Saturday sees us PiL-ed up and happy at Beautiful Days

More sun!!! So we had to get out of the tent as soon as possible before we cooked. We were really impressed with the toilets in the camper-van field, which, despite there being only 8 for about 200 people, were kept really clean (if you timed it early enough in the morning); quite a relief with a very curious and fiercely independent toddler. Packing waterproofs just in case, we were set for a scorching sunny day, and went down to watch some early afternoon music on The Bandstand.

Catching Akasha for some early afternoon skanking, then chilling on the grass to watch Hannah James & Sam Sweeney's folk tunes on fiddle and accordion, with some clog-dancing thrown in for good measure. We found a bit of shade under trees in the Big Top garden area and got set up for an afternoon of music from the Big Top. The water feature in the garden was now a fountain, with kids loving it, running through the water and getting a welcome cooling.

The Bimble Inn was calling though; so we took a wander to see Utopian Love Revival, who sounded intriguing. The Bimble Inn was heaving as , Hobo Jones & The Junkyard Dogs played another set, and were just finishing with ‘'American Idiot' so we got to sit out on the hill with the other sun worshippers. When they'd finished, the place totally emptied, and we could get to the bar and even have a sit down inside the Inn on a lovely soggy cushion. The Hobo Jones boys hung around and, being top geezers, posed for a picture and a squeeze with us, a real highlight of the weekend!

We chilled with a cider and some reggae and waited for Utopian Love Revival; unfortunately the huge crowd didn't come back, and we stayed for a few songs from one guy and his guitar, until his biggest 3ft fan wandered away, at which point then we walked back up the hill for a further look around. The Leviticus tent was alive and loud, so we found a little tent with some sofas and chilled drum-and-bass for a comfy sit down, surrounded by some 'Cybermen' mannequins. Back to the Big Top and some shade, with some Tibetan momos for tea, which I discovered last year and loved again this year; you can definitely broaden your culinary horizons at BD, the food selection is always outstanding. Show of Hands were playing, but we couldn't get in to see them, so were happy to stay in our spot outside and listen to 'Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed' and big favourites to sing along to, 'We'll Be Alright', 'Countrylife', 'Cousin Jack' and 'Now You Know'.

Slightly earlier in the day our friends had enjoyed watching the The Bar-Steward Sons of Val Doonican and their upbeat covers (including Half Man Biscuit Ones) had got everyone to 'Jump Ararnd' and must surely be destined to keep crowds at festivals entertained in the future. They'd also tried to watch a show in the Theatre Tent, however unless you got there early you missed out, as the limited number of seating meant once a show started your chances of seeing it were much reduced if you arrived late.

We were still sat in the garden area as the sun went down, and all the flower beds started to light up with colour-changing tubes, the trees lit up and looked like frost and it looked even more amazing. Sadly, we couldn't sit there all night, we needed to stretch our legs and get to the main stage, but we had to have another wander through the kids area and have another quick go on the mini mushroom big wheel. The area was still alive and kicking with a big, free-for all plastic barrel drum kit set up, you couldn't help picking up a stick and having a good bash.

New Model Army were on the main stage, not my cup of tea but they had a massive crowd absolutely loving it, and the main arena was transformed into a mosh pit. My Saturday night was going to be spent watching the delicious Seth Lakeman, who I've seen many many many times and cannot get enough of. The highly theatrical performance from Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson of the prog opus 'This As A Brick' including film pieces and even a Skyped fiddle player before Seth had over ran; and it meant his set was a bit later than scheduled and sadly cut short to meet the midnight curfew, he was brilliant and I had a great sing along. 'Kitty Jay' made my festival and it was even better that my daughter was happy to stay out to I got to see the whole set. A total gentleman, he invited everyone for a beer as he was staying for the whole weekend, ooh yes please.

Over on the main stage a thinning crowd enjoyed a powerful performance from pukn icon John Lydon and Public Image Ltd. (PiL). Perhaps because of the festival's roots Lydon didn't do much preaching at the crowd, letting the polished performance do the talking. From the deep rumbling bass opener of 'Love Song' through a chunk of new material including 'Deep Water', 'One Drop', 'Warrior', and 'Death Disco', before 'Out Of The Woods', 'Rise', and a stunning 'Open Up' they do the business and leave us PiL-ed up and happy.

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