Photo: Julia Stryj

“This is intimate” says John Lydon as he looks over the sell out crowd in the small venue on Victoria Street. Then launching into the start of two hours of intensive post-punk heavy duty noise. Lydon warbles through the first three songs of his mammoth set (no support band), a pause for breath, a drink of wine and then ‘This is not a Love Song’. But of course it is a love song. Lydon is where he wants to be. All those daft butter adverts, all that ridiculous cavorting in the jungle with Ant and Dec was to allow him to finance and resurrect the band he formed after the disintegration of the Pistols in 1978.

The last time I saw PiL play in Edinburgh it was a different affair. The Playhouse and fancy suits were the order of the day on the Album tour in 1986, an unbelievable 30 years ago. But here was Lydon dressed in clothes darker than a Scotsman’s heart watching the euros, up close and personal in a small venue giving it to us.

Having released a 10th studio album last year - What The World Needs Now, the set was a mixture of old and new with ‘Now Know’ and ‘Corporate’ sitting along side tracks from that most Marmite of PiL releases Metal Box. Lydon’s charisma oozes from the stage and while the crowd lap up the old favourites at times its hard going. A brutal and bruising rendition of ‘Religion’ sees Lydon chanting “turn up the bass” a wall of noise causes speaker cabinets to wobble and ear drums to vibrate. The audience is still recovering when we treated to the seminal ‘Rise’. It may be 30 years old but it still resonates here. Anger is an energy - you betcha.

After one encore, two hours of intensity from everybody’s favourite anti-hero, disconcerting guitar chords and thunderous bass, the lights come back on and it takes ages to squeeze out of the venue. It has been intimate.

It’s a hot, wild night in lower swinging Leith Walk , and not just because some footy team have won a cup after 114 years.  Its the inaugural night of Riot Girl Revolution Style Now by Selkie Music Productions in the intimate and funky fairy-lit Leith Depot. And a stellar line up awaits us, with all acts featuring graduates of the first few terms of Girls Rock School Edinburgh…

First up is razor-sharp barbed singer/songwriter Lou Mclean,  endearing and charming the rapt audience with her quirky self-penned songs; laying bare her personal relationships. Tonight Lou’s a bit worried about some of the near the knuckle content of her autobiographical lyrics as her parents are in the audience (it’s her Dad’s birthday, and he gets a big cheer).  Lou gets a warm reception, winning us over with her strong, confident delivery and her unabashed patter, shamelessly plugging her debut EP September to December.  Definitely one to watch.

Next up are Sinister Lamb, with Leith Walk's own Joette Thomas and Rik Hodgson, delivering some dark, original  songs  sung over a brooding Twin Peaks stylee backing track of guitar and drums (their drummer is on holiday).  Joette’ s resonant and soulful voice is beautifully complemented by the Rik's rhythmic rapping, he's smartly dressed in a shirt and tie and chucks in a lovely spot of groove-tastic dancing for good measure.

Selkie Music is the brainchild of our hostess-with–the-mostess  Ashley Stein,  scheduled to be fronting her band The Astroturf Skirts tonight. The Skirts are in the wash, so trooper Ashley steps up to the microphone to perform with Dan Collins on guitar as The Polymorphs. All  green and blue mermaid-y hair and face jewels, Ashley ably delivers some country-punk covers in a lovely strong, full bodied voice reminiscent of '70s Stiff label chanteuse Rachel Sweet.  

The room is now rammed and sweaty, with headliners ZALU! and the Unrepentants  dripping before they even start, and the band crank the temperature up some more  with a set of full throttle punk. Lead singer Sonja Esteparia sings in Spanish and English, her accent making songs such as ‘Health and Safety’ sound way more dramatic than the title suggests.  The audience are up dancing, and it's cracking along at a breakneck pace until the heat forces the band to demand drinks from the bar.  Then it's cans of lager and taps aff all round (apart from Sonja), treating the front row of punters to a thrilling display of some hairy well-defined abs. The set’s end sees the audience howling for an encore, but it’s out of the question as some punters are now  in serious danger of spontaneous combustion.

Going home up Leith walk, picking our way gingerly through the football party debris of  empty beer cans, broken bottles, and inert bodies, we all agreed it had been a great night - and can’t  wait to see what Selkie Music Productions put on next...

Selkie Music Productions Presents Riot Grrrl Revolution Style Now is a monthly happening, more details of forthcoming events can be found here... https://www.facebook.com/revolutiongirlstyle/

The sun is still blistering as Dam-Funk brings in da funk, brings in da noise. There’s a two tier set-up, one with the decks, another one with a small synth and a set of mics, and he alternately plays some records and plays some music. A constant there, they all are funky as heck, some on the disco side, others going all out house music. So we get the Detroit, the Chicago, the NY (Dam-Funk helpfully guides us through all that), and he’s sure not to forget to honour the late Prince, doing a couple of his songs.

So, in the sweltering heat, we are dancing. It’s real disco and real house, so it might be too slow for some who like dance music, but it’s my sweet spot, and evidently that of the people behind me as well. So at the front the people are swinging, singing, movin’ and grooving to the house beats and the disco divas. And to Dam-Funk, who, when he takes the reins, shows us the prowess of his own vocals, and who brings the wobbly with his synthesizer as well. A little bit of that Warehouse and Studio 54 in bright sunlight, but in the end, it’s the music that makes the dancing, and this set/show certainly delivers right there.

