Scissor Sisters headline summer's last big festival

More than 15,000 music-lovers will be setting up camp today for the last major festival of the summer.

Headlining the three-day Bestival on the Isle of Wight will be New York camp disco stars Scissor Sisters as well as the Pet Shop Boys and gypsy punk rockers Gogol Bordello.

Also on the eclectic line-up chosen by the curator and BBC Radio 1 DJ Rob Da Bank are Mercury music prize runner-ups The Guillemots and Hot Chip.

And legendary U2 producer and former member of Roxy Music Brian Eno will be performing alongside the Rachid Taha Band.

As well as the music, the festival offers a range of alternative attractions from an inflatable church for mock weddings to a fully-functioning sauna and holistic healing field.

There will also be a solar-powered cinema, insect circus and a Come Dancing tent.

And the festival’s pioneering Women’s Institute tent will be returning to sell revellers a cup of tea and cakes.

The organisers are also hoping to match last year’s record-breaking fancy dress parade.

But the original theme of clowns and the circus was dropped after too many people complained they were coulrophobic – afraid of clowns.

A spokesman said: “No clowns please. All other silly attire positively encouraged though and you can still come in a non-clown circus costume if you want to.”

Bestival 2006 begins today at Robin Hill Country Park and runs until Sunday.