Essential Slane

James

(1 p.m.)

This year's Slane festival is being opened by the old guys on the block, the Manchester band, James. Led by the animated figure of Tim Booth, James made their reputation supporting The Smiths in the mid1980s, and made their break from indie obscurity with their 1990 hit, Sit Down . Since then it has been a career of highs and lows, the band reaching a wider audience, but also being accused of becoming a stadium band. This year's single, Destiny Calling, proves that James still have the lyrical nous and innate sense of irony needed to keep a firm foot in reality.

The Seahorses

(2.15 p.m.)

When John Squire announced his departure from The Stone Roses, fans feverishly anticipated his next project, certain that the guitarist would recruit a band which matched his prodigious talents. Instead, he plucked some unknown and inexperienced musicians from pub band obscurity, and placed them in the spotlight. The resulting sound was seen as a second-hand Stone Roses, and the single, Love Is The Law , though it reached the Top Ten, was dismissed as third-rate Britpop. Squire's boys still have a lot to prove, and they'll be put to the test when they unveil new material from their forthcoming second album. With The Stone Roses's legacy to live up to, it won't be plain sailing for The Seahorses.

Finley Quaye

(3.30 p.m.)

Winner of the Best Solo Male Award at the Brits this year, Finley Quaye is riding high on a popular wave of support, and his crossover reggae sound is knocking down the barriers from Brixton to Camden. The album, Maverick A Strike, is still in the UK Top 50 a year after its release, and the singles, Sunday Shining, Even After All, It's Great When We're

Together and the current Ultra Stimulation are soundtracks for organic urban life.

Robbie Williams

(5 p.m.)Fired from nice-boy band, Take That, for hanging around with those awful Oasis lads, Robbie Williams seemed set on a crash course towards self-destruction. The tide turned for him with his debut album, Life Through A Lens , which took a Britpop blueprint and shot it through with flashy entertainment values. Hit singles such as Angels and Let Me Entertain You have established Williams as the new Comeback Kid on the block.

Manic Street Preachers

(6.30 p.m.)

The Welsh band with strong political views and fierce punk ideals were laughed off when they began, but albums such as Generation Terrorists and Gold Against The Soul were deadly serious slices of agit-pop, and when guitarist Richie Edwards carved "4-Real" into his forearm, nobody laughed anymore. Edwards disappeared mysteriously in 1995, but far from collapsing in disarray, the Manics became even more focused, coming up with a near-masterpiece in Everything Must Go. Their fifth album, This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours, comes out at the end of this month, and their Slane show will probably feature new songs such as Ready For Drowning, You Stole The Sun From My Heart, and the current single, If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next, the catchiest political song since Working Class Hero

The Verve

(8.30 p.m.)

There's an added edge to the headline event at Slane, because this could well be the last time we ever see The Verve live. Since the departure of guitarist, Nick McCabe, speculation about the band's future has reached fever pitch, some saying the band will fold after they've finished their touring commitments, and others claiming they are planning to return to the studio to work on the follow-up to their 5 million-selling, Urban Hymns album. Anyone who has seen The Verve in action will know that they are capable of real greatness onstage, and that singer Richard Ashcroft has the charisma and passion of a true rock 'n' roll icon, but some doubt whether they can carry it off in front of nearly 80,000 people with one of their key members missing. Still, there's no reason why The Verve shouldn't turn their loss into triumph and produce a magical, musical night. After all, it could be their last.