Saturday 01/09/07 Day One @ Jersey Live Festival, Jersey

Ask an avid festivalgoer in the UK what band they last saw at a festival and the reply would probably be as follows: “Well I think it was Arcade Fire at Glastonbury...or was it Reading. Actually I think I saw them in some woodland in Suffolk.” Welcome to 2007, where the British summer has been saturated with outdoor music events, most of which have included Arcade Fire. That’s not been the case in Jersey. Ask these UK residents who they last saw at a festival and you’d get the following answer: “Snow Patrol at Jersey Live 2006...unless you count the fringe-folk event where Ron from Chattersworth Farm played banjo.”  

It’s no surprise then than that the atmosphere on this 80,000 strong Island – where the history runs a lot deeper than an 1980’s fictional detective sergeant (that’s ‘Bergerac’ kids) – as 10,000 festivalgoers bound onto the intimate site is one of fantastical, trouser splitting excitement. You’d have thought this lot hadn’t ever seen live music before.  

Jersey might be attached to the UK constitutionally, but this really is a music festival Jersey style. A festival where the beer hasn’t been tampered with distilled water; where you can buy a beer for under-inflated prices, and; where you can drink a beer in the sun. Yes, we said SUN...and beer. Nice. 

With its one main stage and a dance tent Jersey Live is like the Isle Of Wight festival on a glucose-meets-social commentating bands high. That’s right, the line-up on day one reads like a who’s who of 2007’s finest (and worst) social commentating, “if you don’t give us a better standard of living we’ll give you an ASBO to think about” bands. There’s Birmingham’s, The Twang; Coventry’s, The Enemy; Sheffield’s, Little Man Tate, Glasgow’s, The Fratellis, and...er, Bournemouth’s Air Traffic.

OK, so Air Traffic aren’t exactly social commentators, in fact, there far from anything at all today. The sun might be shining but it says a lot that the highlight of their set – bar the Coldplay meets Athlete, ‘Shooting Star’ – is an underage girl regurgitating her insides on the fence to the backstage area. It might not be attractive and only 2pm, but there’s more tension coming from her stomach muscles than Air Traffic create during their set.

Little Man Tate struggle to top Air Traffic either as they croon around the stage led by their frontman Jon Windle (who we later witness lapping up a bottle of chardonnay in the backstage Jacuzzi while straggling a WAG-a-be). Today they sound muffled through the main stage’s imposing sound system, and while their tales of teenage frivolity might be being played out by the teenagers in the crowd during songs like, ‘Sexy In Latin’ and ‘House Party At Boothy’s,’ that’s only because there’s little to bare witness to on the stage.