Guest post: Blast reporter at Jersey Live

BBC Jersey's Blast reporter for 2010 was Quick and the Dead member and aspiring journalist, Sam Falle.

Sam spent the weekend at the Jersey Live festival watching the local acts as well as the big names to give us his take on the 'Jersey' scene at the islands biggest music event.

This is his report.

Saturday

My weekend begins with the sound of Pirate Video Company opening the Les Inrocks stage. Though the meticulously thorough security checkpoint - which rivals Gatwick - means I miss the beginning of their set, I can hear the opening strains of their track 'Metonymy' enticing me into the arena.

Runner-up in the JL battle of the bands, Pirate Video Company benefit from the powerful bass rig in place on the revamped Les Inrocks stage. It's a punishing half hour of dance punk and a great start the weekend.

Next up on the Les Inrock stage are Jerseylive favourites The Valentines. These guys keep coming back over for another slice of the festival. Once upon a time, The Valentines were a Jersey band who moved to Brighton.

Now this connection is only alive in frontman Christian Jegard and a clutch of old songs.

Now surrounded by a cast of Brightonians, Jegard's new Valentines have reimagined the band's Libertines-esque leanings using a Roxy Music flavour and image. It works.

Wild West Tease

I then head to the Wild West Tease stage to catch more local music action. This tent will host a lot of local talent during Jerseylive. It is testament to the strength of the local scene that there is two days worth of quality home grown live music.

I watch junior beach rockers The Wizz please a burgeoning crowd, singer Isaac Evans' confidence seems to grow with each passing gig and he effortlessly controls this festival set.

I then head into the hospitality area and grab a bowl of lamb tagine. The sudden burning pain in my pocket is due to inevitably steep festival prices. But the quantity and quality of what I get serves as an ample palliative.

Jerseylive has looked intently across the pond to the east this year with a gaggle of Gailic bands taking to the Les Inrocks and Mainstage.

Main stage

My first taste of today's Mainstage is Fenech electro rock from Fenech Soler. I'd been recommended this band a few months back by a friend at university but it seems he hadn't familiarised himself with Friendly Fires.

It probably isn't fair to criticise a band for being too similar to one of their peers but in this instance, it is a fact; Fenech Soler put on a fun show, frontman dancing like he's just left a salsa class.

It's hard as nails to pull off this sort of dance rock fusion, but their closeness in sound to Friendly Fires means I cannot help but think that Fenech Soler were not the organiser's first choice. Total doppelgangers.

It is now getting close to my own stage time - my band Quick and the Dead are playing in the Wild West Tease tent very soon - but I am extremely keen to grab an interview with Biffy Clyro.

I'm watching my watch as DJ Ryan Morrison and I wait on the band that is for many the centre-point of the whole weekend.

Unfortunately they are having an argument and my own band mates are texting me relentlessly asking me to set up. So we snag an interview with The View instead and then I am running.

Quick and the Dead's set goes well. We have a great crowd in spite of the clash with Chase and Status on the Mainstage.

At one point I jump into the crowd knocking over a guy in the first row who promptly spills his drink all over himself. As Karmic realignment, in the process, I manage to tear my guitar lead apart.

After the set, a crowd of thousands watch Biffy Clyro decimate the Mainstage. The Jerseylive audience are treated to a set almost exclusively built out of hits from their last two albums Puzzle and Only Revolutions.

The only foray into older material comes early in their set with the disco-meets-post-hardcore sound of 'Glitter and Trauma' from their third record 'Infinity Land'. As a fan of the band, I am disappointed not to hear more of their earlier material; no 'Just Boy', '27', '57', 'Questions and Answers' or even 'There's No Such Thing As A Jaggy Snake' which they played only last week at Reading Festival.

But such is the nature of a small festival set where the crowd will only really know the material from after they blew up. Though some say their set was too short for a main support slot, there is no shortage of epic moments tonight and such a show begs the question as to what mountainous heights this band will scale next.

To round of the day I catch the headliners of the Les Inrocks Stage, Paris band Jamaica.

A glowing 80's abandon resonates throughout their set. They perform a tongue in cheek cover of Police classic 'Message In A Bottle' and their closer 'When are you guna stop working' have dancing around like a gang of nuts.

Jamaica's music makes violent demands of the audience; their breakdowns echo early-Biffy and the brilliance of this sound only serves to highlight what was lacking in their influencer's own set.

My last and likely unnecessary meal of the day comes in the form of a pie and mash with mushy peas and gravy. At the could-be-worse price of £5:50, it is delicious and very filling. Plus there is no queue.

I leave the festival as mainstage headliner Groove Armada's 'If you're fond of Sand Dunes and Salty Air' fills the arena. The song serves as a euphoric and wistful soundtrack to the close of an excellent day of live music.