Saturday 27/08/05 Day 1 @ TDK Cross Central, London

‘Don’t worry darling, we’re on the fashion guest list’. It seems only fitting that this is the first line you hear at the TDK Cross Central Festival. If Reading and Leeds are all about Pete Doherty fighting with ex girlfriends and gnarly metal bands taking centre stage, then this is where the real beautiful people are. And it’s an odd and heady mix. Trust fund indie kids who seem way too young to look that adult in their ripped skirts and skinny ties, topped off with veteran bulging-pupil geezers, who no doubt have their dealer on speed dial next to the editor of some style zine that’s read by three people but still manages to cost a few grand to make.

Which is of course the point. So God only knows where The Magic Numbers fit into all this, but as the sun drifts down and the Goth-friendly torches are lit, what has previously felt like a scattered ‘happening’ suddenly becomes an event. Romeo jokes about the banging house echoing in the background, Angela sounds ever more like an angel on the lump-in-your-throat 'I See You, You See Me', whilst new song 'The Beard' is like The Pogues playing mariachi. Friends embrace, lovers kiss, the ravers take a second pill. This lot are becoming predictable in their greatness.

They certainly manage to overshadow the much-hyped Amusement Parks On Fire, who entice and frustrate in equal measure. In theory, they should be ready-made for these occasions. Almost unfathomably loud, ebbing and swelling with white noise sine waves, they should be taking our frazzled senses a long way from Kings Cross Goods Yard. And yet, for once, they seem resolutely earthbound. Perhaps it was just an off night. When what’s left of the crowd are fervently debating your lead singer’s ‘Thom Yorke circa 1994’ cut rather than your Kevin Shields’ fuzz tremolos, you know you’ve had a howler.

After such ferocious lunacy, headliners Goldfrapp almost struggle to compete. Thankfully the lady herself is looking resplendent and her voice is in fine fettle after some last minute doubts over whether she’d take the stag. Despite some of the set feeling languid compared to attractions, 'Strict Machine' remains a glacial belter of a song and sounds fuller and fruitier than ever, but new album 'Supernature' needs more time to sink into the consciousness. Tonight at least the party people are in search of a little more hedonism and it’s likely to be located deep in a tumbledown warehouse at around three in the morning.