Riverside Festival @ Charlbury

More than 35 bands and artists played this year’s two-day spectacular, now on three stages, which took place at the weekend.

Headliners Smilex are Riverside regulars - and never disappoint. And this year’s set was another triumph - with enough dry ice and elaborate lighting to almost put Danny Boyle’s Olympic opening ceremony, the night before, in the shade!

Our man in the field looks back a selection of highlights to grace the banks of the Evenlode - in a long and action-packed weekend.

So who rocked?

Well, youngsters Twisted State of Mind gave it everything - from flying Vs and classic rock call-and-response, to trashing their kit later during their Oxbox session.

Main stage opener Ags Connolly Has a whiff of real authenticity that only comes with knowing your source material deeply, especially when you’re a guy from the shire playing country!

Melic seemed to be a little less-together than last year, their approachable lightweight funk-pop not quite as slick as it should have been to really lift the audience. The Inflatables , however, had people on their feet dancing to their well polished set of Specials and Madness favourites. Beard of Destiny (On the second stage) brought a welcome slice of bluesy songsmithery. His humourous lyrics are always the right side of quirky and brought us to a charming musical cul-de-sac of the festival.

Agness Pike (also on the 2nd stage) scared, confused and thrilled the audience in equal measure with their leftfield, yet undeniably memorable, heavy duty rock!

The Cellar Family are one currently one of the most interesting bands on the Oxford music scene but the frenetic sometimes obtuse noiseniks were probably better suited stylistically to the second, more alternative stage. Like Von Braun , whose lysergic proto-grunge is a perfect fit for sun-beaten festival go-ers in need of a dose of 90’s alt-rock in the vein of Pixies or Meat Puppets.

Black Hats put in a slick professional set of all their faves and a few new tracks like new single ‘Button Down Shirt’ (‘Magnets’ and ‘Broken Bones’ which were missed, but then they can’t play everything, can they?) and Nick Breakspear and co easily cemented their fine local standing as one of the leading lights of the local set.

Smilex , of course, played a great set, the band’s singer Lee Christian later saying “everything went almost exactly according to plan” with their pyrotechnics and set design (along a children’s toys theme, with Lee popping out of a jack-in-a-box as an entrance).

Living up to their award-winning live reputation, they blasted through an hour of tracks from their 10 years together with typical skill, energy and confidence, including an uncharacteristically gentle acoustic interlude.

Special guest DJ, Theoretical , joined them for a cover of Beastie Boys’ 'Sabotage', led by guitarist Tom Sharp while Lee changed costume into a gas mask & storm trooper outfit and reappeared distributing anti-education cut flyers - before rocking out a few more numbers with yet more explosions. The band ended with an emotional new epic ballad as an encore with Lee on second guitar. A landmark set for the local heroes.

Hip hop/dance act Half Decent (on Saturday) and comic minstrels We are Goose (on Sunday), both duos of very different yet equally entertaining sorts, were definite highlights of the weekend and a sure sign Riverside’s new fringe stage is a great new addition to the festival.

Our late night (or should we say early morning) celebrations combined with some travel mishaps prevent us from getting back to the site as early as we would have liked but when we catch 16-piece collective RanKanKan ’s Cuban invasion of the main stage, including a rousing version of Tito Puente’s ‘Oye Como Va’ (made famous by Santana), all our troubles and hangovers fade in moments! The aural diversity continues with Brickwork Lizards , whose mix of crooning, oud and cello may seem odd on paper yet actually sit together as lifelong bedfellows!

Dance a La Plage are currently turning heads with an ep riding high in the iTunes chart but the rain does dampen spirits a little for their set of upbeat indie pop fare.

Alphabet Backwards , with their usual sunny disposition fought back the rain with bouyant positivity - their closing number (and its whacky keyboard hook) sticking in the heads of festival-goers as they left the site, with big grins on their faces.

The main highlight, though, was the numbers of people who came (some 11,000) and the positivity of the crowd - a real sign that the festival is still growing and improving with every passing year. There again they’d be mad to miss all that talent for free wouldn’t they?! See you down the front next year, summer willing of course!