Between the songs that opened the main stage for action on Saturday, he confessed to the Rock Ness crowd that he'd had to turn away just to check his flies weren't undone.

Reality can seems a little too good to be true at Rock Ness.

The fairytale setting and usually great weather restore even the most cynical person's faith that a music festival doesn't have to be a greedy, smelly, drunken, commercial exercise in creaming off your cash for the least possible return.

Each year so far, the Rock Ness organisers seem to tackle problems head on and sort them out for next year – as they did with the transport troubles of the first year and the toilet gripes of last year.

Along the way, the police have been positive and supportive and the Dores villagers have been tough but fair about the monster that comes to live in their space once a year.

The crowd is good-humoured and thoughtful.

People spotted with towers of cardboard drink cups were taking part in a scheme to earn themselves a reward by returning them for recycling. And when the arena opened on Sunday morning, there wasn't a piece of litter left on the ground from the previous day's mess, thanks to an overnight litter pick-up operation.

In other words, if Rock Nessie were a dinosaur, she'd be evolving her way into the upright position at a pace that was frightening. In three years, the event has gone from being a one-day party with Fatboy Slim to a full blown two-day festival with a host of dance acts and bands. And with this week's news that the organisers have joined forces with AEG Live UK, one of the world's biggest music promoters, the event will surely move on again next year, though hopefully not spoil its smallfest charms.

Like any festival, there are little gripes – some of the last-minute line-up changes left the festival's online forum buzzing with a few disappointed fans. And the Skins Live Arena tent spent a good part of the afternoon and evening running half an hour late till it caught up for Annie Mac, leaving timings out if you were trying to fit in seeing as many acts as possible.

But it can be hard to lose the relaxed feeling of Rock Ness to play the bag-as-many-acts-as-possible game you might be up for at other festivals.

Still, there were great bands and dance acts to see.

Though FATBOY SLIM's set was long, he brought a real party atmosphere to the end of Saturday as the mist that chilled last year's first night descended right on cue. The laser show added drama to a set that included a couple of the new tracks – one featuring Talking Head David Byrne – from his upcoming album under the name Brighton Port Authority. But there were all the tracks we expected too, his own Right Here, Right Now and Praise You! with Arcade Fire's No Cars Go, H2 O's What's It Gonna Be and his must-have remix of the Automatic's Monster. But a change of pace ended the night, as he sat on the edge of the stage, dangling his legs, bowing to the huge crowd in front of him and swooshing a Saltire like a bullfighter as John Paul Jones' Love Is In The Air sent us off from day one in high spirits.

Razorlight couldn't quite match Fatboy's highs on Sunday. For them, it seemed more like just another big gig, the encore failing to hit the expected emotional high as the firework show began to drown out Johnny Borrell's last words.

At a festival, you're looking for big personalities to make their mark – and this year's Rock Ness had more than its fair share.

THE CUBAN BROTHERS on the main stage on Saturday added the perfect party atmosphere. Breakdancing, head-spinning, salsa and a touch of Quincy Jones saw loads of humour as Miguel stripped to his posing pouch and the six-packed Kengo San showed off his dancing skills and his taut buttocks as Miguel used them as bongos.

ROISIN MURPHY's wacky fashions and flamboyant robot dancing and fist-fights with her two backing singers made her Clash Arena set one of the highlights of the whole festival, though it made the normally over-the-top CSS facing a tough follow-up, despite their balloons and Ladyfoxx's energy.

MYSTERY JETS wore their pastel-coloured suit jackets in a set which paid tribute to Scotland's Aztec Camera with a cover of their song Somewhere In My Heart, and after a powerful version of their latest single Two Doors Down, lead singer Blaine Harrison gave us an invitation it was hard to refuse.

"We went skinny-dipping in Loch Ness earlier, I can recommend it," before inviting us back for another session in the water.

Colin Fraser of Jyrojets.

PRAVDA from Paris made the most of the small tent goNorth shared with the Bollywood experience Frontwoman Sue in striking skeleton T-shirt was the focus of the three-man band.

The tent wasn't that easy to find at first, but plenty found their way there for sets from LOWTIDE REVELRY, with Michelle Davidson looking stunning in her red and black polkadot dress. For locals who remembered Lochaber band Carson the tent gave a chance to catch up with two of the members in new band BE MY FAMILIAR with uplifting melodies and boy-and-girl shared vocals.

THE VIEW in the Clash Arena – just not big enough for all those who wanted to get inside to see Dundee's finest, to sing along with the hits Superstar Tradesman and catch the first sound of a new song that signals the Dryburgh lads have plenty more songs in them yet.

For anyone not too familiar with all the dance acts, there seemed a sameyness to the set-up with a lot of the acts – after all, two blokes and a rake of equipment covers everyone from Daft Punk to SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO, the fabulously silver-jacketed UNDERWORLD with a mesmerising Karl Hyde and BLACK GHOSTS in the Skins tent – they had that tent of young, beautiful people jumping. But you could also catch the duo in a more intimate setting later, hanging out at the popular Myspace bus, where you could also find Pete Tong and other big stars getting the chance to meet the fans.

HADOUKEN! and DOES IT OFFEND YOU YEAH! seemed to share equal honours when it came to setting their crowds alight. James Smith incited his fans to shoogle their Hi Hadouken! oversize spongey hands in front of him, while for DIOYY! Morgan Quintance in his multi-coloured shirt made a bright focus for electro-charged fans packed into the Skins tent. And it was interesting to spot DIOYY?'s James Rushent sloping into the back of the tent after his set to to check out Hadouken! in action.

Locals JYROJETS opened the main stage on Sunday, warming up the hungover crowd with a chirpy "Hello campers!" from frontman Colin Fraser and a set that might just have set up a few more sales for the debut album out next Monday.

Festival mysteries were out in force as usual. Dying to know the story behind the T-shirt that went "Matt's only friend was the janitor", the recipe for the fantastic macaroni cheese in the Argyll food market tent, the identity of the lucky pilot of the microlight flying over Loch Ness for a sunset bird's-eye view of the festival on Saturday and whether anybody forked out £8 for the useful festival teatowel that made Dores the only place on the UK map (wish I had!).

Performance of the festival for me, came as it quite often does, far away from the main stage and Razorlight's name in lights on Sunday.

Back at the goNorth tent, Kentucky’s finest CAGE THE ELEPHANT were taking performance to a whole new level.

Frontman Matt Schultz had donned a flowery summer dress and a noose of mike cord to rampage – that's the only word – around the stage in an Iggy Pop style. When not clamping his arms around a girl in the front row and saying "Can I see you again?" he was giving new single Ain't No Rest For The Wicked an unforgettable showing as he scaled the tent pole and slid slowly down like a practised pole dancer all the way to the bottom before dancing manically in the crowd.

Waiting for Sunday's fireworks, there was just one thing going through your mind standing on the brow of the hill looking down over the festival site, stage, hills and loch beyond under the summer-bright Highland sky.

As Cuban brother Miguel – or was it Archerio – Mantovani said the night before: "Ladies and gentleman, you are at the most beautiful f*cking festival in the whole world."

As they'd played the day before, it's possible that somewhere in the field in front of them, a boy was dying in the sunshine.

It's a tragedy that couldn't help touching the whole festival experience for everyone there.

But the suddenness of the death of the young man is a powerful reminder that perfect days need to be treasured.

m.chrystall@highland-news.co.uk

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