Kanda Bongo Man in action at the festival. DB4480P119

By Rupert Hicks

THIS was the year the Larmer Tree Festival came of age. It is hard to believe this friendliest of music festivals, held over five days at the Larmer Tree Gardens near Tollard Royal, is 18 years' old.

And yet non festival-goers don't get the Larmer Tree. "Where are the big names?" they ask. "No Mark Ronson? No Amy Winehouse?"

No - because such mainstream stars would mess with the Larmer Tree's uniquely intimate vibe. (They have Jools Holland, of course - every year, they have Jools. I think it's the law.) Mr Holland apart, arguably the biggest name on this year's bill was The Levellers, who headlined the main stage on Thursday night. The Levs are 20-year music veterans now, but while they may be a touch more grizzled than of yore, they have lost none of their passion - What A Beautiful Day was one of the great singalong moments of the entire festival.

One of the things the Larmer Tree organisers do so well is to encourage younger acts. Among them was Salisbury's own Mary Spender, a teenage singer-songwriter promoted from an open mic spot at last year's festival. Her sound has something of KT Tunstall about it and at times, especially in the higher register, her voice has a Kate Bush quality.

It's a shame, then, that she was occasionally drowned out by her own band - but Mary is one to watch.

I also enjoyed Bristol band The Hats, whose loud, brassy wall of sound knocked the living daylights out of a packed Big Top, not least with their version of Hendrix's Crosstown Traffic. You might have caught them on the telly - they recently appeared in E4's's hit teen drama Skins.

A young act definitely on a fast track to stardom is Ruth Notman. Still just 19, she is a roots/folk singer with a terrific voice and a great stage presence - a really natural performer.

St John Ambulance team, Jacqui, Des and Gemma taking part in a dance-off during dressing up day. DB4480P105

Brave, too: it takes guts to do your own version of a song someone else has made their own - but that's what she did with the Maddie Prior standard, Dark-Eyed Sailor.

My personal "find" of the festival, though, was the Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir, a four-piece band from Canada who delivered an energetic reworking of blues tunes by the likes of Son House and Sleepy John Estes in a vocal style somewhere between Captain Beefheart and Tom Waits. Their call-and-response version of John The Revelator was another great singalong moment on the main lawn.

So many bands, so many DJs, so many workshops and non-musical events. I didn't get to half the things I wanted to see. Of those I did catch Kanda Bongo Man, Orchestra Baobab, Kate Rusby and Julie Fowlis, who were all terrific - I simply don't have the space here to do them justice.

The bands provide the soundtrack, but this grown-up little festival is about so much more. The organisers, volunteers, stage crew and sound engineers deserve huge credit for making it run as smoothly as it does.

One final image sticks in my mind: it's dress-up Saturday and the theme this year is Come Dancing.

A group of morris men led by a chap called Sam dressed in a tutu is challenged to an impromptu dance-off by St John Ambulance volunteers Des, Gemma and Jacqui with what appear to be disposable potties strapped to their heads.

It ends in an honourable draw, but the gathered crowd cheer and whoop as if they had been watching a headline act on the main stage - everyone is happy.

And that, my friends, is the point of the Larmer Tree Festival. Everyone is happy.

11:22am Thursday 24th July 2008

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