Sun-J, Pandit G, Prithpal Rajput (aka Cyber), Aktarv8r, Martin Savale, Al Rumjen and Aktar Ahmed.

UPDATE 3: Irish punk and hip-hop are next on the list, as House of Pain and Flogging Molly will also perform at the festival. House of Pain is turning 20 this year and is best known through ist founding member, Everlast. One of the band’s best known hits is “Jump Around”. They will play at B’estfest on July 3. Flogging Molly was created in 1997 by Dave King and their 2008 CD, Float, was ranked “the most important CD of the year, if not of the decade” by American magazine Alternative Press. They will hold their concert in Romania on July 1.

Corina Dumitrescu