The Stool Pigeon music newspaper

Billed as a boutique music festival aimed at an older, oyster-loving, whisky-supping crowd, the first Connect drew to an impressive, albeit slightly premature, close with a blistering set from Björk.

Surprisingly, the Icelandic purveyor of quality industrial rave-tinged pop didn’t headline; that honour was handed to LCD Soundsystem in what appeared to be a last-minute change of running order. No matter: Björk stormed the grounds of Scotland’s Inveraray Castle with songs from her latest album, Volta, as well as crowd pleasers including a marvellous off-its-tits version of ‘Hyperballad’.

M.I.A. caused easily the sensation of the festival with a hot and rowdy set that was cut short after she urged fans to join her on stage during ‘Galang’. Over 100 muddy miscreants took her up on her offer. She exited declaring: “We killed it.”

Other highlights included a smorgasbord of Scottish-heavy talent from the likes of Mogwai, Teenage Fanclub and Jesus and Mary Chain. Elsewhere, the Beastie Boys put on a riotous greatest hits headline set, while Bunny Man Ian McCulloch and Primal Screamer Bobby Gillespie struck slightly desperate, end-of-the-pier chords during their respective performances; the former for his potentially slanderous Pete Townsend outburst and the latter for his terrible taste in shiny black shirts.

The organisers made a few mistakes, notably the one-mile mud-trudge to and from the car park, as well as locating the campsite near stalls that blasted out Mika at a bastardly early hour. Despite all that, the sound, particularly on the main stage, was excellent and the glorious misty Highland setting providing the perfect festival backdrop.

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