In many ways the indie bands economy is still suffering from its credit crunch equivalent resulting from the 00’s boom of 'rock' outfits. Yet after nearly a decade of what has seemed like an endless mire of faceless and unoriginal music we seem to be emerging from the swamp. Enter Bastille, an outfit headed by multi-instrumentalist producer Dan Smith who last night played a sold out Scala on the strength of a few EP’s and one mixtape.

Following support from To Kill a King and American rapper F.Stokes Dan emerged with full Eraserhead style hair and appropriately coordinating T-shirt representing the David Lynch film. Accompanied by his band and a full on string section the crowd were going ballistic with barely a hint of provocation, Bastille have legions of fans and as the set kicked off with their seminal ‘Icarus’ every word was reciprocated and hung upon. This momentum was maintained for the duration of the show which came in at just under an hour in length.

Dan is what can almost be described as a shy character contrary to the cockiness seen at such gigs, he lets the music speak for itself the majority of the time seemingly coming out of his shell as the set takes over. Speak the music does, as Dan has a truly beautiful voice that is layered with the emotion of lyrics that hit all the right notes yet never descend into sentimentality. At the same time the sound is the perfect balance between rock, electronic elements, superb covers and soaring, pitch perfect vocals. There really is something for everyone with Bastille with their blend of live show truly being something to behold.

It was a great vibe in Scala last night, complimented by perhaps the most exciting prospect in indie for a long time. Watch out for their show at Koko in October and be prepared for the debut album release in September which will undoubtedly redefine the scene.

Below: Aiden Grimshaw - from X Factor flop to our favourite new popstar of 2012

First up was DJ Yoda on the main stage, whose predictability in no way lessened the enjoyment of his mash-up of old school classics, turntablism and party tunes. Over at the Now Wave tent Django Django did a good job of building on a burgeoning reputation with their strain of avant-garde psychedelic pop. Singer and guitarist Vincent Neff is an intriguing figure: a weird of mix and debonair and mad and engaging, and the calming harmonies of ‘Waveforms’ or the bric-a-brac ‘Storm’ revealed the band’s hidden depths.

Chic immediately got people in the party sprit, never mind that their set was almost a carbon copy of the one they played here last year. Consisting of ‘La Freak’, ‘I’m Coming Out’, ‘Good Times’, a slew of classics such as Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’ and an appearance by Johnny Marr on guitar, It was pretty hard to fault.

Busiest audience-pull of the day award on Saturday went to Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - Orlando Higginbottom plied his retro house at the Now Wave tent as security had to stop people entering - whilst biggest strop of the day belonged to Kelis, who mumbled about the stage after coming on late then stormed off after the promoters cut her sound.

AraabMuzik at the Thrasher tent tore into his MPC2500 sampler, fingers moving at breath-taking speed as he beat out much of his fine debut Electronic Dreams, whereas Noah and the Whale gave a lesson in understatement, ‘Blue Skies’ dissecting heartbreak and ‘L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N’ closing things with aplomb.

The Flaming Lips also played it quietly, reclining into a set in which they spent long passages barely playing a thing, or dancing around maniacally. It was almost boring – a quite lovely ‘Yoshimi’ aside – but mattered little as they eventually break into a closing couplet of ‘Race For The Prize’ and ‘Do You Realise?’ As cannons burst confetti outwards and lights shine out onto the smiles of the crowd below, a truly breath-taking festival moment flowered.

On Sunday the sun shone, though Joy Orbison used the Wax:On Tents dark recesses to run through a set of speed garage bass, his own gurgling ‘Sicko Cell’ and Caribou’s ‘Sun’. Annie Mac meanwhile, shifted over onto the main stage, played a little more lightly. Skrillex aside, her set mainly consisted of party bangers: no less A-Trak’s skilful staccato take on the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s ‘Heads Will Roll’.

Over at the Now Wave tent Gold Panda bashed into a sampler no less dextrously than Araabmuzik did the day before. His songs rely on the silence in between sounds, however, and long swathes of crackle and static chatter used as rhythm and melody. An early ‘You’ is a highlight, its orient inspired fidget pop willing the crowd into hearty cheers.

The sound was much less finely tuned over at the main stage, as De La Soul became another headliner to suffer from a misfiring PA during the weekend. It doesn’t help that they don’t play their best material for a crowd that clearly want to hear it. Erol Alkan, however, did what he knows best, splintering Metronomy’s ‘The Bay’ into a hundred different ideas and adding songs until his woozy electro forms a woven tapestry of warping sounds.

