Orbital turn the chilled out sunny field into a full-on rave

This lovely weather is all well and good, but after the sort of freezing night that only comes from clear blue daytime skies, the sun drove us from our beds too soon on Saturday morning, and so we began our day earlier than anticipated, with Craig Charles' DJ set on the Frisky Bison Cocktail Bar stage. Plying his new (ish – well, it's newer than Red Dwarf) trade as the host of the BBC 6 Music Funk & Soul Show, this super-early doors set was surprisingly well-attended considering the 1 o'clock timeslot, and the dancing bodies continued to multiply as the hours passed. This was the sort of music sunny lunchtimes were invented for - sun-drenched soul, Tamala motown, early disco – and Craig Charles was quite the showman, bopping about behind the decks in aviators and obligatory cowboy hat, encouraging the crowd to raise their hands, stomp their feet, and click their fingers.

After such a lively start to the day, Emmy the Great's set on the Castle Stage was rather a dramatic change of pace. Some present seemed very taken with London-based singer Emma-Lee Moss’s sweet-voiced brand of acoustic folk, and there was certainly a reasonably-sized crowd, but there was nothing really new to be heard here, or even anything very inventive done with an old formula. While Emmy the Great's songs of messy love and spoiled romance, are pleasant enough, I couldn't help but think I'd heard it all before and better besides.

A mid-afternoon wander found us sitting in the Words in Motion spoken word tent, where we saw fantastic London-based poet, Kate Tempest, deliver poems on what it means to be a young woman living in 2009's Heat-obsessed world, and the romantic possibilities offered by learning languages. Later other poets (whose names I am sorry to say I have not been able to track down) riffed on the sorts of themes they like to hear other poets slam about, Big Issue vendors, and day trips to the Brecon Beacons with boys named Hugh. This tent was a cool and quiet haven away from the beating sun and manic crowds, and a great place to chill out for an hour or two.

Into the early evening, Alice Russell performed a corking set of soulful pop, backed by a 13-piece live band on the Castle Stage, mixing her own original tracks from recent album Pot of Gold with well-chosen covers like Beyonce's 'Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)', A-Marie's 'One Thing', and an acoustic re-work of Gnarls Barkley's 'Crazy'. As I write every time I see this girl perform, it's a crime she isn't more famous as her vocal talent is truly staggering, and hearing the effortless way in which Russell is able to tackle a Beyonce song like it's a nursery rhyme is an education in itself.

Never a dull live performer in the first place, this year her stage show got a brand new lease of life, now incorporating elaborate disco diva outfits, costume changes, dance moves the whole band get involved in and various moments of theatrical spectacle. I'd only intended to stay for 20 minutes as I was supposed to be seeing Lamb instead, but Alice Russell's show was so compelling that I ended up staying to the bitter end. This was a show that the band appeared to enjoy just as much as the crowd, and was one of my sets of the weekend.

After running across the site to catch the last three songs from former festival favourites Lamb on the Open Air Stage, I felt I had made the right choice in sticking with Russell's fun and feel good good set. Lamb are back on the festival scene this summer after a 5-year sabbatical, but while 'Gorecki' was still as soaringly beautiful live as it ever was, tracks like 'Bonfire' seemed to have been given a heavy-handed remix in an over-poweringly bass-heavy fashion. After the full-band shows of their late 90s and early 00s festival heyday, the stage also seemed strangely empty with only 3 people to fill it, as this performance featured only core members Andy Barlow and Lou Rhodes, accompanied by an electric bass player.

Spiritualized were the next to take to the Open Air Stage on Saturday night, against a beautiful backdrop of sky-lanterns being let off on the hill behind the stage, drifting up and up into the sky above us. In spite of this rather magical set-dressing, Spiritualized still managed to get their set off to an extremely sloppy start, including poorly rehearsed vocal harmonies and jarring guitars. Hearing this, many of my friends gave up and headed for Krafty Kuts' set on the Frisky Bison Cocktail Bar, but I decided to persevere, and was eventually pleased that I did, as once the band got around to the material we'd all come to hear (tracks from 1997's 'Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space'), things were suddenly worth sticking around for. Perhaps predictably, 'Come Together' and 'I Think I'm in Love' were definite high points and the band finished their set to rapturous applause as the last of the sky-lanterns disappeared from the night sky; off to float in space.

Continuing the theme of reunion at The Big Chill this year, Orbital were Saturday night's headliners on the Open Air Stage. As ever, the Hartnoll brothers put on a wicked show, turning the daytime's chilled out sunny field into a full-on rave, mixing old favourites like 'Chime' and 'Satan' with a killer light show. This set was everything we have come to expect from Orbital in terms of hyping a crowd and delivering the tunes their fans want to hear, but having seen a few of their sets in the past, I was left with an odd sense of déjà vu – Orbital have a live formula, and they are sticking to it.

Leaving Orbital's set a half hour early, we headed for the Castle Stage to finish our night with Quantic and his Congo Barbaro. It's been some time since producer and band leader, William Holland, aka. Quantic, was last seen live in this country with his band, the (now defunct) Quantic Soul Orchestra. Moving to Cali, Colombia in 2007 to pursue his dual passions for travel and finding new, forgotten and overlooked music from all over the world, Quantic was inspired by the lesser known sounds from Latin America and the Caribbean that he heard there.

Meeting talented musicians along the way, Holland assembled his Combo Bárbaro (literally translating as 'group of barbarians or people from outside Europe') to fuse these Latin-American elements with the deep funk, jazz and soul sounds he is best known for. As a live experience, the Combo Bárbaro do not disappoint, and the more intimate setting of the Castle Stage is the perfect location for this performance. Along with the live band, Quantic has also sought out the perfect singers and front-people for this new project, and tonight we meet Pacific singer/songwriter Nidia Góngora, and Panama soul legend, Kabir, who cuts a splendid figure as our silky-voiced MC.

The band fire through songs from recent album, Tradition in Transition, as well as old big band favourites given a latin twist, like the crowd singalong that was 'Hit the Road Jack'. This was my feel-good party set of the weekend; Quantic and his Combo Bárbaro are a must-see band for anyone with a taste for funk, soul and world grooves. The crowd swelled as the set went on, with more and more people joining the dancing hordes at the Castle Stage as others finished for the night. However this was too good to last for long and soon it was 2am so the plug also had to be pulled on the Combo Bárbaro, much to the annoyance of the crowd, who were clearly expecting at least an encore after such an outstanding set.

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