Sunderland acts shine above the headliners on Evolution's opening day

With the rising costs of organizing a festival, many people grumbled about the price hike from £15 to £25 for a weekend ticket, and arguably, rightly so, as Newcastle's premier outdoor festival put together a line-up that showed no real initiative, no imagination and certainly no depth.

Since 2007, the last time the festival was a free one, the line-up in comparison to that of 2007 is almost laughable, and although, undoubtedly there was some talent on display, and everyone really gave their all to the audience, which despite their previous grumbles had turned out in their thousands.

On the first day of the festival, the smaller of the main stages, located on the Gateshead side of the river was hosted by local dance music promoters 'Wax:On', who put together a safe and reliable line-up, culminating on one of the biggest electro-deep bassline crossover artists of the last year, Fake Blood.

However, it was the earlier artists that shone above the headliners of the day. Radio 1 DJ and hosts, Jaymo & Andy George took to the decks very early in the day, and despite only small crowd numbers as people still filtered through the gates, the duo delivered a set that proved to be a perfect warm up, whilst still keeping the crowd entertained with 'the hits'.

Putting together a mash-up set of dubstep, minimal electro, and deep basslines, their set appealed massively to the audience, and proved to be the perfect warm-up to one of the men of the moment, in the world of dance music, Rusko.

Signed to the ever popular 'Mad Decent' record label, Rusko has been kicking up a bit of a fuss on both sides of the Atlantic recently, with his music combining the best bits of 70s-80s hip hop breaks and beats, with the basslines making dubstep the popular force that it has become this year, the end product is something well worthy of a listen.

His set combining both songs from his recent album, 'O.M.G' as well some of his favorite 'smashes', a word he used himself, and despite being on at 3 in the afternoon, managed to get the crowd in the festival spirit, by taking the microphone and really working the crowd and taking them on his side.

This genre of music was typical of the day, however, Leeds DJ duo Eskimo Twins did some rather brave in my opinion and took the musical genre in a completely different direction, making them really stand out amongst a packed line-up.

The Ibiza residents returned to the sound made popular in 2006 and 2007, bringing back the sounds of distorted electro and minimal techno basslines made famous by the likes of Justice and the Ed Banger label, and really seemed like a breath of fresh air.

Combing live electronics, laptop work as well as using the work of other artists, Eskimo Twins continued were those before them had left and as the night began to loom and the bigger artists took the stage, the sense of anticipation created was quite something to behold.

Over on the main stage, it was three relatively local bands that stole the scene and really impressed. The Sunderland trio of bands, Frankie And The Heartstrings, Field Music, and The Futureheads all delivery, arguably the most impressive sets of the weekend.

Frankie And The Heartstrings seem to be one of the buzz bands of 2010, with NME accredited shows already behind them and other high profile festivals lined-up, the C.86 indie-pop influenced 5 piece are certainly impressing, and taking to the big stage made them look completely at ease with the situation they find themselves in.

With jangly, Belle and Sebastian influenced guitar and pure pop harmonies, the band can't seem to fail, and from songs such as 'Tender' and 'Fragile', it becomes obvious that this band are going to soundtrack your summer.

Frankie is ultimately the perfect front man, charming and charismatic and without having to interact that much with the audience is able to leave them hanging on every note he hits, and watching this, I can only see big things ahead for the band.

A band who struggle to impress the audience however were Field Music, who ultimately were placed in front of an audience that really just didn't 'get' what Field Music are about.

Now operating as a four piece, the band, who despite receiving great reviews from musical critics following the release of their latest, double album 'Measure' earlier this year, clearly struggled to entertain an audience made up, mainly of 13 – 15 year olds.

The bands twee, almost prog-rock, inspired sound, shone through on tracks such as 'Each Time is a New Time' and 'In Context', and the band were certainly impressive, really showing what a talented band they are musically, but struggled to gain more than polite applause from the audience.

This wasn't the case however, for ultimately the highlight of the day, The Futureheads, who were greeted almost like returning heroes upon taking to the stage.

With a lengthy set which saw the band dip into all four of their albums, including their latest effort, 'The Chaos', and the result of that almost seemed like a best-of set list.

Songs such as 'Meantime' and 'Decent Days & Nights', combined with later efforts such as 'The Beginning of the Twist' and 'The Heartbeat Song' seemed to work wonderfully together, and the bands punk-funk sound combined with the alternative/grunge American sound, and the band's general liveliness on stage resulted in a fantastic performance, worthy of a headline performance in their local area, especially ahead of acts such as Paolo Nutini and Calvin Harris.

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