Finally Sunday’s sun started to fade and the fields finally gave up, mud and liquid filled the final few hours as Dizzee on the main stage entertains the last of the moon-eyed revellers and Maya Janes Cle over at the Wax:On tent plays a set so taut you feel it might just snap. It’s a fitting end to a good festival, which with a few improvements might just be great.

Below: The Gaslight Anthem at Koko, 11/06/2012

Speaking to the audience with palpable fear but also pride, lead singer Orlando Weeks comes across like someone handed an Oscar without even knowing he'd been nominated, thanking "everyone I've forgotten" and the massive audience who have gathered to watch the band leap over their latest hurdle with ease and style.

Mixing moments from new album 'Given To The Wild', their most accomplished work to date, with the scrappy underdog sounds of their 2008 debut, tonight is a celebration of all things Maccabees. Latchmere's wave machine is set to tidal, toothpaste kisses greet the sugary sweet 'First Love' and the choir of thousands prove they can truly give it, matching each chorus and even guitar riff for size and volume.

Bands tend to earn slots like this, not deserve them but it is hard to think of a band better suited to rising up through the indie ranks than The Maccabees. The five guys on stage were almost certainly at this very venue ten years ago to see their predecessors step up the ladder and nothing feels like it is taken for granted. Though tempting to see this as an overview of The Maccabees career to date, they storm things on the night too. Having transformed into a fierce live band there is a bite to their latest album cuts such as 'Feel To Follow' and 'Glimmer' that was unimaginable from the animated cuteness of their debut.

The Maccabees may not be the most obvious of 'big' bands, they lack the pomp of, say, Mumford & Sons and the sheer force of Florence + The Machine, but this show is yet another confirmation that the Londoners are one of the most enjoyable and deserving bands around today. Beaming from ear to ear as they depart, they know they've earned this one.

A Tuesday night in a rainy Kentish Town following a grey tinted jubilee was certainly a surreal time to witness a newly reinvigorated Cypress Hill take to the stage. Nevertheless battered livers resulting from four days of regal abuse were nothing short of inconsequential with the huge crowd of punters baying for some retrospective Hip-Hop fun. There was a tangible air of apprehension mixed with excitement following the band’s lengthy absence from the contemporary music scene, it could certainly have gone either way.

Yet when they emerged a little grizzled by the years it was back to the old school as B-Real and Sen Dog emerged one by one to a blistering furore. It was abundantly clear that the band have lost none of their skill in terms of crowd interaction with songs cutting out at the exact point for audience to shout “I could just kill a man” or ‘insane in the brain” where appropriate. Along with gun-fingers firing in time to strobes and the audience bouncing all over the shop the show was nothing short of a spectacle to behold. The mood recalled the kind of fun the golden age of Hip-Hop was synonymous with, represented by hands swaying from left to right in time the bands “yo’s” and “ho’s”.

As for the set itself, it was any Cypress Hill fan’s wet dream totalling one hour and forty minutes in total with a short interlude in the middle. The first half consisted of what can only be described as back to back classics with the second half descending predictably into Dubstep territory. Cypress Hill have never been ones to shy away from innovation, often choosing to make risky decisions sometimes with huge pay-offs and sometimes an unfortunately forgettable phase of Nu-Metal drivel. Yet in pairing with Rusko for their new material the group have actually fallen into the credible denomination of bass driven music. So despite it being a common choice for artists nowadays, Cypress Hill are perhaps the best suited for the sound (unlike Justin Bieber). The resulting showcase of new material sounded great, riffing on the grimier and more credible edge of the genre. Skrillex it is not. Although it did seem to rub a few hardcore skinhead fans up the wrong way which can only be a good thing.

It was great to see Cypress Hill back, especially playing what to them is undeniably an intimate show. They appear to show no signs of slowing down, at one point indulging in their trademark process of smoking what can only be described as a Camberwell Carrot during ‘Hits From The Bong’ into "I Wanna Get High". Maybe it was all the second hand smoke but B-Real (apparently the “highest man in the world”) and company proved themselves to still be a force to be reckoned with in the ever-changing world of rap.

Points go to the band for being brave enough to test new songs on a festival audience, it is, however, slightly worrying how anonymous some of the fresher material sound tonight - the now revived backdrop flashing up a bowl of fruit during ‘Fresh Strawberries’, the image more enticing than the tune.

