Saturday 23/06/07 Day One @ Knowsley Hall Festival, Liverpool

Being greeted by barks of “No you have to leave your food outside” and with an army of sniffer dogs and metal detectors out in force, it’s hardly a great way to put you in the festival mood and goes directly against the Glastonbury spirit down in Pilton this weekend. A voice in your head starts saying ‘’Just focus on the music.’’ Having struggled to get to the press area, it became apparent that the festival was having more teething problems than a single mum with a set of six month old octuplets.

The MySpace stage was in close proximity. The Delta Fiasco, all optimistically wearing white trainers gathered a respectable crowd while they launched into a set of pensive electro indie. Last witnessed by this Gigwise hack on the same night as proverbial shithop joker Kid Carpet the lads seem to have become accustomed to playing with a mixed line up.

By mid afternoon, the sun was teasingly shining and the crowds were getting bigger. You were almost lulled into a false sense of security as you reached for your sun glasses and headed towards one of the vendors for a smoothie. It was the first time in about 25 years that eating smuggled in jelly babies inspired a sense of victorious guilt.

This chilled out mood was bolstered by a quick chat with the cheeky Wirral upstarts The Rascals, who had just got back from Glastonbury and were enjoying the comparatively dry and tranquil atmosphere. Their appearance at Knowsley helped herald in a new era for the trio, with it being their third gig under The Rascals guise. Full of beans with an infectious humour and enthusiasm, banter about Scott Walker and meat quickly ensued.

Finally after a long day and with mud quite literally at waist level, it was time to pluck up the courage for the first beer of the day just before The Thrills took to the stage. Even with the swanky press pass the queuing took an age. When your mate comes back and tells you that crates of beer were going for £70 you know that getting pissed just isn’t an option. "Just focus on the music." By this stage the police were even more visible and by the time you fought your way through the masses ‘Santa Cruz’ was indeed a million miles away.

Now, seeing a band you’re not too fussed about because you’re waiting for the headliners is often a joyless task but The View actually surpassed any expectations. Looking like he’d just got out of bed, thanks to his lovely curls, the cherub faced Kyle Falconer wearing the now ubiquitous white trainers dived into a set of high energy fun. The fact that he practically holds his guitar at chin level made him look even more boyish. But don’t be fooled by the sweet pink bracelet and the big eyes, Falconer has a serious rock and roll attitude and more importantly, his trademark vocals didn’t falter throughout the set. Sort of but cuter and with a strong Dundee accent. As he swapped vocal duties with bassist Kieren Webster the tone changed to a sort of Sultans of Ping do ska.