It didn't happen. Instead, an eerie mist came down with the evening and chilled the 33,000 who had turned up to get another dose of the magic of last year's debut event.

Doubled to two days and going up by 50 per cent from last year's capacity 22,000 mostly good-natured revellers, this year's Rock Ness had a lot to prove in its new role as second largest festival in Scotland.

The prophets of doom predicted ned invasion, violence and rivers of piss – just your average central belt festival experience, then.

But happily, none of that came to pass. Sadly, despite the free cameras given out by a bookies' chain, no-one got even a sniff of a shot of Nessie grooving away to the likes of The Chemical Brothers, Groove Armada or The Manic Street Preachers.

But the good news was that dance pilgrims lured up the North road with the promise of a genuinely special event – the return of Daft Punk to Scotland after a 10-year absence – were not disappointed. They just had to be very, very patient for their treat.

A 50-minute delay in the appearance of the masked duo as the climax for many people's festival on Sunday night tested the faith in the masked Frenchmen. The queues to get into the tent had begun up to six hours before the scheduled start in the 10,000 capacity tent. And even with the side lifted to allow the thousands standing around the tent to get a view of the genuinely jaw-dropping light show planned by da funksters, it was still almost certain that very few saw the show as it was truly intended by Daft Punk.

And the more cynical among the fans might have wondered if the duo shouldn't just have settled for the chance for everyone to enjoy the spectacular from the main stage in the gloaming, rather than the darkness of a tent they insisted their show needed.

Still, The Manic Street Preachers, left at the main stage with a much smaller crowd than they might expect anywhere else, rampaged through a long set that teased with classics from their past right up to the present.

You Love Us, Motorcycle Emptiness and latest single Your Love Alone Is Not Enough also entertained the Daft Punk diehards and the mildly curious up at the top of the hill outside the Clash tent. We merely had to turn 180 degrees to tap into the Manics who started their set bang on time at the bottom of the long hill, framed by the lush landscape of the loch behind them.

The scene at last weekend's Rock Ness. Trevor Martin

Fireworks seared through the damp darkness as the Welshmen swerved out of their first-ever hit Motown Junk and on to one of their biggest anthems, Design For Life.

It would have been the perfect climax to the weekend, except the late-running Daft Punk were still pounding away in the tent up the hill.

But earlier, as the two giants of rock and dance battled it out, in the small XFM X-Posure / goNorth tent, a small group of rosy-cheeked young Icelanders were reminding their audience just how powerful a force the energy of an ambitious, manically-energetic young band can generate.

Like many of the other acts appearing at the goNorth festival in Inverness just before Rock Ness, Ultramegatechnoband with their synth storm of furious-paced songs gave you the chance to see the beginning of a journey that may well end on a festival main stage not too far away.

If they are lucky, it might even be on the lush, rolling fields of Loch Ness, a festival land where the shuttle buses now run like clockwork, the music has something for every taste and there is always a chance to join the monster party.

* See this week's Highland News and North Star for your chance to win the first two tickets for Rock Ness 2008!

m.chrystall@highland-news.co.uk

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend