Scotland's Audio Soup distinguishes itself from the more run of the mill festivals

Audio Soup is a little festival in East Lothian just three quarters of an hour or so out of Scotland's capital and nestled in the Lammermuir Hills. With just 1000 tickets available it sounded like the perfect antidote to the madness and orgnaised chaos of festie giants like Reading and Leeds and T In The Park and a summer line up of festivals that all feature the same bands as each other and have nothing to distinguish them from the hoards.

And I was right.

This is the second Audio Soup and while some changes and developments have been made, most notably welcoming children this year, many of the same folk were back again for second helpings, giving it more of a feeling of a gathering of like-minded souls than a big corporate event. I love the fact that you can take dogs (so long as they are kept on leads obviously) but to me that tells me everything I need to know about the sort of festival this is - a big party, and an appreciation of good, local music.

By Friday afternoon the campsite was pretty much full, to the extent that organisers were considering possibly having to use another field as well. Although the week leading up to the festival had been wet and the set up looked to have been pretty muddy, the weekend itself was dry.

Friday night was tribute night on the main stage and opening band of the weekend was a Blondie tribute act, called, erm, Blondie. It was busy but never felt crowded and everyone was already well up for the party from the off.

The headline act on Friday was RAGE, a Rage Against The Machine tribute band, who were probably familiar faces to many in the crowd - as well as playing some very familiar tunes, they were Edinburgh's finest and self-proclaimed ska juggernaut, Bombskare, in disguise. The response from the crowd was phenomenal with a proper mosh pit on the go from pretty much the opening chords of the first song, 'Bombtrack', through 'Freedom', 'Bullet in the Head' and 'Fist Full of Steel'.

Following a storming set, it was off to the Abnormal Loads Dance tent for a few hours of banging beats courtesy of local DJs G K Machine and Kris Wasabi, in a heady atmosphere reminsicent of the old Base Camp at Wickerman days.

For those that saw it, Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny, with a mellow vibe that was to be a recurring feature of the weekend. First band of the day for us on the main stage was Rigor Mortis and the Kansas City Coffin Dodgers, although it is more of an accomplished collective than a band, headed up by some poetic and heartfelt lyrics. Next up was Mass Consensus, recommended as "one to watch" at this, their first festival appearance. Perhaps something of an acquired taste, the Dundee band are quite hard to describe, although I know that is my job so let's just say "eclectic". They also featured at least one member of Bombskare as well.

I have loved Spartan Tartan since I saw them in a pub in Sauchiehall Street three or four years ago and have seen 'em since at a coupla other festies. They set a frantic pace with their upbeat folky reggae and ska mash up and mix in a healthy dollop of political sceptisicm which you gotta love and which you can't help but dance to. I also love their cover of the 'Sound of the Speed of Loneliness'. So in my unbiased and impartial opinion, this was one of the sets of the weekend.

Mr Woodnote has been described as "a jazz musician in disguise", which leaves me in no position to even attempt to review him; I know nothing about jazz save for what I learned from that episode of the Mighty Boosh a few years ago when Vince was possessed by the spirit of jazz. Mr Woodnote is the stage name of expat Australian saxophonist Mikey Melican but calling him a saxophonist alone does him a diservice. He uses his Roland Loop Station to devastating effect, melding tenor sax, flute and expert beat boxing to create a varied set of grooves and beats ranging from hip hop to more electronic styles. Performing with Lil Rhys, the duo essentially produce the music you are listening to live and right in front of you, which is pretty cool. And a pretty mind-blowing way to finish the night.

Sunday was another bright and sunny day, and in what is apparently the wettest summer on record (again), it is no mean feat on the part of the organisers to have arranged such good weather for dancing en masse in a field.

A wander around the market threw up some nice surprices, no big camping supplies chains for example, just local clothing and gifts stalls, a potion maker fresh from the Big Tent Festival and the Beatroot Cafe, fresh from Belladrum. Venue 42 (a naming nod to the behomouth that is the Edinburgh festival these days there maybe?) opened in the morning with showings of kids' films and was also the venue for everything from the very popular flamenco dance classes to late night DJs.

The main stage on Sunday kicked off with Portnawak and the Woo, who follow in the Peatbog Faeries-Shooglenifity timeline of evolution of pushing the boundaries of traditional and folk music towards a psychedelia and dance leaning. Continuing the theme, DJ and producer Frog Pocket merges trad stylings and expert violin playing with demented broken beats.

Pikey Beatz is another band whose rep is growing on the smaller, more discerning festie scene and they certainly didn't disappoint here. A young band, reportedly all under the age of twenty, which worryingly makes me old enough to be their mother, they supported 3 Daft Monkeys earlier in the year and played some bloke's kitchen too. Root System are another east of Scotland ska band - there must be summat in the water up here. Their set went down a storm too and was the perfect warm up for headliners Bombskare.

Bombskare should have headlined a festival years ago. They are made for it, something which the Audio Soup organisers have recognised having booked 'em as headliners two years in a row now. Their rowdy and raucous performance, which included 'Do All Dogs Go to Heaven', 'Walk Like An Egyptian', 'Beatriz', and culminated with their by now customary interpretation of the theme from James Bond, was a typically unrelenting, 1000mph runaway train of a performance and the perfect end to any festival. Even one you don't want to ever end. With the crowd shouting "one more tune" until their demands were met, this little festival lasted another few happy minutes as the band got the festival stage manager up on stage for the ska-classic 'Sally Brown'.

Billed as "Scotland's biggest wee festival" it certainly lived up to its claim of uniting people of all ages in music, and descriptions of how ace this weekend was verge on hyperbole and cliche - feedback on the Facebook page ranges from "rocking" and "magic" to "totally immense" and "bouncing". The general vibe was really mellow with people dancing away into the small hours to the beats in the Abnormal Dance Loads Tent and chilling out during the day. The Wub Hut hosted Ed Cox' My Bad Sister, Conscious Routes, Nuno Endo, Hektor Bizerk, DJ Astroboy over the course of the three days while the Homemade Soup Tent saw live jams and acoustic sounds, mixed with a healthy dose of local (that word again) cider and real ales and workshops and art and love and respect and it was just all good, as things should be.

And the good news is that what is almost the last of the festies this season will also be one of the first next year, with another Audio Soup planned for the spring equinox in March. Book your tickets now, they are strictly limited and they will be the hot ticket of 2013.

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