Confusion over set times means we unfortunately arrive too late to catch the impassioned folk songwriting of ex-ASIWYFA man VerseChorusVerse, arriving instead in time to see The Bonnevilles. The sharply co-ordinated two-piece are the Lurgan Black Keys, or The White Stripes with a drummer who can actually drum – and fuelled by Buckfast rather than bourbon. "We haven't forgotten our bass player, we don't own one," quips Andrew McGibbon Jr, and in truth they don't need one – the spontaneity of their stripped-back sound is an attraction in itself, as they mash up Detroit garage rock, bottleneck blues and County Armagh filth. You might think a grimy band like this is a bad choice for a family-friendly daytime event, and let's be honest, 'Good Suits And Fighting Boots' and 'Hardtale Lurgan Blues' are songs built for bar brawls. But through good humour, immense charisma and riffs to spare, the dastardly duo pull it off.

Katie and the Carnival, on the other hand, are exactly the kind of band you would expect to see here, and doesn't Katie look the part? With tumbling blonde hair, glitter-dusted cheeks and a polka dot dress, she is every inch the princess of the party, and she leads her band with gusto, save for the odd bit of confusion over who should be playing electric guitar on any given song. But there's more to this band than simply looking good on stage – their accessible indie-pop songs are well-crafted and beautifully played, with multi-part harmonies to swoon over and a pleasingly bittersweet edge to save us from cloying tweedom. They aren't Belfast's most attention-grabbing band, but they are in their element here.

The same can be said for the city's ska warriors, Pocket Billiards. Soon to celebrate their tenth birthday with a showpiece Mandela Hall gig, the horn-driven skank machine prove their worth as one of Northern Ireland's most reliably fun live draws. Ska-punk quite rightly gets a bad rap at times, but you can blame the Americans for that – thankfully, this is more The Specials and (when it gets rowdy) Capdown than Reel Big Fish and Less Than Jake, and when they slow the tempo the Billiards do a fine line in rootsy reggae and 2-Tone ska. What makes them perfect today, though, is their inclusivity – there may be salty language and plenty of ire in the songs, but Chris Savage is an affable frontman, and with coordinated dance moves and lots of grinning, the emphasis is on fun rather than friction. The two impossibly cute little girls dancing down the front approve, at any rate.

Milking this city's often morbid history is fine as long as there's an alternative. Well, here it is. Roll on the next phase in June.

Chris Jones