Saturday at Le Guess Who? this year heralded the introduction of Le Feast where 15 Utrecht households each welcomed a number of festival goers in for a feed and some chat so at 18:00 Stef & myself found ourselves (shamefully sans bottle of wine) settling down amidst a small international group for food themed music, excellent home cooked dishes and chat about the festival and beyond. Definitely an initiative that should carry on at future events.

Post-dinner we caught Magma for a couple of numbers in passing in the Ronda. They'd drawn what seemed to me the first major crowd for that hall so clearly the veteran prog/jazz group were a popular inclusion in the programme. We had other fish to fry though and weren't sorry to move on upstairs to secure a spot in the Pandora for Ringo Deathstarr.

As well as playing host to many of the most popular acts over the weekend this hall also seemed to suffer more technical issues than any other so the band were amongst those slightly delayed or interrupted by such things. They started off brightly enough once back on track but were curiously less engaging than on their recorded output.

As tonight had fewer personal "must-see" acts on the bill the next port of call was to see unknown New York trio Sunflower Bean over at the Acu venue. I nicely intimate hall well filled saw the likeable band play a set mainly culled from their forthcoming album Human Ceremony. Bassist Julia Cumming, pronouncing at one point that "bands shouldn't talk that much", has a very effective quick change from sweet to aggravated when singing, whilst Nick Kivlen manages to pull off some straight up guitar shapes that shouldn't really work in the context of the band's sound but somehow manage to.

More American unknowns were on at de Helling where recent Heavenly Recordings signings Nots were just taking to the stage after my sole drenching of the weekend. Visually it looked like two of The Donnas had joined forces with an electronics fan and a librarian but there was no way a simple "Shhh" would have damped down their raucous and hearfelt performance, their first in Europe. Finally I had a need for my earplugs. Single 'Reactor' and the rest of their set were torn through and the smallish crowd can be justly pleased with themselves for including this show in their attendances.

Back up to Acu next for the final bunch of unknowns, London's Housewives. The band utilise two drummers (albeit one only has a floor tom and a cymbal) to pound away in unison whilst the guitar and bass chop away and the monk-like vocals float over the top. Both Godflesh and Om came to mind during the songs I was able to see but the overall effect didn't really grab me.

The night was finished off back down at de Helling where Wavves enjoyed a capacity crowd and inspired more stage diving and crowd surfing than I've seen in a long time. Normally you see no security staff anywhere near the stages at Le Guess Who? but the extra bodies regularly taking to the stage had them hovering on the fringes this time. 'Way Too Much' and other tracks from new album V got a look in as well as older material such as 'Take On The World'. Nathan Williams had an uncomfortable start to the show due to the mic often shocking him but, with the application of a cover, that was consigned to the past and they carried on with the business at hand with 'King Of The Beach' being the most rapturously received song of the night.

The last act seen tonight were the Jacuzzi Boys, recently seen in Glasgow as support to Ex Hex & so a known quantity and one that didn't disappoint. Playing like their lives depended on it with barely a break between tracks they started off with 'Happy Damage' and inspired far more audience participation than at that earlier show. As is only fair when the band on stage are rocking out so hard. An enjoyable end to a night spent largely at the furthest reaches of the festival.  

Day two of Le Guess Who? 2015 and the big guns of the weekend were getting rolled out with some potentially ear-splitting acts on offer later in the evening's programme.

First port of call though was Moira to see the earliest act of the day, the homegrown project of songwriters Thjis Kuijken and Geert van der Velde - Black Oak. Think Buffalo Springfield and you'll be pretty close to the mutually beneficial and harmonious semi-acoustic americana they and their fellow players produce. Perhaps at times lyrically over-simplistic theirs was nonetheless a warm and engaging show.

On to the first of the bigger acts & more Canadian performers as The Besnard Lakes appeared in the Ronda at Tivoli Vredenburg. Here then was the first oddity of the night - sound at a moderate level and ample space to walk around freely in the upper reaches of the hall. Not that the band cared as they turned in as tight a performance as expected but for my money they're better appreciated in slightly more intimate surroundings and with greater volume.

Upstairs to the Pandora next for the unknown quantity that is Kaki King. Visually she takes the everything-produced-by-one-guitar thing to a new level as the instrument is fixed in place to allow it to also be utilised for projections and with the larger ones behind her the show realises her current project The Neck Is A Bridge To The Body. For me though if you've seen one person sample slapping the body of their guitar to get the drumbeat etc. you've seen them all.

A swift cycle to see more of the Kicking The Habit programme at Moira found up and comers Hooton Tennis Club just getting into position. Clearly an unknown quantity in Utrecht they didn't enjoy the largest of crowds & fell foul early on of a lack of spare guitar strings but you can't be too harsh on a band wherein one member sports a Brudenell Social Club t-shirt and which performs with such gusto (particularly 'Up In The Air').

Titus Andronicus were the second act of the night in the Ronda and were still running through the soundcheck when I got back there (interesting use of Grand Funk Railroad and 'Tarzan Boy' for that) so you had that odd experience of a band of their level all being on stage already then leaving to come back a little later as if none of us had been able to see them prior. They've a lot of songs to get through so there's no messing about once they return and energy aplenty being expended by all concerned. 'I Lost My Mind (+@)' and the rest are greatly appreciated by the main body of the crowd but again there's not the level of volume you'd expect and movement around the hall is comfortably achieved.

The reverse, at least as far as movement is concerned, is the case from now on at the Pandora. Protomartyr pack the place out, resulting in a one in/one out barrier having to be manned at the foot of the stairs. For my money the sound they were provided with was a little too clean, thereby making the overall performance seem a little pedestrian in places. Given the crowd reaction that's probably quite a minority opinion though.

Handily with the use of a bike this year the Tivoli de Helling is sooner reached than in years previous so squeezing in at the back of the rammed hall to take in some of The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown takes no time at all. A performer for whom time seems to have stood still he's all over the stage, whooping up the audience (who need little encouragement), removing the keyboard from its stand so its player needs to come with it to keep the music going as it's the most important element of the band's sound and other antics. Even at this early stage people are calling out for 'Fire' but I presume that's always held over till the very end as I head off back into the city after the spirited version of 'I Put A Spell On You'. Definitely a highlight act of the weekend.

Once back at the main Tivoli the popularity of the Pandora means I've now failed to see Metz twice at Le Guess Who? With no wish to mill around in the vague 'queue' I head downstairs to the Ronda to see what Belgium's Evil Superstars are all about. The festival blurb mentions them in the same breath as dEUS, an act I've never got to grips with, and it turns out that I can't really do that with Evil Superstars either, despite their enjoyably cartoonish rear projections. If the Foo Fighters decided to start employing jazz time signatures and funkier basslines then this is I think the result you'd get.

Leaving Ronda as quickly as I arrived does at least allow time for some food from the Just Like Your Mom concession. The vegan carrot cake was grand but the jury's still out on the sausage roll. It also makes it possible to beat the rush and get into Pandora in good time for Viet Cong, who once more pack the place out but don't get the volume they deserve although they're not to everyone's taste as it's "five minutes of my life I won't get back" according to one audience member. Musing on whether some of today's programming should have been swapped around keeps me occupied on the cycle home.