Texas deliver an impressive and engaging performance that's a fitting close to the Friday at Bella

Festival goers at Belladrum in Inverness-shire were hit by the floods that affected the region this weekend, although the good weather had held out for much of the event.

The Black Isle was more like the misty isle as we headed to Beauly for our annual trip to the Tartan Heart festival, and about a week's worth of rain fell in the area on the Thursday afternoon, with the result that most of the arrivals on site in the relocated and much larger and flatter campervan and caravan section were towed in, and subsequently out again on the Sunday. Following torrential rain on the Saturday night after the festival finished, organisers were quick off the mark to evacuate some of the campers in tents to higher ground as areas of the site flooded.

I wrote last year that Belladrum "really does seem to get better and better every year, its family friendly atmosphere no longer a well kept secret and more of a legend in festie-goer circles these days" and that still holds true. It sold out for the third year in a row and several weeks in advance and was slightly bigger this year, with attendance figures of around 14,000, larger campsites, more stages, more bands and more entertainment, and yet still managed to maintain the chilled out mood that it is renowned for.

rhythmnreel kicked things off on the Thursday night, packing out the Grassroots tent so much so that there was no chance of any ceilidh dancing in there. The mild evening and relaxed atmosphere saw us sitting outside underneath a tree, soaking up the traditional Scottish tunes interspersed with folk covers of songs by bands as diverse as Mumford and Sons, the Eurythmics and Paulo Nutini. It set the mood for the rest of the weekend.

Campers in what had initially been a mud bath and was now a fully-formed swamp in many areas were treated to a sunny Friday morning. The first band we saw was the sharp-suited American soul and rock band Vintage Trouble. The self-proclaimed purveyors of "live-wired, straight-shootin, dirty-mouth'd, pelvis-pushing juke music" pulled a respectable early afternoon crowd and certainly got the Garden stage audience going. Singer Ty Taylor has an amazing voice that seems to come straight out of the seventies and the enthusiasm and presence of the whole band was infectious as they managed to exhort the crowd into singing along with lyrics such as "One, two, three, push your pelvis to me."

Next up on the main stage was the Little Comets from Newcastle, who released their debut album earlier this year and who are playing at a number of festivals this summer. Their brand of indie pop isn't really my thing but it appeals to plenty of folk and they are good at what they do.

It was back up to the Grassroots stage for a solo set from Denver's Nathaniel Rateliff, who despite a moving performance on Later with Jools Holland earlier this year didn't attract that big an audience. His mellow, almost whimsical in parts, style of guitar tunes was punctuated by moments of powerful emotion that really make you sit up and listen.

Another American, this time Eli Paperboy Reed, was next up on the Garden stage. Initially unimpressive audience numbers steadily grew as his sixties soul inspired set went on, ably backed by a full brass band. Then it was back to the Grassroots stage for yet another American, Texan Suzette and the Neon Angels (although there was only one member of her band supporting her). A well-honed performance of rockabilly and country and western influenced tunes was popular with the sparse audience, with Suzette, who was "raised on bluegrass", "tearing up the honky tonk" on songs such as 'Help Me To Remember How to Fall Asleep Tonight', which she introduced as a two step tune and warned: "no line dancing please."

Friday's Garden stage highlight for me was Frank Turner, who ticked all my boxes in terms of folk/punk attitude and style. Proving that anger is indeed an energy and channelling a young Joe Strummer, Frank has truckloads of attitude and swagger coupled with intelligent lyrics and defiant sing along choruses (including one that particularly appealed to me - "I won't sit down, I won't shut up and most of all I won't grow up"). He dedicated 'I Still Believe' to "guitars and bass and drums and poetry and rock 'n' roll and records on vinyl with 12 songs and Johnny Cash" and managed to get the whole audience to sit down in a wet muddy field. It was a near perfect punk political performance.

Garden stage headliners were Scottish stalwarts Texas, who opened with the classics 'I Don't Want A Lover' and 'Halo'. Other hits followed, including 'Summer Sun', 'Say What You Want' and 'Black Eyed Boy', as well as the obligatory new material and occasional cover. Sharleen Spiteri gave it her all in an impressive and engaging performance, totally rocking out, still sounding fantastic and interacting with her crowd in what was a fitting close to the Friday - unless of course you went on to the headphone disco that is.

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