Guest blog: Carrie Cooper at Jersey Live

The 2010 Jersey Live festival is bigger than ever before with bands from around the world performing across the festivals seven stages over the two days.

BBC Jersey are at the festival in force and our very own tame DJ, Carrie Cooper, has been hanging out around the showground.

This is her report from day one.

A very varied day. Jersey Live is one of those events you just can't get away from for six months of the year. Not a day goes by that you aren't hit by an email, poked by social networking or blasted with an image of the logo.

For months talk of "you going to JL?", "what you wearing to JL?", "how you getting up to JL?". In July a cousin asked me "what time are you going up to JL on the Sunday"? Seriously.

So it's fair to say by the time it arrives it's with mixed feelings I attend. It can be nerve wracking approaching large events at the best of times, but somehow in Jersey that can be heightened by the fact that you have probably crossed lives with a large chunk of the people present.

I shuffled around the ticket allocation shed, sweating in a black dress, rucksack weighed down by radio equipment, CDs, and vanity apparatus, wondering if, after all this JL bombardment of the last 6 months I was going to get in at all. It took an hour for me to find out. So we're in.

First stop was the Jersey Telecom Recharge tent where the relatively new outfit The Audio were furiously at it, while smily, fezzie dressed Jerseyites jigged with about with anticipation for the day.

The Audio's more recognizable members of the band are Jim Dolan formerly of The Author and irrepressible lovable scouser Keith Cummins aka Keith Saxman (a saxophone normally so ever present it kind of threw me to see him without it). They were well received and when an encore was called for, being a newish band, had to return to the first track.

Time to move on. So I strolled through main field, gorgeous blue skies peppered with billowing silky flags and practically tripped over my younger, 19 year old brother. He was with his 'crew' who were already looking quite 'involved' at this point.

They were sharing a checkered rug with someone's mum and other family members, both generations taking in We Have Band. My brother's day was all about Professor Green's performance later.

Embarrassingly perhaps, I have no idea what this guy is about, so keep quiet. I grabbed my brother and we made our way through to the front to catch Darwin Deez a group from New York who describe themselves as "indie rock with a side of calisthenics".

They had always struck me as the kind of guys you'd definitely have around for tea. Silly, considerate and would do the washing up. It translated to the Jersey Live stage where they encouraged crowd chanting, unison arm waving and jumped off the stage behind the barrier to perform an impromptu dance routine. Without irony, I suspect.

Spirits raised and getting too cosy with others in the small triangle of shade under the main stage I moved on.

I took a stroll around the food village and found my culinary bearings. I visited the Full Flow local DJ tent which was lively, had a good atmosphere and did exactly what it said on the tin, although it must be said there was a notable absence of some hardworking, present DJs in the island.

Great idea though, and good opportunity for local dedicated DJs, of different genres to hang out and listen to each other, where they otherwise might not visit 'competing' nights.

My first visit to the dance tent was to visit battle predator, clubrocker, scratch music pioneer and upcoming producer DJ Rafik. The younger crowd were in full force taking in the German former DMC champion's undeniable skills.

As I often feel with these sorts of DJ's, when they perform for a large crowd, sometimes the music used to demonstrate the skills is compromised, almost overlooked in favour of technicality.

We walked into Rafik scratchig over Sneaker Pimp's "Spin Spin Sugar", which I imagine if you're younger and hearing it for the first time can be quite exciting. The room was jumping and grins were wide.

Notable highlight in the Dance Arena for me was French electro house duo Teenage Bad Girl who provided me with my first dance of the day. It has to be said access to the Dance Arena was much more straight forward than any other years I've known.

Soon after I stumbled across my Dad on the grass and we took a stroll around reflecting on festivals 'in his day'. He talked of the evolution of festivals and got the feeling he missed the days of flat out 70 rock and serious misbehaving.

The beauty of a music event like Jersey Live though where generations can collide, be catered for and celebrate the island and today's music is undeniably a gift for Jersey.

The Les Inrocks Magic Stage which hosts numerous emerging artists from the UK and Europe perform was pretty special.

Memorable moments were We Are Enfant Terrible and electronic band Rubin Steiner, with roots of Jean Michel Jarre who's frontman performed in a horse's head. They spoke not a word of English to the crowd and each band member smoked throughout. Oui, oui.

If I was to recommend a must-do today it would be to catch Cabadzi. French Hip Hop accompanied by a French horn, cello, beatboxing and Darwin Deez's drummer. Such a strange yet effective blend of sounds.

I imagine the crowd will be a little more grown up today and everyone will have relaxed into the spirit of of the weekend.

So my plan is to spend a lot more time around the main stage taking in Django Django, The Magic Numbers, Kate Nash and try to squeeze in a dance to Jaguar Skills.

Toying with the idea of getting my hair 'bouffed' at the festival salon, get some facial reflexology and taking advantage of the excellent grub. Of course Paul Weller will be in field providing the day with a real "there's a STAR in room" vibe.

As with all festivals a plan for the day really isn't worth the paper it's written on and with any luck I will be guided into as many unexpected fantastic musical moments as I was yesterday. Time to consult the wardrobe. What to wear? What to WEAR?????

You can see photos of the festival updated throughout the weekend on the BBC Jersey Flickr stream or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.