A song as good as ‘Take Me Out’ could rescue any festival set however and, amidst a now torrential downpour, the jerking rhythms and still threatening cut of Alex Kapranos’ jib sends a soaking wet audience home happy ,safe in the knowledge that next year’s Field Day stars may not even have formed yet.

As TEED took to the stage, immediately the crowd belted an almighty roar, which never left the room as the DJ made his presence known. Having been to many great gigs at Koko, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs didn’t disappoint. The talented producer captured the room from the start and almost every track was met with a cheer. The venue, was literally heaving with excited fans jumping and dancing ecstatically to the beat of tracks from his debut album, 'Trouble'.

Dressed in a magnificent costume of scale armour, (which made for a pretty amazing opening outfit), transforming as the night progressed into a huge glittery lizard-like frill neck piece, which looked fantastic, if a little uncomfortable. The stage was a combination of giant lights, strobes and dancers, blasting streamers into the crowd. Playing track after track, he kept the crowd full of energy, dancing and cheering, which hit an almighty high when the hit ‘Garden’ came on, accompanied by a giant ball of lights floating across the crowd.

The sound was incredible and with the occasional involvement of bongo drums and synths, created the feel of an almost tribal ceremony, with the DJ surrounded by religious followers. Watching Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs was definitely more of an experience and a tribute to electro, making the show memorable. Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, a mouthful to say and one hell of an electro performance.

Looking like he had been kitted out exclusively by Topman, lead singer Dougy Mandagi walked the stage with a confident swagger launching straight in to ‘London’s Burning’, to which the ridiculously rammed audience couldn’t help but get rowdy for. Still with his infectious effeminate vocal tone, Mandagi is easily one of the finest vocalists of the past few years - even if he is a tad underrated. Still able to perform live as well as he does on record, once the opening cut comes to a close the Aussie vocalist tells the crowd how good it is to be back performing in the UK and how he’s missed it, to which the reply is an almighty cheer.

After playing one of their more recognisable tunes in the form of ‘Love Lost’ the band went through a few of the newer tracks taken from their latest offering. Running through the likes of ‘The Sea Is Calling’, ‘This Isn’t Happiness’, and ‘Trembling Hands’, the introduction of the band’s new single ‘Rabbit Hole’ was met with jubilation. Already knowing the lyrics word for word, there were members of the audience quite literally barging through one another to sing the song back to the band.

Easily the most memorable segment from the evening, the band towards the end of their set played the closing three cuts from their debut album Conditions - ‘Science of Fear’, ‘Resurrection’, and ‘Drum Song.’ With the latter mentioned being the best example of pure showmanship - Mandagi could be seen pouring water on a huge bass drum and then banging it in time with the strobe lighting effect which gave it an almost music video look, every member of the group was doing something different to better their craft.

With the obvious encore being the band’s breakthrough hit ‘Sweet Disposition’, instead of just one closing record there were in fact three. While one, ‘I’m Gonna Wait’, was again a new composition, it was ‘Soldier On’ that left some members of the audience in a higher state of emotional consciousness. The way in which the band played it, and their front man sang it, dry eyes were more likely to be the minority on this occasion.

With everything mentioned above, as well as some rhythmically confined shuffles that were interpreted as dance moves, as well as some instrument throwing, The Temper Trap proved that they are not a band to be taken lightly. As far as live bands go... they are one of the best.

That moment where you become bored of the third album track in a row does not exist at Watch The Throne, a concert that plays out like a greatest hits of the last ten years of hip-hop.

Ostensibly, we're here to revel in the 2011 album Watch The Throne and, standing on two individual blocks raised twenty feet in the air in the middle of the O2 Arena as they perform the dramatic 'HAM', we're thrown straight into the luxury bravado of that joint album. 'Otis' is performed in front of a United States flag and constant blasts of red hot fire whilst 'Who Gon Stop Me' asks the question that can only be answered, 'Nobody'.

However, one album relatively thin on 'the hits' is not enough to fill a two hour plus arena show. Luckily, both men standing on the stage dripping in black and gold have more than enough in their respective lockers to keep things going.

Kanye shows why, amidst the media meltdowns and borderline parody personality, he remains one of the most fascinating musicians of his generation pulling out hit after hit after amazing hit from his back catalogue. It would be vulgar to list them all but then, that's kind of Kanye's deal, so let's say that 'Runaway', 'Golddigger', 'Touch The Sky', 'Power' and 'All Of The Lights' all send the sell-out audience wild.

