Saturday 26/08/06 Get Loaded in the Park @ Coopers Field, Cardiff

After two successful years in London, The Metro Weekender has made its way to the Cardiff - a clever stealth operation by the newspaper which has had a great deal of success in Welsh capital since it’s launch in March of this year.

The artist line-up over the two days is decent enough, with Saturday’s proceedings clearly about offering the music punter a heady mix of indie-music with predominantly a Manchester flavour. That flavour begins with The Complete Stone Roses. You have to question the credentials of having a covers band on the festival circuit, but when the lead singer is more tuneful than Ian Brown, it’s justified.

Happy Monday’s maraca-shaker Bez brought his Hacienda sound-system to Coopers Field and bounces his way across the stage to the sounds of The Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Arctic Monkeys. It's like watching one of your drunk mates dancing on their own, just in front of around 15,000 people. Of course Bez is the only person who can pull this off and his enthusiasm is more than enough to carry him through a bizarre solo outing.

Hip-hop collective De La Soul are one member short but that doesn’t stop Posdnous and Trugoy from jumping into the crowd and wavering around, you guessed it, inflatable daffodils.

Lily Allen marks her first gig in Wales in the only way she can. With a cigarette in one hand and a bottle of cider in the other, Allen races her way threw debut album Alright Still with singles 'LDN' and the ubiquitous 'Smile' being the obvious highlights. Although half the cider ends up on her dress, it doesn’t prevent Allen’s mum from crying at the side of the stage - as any proud parent would.

Tea-cosy aficionado Bad Drawn Boy plays a quality set of indie-folk numbers but he would’ve sounded even better inside a cramped tent rather than on an expansive stage. BDB  bangs on about the importance of nationality and a sense of identity, but by this point a lot of punters had wandered off to one of the tents to watch Polka Dot trio The Pipettes.

Headliners Snow Patrol play a surprisingly excellent set that include chest-beating anthems such as 'Run' and 'Chasing Cars'. Lead singer Gary Lightbody has sadly traded his twitching paranoia in for sweeter pop songs but his credentials as a likable front man are increasing by the arena.