Reviews

Arriving at the car park on Sunday, I was grateful it wasn't raining again, but by the time I reached the main arena, that gratitude was slowly sinking, much like the festival goers. The mud was ankle deep and if you went down to flat land, you were lucky if the pools of mucky water wasn't 12 inches high. All of this aside, the Scottish crowd seemed to be enthusiastic for the day ahead. Wandering around the arena people were, throwing mud, sliding face first in it, one guy even dived off a picnic table in to it. Safe to say, no spirits were dampened by the ground conditions.

Chase and Status were definitely one of my highlights of Sunday, the two DJ's joined on stage by their drummer Andy Gangadeen and vocalist MC Rage put on an amazing show. With special guests Maverick Sabre and Liam Bailey, Chase and Status certainly pulled out all the stops and provided a memorable performance. The crowd for Chase and Status was certainly a rowdy one, several mosh pits were started and crowd surfers had to be pulled out by security.

Elbow's crowd wasn't quite as energetic, but they were not any less committed, singing along to all of their hit songs providing a classic, chilled out festival atmosphere.

Going over to the Radio 1/ NME Stage the atmosphere changed completely, Nicki Minaj, being 55 minutes late, ran on stage, with no explanation as to why she made her fans wait so long. Scotland's crowds are well known for being enthusiastic and energetic and were complimented by bands and artists over the weekend, but when Nicki Minaj kept them waiting, they were anything but forgiving, in between tracks, you could hear heavy booing and insults being thrown at her from all directions. Cutting her set short, I doubt she'll be rushing back to Scotland anytime soon and if she does, she better at least bring an apology back with her.

I've never really been a huge fan of Kasabian, I've always seen them as just another band, lacking anything extra special, but seeing them at T in the Park I was very wrong, delivering a lot more grit and character than I ever expected. Unlike a lot of bands, you weren't just drawn to the singer but you found yourself watching the whole band. Their song Velociraptor off their new album is definitely worth a listen.

After announcing they will be splitting after completing already confirmed gigs for this year Swedish House Mafia's set was set to be a sort of, farewell performance, and they didn't disappoint. Having preformed at T in the Park last year they had set themselves a standard barrier, which they smashed to smithereens. I can't explain it in words, you will have to watch the multiple videos on YouTube to fully understand where I'm coming from. Absolute madness.

Even if the weather was horrific this year, the Scottish crowds were still in full force and didn't let it dampen their spirits over the weekend. T in the Park is an amazing festival, with brilliant characters and a phenomenal atmosphere. I would recommend everyone get tickets for next year, as it is T in the Park's 20th anniversary and it'll be even bigger.

Check out photos from Friday @ T in the Park
Check out photos from Saturday @ T in the Park
Check out photos from Sunday @ T in the Park
 

The day kicked-off with a bang, when X- Factor judge Tulisa took to the main stage to sing two new songs from her debut album. Launching an attack on the ex-lover behind her recent sex tape scandal, she stuck a finger up at the 60,000 strong crowd and invited them to join her in publicly mauling him. 

Professor Green followed Tulisa on the main stage, giving a confident, energetic, and crowd-pleasing performance.

He opened his set by announcing Wireless as the ‘biggest f***** audience’ he’d played to all summer.  His nerves didn’t show as he ferociously rapped his way through a number of chart friendly tracks.   Biggest cheers (and mass audience participation) came for his encore, the No.1 hit and Emeli Sande collaboration, ‘Read All About It’.

Over on the Pepsi Max stage, British singer-songwriter Delilah lived up to recent music press hype.

A striking presence in camouflage jacket and knee-hi dominatrix style boots, she captivated the audience with her soulful and haunting voice.

Heartbreak and versatility framed her set as she stunned the crowd with a track list that compassed a cross of genres such as dub- step, soul, trip- hop, and R&B.

 Her last release, ‘Breathe’,   and the debut single, ‘Go’ (which carries a heavy sample from Chakka Khan’s ‘Ain’t Nobody’), were met with astounding reception.

Labrinth did his best to outshine Delilah, and very nearly succeeded until he was let down by poor sound quality inside the Pepsi Max tent.

An exuberant performer, he carried on regardless, and got the masses bouncing along to the cheery and catchy single ‘ Express Yourself’.

The Hackney-born star turned things down a notch with a beautiful, acoustic version of his debut hit, ‘Let The Sun Shine’.

 A massive crowd hurtle ensued as he launched into the mega selling single‘‘Earthquake’, which concluded a lively but inconsistent set.

Proving you don’t have to sell millions of records to make an impact at a commercial festival, up- and-coming South London soul singer Josh  Osho took to the tiny Bandstand Stage and became the surprise highlight for many.

Blessed with a powerful and silky voice, he also displayed his flair for epic song writing on tracks such as ‘S.O.S’, and ‘Redemption Days’.

A cover of the Alex Clare hit ‘Too Close’, went down a storm with the younger crowd, and worked exceptionally well in acoustic format.

As the rain started to pour down, the Wireless crowd waited in anticipation for U.S. hip-hop star and female powerhouse, Nicki Minaj to take to the main stage.

Sporting a typically colourful outfit (and bright blonde wig), she was greeted with a frenzied response. The Wireless crowd just couldn’t get enough of the eccentric performer and her foul-mouthed banter. From firing a dry- ice gun into the crowd, to performing hits such as ‘Moment 4 Life’, ‘Starships’ , and ‘Superbass’, she proved to be festival gold and kept the damp punters smiling through the rain.

Deafening screams were heard all over Hyde Park as headliner Drake took to the stage.

The charismatic rapper was completely at ease with his huge audience(who were gradually getting wetter and wetter as heavy rain set in), revealing that ‘London is like a second home’, and requesting that they chant along with his rhyme: ‘ I don’t give a f*** about the rain tonight cos I’m here to watch Drake go insane tonight’.

His adoring fans responded immediately and sang along to the short bursts of rapping at the start of the set.

Drake performed two storming collaborations- ‘Crew Love’, with The Weekend, and ‘Make Me Proud’ with Nicki Minaj.

Racing through rap numbers, ‘She Will, and Headliners and Practice, Drake’s vocals shone through on his slower, R&B tracks- sounding smooth and effortless.

The obvious encore had to be -and was, the Rihanna duet, ‘Take Care’.  The Barbadian superstar didn’t appear in person but her vocals were sampled throughout the track.

She closes the festival tomorrow and is sure to successfully round off a fierce, dance-tastic Wireless 2012.

Photos courtesy of Wireless Festival

Waking up to pouring rain I was not discouraged for the day ahead, driving through the rain I was not discouraged, but sitting in the car park, putting on layers upon layers of waterproofs, waiting hopelessly for the rain to stop I will admit, I was not feeling awfully enthusiastic. Today, Scotland was living up to it's reputation for hideous weather. Prepared with two jumpers, a water proof jacket and the infamous waterproof poncho, I felt I could conquer this rain. Oh how wrong I was.

I'm only grateful that the first act I saw was worth standing in the rain for. Enter Shikari will smash, trample and burn on any genre you place them in. They have a unique sound that intertwines upbeat dance samples and post-hardcore metal breakdowns which leaves you with a sort of happy-hardcore. Front man Rou Reynolds is not only a great vocalist but has a sense of humour when performing by dancing along to the upbeat parts. Their "Sorry you're not a winner" single from their debut studio album Take To The Skies is still a favourite with fans, the song features three claps at the beginning which the crowd took full responsibility for. They then continued to sing along with vocalist Rou Reynolds during their set. Enter Shikari have transformed and improved since their first album, continuing to surprise and impress years on and with live performances like this it is no wonder why they had such an impressive and committed crowd. They give it their all, providing an unforgettable high energy show.

