Wickerman 2013: Friday, 26 July

The impact of the July heatwave can be seen everywhere. Behind the bar in one pub near Partick Cross there’s a chalkboard proclaiming that staff will no longer tolerate small talk about the weather. At the Wickerman festival in Dundrennan, the organisers could have erected a billboard with the same message but no one would have given it a second glance.

The balmy heat is inescapably the main topic of conversation on site. Two days of continuous sunshine in Scotland is a rarity; at a music festival it’s almost unheard of, the sort of good fortune that will still be recalled years later.

Wickerman, which has steadily built its reputation since making a low-key debut in 2001, this year sold out with a couple of days to spare as the public noticed the weekend weather forecast and scrambled for the few remaining tickets.

The festival has many attractions; less screamingly corporate than similar events, more laidback in attitude and that bit easier to navigate due to its compact size. But sitting on a camping chair, supping a warm can of lager and admiring how close you parked your car to your tent can only prove entertaining for so long, regardless of company and sunshine – and you certainly don’t need to travel to rural Kirkcudbrightshire if that's all you plan to do. A festival is nothing without music. Handily, Wickerman 2013 looked to have assembled its strongest line-up to date.

The Solus and GoNorth stages are conveniently pitched alongside each other. When one band finishes their set in one tent, another begins next door. Thus you can familiarise yourself with some of the best new live acts Scotland has to offer in a few short hours – if you can stand the heat once inside.

Glasgow hardcore-merchants RUNGS waste no time in announcing their arrival on the Solus stage with fierce intensity. With their debut LP due out later this year, this is a fine opportunity to win over some new fans, and they don’t waste it. Frontman Stephen Hines immediately jumps off the stage and makes for the barrier, allowing the crowd to appreciate his guttural yells at even closer proximity. This tactic plays well with some more than others in a crowd perhaps unfamiliar with their brand of chaos, but you can bet they still succeeded in adding a sizable number of converts to their cause.

Veteran Edinburgh emcee Solareye, aka Dave Hook, has attracted a large and noisy crowd for his early evening set. He’s a rapper of genuine ability – who can make his audience laugh while still making a political point – and also enjoys recognition as the frontman of Stanley Odd, who have gathered column inches galore in the past few years. The Hector Bizerk fanbase have also turned out in force to see Louie make a guest appearance. The pair make a convincing double act, playing off each other to great effect on Make Waves, from The Pageeant LP, and impressing with a five minute freestyle which completes the set. This being a family-friendly festival, they even apologise for the profanities they use in their rhymes.

Machines in Heaven promised they would build a “wall of bass” during their Wickerman set, and they duly deliver with a staggering rendition of bordersbreakdown, a highlight of their Glasgow Jihad EP. While the song reaches its crashing conclusion, Davey Gwynne steps away from his keyboard to begin singing the Philip Oakley classic Together in Electric Dreams. It’s a fair representation of what Machines in Heaven are all about – big tunes with unpredictable twists.

Woodenbox might be playing a stage that promotes artists not yet well-known to the wider public, but given the size of crowd they attract, you would think they were seasoned festival veterans making a well-publicised surprise appearance. Their rockabilly country sound is easily accessible even to the most casual music fan, even if it does sound a little over-familiar at times. But their set proves to be a winner, and there’s no doubting the ability of frontman Ali Downer to command an audience.

After providing that rhythm guitar part on Daft Punk’s mega smash hit Get Lucky, Nile Rodgers’ star is firmly back in the ascendancy. In fairness, he’s never been away, having collaborated with a dazzling array of stars in the past four decades and continuing to tour with disco legends Chic. Their booking is a coup for the Wickerman organisers, and the group don’t disappoint what is one of the largest crowds of the weekend. Although they are now essentially a touring greatest hits act – and lacking the presence of the late Bernard Edwards, co-founder and bassist extraordinaire – Chic remain a phenomenal live experience.

“We are not a covers band,” Rodgers announces to the crowd. “We do all these songs because we did them in the first place.” Written down, that may sound an almost arrogant statement, but given the sheer number of multi-platinum-selling smash hits Rodgers has written and produced over the years – for the likes of Dianna Ross, Sister Sledge and David Bowie – it’s a worthwhile point to make.  The Chic frontman has every right to take his back catalogue and showcase it to the world, backed by a group of musicians who can more than do the songs justice. And what songs they are. There’s the magnificent disco-funk of Upside Down, the ubiquitous We Are Family, and the still smouldering Le Freak. The only criticism of this triumphant performance is that it’s too short.  A single hour just isn’t enough.

Following a Chic set was always going to be a tall order for any band, but Primal Scream, on paper at least, have the necessary credentials. They’ve got the swagger; they‘ve got plenty of familiar songs. But the Scream face a quandary. Unlike Chic, they still desire to be taken seriously as a contemporary act. They have a new album, More Light, which has attracted their best reviews in 10 years. So they need to play new songs, despite them being unknown to the vast majority of the Wickerman crowd, and still pack in enough crowd pleasers.

It’s a tricky balancing act, and one which they don’t quite manage on this occasion. Moving On Up and Swastika Eyes are dispatched early doors to great acclaim, but it’s not enough to fight off the mass disinterest that greets River of Pain and Goodbye Johnny, two of the slower, more reflective numbers on More Light. The crowd visibly thins out, but Bobby Gillespie has been playing this game too long to show anything less than complete confidence. The band move on without a shrug and bring out their heavy guns. Loaded, Jailbird and Come Together are songs that many lesser bands would kill for; tonight they are enough to justify the Scream’s place as Friday night headliners.