Friday 14/08/09 Summer Sundae Weekender, Day One @ De Montfort Hall, Leicester

Summer Sundae Weekender is one of those deliciously compact festivals where you can walk from one end of the site to the other within minutes, but there is plenty to occupy ears, eyes and souls along the way.  The stages sit so closely together it is possible to dip in and out and take in a bit of everything.

Having expanded significantly within the past two years, Summer Sundae now has more organic food stands and camping space than you can shake a stick at, and is becoming more commercial due to its high profile sponsors, but it still retains its original free spirited, small town feel. Despite not having too many big names on its bill, this left Gigwise with time to discover the less obvious bands and sounds in between the familiar faces of music magazine front pages.

Following the disappointment of headliner act The Streets’ swine flu-induced cancellation on Friday, the audience was forced to explore some alternative routes, but to no great hardship.

A true festival band, Kid British kicked things off on the main stage on late Friday afternoon with their bubbly, infectious melodies and straightforward lyrics, preceding the sad, melodic, offbeat jazziness of Oi Va Voi, heavily influenced by world music and by observations of the world in general.

Over on the indoor stage, human beatbox Beardyman made a distinct impression with his astounding vocal display, before The Mystery Jets worked the crowd into a weekend mood over on the main stage with their upbeat, 80s influenced indie pop.

Those on the lookout for something a bit more experimental staggered over to the rising stage to be baffled and amazed by Mum on the Rising Stage, while Cantaloop let rip with their funky beats on the musician stage.

As the night drew in, Idlewild provided some conventional indie classics for the less adventurous to sway along to while 70s punk-ska outfit The Beat proved a revelation to many on the indoor stage, as much due to the strength of their socio-political lyrics as the guitar-saxophone combination.

The first day was rounded off perfectly with the fantastic club night concept of Silent Disco, with clubbers dancing their way into the night, plugging into the DJ of their choice for an eardrum injection of electro or funky house. Whether it was the surreal nature of dancing separately through different headphones, or the promise and excitement of the first night of a festival, everyone appeared determined to lose their weekday  inhibitions and throw themselves feet first into the heady Summer Sundae cocktail of music, drink, food, sunshine and silliness.