Kasabian and Manic Street Preachers rock the Scots on opening day

Hydro Connect 2008

Friday 29th to Sunday 31st August 2008
Inveraray Castle, Loch Fyne, Argyll, Scotland, Scotland MAP
£140 for weekend ticket with camping, £120 without camping, £50 for day tickets

After lugging our gear up the long hill from the car park and quickly pitching our instant tent on what looked like a drier bit of ground, it was off over the bridge after stopping for a free hug and into Connect 2008. My arms and shoulders were still burning after my other half who didn't go last year failed to realise my pleas to pack the minimum amount of stuff. No guesses who ended up carrying all the extra gear up the hill.

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Pint of cider in hand I wandered over and down to the Oyster stage where we caught the end of the Guillemots' set with the aptly named 'Throw Me A Sun'. That really sums the Friday up with the rain holding off and the sun threatening to shine on through. Meanwhile my other half caught the second part of Noah and the Whale - she'd enjoyed watching this on the BBC from Reading the week before. In the flesh the up and coming Londoners wooed the early festival goers with songs such as 'Give A little Love' and 'Rocks and Daggers' - these guys are defo on the up. They have done the festival circuit in the UK this summer and are leaving this month on a massive tour of the States.

Back on main stage Amy MacDonald stirs the crowd playing her hits from the first album with 'This is Life' and 'Run' getting the crowd going. I've purposely avoided Miss MacDonald at recent festivals, but made myself listen this time. I was impressed by her maturing voice and presence on stage. She's definitely going to be around for years to come, no doubt gaining in reputation from the ever patriotic Scottish Crowds.

Next up on the main Stage were one of the best British bands of recent decades with the Manic Street Preachers entering on a high and blasting into the set with 'Faster' and 'Your Live Is Not Enough'. The crowd were well up for the Welsh rockers with many in the front row made up to the nines with make-up similar in style to Nicky Wire's face. The set continued with 'Send Away The Tigers' and ended on a high with 'Baby Love Into Motown Junk' and 'Design For Life'. Apart from this year the Manics have been keeping a low profile on the festival front over the recent years. After a storming performance at Connect and several other festivals this summer let's hope that they are back further up the bill at Scotland's 'big one' in 2009.

And so for the headliners on Fridays Oyster stage. I'd heard that Kasabian were going through some sort of a metamorphosis from rockers into a blend of techno psychedelic rock. 'Shoot the Runner' started off the set but although the usual crowd pleasers such as 'Empire' 'and 'Club Foot' were there and got the crowd going the newer stuff such as 'Fast Fuse' is a musical progression for this band. It reminded me of the Madchester sound of the 1990's with some up to date techno thrown in.

As clouds threatened to drop rain on the proceedings we sampled some late night drinking but not wanting to have any more red bull, we opted to inject some Latin spirit into our festival with the Havana Club bar. Being slightly inebriated I was initially under the impression that all the staff in the Cuban bar were probably from Glasgow putting on Latino accents. Far from the truth most of the staff in the bar were from as far afield as Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. This place was jumping and added some pizzazz into the festival. Entering into the spirit of the occasion we got so into the 'spirit' of things so to speak that when I woke up on Saturday morning with an empty wallet I was convinced that I had been pick pocketed until my good lady reminded me of the true extent of our Mojito evening.

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