Walking around the arena there was definitely a buzz for Jessie J's performance hours before it had even started and her performance displayed why. Not only did she display her vocal range remarkably but interacting with her band, the crowd and the television cameras made her performance that much more entertaining, she knows exactly how to please an audience whether they be in the crowd or watching from home. Jessie J has such a powerful voice, even when experimenting with different pitches she always stays in tune offering a startling performance. Shouting "I'm going to make you really warm" Jessie with all her smash hits and a rendition of Luther Vandross "Never Too Much" definitely gave the crowd something to dance along to. Closing with "Domino" the crowd certainly made Scotland proud, fighting through the awful weather and enjoying her performance fully.

The Stone Roses were headlining the Main Stage to T in the Park's Saturday evening and rightfully so. Although being in their peek in the early 90's songs from all of their albums have continued to circulate over the years, even after they split up, meaning that the crowd was not just full of Mum and Dad's reminiscing their wild years but contained younger generations there to celebrate their music. This band do not need to have dancers in skimpy outfits or huge laser lights cutting through the night sky, them playing in front of a backdrop showing all their old music videos was enough to capture the attention of the huge crowd. They were chilled, laid back and let their music do the talking. As it should be some may argue? I'll let you decide.

David Guetta returned to T in the Park this year after an explosive set two years ago, now given a larger stage area and more room for the crowd to dance it was already sounding promising. You could see David Guetta's lights from the other side of the arena, drawing crowds in to see him perform. Having seen him two years previous, for me he had set himself a standard bar and the question was, would he surpass it? Unfortunately I would say no, although his set was phenomenal and the atmosphere in the crowd was overwhelming I was let down by the lack of his own material. However I would say, his set is worth a watch on the BBC Highlights.

Leaving David Guetta's set early I stumbled across Sub Focus's set on the Transmissions stage, still of a similar genre to David Guetta, he offered something less commercialised with a lot more bass, and this is how I ended my Saturday T in the Park 2012 experience, with ears pounding, how it should be done.

Check out photos from Friday @ T in the Park
Check out photos from Saturday @ T in the Park
Check out photos from Sunday @ T in the Park
 

Walking in to the main arena the Kaleidoscope Club is the first tent to be seen, inside I found a group of street dancers performing to a small crowd. A crowd of ten men spinning on their heads later joined by the DJ, was definitely not the welcome I was expecting from T in the Park this year. Within five minutes of entering the site I find something new and exciting that had never been done in previous years and with only one reported arresting so far, that too was surprising. It seem T in the park is on the up, I just hope I'm continued to be surprised over the weekend.

I will admit, singing along to "I predict a riot" always made me feel that little bit cool, as if somewhere, deep, deep down I had a dangerous hidden streak but apart from that, I never have been that great a fan of the Kaiser Chiefs, that is until I heard them live. Oh, those boys can play, and can vocalist Ricky Wilson sing (probably why he was offered a coaching job on hit show "The Voice"!). At one point I also thought Ricky Wilson may have been a good contender for the GB team in this years Olympics judging by the amount of running back and forward he was doing. Putting aside the impressive stamina displayed by Ricky Wilson during the band's performance I believe the band's recorded songs play down how good they really are, I was extremely impressed by their live performance.

I did take time to celebrate the T, to the T in the Park (Tennents). Having a wee wander around the arena I saw the usual festival sights; collapsed drunk persons, noodles in mud, 6ft Smurfs, chips in mud, men urinating with poise and delicacy against peeling advertisement boards, all in all Scotland's finest!

Now, it is not because I had a cup of Tennents or because this gentleman is in fact VERY good looking in person, but Labrinth's set was brilliant. In between jumping around the stage and singing I lost count how many instruments he played. Album songs are not usually the highlight to anyone's performance but Labrinth's certainly made his more atmospheric, holding the standard of quality, very high, throughout every song he played. It was refreshing to see that an artist in the charts today, actually has his level of talent.

