Rockness Festival - Friday 11th June

Rockness is the second biggest music festival in Scotland (apparently some weekend on an airfield in Balado is slightly bigger) and easily lives up to its claim by organizers that it's "the most beautiful festival in the world."

Due to a late arrival on site and a couple of catch-up cans of lager (which were still cool at this point) the first act of my weekend were Nero, or at least the one half of the duo that decided to turn up. The member of the dubstep/drum and bass DJs in attendance dropped tracks from the forthcoming debut album, remixes and reworks created in the past couple of years and ended on a raucous note with System of A Down and Rage Against The Machine before his time on stage ran out and his equipment was swarmed by roadies midway through current single 'Innocence'.

In their parka jackets and John Lennon sunglasses you could mistake Brother for an Oasis tribute band and, although I am a fan of their recorded material, they seemed to have more swagger than skill... Not unlike Oasis!

Two Door Cinema Club prove a highlight of the weekend. Their early evening set made for dramatic views down the Loch and the last blast of the day's sunshine added to their upbeat, perfectly formed, danceable indie-pop. The timid Northern Irish lads look like they've just left school but they seem to be able to work a fairly sizeable crowd like they've been at it for years.

Mark Ronson played a surprisingly good DJ set, proving pop music can indeed still be cool. His mix of ultra famous singles (Valerie, Ooh Wee et al) and lesser known mixes from across genres worked well and his years of experience behind the decks were obvious.

And so onto Friday night headliners Kasabian, the band most made the trip for (whether it be a 20 minute drive from Inverness or 12 hours in a bus from London). Opening with 'Club Foot' from their self titled debut, it was tricky to keep two feet on the ground even from my viewpoint beside the sound desk. A quick look around at the masses of people who had stumbled out of the campsite to see the band shows just how popular they are. The set consisted of classics (L.S.F, Empire and Shoot The Runner stood out as crowd favourites) and only two tracks from the forthcoming new album, Velociraptor!, including first single 'Switchblade Smiles' which was released on the eve of the festival. On stage guitarist/vocalist Serge resembles a modern day Slash and has his trademark Rambo style head scarf completed the ultimate rock band member look. Singer Tom Meighan parades back and forth on stage, occasionally throwing his arms open in a "let's be 'avin ya" style. Closing Friday night's headline set with 'Fire' - arguably the best festival sing along of the modern era - Kasabian seem to be at the height of their fame and it'll take Muse's Reading and Leeds performance to win back the status as ultimate British live rock and roll band. With flares, flags and crowdsurfers, for the first time in the few years I've been coming to Rockness it felt like a proper festival, worthy of challenging T In The Park's grasp on Scottish music festivals.