Rhian Daly's Secret Garden Party Diary Part 3: Somewhere near Huntingdon, 26-29 July 2007

Artist Visiting Cambridgeshire
12:00pm
And so the last day is upon is, a later start but still packed with many must-see bands and artists and still with so much else to discover. Starting off proceedings for the final day is Hush The Many (Heed The Few), bringing their beautiful psychedelic-folk to the Great Stage. The highlight of the set is most definitely The Knife, a track so haunting and enchanting you lose yourself in it and have to jolt yourself out of the trance like state when it ends.

1:00pm
Following on in the same sort of vein on the Where The Wild Things Are tent is Monkey Swallows the Universe, a band I've heard a lot about without actually hearing the tunes. Needless to say, they're not really what I'm expecting, whatever that was, but they are certainly perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

3:30pm
After confessing all in the Confessions and Sordid Desires stall and contemplating a makeover (before deciding against it) from the Luscious Lips Boudoir, it's off to the Centre Camp to watch Peggy Sue and the Pirates. Two girls and a guitar, equipped with songs to capture your heart, put on a show that leaves you speechless throughout, with the only sentiments after being a series of gushing superlatives. Racing over to the Great Stage after and we're left speechless again. I'm From Barcelona take to the stage in their full 15-piece glory, bringing with them the best atmosphere of the weekend. Balloons and confetti fill the air as they run and bounce around stage, causing the audience to do the same. It's truly beautiful to watch as finale We're From Barcelona kicks in and the confetti flows freely in the wind, with the crowd's vocals as loud as the band's, it takes a lot to stop the tears from flowing although there's absolutely no way you can prevent yourself from smiling like a lunatic.

5:00pm
Skipping down to the AMP Arena, still with a grin pasted to my face, I find a patch of grass to settle myself on to watch The Social, a brilliant indie/punk band with some of the best tunes I've heard all year. They don't disappoint, playing a blinding set including standout track To The Bone.

6:00pm
Back up to the Living Room then to get in before it's too full. Hottest new pop star of the moment, Kate Nash is playing tonight, meaning the tent is probably going to be full before she sets foot in stage. Only she's not playing anymore, citing having to shoot a video as the reason for not being able to play, due to her album, and consequently schedule, having been brought forward by over a month. Still, as scheduled Kate Walsh takes the stage, playing some beautiful acoustic pop songs, although some are slightly too middle of the road and tedious for my liking. She has plenty of fans in the audience however, who are shouting for more for ages after she's finished playing.

Replacing Kate Nash are the Diarys. Not sure whether this means another GoodBooks set, I stick around. Alas, it doesn't, and power problems mar the Diarys set, although they don't cope with it half as well as Newton Faulkner did yesterday. Power persists to be a problem till the start of the Winchell Riots set, when finally a solution is found and things can carry on as normal. Ex-Fell City Girl frontman, Phil McMinn is at the head of this new band, seemingly carrying on from where he left off (although it's hard to say for certain with only an acoustic set to go on). Full band, you'd imagine these melodies would be soaring, lifting off, and that there'd be goosebumps all over your body due to the beauty of the words and the voice singing them. It's a tremendous set in it's own right though, half because of what it could become if the instruments were swapped but also half because of how the songs work just as well with acoustic guitars and no percussion. Songs like Paracetamol Skies and Seeing You stand out almost as well as old FCG track February Snow, a fitting addition to the set.

9:00pm
The moment I've been waiting for has finally arrived. Down the front at the Great Stage, I can't help but cheer excitedly as Atlanta's finest, of Montreal walk on stage, before proceeding to play one of the best sets of the weekend. Mostly containing songs from their latest album Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?, it's a brilliant three quarters of an hour of pure indie pop fun. Famed for putting on a great stage show, tonight is no exception as men dressed all in black, complete with sequin masks, writhe around the front of stage and a man reading a newspaper suddenly transforms into a high kicking maniac. Singer Kevin Barnes races off for a costume change before leaping back on and battling one of the aforementioned black creatures. It's quite a spectacle, and this makes of Montreal one of the must see bands of any festival they play. It has to end though, and it does with the men in black bursting balloons full of glitter over the delighted audience, leaving a touch of the Americans' sparkle with them for a little longer.

There's no way anything can top that, so I climb the nearest hill and sit for a while thinking back of the weekend. This is truly the most beautiful, unique and bizarre festival and I can't wait for next year to arrive so it can start all over again. There's only one thing left to do, and that's to go howl at the full moon with the crowd gathered at the bottom of the hill.

Told you it was bizarre.

Writer: Rhian Daly