I did go see Example but well, he really is not worth the time I'm taking to type out this small review of his performance, he already stole precious minutes of my life I will never get back. He's well known for mocking artists that mime, but maybe he should follow in their footsteps because he really was awful.

Now, Florence and the Machine, I'm sure everyone has watched her perform live at some point, therefore there is not much I can say that hasn't already been said. Her angelic voice drew in one of the largest crowds of today so far, and it is no surprise why. She captured the crowd with her stunning voice and put on, as always, a phenomenal show.

Professor Green, having been delayed getting to T in the park apologised profusely to the crowd in his own witty way, the T in the park crowd held no grudges after he followed his apology with "there will be plenty more flights to Glasgow but only one T in the park 2012". He then proceeded to blow the crowd away. You could see when singing his songs, he was singing you the words, his performance seemed more personal than other artists I had seen so far (how you can do "personal" with lyrics like "Saw a chick walk in with a big behind, Now I'm stalking my victim out" I will never know, but he managed it.) An amazing performer, one I would not hesitate to go see again!

Having Tinie Tempah on after Professor Green, on the same stage was awfully nice of the organizers, no trekking to the other side of the arena! You could tell from Tinie's entrance that he was ready to put on a good performance, and that he did. He seemed impressed with the Scottish crowd, grinning as they sang all his songs back to him. His pretty sparkly microphone and cool patchwork leather jacket certainly took no attention away from his performance, he held the stage well with his presence alone, playing hit after hit pleasing the huge crowd that had come to see him.

Finally I sneaked away early to catch the end of The Blackout's set and I'm glad I did. Those Welsh men can put on a performance! Possibly not to everyone's music taste, which is okay but if  you were to see them live you would undoubtedly have to appreciate their showmanship, in between their songs they communicated with the crowd like no other artist I had seen today had done, they thanked the crowd for coming, and it seemed more sincere than the odd "cheers for coming" you seem to get from some of the bigger artists. The two vocalists Sean Smith and Gavin Butler meshed well together, especially when they suggested to the crowd they make the most of the heavy security they were given. Without further hesitation the crowd turned in to a whirlpool of mosh pits and I counted at least 16 of the audience crowd surfing and having to be pulled out by security. Revealing new songs they have been working on over the last few months, The Blackout have the capability to go far, and I really hope they do. Their high energy performance gave the perfect ending to my Friday of T in the Park 2012.

Check out photos from Friday @ T in the Park
Check out photos from Saturday @ T in the Park
Check out photos from Sunday @ T in the Park

Take a trip down the A59 in Sawley, Lancashire, at the beginning of July each year, and you’ll soon come across one of the quaintest and most atmospheric festivals Britain has to offer; The Beat-Herder Festival.  Now in it’s seventh year, Beat-Herder’s organisers have maintained a firm grasp on what has made this festival such a success in such a short time; to simply bring people together to enjoy the beats and barminess that this festival oozes. Despite the rain’s best efforts to put a dampener on the weekend, this year’s Beat-Herder proves to be one of the best yet.

Not only does Beatherder pride itself on bagging some of the best dance/electro/reggae bands around, but it’s sense of community and camaraderie is clear given just how many local bands and Djs perform throughout. Make your way to the Toil Trees at any point in the weekend and there‘ll always be something happening as, from 11am to 4am, the trees are alive with the sound of DJ sets from the likes of D/R/U/G/S, Fake Blood, Utah Saints and a marathon 6 hour set from Mr Scruff on the Sunday.

The Beat-Herder & District Working Men’s Social Club hosts an array of hilarious and entertaining acts over the course of the weekend, from holding a Beat-Herder’s Got Talent contest on the Saturday to stand out performances from up-and-coming comedy musical duo Frisky and Mannish, and the one and only Black Lace bringing the ‘A Ga Do-Do-Do’ to the Club Tropicana themed tent.

