Saturday 09/09/06 Day 2 @ Bestival, Robin Hill, Isle of Wight

To arse around momentarily with a possibly indulgent analogy, there’s some kind of parallel to be drawn between the festival and the three-course meal. Day one has all the anticipation of the starter, and similarly gives a chance to get a feel for what’s coming, while by the final day, you can’t help but get stuck into that dessert trolly even though your body is screaming that it’s had enough already. And, to push the metaphor, you have a sticky and stinking mess of something that looks and feels like a combination of congealed gravy, meringue and minestrone soup spilled not only down your shirt but smeared in large quantities over your entire body. It’s time to leave, fast, before the wafer thin mint pushes you over the edge.

All of which is a rather elaborate way of saying: day two is what it’s all about. You know where things are and your pace of walking has suitably slackened, and yet you haven’t yet realized how much you smell, you’re still happy to queue (more on this later) and you’re still stumbling across new things. In our case, discoveries included the Hidden Disco (an entire secret tent), The Retreat (with mini stone circle, aromatherapy, reiki and the like), tree climbing, the toboggan run, beach huts and a tent offering the chance to dress up for faux-retro sepia photos whilst drinking the divine Hendrick’s gin.

There was good music on offer from the off, and of course, the ever-dutiful Gigwise were there to report back, kicking off with King Creosote on the main stage. With a never-ending stream of CDRs under his belt, our Kenny has a pretty hefty back catalogue to drawn on, although it was the songs from his recent 679 debut, 'KC Rules OK', that made up the bulk of his set. It was a good show, even with a bit of capella hand-clapping for the crowd, and if it somehow failed to capture that indefinable spark required for a gig to do funny things to your insides, it might have been simply down to the early slot.

Some people, on the other hand, can rock it no matter what the time of day. Metronomy appeared on the Rock’n’Roll Tent at 2pm but instead of lamenting the cruel programming, every man, woman and child in the audience was instantly and involuntarily jumping around grinning. True, it didn’t go off the way it would have done about twelve hours later, but seriously, these electro-pop sea shanties go down an absolute treat with everyone, no matter what their usual musical preferences. It may be the first ever record that would appeal equally to both your hippest Hoxtonite mate and your gran, and as such the new album Pip Paine (Pay The £5,000 You Owe) deserves to be Christmas number one. ****, we decide at the time, it deserves to be number one every week of the year, and we only mildly modify our opinion in the cold light of day.

Apart from main man Joe Mount taking off his silver top to reveal a circular chest light to match those of his two cohorts – truly A MOMENT, as anyone who’s seen them before will testify – the Metronomy set reaches its zenith with 'You Could Easily Have Me', a track so splendid that, played perhaps two-thirds of the way through, it has the unfortunate effect of making the rest of the show feel like a slight anti-climax. Still, Mount makes up for it by tossing four brand new chest lights into the crowd before the final track, thereby offering the chance to join the band, at least in sartorial spirit, to anyone who can find a battery in the ensuing three minutes.