having been ill and missed Sparks at Guilfest, I made a late decision to go to the Big Chill. I hadn't been before, and Lynz_star was going for efests, so I attached myself to her little group (who made me feel very welcome - thanks peeps ) and checked it out.

It's a great festival - bigger than I expected, and more free of corporates & advertising than most fests. The majority of time is spent sat down (it's the big chill after all ), with regular trips to the bars for more cocktails (yummy ... and they work out cheaper than beer). The downside (actually, more of an up than a down ) is the hill of hell when you want to get back to your tent.

Music-wise , Arrested Development were superb, X-Press 2 Live were as live as my CD player (except for the "hello Big Chill" ), and Sparks were .. erm ... like 80s power synth-rock, and not what I wanted to hear (I enjoyed hearing the 'hits' tho). The stand-out act for me were The Blue Man Group (http://www.blueman.com/), a great mix of music and performance.

As ever, I bumped into a few faces, including old efester Suzy of the Butterflys (who a few of the older efesters might remember?) who it was great to see. Suzy was helping me out when I started eFestivals back in 2000, and without her help I'd have been floundering in the dark.

As a result of too much beer and cocktails, Lynz is now forever to be known as Lynz_lightweight . But I'm sure she'll get her own back, by pointing out that I skipped Sunday ... but then again, I'd gone mainly for Sparks, and i fancied a day off (I'm allowed an occasional one each summer, surely?).

Now I think it was a waste of a day off, as today I've woken of feeling shit, I think i'm going down with something nasty.