Friday overview

Some 25,000 people descended upon Herefordshire's hills last weekend for this year’s Big Chill festival, the fifth event to be held at Eastnor Castle’s idyllic deer park. Walking down the long sloping path from the hill-top Valley Camping Area down into arena nestling in the valley, it isn't difficult to see why more and more people are converted to Big Chilling as the years roll on. As the main site comes into view, with its lakes and shady spots, it is a truly beautiful sight; a total culture shock when compared to the show grounds and airfields that most British festivals call home.

Singer/songwriter Natureboy kicks off our musical weekend on the Open Air Stage. The multi-instrumentalist who has released music through the Tru Thoughts, Big Chill and Jazz FM record lables, is on fine form this morning.

His warm and heartfelt songwriting with just the slightest hint of acoustic jazz is a perfect start to our festival, particularly when UK soul sensation Alice Russell joins him onstage for a lush rendition of Sweet Is The Air, a track they co-wrote for Alice's first album.

Former Lamb vocalist Lou Rhodes is our next port of call on the Castle Stage. After Lamb's demise, it seems Lou has waved goodbye to the driving breakbeats and soaring synths that made her famous and has instead embraced a more stripped down back-to-basics folk ethic in her music. Today she takes centre stage with an acoustic guitar, backed by a 4 piece band. While no-one can deny Lou is possessed of a breath-taking vocal talent, her distinctive voice is somewhat lost amongst the very mediocre songs she is showcasing. When Lou's new solo material is nominated for a Mercury Music Prize while Lamb's material never touched the Mercury's radar, you have to wonder what goes on in the judges' heads.

After a few more drinks we head over to the new Village Green Stage, This new musical platform looks green and lovely but is plagued by soundclash problems with the Media Mix Tent nextdoor throughout Tunng's glitchy folk set. At one stage the band just stop halfway through a song as they can hear less of what they are playing than we can, apparently. As Tunng's warm guitars and soaring vocal harmonies struggle to compete with the pumping dance beats coming from next door, a band member finally spits the dummy and heads off stage "to have words." Returning triumphant, Tunng then complete a fine set that includes the beautiful recent single Woodcat and allows the band's delicately nuanced post-electronica to be properly enjoyed by the sizable crowd that has gathered for it.

As we've drunk ourselves dry by this point it seems only right and proper that we stop by the Finlandia Cocktail Bar and catch a bit of Mr Scruff's excellent set while we refill our jugs. His chilled and cheerful beats suit my mood as we recline on the sofas and wonder to ourselves whether the baled sticks near our seating area are benches, as they appear, or in fact art.

It was unclear, but one drunken woman manages to make our day: deciding they are definitely not art she goes to sit on one and clean misses the thing, landing on her bum on the floor. I laugh so hard I thought my sides might split and fortunately she seems to see the funny side too, poor sausage!

After more cocktail guzzling and a pie supper it is time to return to the Open Air Stage for latin-blooded Swede, José Gonzalez. A big crowd have gathered for this one and José does not disappoint, playing a beautiful set that includes recent hits Crosses, Heartbeats and Hand on Your Heart.

Making a little go a very long way, the singer-songwriter paints intimate lyrical portraits from his Veneer album onstage with only his clipped vocals and a dexterously plucked Spanish guitar. It's sets like this that have made Big Chill's reputation what it is today and José's set is very well received by the crowd.

After a day of lounging, chilling and lots of drinking, it's time for a bit of action. We head up the hill to the festival's Art Trail in the Enchanted Garden area as darkness falls. According to this year's programme "the artists have responded to particular aspects of the place, situating works that connect to the transient nature of the festival and the immediate landscape: an ancient arboretum of exotic trees." My favourite piece of the six is definitely Tod Hanson's graphic installation of a toilet-rolled tree in the wind; his unreal graffiti-styled "toilet paper" caught in a destructive moment of festive celebration on the very real tree. Although an interesting walk through floodlit trees, this particular exhibition fails to move us artistically and so it's back to the Open Air Stage for Coldcut's headline set.

With 5 laptops and 8 decks between them as well as MCs and VJs, this is not a set to miss. The Coldcut boys, fronted by MC Juice Aleem, belt through an absolute stormer of a set taking in hiphop, electronica, drum n bass, breaks and even "I Wanna Be Like You" from The Jungle Book with a wonderful audio visual show onstage behind them. Eclectic and fun, this was my kind of set, and the Big Chill seemed to love it too.

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