The Big Chill, Eastnor Castle Deer Park, Malvern

Anyone who attended Glastonbury, and was subsequently deterred from going to other festivals this year, should kick themselves. Very hard. The Big Chill took place on the hottest weekend of the year so far, and the sunshine definitely added to the already wonderful atmosphere.

Once you had managed to clamber over the hill into the main park, the possibilities were endless. It didn't matter what kind of music you liked as pretty much everyone was catered for.

On Saturday afternoon, Ty spent an hour and a half getting the crowd worked up about rubbish hip-hop and his brilliant backing singers. He had the best visuals on the stage's screen: Boris Yeltsin and Prince Charles were among the famous figures attempting various dance moves.

Beside the main bar, a brilliant DJ was spinning everything from "Getting Better" by The Beatles, to "Boo!" by Ms Dynamite. Norman Jay, Seiji from Bugz In The Attic and Gilles Peterson were among the other brilliant selectors on offer during the weekender.

The biggest spectacle was undoubtedly the procession by Amnesty International. A massive throng dressed in pink made its way through the grounds before stopping beside the Open Air stage. The Love Cannon fired into the crowd shortly after summed up the event perfectly. It was a lovely moment.

Watching Isaac Hayes perform classics such as "Shaft" and "Soul Man" ("I'm gonna perform that song I wrote for Sam and Dave..." was the nonchalant intro) on Sunday night, and stretch them into different grooves, was the perfect way to admit to yourself that it would soon be over. Hayes is probably the only person capable of adequately following the master class in flamenco dancing and modern Afro-Cuban styles from Ojos de Brujo.

Earlier in the day, Seasick Steve showed us why they call it the blues, and Schlomo and The Vocal Orchestra did genuinely new things with beatboxing.

The only thing missing over the weekend was a big fancy-dress competition. There was someone dressed like Old Gregg from The Mighty Boosh, however. On reflection, the disguise was a little too good. Was it really him?