Big Chill 2005

Kicking off Friday...

Set in what is unarguably the most beautiful arena for any of the UK's major festivals, The Big Chill has been running for some 11 years now. The experience has clearly served the organisers well; in fact, it's almost as if they even organise the sunshine.

The effortlessly beautiful manner in which The Big Chill is run really can't be overstated, in fact it's one its greatest triumphs - there's none of the mess and crap of Leeds, there's not the overbearingly corporate feeling of V and there's not even Glastonbury's mud. The entire experience is one of being totally at ease for your entire time there; it's almost a shame that some of the music is so good, otherwise you probably wouldn't be bothered to stand up.

But stand up you must when experiencing Gary Numan's classic tune 'Cars' played on the steel pans, dropped effortlessly into an incredibly eclectic set by The Mach V Collective on Friday afternoon. Jumping from this into chilled drum and bass is no mean feat, but its one Mach V manage to pull of expertly. They're a great example of what's on offer in the festival as a whole - never obvious, high quality and so laid back they're horizontal.

Next up on the Open Air stage are Husky Rescue, a Finish group who sound like Ladytron hanging around in The Fast Show's Jazz club with Portishead. The undoubted highlight of their set is a cover of Alice Cooper's 'Poison', played at such a slow tempo it leaves its cock-rock roots behind yet manages to become even sleazier, as lead singer Reeta-Leena Korhola breathlessly informs us 'I wanna hold you but my senses tell me to stop'.

Our senses well and truly stopped it's time to take a break from this sexual tension and head for The Chill Stage for Tunng, who at their best sound like The Beta Band with Jeff Buckley as lead vocalist and at their oddest play experimental soundscapes that recorded by the seaside. Perhaps best described as 'indietronica' there's a bit of everything on show with Tunng, the sublime to the ridiculous, the experimental electro to the simple and folky - they're not afraid to incorporate as many influences from the past 30 years as possible. From Bowie to Soft Cell to Arab Strap, it's all in there somewhere and respect to them for putting it together into a very listenable and tight collection, because they could have easily sounded like a mess.

Like any great festival, The Big Chill isn't just about music however and with the crowd here being largely 30 something's who've brought 'Champers and Hampers', it's only right a small area is cordoned off for a croquet lawn. Not something you'd expect to encounter at Download, but the lawn is a refreshingly honest statement on the behalf of the Big Chill - yes, our crowd are ridiculously middle class, we might as well help them have fun. After a quick knock around it's time to take things up a notch, so it's off to the Strongbow Rooms for cider and 'I'm Coming Out' by Diana Ross, courtesy of DJ Chris Bones. Disco muscles toned up it's back to the main stage for Rob Da Bank, someone guaranteed to belt out a decent party set.

An interesting thing occurs during Da Bank's set - the tunes that go down best are real ballsy rock tunes, specifically 'Song 2' by Blur and 'Walk This Way' by Aerosmith feat. Run DMC. While we've all come here to chill out, there's just no resisting a bit of headbanging. It's as if everyone has remembered they've got the whole of the weekend to chill out, and from Da Bank onwards Friday begins to move quickly through the gears. Bobby Friction and Nihal, Da Bank's Radio One pals, play some more hectic drum and bass, banghra and hip hop and by the time they're off at 8.30 everyone's forgotten about chilling out and is intent on having a serious party.

Soon after the open-air stage gives way to London Elektricity, a group so tight it's hard to accept they're playing live. Imagine the best drum and bass record you've ever heard - but it's not done with samples and loops, it's not done on someone's computer and it's not being played by some crappy DJ in an overpriced club in East London. It's all being performed live before your eyes - with a double bass, a drum kit and a singer (Lianne Carrol) with a set of lungs so big it's a struggle to stand on your feet she's belting out the vocals so loud.  Whether you like drum and bass is irrelevant, London Elektricity are one of the most infectious collective's you will ever see live - you simply cannot resist their enthusiasm, energy and phenomenal ability to keep their set so ridiculously tight. The only low point of their set is that it ends at quarter past midnight, just when everyone was getting in the mood for an impromptu Drum and Bass all nighter. OK, it would have been difficult to keep strumming a double bass for another 6 hours or so, but they could have at least tried!

Not to worry though as Carl Craig is still on over in the Club tent. Following in the footsteps of Detroit techno pioneer Derrick May, Craig plays a set that moves casually from ambient techno into deep and dirty breakbeat in what seems like a heartbeat. One minute you're lost in the trippy visuals that provide the backdrop to his set, next thing your leaping around like a madman to Craig's classic tune of dancefloor destruction "Throw" - irresistible stuff. But everything has to end somewhere, and so when Craig finishes up at ten to two, it's onto the 24-hour café for a nightcap before bedtime.