the summer sounds of Brian Wilson fail to stop the rain

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GuilFest 2009

Friday 10th to Sunday 12th July 2009
Stoke Park, Guildford, Surrey., England MAP
£110 with camping, Child (aged 12-15) £60

One of the best thing about GuilFest is there's no mad rush to the start of the day, toilets still worked, queues weren't long for reasonably priced hot drinks, and breakfasts some looking very hearty, and there's even the option to take in a shower or a swim before the noon start time for music.

For those of us who had seen Rock Choir, kicking off proceedings on both stages, before there was perhaps even less need for haste, although Flame To Fire, and Pint Shot Riot, whetted my interest in the Rock Cave. I got there with minutes to spare to find it deserted, by the end of the first chorus the tent was already half full, and the temperature was rising rapidly. Between acts I needed to cool off, and realised why this tent was always empty between acts.

Pint Shot Riot prove a good choice of foot tapping and 'Punches Kicks Trenches & Swords' is we're told the soundtrack to video games, sounds decent enough. There's loads of girls screaming their undying love for the band too.

I had time to check out The Dolly Rockers on the main stage, wish I hadn't three girls singing karaoke to a backing track, signed to EMI, and no doubt about to assault our ears for years to come with radio friendly songs of bad relationships and girlish angst.

Two Fingers of Firewater prove a better proposition with their rock in the warm second arena. The GuilFest flags are missing here this year, replaced instead with a festoon of colourful flags with all manner of logos and representations upon them, whilst issuing from behind it are the delighted screams of kids having fun safely contained within the enclosed kids area. My own kid is too old for making things, circus skills, and kids theatre, she's not even tempted by the Mama's Cooking thingies in the EA Sports dome.

Stopping for a while in the UnisonZone Tent to listen to a talk on keeping the Post Office, and the NHS a public service, and enjoy a bit of Jersey Budd out of the drizzle. I intend to see Florence Rawlings on the main stage but instead enjoy a great bit of ska from Jersey Budd, The Infidels, and although I want to watch Wobbly Squadron again I catch a hint of the sounds of TransGlobal Underground and I'm off. I appeared to be the only person in the arena danicing to them, but I thought they were brilliant, 'Dancehall Operator', and the psychedlic rip roaring 'It's A Sitar' are definitely the highlights. A more 'up for it' festival crowd would have surely all got groovin'.

Linda Lewis is too much of an intriguing proposition to miss for Subgiant, having never seen the fifty-something singer singer who played at the very first Glastonbury, and sang with Pink Floyd, David Bowie, and others before. She delivers 'It's In His Kiss' and as it starts to mizzle moans her hair is going frizzy, before a host of jazz and reggae covers flow from her, she sure has a well assembled band behind her, the highlight has to be the 'Iko Iko' singalong.

Next up it's back to the nineties with Toploader, who leave it late to spring the tunes on us but it's worth the wait for us all to join in with 'Dancing in the Moonlight'. Athlete do an adequate job bridging the gap to more nineties anthems with The Charlatans and 'Country Boy', I wasn't expecting to enjoy either but both went down well, and Athlete's 'Wires' was a moving moment for much of the crowd.

I opt for more nineties treats with Lightning Seeds, and as the rain picks up, I really enjoy their new material from 'Four Winds' aired on the Ents24 stage. 'On A Day Like This' was just perfect in the rain, and 'Lucky You' had the crowd joining in including those viewing from the top deck of the Pimms bus, and their cover of The Ronettes' 'Be My Baby' is still rattling around my head.

Despite a few glugs of the fruity summer drink, and my best Hawaiian shirt, the rain did not abate for Brian Wilson's appearance, the crowd thinning - more so with Joe Bonamassa also proving a good draw on the other stage.

The classic hits flowed from the session musician packed stage, and the water flowed from the heavens. The Classic Beach Boys hits had us groovin' with 'Good Vibrations', 'God Only Knows', 'California Girls', and 'Don't Worry Baby', and then soaked through I bail for the comfort of the bar, it's too packed to provide adequate shelter, the nearby comedy tent is closed, so I turn tail for the campsite, and a dry sleeping bag. At least the rain keeps the noisy teenagers around the campsite quiet for a couple of hours.