Jay-Z has a fair few moments of his own to enjoy too with the Brooklyn don showing his superior flow and rap skills on 'Izzo (H.O.V.A.), 'On To The Next One' and 'Big Pimpin'. As 'Dirt Off Your Shoulder' scratches into life we're told "You are now tuned in to the mother f*cking greatest'. It is very hard to disagree.

Inevitably some form of competition is established, with each rapper juking for the definitive moment. It's difficult to seperate the two with West arguably having more in the way of hits but, at the same time, he still has nothing with quite the same power as, say, '99 Problems' or 'Empire State Of Mind'.

For an album, tour and concept that can be boiled down to a stunningly enjoyable celebration of vulgar wealth the set ends with 'N*ggas In Paris' played five times in a row. This should be ridiculous but every time Jay-Z shouts "Again!" the crowd go wild. You get the feeling, quite rightly, they'd stay here all night to keep the party going.

The line-up of Will Daunt (vocals & guitar), Iain Lock (bass), Dom Millard (keyboards), Henry Walton (guitar) and Guy Henderson (drums), have only performed a small selection of shows in the UK. However they were genuinely upbeat and excited, which helped wake up the mass of people in the hall. Keeping the crowd on a constant high throughout; the band performed well live and seemed confident in their performance.

Considering the constant rising temperature of the room, the band kept the attention of everyone well. The songs were pitch perfect and occasionally frontman Daunt would address the crowd with a plea to move nearer or what to expect from the next track they played. However, what can only be described as a sort of sporadic sweaty, sensual dance, from the lead singer, did have the crowd looking bemused.

The band performed most of their new album, including the crowd pleasers ‘We Should Be Swimming’ and ‘Let’s Move Back To Front’, which immediately had everyone cheering and singing along. The visual display aided the overall experience. Projected on the screen behind them were what seemed like an insight into a dark subconscious. With imagery that linked in well with the bands set yet didn’t distract from the performance.

The penultimate track played and was met with an almighty roar, as their lead single ‘Silver Tongue’ from their new album had been long awaited and abetted the crowd to forget how extremely hot the small hall was becoming.

Overall Zulu Winter’s performance at the Boston Arms in Tufnell Park was executed well. The live routine was almost flawless and the only criticism could be if they acknowledged the crowd a little bit more…. And perhaps better air conditioning.

Zulu Winter’s debut album ‘Language’ is now available on ITunes.

Below: Zulu Winter - 'Silver Tongue'

Watch: Scissor Sisters perform 'Lets Have A Kiki' at Shepherds Bush

A spectacular show, and if straight people aren't going to Scissor Sisters gigs - they should. They've got no idea what they're missing.

Below: Scissor Sisters live, Shepherds Bush Empire 16/05/2012

Laughing at the fact the bands guestlist was half of the entire XOYO capacity, Ditto spots old friends in the crowd throughout the show in the city she calls her 'home away from home'. Here in earnest to launch new album 'A Joyful Noise', it soon becomes apparent that tonight is all about having a good time.

That's not to say the new album is ignored, with new tracks 'Move In The Right Direction' and 'Melody Emergency' impressing early on. Elsewhere we are treated to recent single 'Perfect World' and the glam-house floor-filler 'Get Lost'. The new material goes down well but struggles to impress any real identity on an audience who clearly favour the 2006 album 'Standing In The Way Of Control'.

Aside from the obvious track (more on that later), it is 'Yr Mangled Heart' and 'Listen Up' that stand out tonight. Both pack a genuine punch with the huge soul influence that never distracts from the wild punk edge both songs are laced with. It is a shame that the band have rounded off these edges in recent years, as displayed by the lacklustre material from 2010's 'Music For Men' album played tonight.

It seems harsh to call Gossip a one-hit wonder and to many who have followed the band for over ten years they are anything but, although it is also hard to believe they will ever top 'Standing In The Way Of Control' either. Joking that "it is the only song people actually know" Beth and co. clearly know this too and it's not hard to see why as the disco-diva stomp that is *that* song clatters and flashes for three brilliant minutes, overshadowing nearly everything else played this evening.

Reminding your fans of former glories at the launch of a new release should be bad form but somehow Gossip just about pull it off.