On that very same Pitchfork stage, just a little bit later, it’s Jenny Hval who does right what Holly Herndon, in my opinion, didn’t succeed at. Yes, it’s experimental, and it is perhaps closer to performance art than it is to music, until you hear the singing and the music, and then it’s a combination between both that downright works. She and her two companions all don wigs with long, blonde hair, and throughout the show they cut in it, use some of it as pubic hair, and rub it all over their arms before finally, for the last two songs, discarding them completely to unveil, for the first time, Hval without mask. Just to, for the last song, quickly throw on a cape for some dancing in unison with one of her partners on stage.

It’s not only that, clearly, she has something to say and, clearly, she isn’t afraid to get in there and get messy in order to convey her message. It’s also that her voice is absolutely beautiful, both in spoken word and singing, and that near the end she even goes for all out party with a nice, catchy beat and the aforementioned prolonged dance routine. And, when she takes off the grotesque mask that she’s been wearing all day, what she unveils is the beauty of womanhood underneath. Which, surely, can be decoded as some sort of symbolism in a performance that’s full of it.

Chairlift gives it the good ol’ dancing try with their set, mixing some of the older, more dreamier work with some of the new, more punchier singles. Personally, the dreamier work does it for me, and you can do a little dancing with your eyes closed on those ones (though at the risk of missing the entertaining and energetic lead singer). The audience, though, goes berserk especially for their single ‘Ch-ching’, which they save as last and which, for most out there, seems to be the right choice.

To end the festival we take a seat at the Ray Bans stage to see Julia Holter and band doing their thing. Her voice sounds good, and you can see these are the pros at work there, with the whole performance oozing with professionalism. Holter is just the latest strong female performer that performed at the festival this year, and she, too, gives the gathered crowd a reason for why they might join her in her European tour later on this summer.

After this seated show we take one more look at all of it all from the top end of the festival site. One more time, the city lights, one more time the throng of people, even though at that point we are seemingly by ourselves in the room upstairs. As the city is prone to do, we become voyeurs, witnesses to life or some sordid thing like it, disconnected yet surrounded by those that at least come close to being similar. Combine this mood with the perfectly eclectic soundtrack throughout all the three days, and it’s just the right darn place to be.

The camping fields are noticeably more full this morning and Vantastival attracts a lot of local day visitors so Saturday is shaping up to be a good one. The sun continues to favour us with its presence and there is a roaring trade in breakfast rolls. The Volkswagen main stage kicks off in hard rocking style with Accidents In The Workplace. Their hypnotic lead singer is like a Gothic Stevie Nicks with bright red hair, a florescent crucifix, and shimmering butterfly wings handing from her outstretched arms. And we finally catch up with Nix Moon for an interview. They are as much fun off-stage as they are on it.

Dublin hip hop fusion group Just Mikey bring a slick show with a distinctively Dublin flavour (flava?). Their sound is a mash up of Donaghmede troubadour Damien Dempsey and Macklemore & Lewis. It's structured rapping with a full-band pop rock backing and roof-raising choruses, if there were a roof over the Goldenplec stage. Raising the tree canopy doesn't have the same ring to it. Next up it's Northern Ireland's' The Bonnevilles, who'll be familiar to regular readers. It's hard to resist comparing the drummer and guitarist /vocalist duo to The Black Keys or The White Stripes but my brain is no longer functioning sufficiently to reach beyond such obviousness. But the Bonnevilles aren't some two dimensional imitators. When he's not cranking out the searing leads and crunchy power chords, singer Andrew McGibbon Jr. can emote like an old-fashioned, soulful, blues singer. They have brought their own crowd too. I lose count of the number of Bonnevilles t-shirts.

We've just been told that a burst water main in Drogheda means that the water is going to run out. There's not a cloud in the sky. There will be some parched throats come Sunday morning and the queue for the drinking water tap stretches quickly. Thankfully the anticipated water shortage doesn't occur. Fox E. And The Good Hands bring some welcome soul to the scorching afternoon as the crowd at the main stage spread out around the tent to make the most of the sunshine. Mutefish are already legends around here. Their busking sessions attract hundreds, so it's a real treat to catch a fully electrified set from them. And electrifying it is. Their set is a non-stop dance party that noticeably shakes the heaving tent. They incorporate musical instruments and styles from all round the world and amalgamate them with electronica, Celtic rock, and folk music, to astonishing effect. Their Bollywood version of the Knight Rider theme tune is a notable highlight.

This year's featured artist is Badly Drawn Boy and there's a real air of anticipation in and around the main stage as The Hour Of Bewilderbeest approaches. Damon Gough comes out for a line check then disappears as the crowd starts to build. He gets a massive reception when he re-emerges. Woolly hat in place, he plays a verse of 'What A Wonderful World' before segueing into 'Too Many Miracles' and the packed tent is enraptured. It's hard to say what makes this wee festival so good. Badly Drawn Boy is the only non-native act this year. Last year it was Goldie Lookin' Chain. The guest stars are hand-picked to appeal to the parents of young families, and so are the events around the music. People come back every year. Many of the same bands come back every year. There are nearly as many children as there are adults in attendance. The new location has been a big hit and the breadth and depth of the local talent on show is very special. Whatever it is, it'll have us coming back to see what next year's Vantastival holds.