FLY Open Air festival @ Hopetoun House, 20 May

Last year guests of the inaugural FLY Open Air festival were in for a treat as they were hosted in Princes Street Gardens, at the foot of Edinburgh Castle. A double booking of the original venue for its second year meant the festival was close to cancellation, scarpering the hopes of festival goers and organiser alike. FLY’s event organiser Tom Ketley luckily secured an equally grandiose festival location at Hopetoun – a stately home still occupied in the south wing by the Earl of Hopetoun. The day of the festival also happened to be the Earl’s birthday (more on that later).

Arriving at Hopetoun House's medieval-looking entrance gate means a refreshing walk up the long avenue to the festival grounds, as bewildered Highland cows stare on from the field adjacent, followed by a field of nonchalant black sheep, as the majestic country house appears into view. Unfortunately, with queues for passing through security lasting over an hour for some revellers, it's a briefly anti-climatic start. With some 4,000 people arriving throughout the day, queues are somewhat inevitable, but thankfully there are no further issues at the multitude of bars and food trucks available on site as FLY's latest open air festival extravaganza gets underway.

Starting off proceedings is FLY club regular La La. A small crowd gradually fills the gravel in front of the stage for her well-balanced set, with tracks ranging from Sameed's smooth and groovy Dusty Jazz (Late Night Edit) to the higher tempo of Temperance (DJ Spen Remix) from The Journeymen. Thankfully, ponchos are available for the dancers brave enough to weather the drizzling rain.

Next up is the charismatic selector Arthur Smith aka Artwork. The enthusiasm is clear and reciprocated as he drops Lawik's Sicacor, a fantastic building tech house track. Mic in hand, Smith then attempts to instruct the crowd into a soul-train style dance along, though the idea is lost on the young crowd who instead form a funky mosh pit, minus the violence. Towards the end of his set, Smith advises his audience that today is in fact Lord Hopetoun’s birthday, and that we should all sing happy birthday to him – we oblige.

Following Artwork is the world-wise selector Hunee. A curator in dance music, he expertly blends house, disco, afro and techno and gets the crowd moving with the likes of Todd Terry's Desire (What I Want). As a performer, Hunee is not the most animated DJ but he's clearly highly skilled with all concentration focused on his mixer.

After a good old chat with Hunee on stage, Midland takes control and continues the upbeat vibe laid out by his predecessor. The sun is finally out, which is a welcome relief from the grey drizzle throughout the day thus far. Seeing Midland's name on the line-up we’re sure many music fans are hoping to hear his seminal track Final Credits, but today we're surprised not to. Midland does instead offer up an absolute topper of a track, The Basement Is Burning, a new release by the talented Marquis Hawkes.

The biggest cheer of the day is saved for a young lad with striking blonde hair, FLY Club resident Denis Sulta. The enigmatic Glaswegian is on the tip of the tongue of many music fans, selling out Cabaret Voltaire regularly with his resident shows as well as releasing his own productions on the Dixon Avenue Basement Jams and Numbers labels. Sulta enthuses the crowd with a fantastic mix of new and old two-stepping house gems, including the classic Greece 2000 by Three Drives along with Ian Pooley's 900 Degrees, which encapsulates Sulta’s cheeky, up-beat persona. Work it Out by Karizma is a vocal-heavy fist pumper, but the track that gets the fans really excited is of course his own Nein Fortiate, an atmospheric and trippy synth-prominent track that is produced to the highest quality, an indicator of how far Sulta's talent extends.

Northern Irish duo Bicep then have the arduous task of following Sulta's accomplished set. The Belfast boys are no strangers to a main stage and today they take on their headliner status with ease. Playing to a packed-out site as the sun dips down is an impressive sight to witness, with their celebrated light show and smoke machines coming into full effect against a varied mix of house and techno. The biggest cheers arise from their own track Unreleased Bicep and their bold remix of 808 State's In Yer Face.

For all the time and effort put into the event by the FLY team they deserve sunshine from start to finish – mercifully, the weather has brightened up in the evening, duly affording festival goers respite from the rain. Considering the unplanned change of location from last year's Princes Street Gardens, the extra transport required and all the logistics inherent with organising a festival of this scope, FLY have pulled it out the bag for the second time running. We're already looking forward to FLY Open Air number three.