Day 2 started with hilarious exchanges about late night randoms encountered by the Clash team on a vox-popping mission with the best of the crowd - be it Dusan the Croatian trumpet player, Banana Drew the squat rave organizer from London, or the ex army Captain who took great pride in teaching Clash that to him Exit simply meant the Serbian term Doh Ja Ja - the bollocks.

As we trekked our way down the by now really dusty cobbled pathways past stages housed 50 feet below in the castle moat we could hear Paul Weller’s soaring rendition of ‘Wild Wood’ floating out over the main stage, before arriving to hear his set climax with personal favourite Eton Rifles. Many said his show was a little indulgent and drawn out, and maybe Weller has become the Dad rock antithesis of the punk kid who wrote that ultimate The Jam classic 25 years ago, but he still sounded solid when things clicked.

Next up Primal Scream created one of the weekend highlights, insouciantly swaggering on to deliver a steady and confident set of their rock & roll classics alongside gems from new album ‘Beautiful Future’. Whilst Swastika Eyes, Country Girl and the staple finish of Rocks into Moving On Up sounded brilliant, it was the new material which grabbed Clash, upbeat and as brash as ever you feel the Primals are settling right into where they are at right now. Moment of the night belonged to ‘I’m losing More Than I’ll Ever Have’ with THAT bassline from Loaded. Spinetingling.

"Anyone for hearing ‘Standing In The Way of Control’ for a 198th time??"

Down in deepest darkest dance-land the belly of the beast was bulging to the sounds of Soulwax, bravely covering( but not quite pulling off ) Daft Punk’s Robot Rock and Television Rules The Nation albeit to rapturous response. There was by now a titanic battle going on with the main stage which was being bossed by the drum & bass badness of Roni Size with MC Dynamite taking his role by the scruff of the neck before passing on to the new school sounds of Dub Step, admirably given a main stage slot to signify the rapid rise of the South London sound. However Skream and Benga’s well delivered DJ set was peppered with sound issues ( from possibly the biggest hanging rig EVER which handled everyone else magically… ) The potential of that set may actually have been better realized on a smaller arena more attuned for the bassline rumble.

A second sunrise was ushered in to the techno classics of Laurent Garnier, effortless in his linking of timeless anthems like “Can U Feel It’ and Hardfloor ‘Acperience’. He handed the baton onto 2 Many DJs for what can only be described as THE most tired rendition of an overdone formula. Basic pop and obvious techno crudely slapped together to make 15 year olds smile – empty! Anyone for hearing ‘Standing In The Way of Control’ for a 198th time??…there was nothing standing in the way of my bed.

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