Bridie Jackson and The Arbour win on a night that showcase great new talent

After a fallow year eight bands have been chosen to compete for a slot on one of Glastonbury's Main Stages in this year's Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition. The eight had been selected by 40 music bloggers from 8,000 entries, and now had around 5 songs each to showcase both their music, and live presence to win themselves that main stage slot.

Tonight's judges made up of Festival stage bookers and industry types did not include Festival boss Michael Eavis who was up the road at home suffering from a stomach bug, but despite the lack of his presence the competition ran smoothly.

First up were Tyneside's Bridie Jackson and The Arbour, and our compere for the evening asked us to observe silence so we could hear them perform. The whole place was silent as the female four piece started to chime with Belleplates, which looked a bit like metal windscreen ice scrapers. The noise was captivating, Bridie bluesy soulful voice on 'Scarecrow' was minimally accompanied and as the set progressed her distinct vocal range was accompanied by fiddle and guitar, but again sparsely. Her singing has a Nora Jones style, The Arbour are really accomplished musicians and they produce a clean original sound. The lilting melancholy music continued and I wondered whether it was suitable for the main stages in the fields next door. Certainly at End Of The Road or Latitude Bridie these tight harmonies could shine, but I thought, wrongly as it turned out, whilst different and intriguing it seemed to leftfield to be a winner.

By comparison Lillian Todd Jones and her six bandmates provide a far more familiar sound. It seems a strange set up as though there's a band of musicians creating the music behind another quartet of image setting band members. Lillian starts badly off key, and whilst the showcase is rescued by the final song, the whole performance, seems a bit theatrical and just doesn't connect with me. They have a bubbly festive sound, but it's just a bit too derivative.

Ipswich's Port Isla are another acts whose final song shows them at their best. The folk rockers are the most mainstream of the acts so far, a pleasant mix of folk and pop rock in a Mumford's kind of way. The kind of act you can see young girls plastering posters of across their bedroom walls. The songs are decent enough, and it's an accomplished performance. If the judges were going for a mainstream act this lot looked in the driving seat. Suitable material for a main stage slot anywhere.

I rather like Welsh singer songwriter Rhys Lloyd Morgan it's honest well thought our lyrics and accomplished guitar work, and he looks like he's lived a bit. I can imagine listening to him in a muddy field with a cider in hand. From the bar at the back his acoustic guitar and vocals sound a bit like Willy Mason. He manages to survive a frog in the throat, and by the final song I'm thinking perhaps Glastonbury will be unearthing a new folk hero. He'd easily be able to command an outdoor stage and, judging by his quelling of those chatting before him, a partisan crowd too.

Next up are Scottish indie rockers Black Balloons who deliver a great set. They're the first band who sound as though they shake people out of their tents on a Friday morning. The pumping guitar and stacked infectious rhythm would be sure to draw a crowd, most likely waving St Andrews flags. Sure to rapidly become the next big thing on the rock scene with their adult lyrics, 'urgent' sound, good call, rhythm and confidence with fenders. They have a raw charged energy, and are a band I'd happily catch more of.

The Dancers are a surprise, living in Brighton but hailing from France the three piece are a clever fusion of electronic synth effects infusing their guitar, bass, and drums, with a good clean upbeat male/female vocal. Their original Gallic eccentricity and musicality draws on all kinds of global sources from Afrobeat to Euro-pop and it's clever and it's well wrought. They need a name change though as they clearly can't dance, and the guitarist's enthusiasm to leave the stage surprised the crowd watching them. Their quirkiness and technical ability has me marking their card as favourites to win.

Another act I'd slated to do well before tonight's competition was 15 year-old rapper Isaiah Dreads, who goes off in the room. His patter accelerates through the gears too quickly and in just 10 minutes he's written off his voice, but he still showcases some decent lyrics, although singing over is own CD with the lyrics still slightly detracted the performance further. Clearly a star in the making who is driven, has skillz and will be a star. Least we got to see him early!

And so it came to the last act of the night, four unassuming Irishmen as A Band Called Wanda who showcase a fantastic set of tunes to an ignorant audience more keen on chatting. The din distracts from this swinging polished performance, and their lead singer almost looked put out by it. It's a shame because I liked their lyrics the most of those delivered tonight. Their final track was for me the song of the night. If the whole set had been at that level they could have won. I managed to blag their CD and it's terrific (as is both Bridie's and Rhys'). It's traditional rather than original, classic Irish folk executed well, and they're sure to become a big name on the traditional festival circuit.

The crowd continued to chatter, as the bands fortified themselves, and the judges disappeared off to determine the winner. I wondered if Michael Eavis had been listening to tonight's live stream and would be calling through to deliver his thoughts. A decision is arrived at quickly and long term Glastonbury booker Martin Elbourne takes to the stage to announce their choice, and even he struggles to shut the crowd up long enough. It's a surprise when he announces Bridie, who's been busy celebrating her 30th birthday, not because they don't deserve it, but because the judges have taken a risk and picked a band making music less suited to a mainstream music festival. I take my hat off to them, as it means in future competitions it will be solely the performance which wins it and not the supposed suitability of the band. The competitions has come of age and half the acts have also already been allocated slots.

All in all the night was one of the best showcases of music they've had. I think all of the acts could be potential future festival favourites. Last year I wanted to see a proper battle of multiple future festival acts, and this year we got it. A wide variety of music styles, and a winner which certainly I didn't predict, and that's a good thing I think.

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