Deadmau5 falls a bit flat on a stripped down opening day of Wireless

As dreary as this poor summer's weather has been so far, there was only a drizzle or two on the first day of the festival.

Irish crooner Maverick Sabre took to the main stage in a bundle of energy considering a lot of his tunes are slow and soulful; he was evidently ecstatic to be there as his grin throughout his performance showed this. Although the festival had not filled up yet, he played to the crowd present with passion and his voice was absolutely stunning in the space, as well as vibing with his band and jumping about to the livelier dubstep infused tracks. The sunshine broke through the clouds aptly for Sabre's last tune 'I Need' (with lyrics "I need sunshine") and Sabre encouraged the crowd to sing along with him.

I was drawn towards Santigold's set as the screen outside the tent showed a pantomime style horse bopping about the stage; I was really glad to catch the end of it. The vibe inside the tent was like a carnival with Santigold herself spinning around, jumping up and down and flailing her arms to her high energy tunes, as well as the 2 female backing dancers behind her dancing with such a force and excitement and the whole band jumping up and down as they played their instruments – it was really entertaining.

DJing duo Zeds Dead (although I could only actually see one of them from back of the tent) created a dubstep heaven in their tent dropping beats that the crowd was going crazy too and the DJ that I could see was enjoying it just as much as everybody else, banging his head along to the sounds he was creating.

Elsewhere on site the festival seemed to be lacking compared to previous years – it had been stripped down with no funfair rides or the fake beach as it had had in the past; there was no entertainment for young children apart from the music itself, which is important to remember if you’re considering bringing kids.

Ms Dynamite, complete with big curly hair and a gigantic smile drew in a crowd that made the tent she was playing in overflow; as a performer she is well worth checking out. Being in the industry for a decade or so has resulted in her perfecting her skills as a show woman and she delivers the perfect performance, building the crowd up throughout whilst being cheeky and humorous. The set finished with the whole tent dancing about and bouncing off her energy to 'Wile Out'.

Catching the end of The Roots set on the main stage was a treat too as the old school hip hoppers showed the young'uns how it's done with an amazing vibe about them and each one of the collective being as talented as each other.

The headliner, German DJ Deadmau5 lit up the main stage with lighting, strobes and all sorts of special effects with trademark oversized mouse's head on. All through the day there were snippets of his presence all over the site with people with glowing mouse ears and even homemade and distributed versions of the mouse head symbol being held high in crowds.

The performance itself... well, it was underwhelming. After the likes of the uplifting Zeds Dead set, it all just seemed really flat. The first hour or so was what I can only describe as generic dance music with nothing special brought to the table and the crowd itself did not seem that blown away by it. The tunes became catchier and more skilful but the novelty appeared to lie with the stage lighting and costume.

All in all it was not quite the finish to the festival that I had expected and sort of explained why the tickets had not sold out for the day, regardless there were still the revellers with enough booze inside them that they were having a great time right at the front. It just didn’t cut it as a finale for the majority though.

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