Two tone legends The Beat and the godfather of reggae Lee Scratch Perry soothe everyone’s Sunday hangovers with their easy going rock steady tunes, whilst Yorkshire legend and Beat-Herder veteran Captain Hotknives puts the world to rights in the BH&DWMSC tent with his comedic ditties about racist wildlife and the disappointing array of confectionaries available on trains. Bringing the weekend to a close is main stage headliner Kraak & Smaak, who raise the roof and go out with a bang with their own brand of electronic funk.

A first time attendee to this festival would have difficulty finding the time to see all of the delights Beatherder has to offer.  Walk up the path into the woods and you’ll all of  sudden find yourself in the middle of a street; a street adorned with a church, a garage, a bar and a fully functioning tattoo parlour where all across the weekend, people are inked with the iconic Beat-Herder sheep and speaker logo.  Take a closer look at the red telephone box; you’ll see it in fact reads ‘Teleport’ across the top; investigate further and you’ll find a tunnel, leading either to the other Teleport box at the other side of the woods, or peering out from behind bars at the folk meandering through the woods. Stroll up to the stalls, and you’ll be spoilt for choice for.

All too soon, it’s Monday morning and we’re in a queue of muddy cars heading back to reality. My only quibble with The Beat-Herder Festival it always seems to be over far too quickly. Roll on next year and the quirky fun it may bring.

Review by Emma Stone

Click here to view photos from Friday @ Beat Herder

Click here to view photos from Saturday @ Beat Herder

Click here to view photos from Sunday @ Beat Herder

We arrived on the Isle of Wight fearing the worst, news of the chaos, mud and traffic nightmares had bombarded us from every side.  When we finally arrived at the festival we began to see what all the fuss was about, every path was ankle deep in mud for miles.  After a mild disagreement with a gust of wind, we managed to put up our tent successfully then, with some well earned food and a drink in us, we headed down to explore the main festival grounds.  On our way we saw the wreckage that the mud had caused already; tents had been abandoned, covered in mud and the festival area itself wasn't looking any better.  But drawn to the sound of Noah and the Whale we caught the last two songs of their set, and that put us right back in the mood for a great weekend.  Fridays highlights for us were surprisingly Elbow; the four piece band from Manchester who drew us in with the beautiful sweeping melodies from their latest album 'Build a rocket boys', and old time rockers Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, who were just great fun to watch. 

Saturday started off slow, Signals a new band from Southampton played the main stage in the morning to an enthusiastic audience, and as the afternoon rolled in excitement began to grow for performances from Jessie J and Tinie Tempah.  Then a complete crowd switch before Biffy Clyro pulled out an amazing set, which not only sounded great but was visually stunning too and after Pearl Jam, we headed down to the very crammed venue Hipshakers to end the night as it always should, with a bit of funk. 

We didn’t think it was possible but, the last day brought with it even more mud, nevertheless we set out to explore the smaller venues on site such as Kashmir Café where we found a ukulele orchestra, performing renditions of Amy Winehouse songs and Life's a Beach where a limbo competition was taking place.  We caught Switchfoot play a solid set in the Big Top and then waded to the Main Stage to catch Noel Gallagher and the High Flying Birds finish their set with some old school Oasis songs.  Someone didn’t seem to enjoy that as much we did though, because they tried to throw a flare and Noel's head, thankfully it missed.  Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band closed the night with an outstanding three hour long set, which we did not expect to enjoy as much as we did.  His fourteen piece band engaged the crowd like no one else had and left everyone wanting more as they performed their version of, 'Twist and Shout' and fireworks marked the end of yet another successful Isle of Wight Festival.

