Weekend gig had something for everyone

Of course, the question that immediately raises its perky little head is how can any one person see all the Witnness acts (about 70 across four separate stages; Witnness Main, More, Rising, and Dance) without the subtle art of multi-location - and hiking boots?

The answer is you can't, and herein lies the double-edged sword that is Witnness: going from one stage or tent to the next (not an arduous task, as they're all reasonably close to each other) means that at some point in the two-day event you're bound to miss something.

The other major drawback is that such a fragmented approach inevitably lacks the provision of a focus - a major headline arena act - that the likes of a Slane/RDS/Lansdowne Road/Croke Park gig affords. For many, however, the across-the-board disparity of the event clearly works, the amount of acts performing impressive, and with only curmudgeons complaining of dissatisfaction.

Truly, there was something for everyone at Witnness, probably the best organised and situated event of its kind in terms of facilities and infrastructure, and definitely the coming of age of open-air music festivals in Ireland.

In the heel of the hunt, The Irish Times adopts a smash'n'grab approach to proceedings - a half an hour here, 20 minutes there - all the while casting envious glances at those relaxing in front of the various stages on inflatable sofa chairs (obviously this year's open-air festival accessory).

Saturday kicked off with Relish (Main), a fine rock/soul band from Downpatrick whose music plays to the arrival of over 30,000 people. A peep in at Aran McMahon (Dance) highlights the fact that clubbers are only waking up at 2 p.m. Mouse On Mars (More) provide the first highlight of the day with their electronica stance: subtle throbbing shifts and waves of music that contained shades of Kraftwerk and other German man-versus-machine bands.

Jack L (Main) was working the crowd into a nicely paced frenzy, the loudest aspect of his performance his matching red shirt and glasses and his feather boa. Badly Drawn Boy (More) attracted the crowds but live performances from the Boy (Damian Gough) are legendarily chaotic and in this area he didn't disappoint. Mesner (Rising) provided the necessary guitar overload to create a taster for The Undertones (Main), who provided the second highlight.

Appearing on an open-air stage in Ireland for the first time since 1983's farewell gig at Punchestown, the reformed Undertones blasted through a Best Of set with all the guitar-oriented grace of a band who know they're still great. It's Gonna Happen, True Confessions, Julie Ocean, Wednesday Week, Tearproof, Get Over You, Male Model, When Saturday Comes and the mother of all singles, Teenage Kicks, were re-enacted with style and guitar-pop panache, not one of them sounding stale or out of place.

MJ Cole (Dance) was something of a let-down, however - competent but uninspiring UK garage. Cole was followed by possibly the loudest set of the event: Death In Vegas rumbled onto the Dance tent stage and proceeded to startle the poor lambs into submission with what sounded like articulated truckloads of riffs, beats and techno slabs.

David Gray (Main), on the other hand, had a rather more sedate attitude with a clutch of acoustic-based songs that, for many, was the perfect time to drunkenly hug each other and claim friendship for life. Two hours of His Grayness, however, was possibly too much, which is why Super Furry Animals (More) and Happy Mondays (More) ripped the fabric of Witnness apart with, respectively, controlled, acidic mayhem and loose-limbed Loaded shenanigans.

Come Sunday, it was more of the same, with one or two cracking surprises: Northern Ireland's Snow Patrol (More) were superb, teasing out pre-recorded soundbites and effects amidst a barrage of guitar chords and trumpet-playing (so uncool it worked). Jubilee Allstars (Rising), JJ72 (More), and David Kitt (Rising) were equally strong and effective, although All Saints (Main) played a relatively weak populist card with the likes of Booty Call, Never Ever and Walk This Way.

The home stretch was provided by the likes of Paul Weller, Beck, Travis (Main), Therapy?, Asian Dub Foundation (More), Groove Armada, Roni Size Reprazent, Kenny Dope (Dance), and The Walls, The Frames and Yo La Tengo (Rising).

At the close of the debut of Witnness, the impression is that finally a compromise between fans of different music has been reached in an event and arena that can cope with the needs of many thousands.

While there's no guarantee Witnness will take place next year, if its promoters can manage not to repeat-book acts there's no reason why it shouldn't be as successful and all-encompassing. Thumbs up, then? Most assuredly.