Music

Upon arriving at the Vale Castle for the 2007 Vale Earth Fair I was instantly treated to the thing that this festival has become famous for, a variety of music.

Phwaor-tet!

On the way up the hill some relaxed reggae was on offer from Fistfullofsoul on the Breaks 'n' Beats stage then in the Castle Phowar-Tet! were playing a selection of classical tracks which gave a medieval folk feeling to start things off and while continuing my exploration of the site I found DJs Datan and Turner spinning some house in the dance zone.

After passing through the dance zone I was pleasantly surprised to find the garden grove like Buttercup Stage at the back of the castle which has grown since its appearance as a semi acoustic stage last year into a fully amplified area, but retaining its chilled out acoustic vibe.

Gordie of Thousand Points Of Hate.

Up first on the Buttercup Stage were a band known for being one of Guernsey heaviest, Thousand Points of Hate, but for today rather than their usual metallic racket they stripped things down for an acoustic set of some of their tunes and a Killswitch Engage cover.

At first this sounded very odd but once my ears got used to the sound, it really coalesced to bring out the more bluesy moments of heavy metal and created an almost Black Sabbath like sound which served to show how good heavy metal can sound when stripped back down to the basics and as ever the band put on a great show for the surprisingly large crowd they drew this early in the day.

Following TPOH, I headed to the Discharge Soundstage, which got up and running, after a few problems with the sound desk, with brit-rockers Stratosfear who sounded great as ever but didn't grab the crowd today as I'm not sure this is their ideal setting.

Kevin Pallot and The Pinnacles.

While Stratosfear were starting to rock things up outside the castle, the main stage welcomed Jersey combo Kevin Pallot and the Pinacles whose funky country tinged Americana really set a good mood for those relaxing in the sun.

Back on the Discharge stage young punks Beetlejuice provided something a bit heavier in the form of their old school punk which went down very well with the surprisingly large crowd considering the early set and featured guest vocals from several members of the crowd including your humble reviewer.

Joel of Beetlejuice.

While Beetlejuice have sounded tighter in the past, today's was a great fun performance that may well have won them a lot of new fans.

The crowd continued to grow outside the castle as Spitshine took to the stage to play a selection of covers and original tunes all in their own blues and rock 'n' roll style.

As ever Joe Corbin impressed tremendously and many in the crowd were commenting on his prowess with the guitar, but the rest of the band shone as well and with the inclusion of a harmonica on a few songs their sound continues to grow and they remain one of the most universally popular acts on the local scene.

• Next