Overall the weekend had a good atmosphere, some great acts and a few quirky venues.  The mud and the transport issues were unfortunate and more could have been done to resolve the issues quicker but it didn’t stop anyone at the festival from enjoying themselves.  We thought that the main venues were great, but the smaller venues were too few and lacked a little bit of imagination.  If you're looking to discover new bands in quirky venues with a handmade feel, you might leave the island a little let down, but if you're looking to go to a festival with established headliners, and main stream acts, with a relatively chilled out atmosphere then your bound to have a great time at Isle of Wight Festival, but don't forget to bring your wellies…just in case.

Summer Break is not your ordinary festival. It’s advertised as being a 96 hour long party, and that’s  not far from what week 1 delivered. Unlike your average festival, except for the few that have chosen the camping option, there’s no tent pitching to be done, but rather collecting the keys for your static caravan. By festival standards, this is pure luxury living with all the facilities you could want. You can definitely see why the site is referred to as the ‘student village’ with a real feel of uni halls.

After everyone had settled into their new homes for the week, it wasn’t long before the fancy dress started, along with the music and drinking. And of course the drinking games! This was followed by a short walk to the on-site club, known for the week as ‘Sundown Field’.  This first night had a real union club night feel with most people in fancy dress and starting to make new friends among this big group of students.

The following morning, once everyone had soothed their hangovers a little, it was time to head to Fistral Beach. The weather was glorious with bright sunshine – the ideal weather to enjoy Summer Break’s own area of the beach. With DJ sets on the beach throughout the day and many games of football and volleyball and a sandcastle building competition. And of course a trip to Fistral Beach wouldn’t be complete without some surfing, swimming and skimboarding. Most students had signed up to take advantage of the bus transfers on offer, which provided an easy way to travel between the holiday park and the beach.

The buses took on a whole new atmosphere when it came to the evening. The second night took place at Sailors nightclub in Newquay town centre. Having enjoyed pre-drinks and plenty of drinking games in caravans throughout the early evening, everyone on the buses was really excited for the night ahead and there was a lot of singing and chanting! Sailors nightclub was packed and everyone had an amazing night with DJ sets from Urban Knights, Jaymo & Andy George and the week’s special guest DJ, Mr Hudson. The crowd went absolutely wild for Mr Hudson with the dancefloor packed during his set. Everyone had an excellent night partying through to around 3am before getting on the bus back to the campsite.

The next day was another trip on the buses down to Fistral Beach for even wilder beach antics. These included beer can races, pegs on faces competitions, blind sack races and marshmallow eating competitions. And of course, with another day of wonderful sunshine, there was more surfing and splashing around down on the beach as well as rugby, Frisbee and cricket.

That night’s activities took place at another popular Newquay club, Bertie’s. With MC Majestic pumping everyone up all night, the atmosphere was great. The nights DJs were also great including sets from Jakwob, R3wire and Cutline.

On day three, the weather took a bit of a turn and we woke up to rain. This put a bit of a stop to the planned activities on the beach, which should have included bikinis contests, ‘Mr and Mrs Summer Beach’ and a tug-of-war. No-one seemed too bothered by this downturn though, almost welcoming the opportunity to have a slightly more chilled day relaxing in their caravans and soothing their sunburn.

By evening though, everyone was ready to make the most of their final night, which took place on-site at the Sundown Field. The club was roasting hot, but everyone was still pumped up and ready to party. The atmosphere built up more and more with sets from lots of DJs including Urban Knights building up to a highly energetic set from Kissy Sell Out and MC Cobra to finish the night off.

Overall, the first week of Summer Break was filled with lots of crazy antics both on-site at the ‘student village’, at Fistral Beach and at the clubs in town, with many people living up to the ’96 hour party people’ motto! Rather than a traditional festival feel, Summer Break is more like a large scale student holiday with crazy beach days and energetic party evenings!

Click here to view Summer Break 2012 Sunday photos

Click here to view Summer Break 2012 Monday photos 

Friday

So after nearly an 8 hour drive and 420 miles added to the clock, we arrived at a rather pleasant Rockness. The torrential rain of Midlands which had turned Download into a wash out was not present here with the weather being slightly overcast. After finding a space to pitch the tent it was time to make the way into the arenas.

