Pama International provide a rousing start to Beautiful Days

The weather is holding as we drive a car brimming with tent stuff off the A30 and up to the festival site in the grounds of Escot House. We're expecting queues but there aren't any and before we know it we are wristbanded, with children marked with phone numbers and on site.



It's picturesque and brimming with colourful characters, people are wandering about heavily laiden with rucksacks or pushing trolleys or wheelbarrows. We opt for a cycle taxi and fill it with our supplies and equipment and head for the family field. There's plenty of space, so we erect our tents and are soon chatting to our new neighbours, it seems most people have been here before and many have been to other festivals as well as this one.

Nearby is a storytelling area, toilets, showers, a bouncy castle, tea garden, cafe, and even a climbing frame for little people. Flags flutter around us, there's some serious pieces of kit, for instance a double gazebo with dining table and chairs, a child's play tent, some large heaters, lots of 'off road' buggies, and some heavy duty barbecues, I wonder how people bought such a huge amount of kit.

We haven't yet got a programme, they are a fiver! Okay so you get one little piece of card to tell you what's on when, and a big A4 (unhandy) sized souvenir programme. Shame there aren't 2 card thingies as I spend the whole weekend having little idea who is on. Because we hadn't bought a programme we weren't expecting the Levellers acoustic are on early and suddenly hear them start up, dashing over to the Big Top in time for a packed singalong of the usual hits, the bar is open pints £3 or under and there's lots of people to meet and the atmosphere is one of exuberance.



I remain outside the tent for a few folk sounding acts, before heading through the kids field, where the little 'uns are in full creative flow already. The main stage kicks into life, and the numbers rise as Pama International welcome us with rich ska fuelled tunes, and they do a terrific job and finish the set with 'Message To You Rudy', other highlights include 'Second Chance', 'It’s All About The Money', 'The Future Ain’t What It Used To Be' and my personal favourite 'Pennywise Pound Fool'. They made a lot of new fans with this vibrant performance.

I intend to go and see Foy Vance next and then Tofu Love Frogs but Xavier Rudd is terrific, his sound reminds me of Paul Simon's Graceland, I'm expecting a number of musicans and not a duo. The songs carry political themes over world rhythms, and Xavier himself is playing a variety of instruments at once. This is full, rich up beat music with an antipodean flavour and when the didge kicked in it was an incredibly layered experience. A surprise highlight of the day for me.

Feeling peckish I went in search of food options, lots of choice in the arena at reasonable prices, torn between meat and vegetarian options, I opt for a flat cow burger and a bit of Gabriella Cilmi, I still refuse to believe this rising star is so young! Highly enjoyable and a bit of a sing along to her hit 'Sweet About Me'. There are still lots of people arriving weighed down with kit, and a few already broken people around, and a lot of people up for a party.



Nouvelle Vague provide their breathy covers of punk classics with a French twist, and Seth Lakeman draws a crowd to showcase a few of his newer dancier numbers, and once again proves to be a highlight of the festival. Squeeze provide us with a greatest hits set, but for me it doesn't hang together as well as their WOMAD performance.

Eat Static are hitting the decks in the Little Big Top, as a wander over to the light ridden world of the Bimble Inn to see local guys Melosa give another good performance, before slipping back to the bar and off to the tent to chat until the early hours. Beautiful Days has eased into a great start, but everyone's talking of the impending weather.

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