OVERVIEW - Mud For It!

Despite the rain - which turned Matterley Bowl into a mud-pit, with rivers flowing freely through most of the tents - the 40,000 there couldn't fail to be impressed with the variety and quality, as well as the quantity, of entertainment. Determined to let nothing spoil the fun - cold and wet feet included - the crowd oozed a friendly and relaxed vibe.

In Home - the main arena where most of the live acts played - BT started playing to a half empty tent, but when his energetic set came to a close, the huge marquee was packed and pumping: this was a real high point for us - not only was this a demonstration on how best to work a crowd, we were thrilled by his appearance in an eFestivals t-shirt!

Moby carried on much the same, jumping around the stage like a man possessed, using every trick to give the crowd the maximum enjoyment: this was a performance that got one everyone moving.

As an opposite to the skills of Moby, Ian Brown was awful - the less said the better!

Later on, Leftfield put on a loud and competent show, while Public Enemy stomped around the stage with the sort of attitude you'd expect, and the the crowd in the packed tent left with satisfied smiles.

Alex P had Slinky rocking from early on, but Brandon Block's big entrance was spoilt by a jumping record, then a technical glitch, which had him screaming at the stage crew. As steamy as a sauna, Slinky takes the prize for keeping the tent full to the brim all day.

Drum n Bass were the orders at The End, with Grooverider and Reprazent among others. This tent gets the cheese award: the MC got the crowd to sing Happy Birthday to DJ Hype.

Other highlights included Sister Bliss followed by a varied (and sometimes slightly strange) DJ set from Groove Armada in the wooden floored Ericsson MHY Arena, as well as the sets in the Subterrain/Ultimate BASE Arena from Layo & Bushwacka! and Carl Cox.

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