Dot to Dot has potential but the line-up doesn't inspire

Dot to Dot festival, with its freely interchangeable venues packed nicely together, is one of the best concepts on the festival circuit. The only problem this year was the line-up.

Bands are hosted at separate venues rather than tents or stages and so you have to work out a path to each different act along Nottingham city streets rather than a crowded grassland packed with toilet queues and dodgy burger vans.

I went to catch my first act at the main room of the Trent Students Union, a large venue that made it feel a lot more like a standard tour gig than a festival. The first band on was Fists, there really wasn't much to say about these decidedly average lot as I was mainly kicking my heels waiting for Kid British. This tends to be the theme of festivals wherever you go. At the very beginning you only have those early stragglers; it seemed to me like the people who had nothing else to do, again while waiting for another band later on. Perhaps there were some hidden gems amongst this early elusive line-up, but the uninspiring Fists strummed on, and I decided to have a cigarette instead.

We moved on to Rock City, a cloudy venue which had the uncanny resemblance of a stripped cinema foyer and theatre. The main hall was packed already; it seemed everyone was here to catch this early show by genre-splicers, Kid British. The set doesn't instantly amaze and get hips more loosened until fish finger advert anthem and new single, 'Our House Is Dadless' is played and the whole room seems to simultaneously fall into the mood. Next came a reggae cover of Katy Perry's 'Hot N Cold' (which was interesting to say the least) followed by optimistic roof-raiser 'Sunny Days' and the atmosphere in the room was warm and chilled, as it should be at this early stage.

Next was a stage of indecisiveness so I decided to float over to Stealth, the most nightclub feeling venue so far. On in the live room while the Smirnoff Silent Disco raged upstairs was Flashguns, a totally minor footnote of a band that no-one seemed to be paying much attention. I used this time to cool down from the incessant heat that was bubbling up around the city. It seemed quite obvious that at this point the main thing on people's minds (including my own) was beer and burgers, both of which available in sweet abundance. The atmosphere simmered like a bustled and large backyard barbecue.

I flourished my timetable as I decided what to do next. Looking at the venues I could see that The Bodega, which boasted a host of different acts (none of which jumped off the page) was an instant victim to the heat. Situated furthest away from the clump of venues I resided to skip on that venue for the moment and walked back the main room of the Trent to meet a friend and check out someone called AC Newman. As a testament to their effect on me I had to keep asking their name and even while they were playing the song forgot how it went it was just that un-catchy. I let this off as early dregs syndrome and new it would improve later as the line-up did.

Following a nice dinnertime I waddled back to Rock City to catch lauded folk act Mumford & Sons. They played competent music with heart and vigour, but almost totally devoid of much people wanted to listen to. By this point people were more pumped, more up for it. Mumford came off like a little bit of a wet squeak amongst this. I could help but feel they would have been more suited to an earlier billing.

The first thing I saw that really riled things up and seemed to me to get things started was the ever eccentric Patrick Wolf. This was also in Rock City where I earlier found Kid British and it was now packed to the rim with people eager to catch Wolf and his band. The atmosphere was more electric, far more like a festival than I had previously seen. He finally opens dramatically with 'Kriegsspiel', and ear drum pasting intro piece invoking THX’'s 'Deep Note', he flies into an exotic beat which morphs into his trademark dark, string laden pop. His stage presence unites the room and ties the mood. Whether he's switching to pounding tom beats, violin sound collages or righteous synth pop tunes his dynamics always catch you off guard was an instant highlight.

Moving back to main room Trent after some nicotine and beef I walk with an expectant grin on my face. Next is a slice of abrasive post-rock from Sheffield's 65daysofstatic. Post-rock carries with it that ominous label of Godspeed and Mogwai and all the calm churning into loud epic soundscapes but what we get from 65daysofstatic is a genuinely interesting and original take on the admittedly now stale genre. The venue can't be said to be heaving as they finally took the stage with a huge fat beat and bass intro. We begin to get that traditional 'build-up' feel but the band members are showcasing an unbelievably energetic attitude to live performance.

These guys bop and bound and twist and turn all around the stage with little regard for space and safety. It really is as if someone's ran into Mogwai's recording studio and set all the metronomes to 200bpm. The room fills as the guitar noises swell and they begin to get the kind of audience they deserve. Avid fans and curious newcomers alike are impressed by this unstoppable beast in what probably was my favourite band of the night.

Now I had to bite the bullet, swallow my pride. Hell, I had nothing else to do so I guess I had to take a quick look into Ladyhawke. Now, I've never been interested in her vaguely catchy 80's synth pop but I almost felt obliged to check up due to her holding the status of one of the largest names of the festival. As expected, she was fairly typical and the show seemed to slowly fade as she moaned something about her microphone volume and flaunted what seemed to be an unexpected shyness. Really, unless you were a fan of Ladyhawke, there was nothing worthwhile to see here; and even if you are a fan I doubt this was a laudable performance somehow.

I thought I might as well stay at Rock City for what I guess were the unofficial headliners of the day, Friendly Fires. I've slated these before and god-damn it I'm going to have to slate them again. Frankly, I just don't seem the appeal. Their ridiculously average indy/poppy/whatever-you'd-call-it music is just far too dull to dance to, but most people aren't massive snobs like me so seemed to be having a good time. This, I don't have a problem with; I was at a festival after all. But the night was in by this point, and dancing was quickly becoming the prerogative.

After a nice and jumpy little set from Fight Like Apes, in the atmospheric Rescue Rooms I didn't really get my fix until going back to Stealth's live room in the early hours to check out New Zealand's Shapeshifter. These put on a genuinely excellent show and the room came off like that rave scene from The Matrix Reloaded scaled down. Everything came to a head here as their instrument and genre blending peaked in the air above us, and the bass notes pounded at our skulls like a DJ's whip.

Evidently, there were some fantastic performances that night, but there were too many non-entities, too many bands that weren't interesting enough to keep people hooked. As I said at the start, Dot to Dot has the potential to be one of the most fun and fulfilling summer festivals, we just need them to get the line-up right.

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