The first couple of hours stayed placid with the Mystery Jets on the main stage slowly building the crowd for the headliners later on, whilst in the GoldenVoice Arena, Wretch 32 with his Grime & Rap hyped up everyone listening for an hour of madness. Golden Boy Ed Sheeran totally stole the show again in the GoldenVoice Arena, packing it out within seconds of starting his very interactive performance, getting everyone to join in and even take over with singing.

The Redbull sound stage playing underground sounds of Drum & Bass and Dubstep, Redbull also had a cocktail bar giving out complementary drinks to Artists and Friends such as Rockberry, Rumbull which of course all contained Redbull.

Mumford and Sons where the last act on the main stage for the evening, drawing a mass of festival goers and played just into the start of Friday night/Saturday morning.

Sub Club Sound system stayed open till gone 3am with the likes of Hudson Mahawke & Eats Everything providing entertainment for the hardcore party people.

Saturday

Saturday morning started with rain, rain and more rain keeping many people in their tents as long as possible before heading over to the arenas, Miraculously 12 O’clock came and rain stopped for the second day of festival festivities.

The early morning stayed quite with the smaller acts taking to the various stages and tents providing a more chilled out atmosphere.

The first big act of the day was Darren Foreman known better as Beardyman. Looking like an employee directly from a call centre he entertained and at times confused the crowd with his beatboxing skills and with the use of a new looping setup he created an entire DJ set just from his voice.

For the second time around (previously at PlayFest) I was able to see the renowned Pigeon defectives, again full of energy from the second they appeared on stage with Matt Bowman nearly losing the microphone on several occasions through swinging the microphone a little too hard.

17 year old Hugo Pierre Leclercq, known by his stage name Madeon also played in the GoldenVoice, His unique twist on Electro and Pop music took allot of people by surprise along with his appearance, looking allot younger than 17.

DeadMau5 or also being talked about by some festival goers as “Dead Mau Five” was defiantly worth the entire day waiting for. He appeared on stage a few minutes before his set, unknown to everyone he was inside a crate that burst open with him inside. Unusually he started without his iconic mau5 head piece on and quickly put this on after a quick hello and wave to everyone.

He set as always was spectacular with lots of visuals including his 900+ full LED mouse head, a very heavy bass which when standing close made it hard to breathe.

Sunday

Sunday morning started with news that The View who I managed to miss yesterday would be playing once again, Due to a massive turnout at the small tent (think 10 deep around the outside) their set had to be postponed due to health and safety.

Jakwob kicked off the dance music in the GoldenVoice tent, known for his remixing of mainstream artists such as Ellie Golding and combines elements of Dubstep, electro, ghetto-tech and breakbeat into these. Even though they only had a small crowd they provided lots of noise and used the entire tent to dance.

The Cuban bothers, who I would say where the most unique act of the weekend, played a mix of Soul, Funk and Disco, also throwing in allot of Comedy and Sensational dancing, they really looked like they were having fun and entertaining the crowd too they ended their show by stripping down to “thongs” and playing a musical rocky homage.

Later in the evening a private helicopter landed at the festival which many of the press and reporters thought was Biffy Clyro which in fact turned out to be Knife Party.  Founded by 2 members of the electronic rock band Pendulum, Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen they packed out the tent before even starting the set, There upbeat mash up of Dubstep & electro styles whipped up everyone into a frenzy with a sea of hands moving in time with the music being the only thing visible in the red glow of the lights.

NME’s and Q’s best live Band, Biffy Clyro provided the finale to weekend of music at Rockness, with an impressive stage setup of huge hanging mirrors, Co2 cannons and pyrotechnics provided a high to end on and showed everyone present to why they are the best live band in the world!

Click here to view photos from Friday at RockNess

Click here to view photos from Saturday at RockNess

Click here to view photos from Sunday at RockNess

Review by Dan Wheatley