Ist Ist, LIINES, Bob Vylan, Bis, Jane Weaver, Meryl Streek, Pip Blom, The Big Moon, Chameleons, Mari­ka Hack­man, The Bar Stool Preach­ers, Dexy’s and Future Islands made Fri­day a very full day of great music.

All the stages opened and the weath­er was look­ing promis­ing. Man­ches­ter band Ist Ist were a high­light – Adam Houghton’s doomy vocals com­bined with the band’s rich instru­men­ta­tion are a potent mix.

We head­ed to the Worst Album Cov­ers exhi­bi­tion stall where we could vote for our three favourites – the major­i­ty are so hilar­i­ous­ly awful it’s not an easy task to choose.

Over on the Wood­land Stage we saw a wel­come return of Man­ches­ter girl duo LIINES, who played on the same stage in 2022. They went qui­et for a while but are most def­i­nite­ly back. Zoe’s vocals are as intense as ever and they seem to have a renewed vigour. We were treat­ed to the unveil­ing of a new sin­gle called Hold­ing On.

Ask any­one for their top must-sees from this year’s line­up and no doubt Bob Vylan will be on their list. They came, saw and con­quered two years ago and are now up there with Beard­ed The­o­ry roy­al­ty. Vylan begins his set with a mini work­out com­plete with stretch­es and move­ments to men­tal­ly gets him­self into the right head­space for his per­for­mance. The last time some­one lim­bered up on stage at Beard­ed The­o­ry was Mr Moti­va­tor, and that’s going back a few years. Vylan struts the stage, pas­sion­ate­ly deliv­er­ing suc­cinct lyrics that main­ly speak of the duo’s frus­tra­tion over social issues and inequality.

Jane Weaver’s spacey psych was enhanced by the Wood­land stage night-time ambi­ence with strings of lights and flags shim­mer­ing in the trees, while her soar­ing vocals seemed to echo around the for­est glade. She played num­bers from her stun­ning new album Love in Con­stant Spec­ta­cle – the title track is a glo­ri­ous­ly psych-drenched number.

Pho­to gallery Thurs­day
Pho­to gallery Sat­ur­day

Beard­ed The­o­ry festival