Isle of Wight Festival, Seaclose Park, Newport

Chiefs light the path for heroes to come

The Kaiser Chiefs closed the opening night of the Isle of Wight Festival with tantalising sketches from their unheard new album, whetting the appetite for a star-packed weekend.

The Rolling Stones' rampaging set last year signalled the moment the revived Isle of Wight Festival hit the big time. The Sex Pistols and The Police, reformed veterans of very different punk-era campaigns, are primed to headline this weekend, with Iggy Pop's Stooges, Ian Brown, The Zutons, New Young Pony Club, Sugababes and James among the other potentially potent acts.

The early part of Friday was by contrast a gentle warm-up, with Pete Doherty proteges Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong, indie wannabes The Wombats and the inexplicably popular Hoosiers.

KT Tunstall gave the first hint of real character, as she tried to start a mass body-pop, and free-associated about a "particularly mental" friend. Blanket-heavy harmonies, raw acoustic guitar and humane spirit separate her from her desperately pliable female pop peers. On "The Other Side of the World", she even led her band in drunen country-rock. But she remains a minor talent, shot through the ranks in a period of low expectations.

Previous years have seen the festival consciously nod to its Sixties past, when Bob Dylan, the Doors and Jimi Hendrix headlined. This year, US counter-culture veterans Curved Air were relegated to the new second stage. Violins and grand, pompous synth-chords framed Sonja Kristina's stentorian voice, as she stood proud in a black leather mini-skirt, like a cut-price Grace Slick. Veteran fans and curious, half-laughing ravers filled the tent, and the authentic smoke of rock's unhealthy past could briefly be sensed in the air.

N.E.R.D. made hard rock limber with the skittering cyber-off-beats of their day-job as hip-hop producers the Neptunes, without ever convincing as rock stars themselves.

The Kaiser Chiefs reintroduced themselves with the hits which made them eventually tired arena fixtures last year – "Everything's Average Nowadays" and the brutally direct pop bullet "Ruby" among them.

But it was when Ricky Wilson took his shirt off and announced some selections from the third album they're just starting to record – "writing the future hits of tomorrow," he modestly suggested – that the night finally fascinated.

"Never Miss a Beat" is built on squelching, dirty electro synth-chords, not unlike "Girls and Boys", by their long-time models Blur. But its look at "the kids on the street", discussing uniformity and rebellion while nodding at archaic youth anthems such as Mott the Hoople's "All the Young Dudes", was surprising and stimulating, as they haven't been for two years. "I Predict a Riot", their last startling, crucial moment soon followed.

The Stranglers were singing "No More Heroes" in the big tent as Friday finished. But with Iggy and the Pistols still to come, there's no shortage here.