So with it here to stay and attracting respectable ticket sales we decided to visit their latest Nottingham offering. Laid out over 5 venues with an excess of 100 artists ranging from the tooth achingly sweet, Ellie Goulding to the avant-garde Beach House, looking at the line up you could tell that it had been thoughtfully crafted to include something for everyone. With it seeming that the organisers had a sense of taste or at least an idea of what yours/ours was.

In terms of digits this festival is still an infant, however you shouldn't equate this with a lack of experience. In the past not everything has always ran so smoothly, from overcrowding of venues to excessive queues and the rest but the great thing about youth is the ability to learn quickly without repeating mistakes. This year we saw Dot to Dot making the needed improvements in an effort to keep people happy, venues accessible and bars well staffed.

For us the best part of this event though; aside from the music was the ever constant closeness of each of the venues, meaning the day wasn’t spent like a new recruit in the foreign legion wandering aimlessly from stage to stage, rammed in like sardines, hour after hour. Not trying then to be dazzled by its youthful good looks or charm you may be able to tell that we enjoyed Dot to Dot, but this wasn’t without good reason. With so many bands it was hard to decide who to see. The ones that stood out for us though are the ones below who deserve a mention and your future attention.

First up Liars with a dark and uncompromising performance, hindered at the start by a few technical problems, however the boys pulled it up to standard with an expected competent coverage of Sisterworld with a few others thrown in for good measure.

Next on our list, Beach House with all the grace and refinement necessary to keep the attention of the audience held throughout, despite some of the songs seemingly blending into one long mixed tape. Victoria Legrand the singer seemed to keep all eyes on her, half of the audience lusting after her, the other wanting to be her. All around watchers seemed entranced by the bands, dream pop fusion.

Then a change of pace and venue moving onto Blood Red Shoes raising heart rates and pulses at Rock City, where they truly set the place alight with a scorching set from ‘It’s Getting Boring By The Sea’ and ‘You Bring Me Down’ to newer tracks ‘Fire Like This’.

Afterwards, Mystery Jets, the loveable boys next door providing an energetic follow up with new material from their upcoming album including ‘Serotonin’ and ‘Flash A Hungry Smile’.

However the show stealers for us were Casio Kids. If you were looking to dance then Stealth was the place to be. They delivered a set filled to the brim with their high energy, high impact Norwegian electro pop. If there was a ‘band that looked as though they were having the most fun award' for this festival, then this was that band. Energy burst forth from them as competently as the strobes did through the crowd, busting moves in the audience. Engaging my attention alone by using a pineapple as a set of maracas for half of the set, this is a band that made me feel at home. Not worrying about looking cool, there to entertain and to be fair isn’t that the point of live music. The crowd picked up on this vibe and this was definitely where if you weren’t, you should have been.

Overall we were impressed this year. Roll on 2011.

Words by Raegan Oates

Photos by Amy Brammall http://www.amybrammall.com/