It is mid-afternoon on Friday and word that the self-styled guru of 'geezer garage' Mike Skinner, aka The Streets, will not be gracing the main stage this evening is spreading like – well – a swine flu pandemic.

But in keeping with the festival's enduring charm, the mood around the sun-drenched fields is still positively upbeat in spite of the setback.

For one thing, the cancellation allows beatboxer Beardyman the opportunity to make the move up to the main stage. Any concerns that a one-man-band armed with only a microphone and some DJ equipment may struggle to fill the festival's biggest stage are swiftly put to rest as he captivates one of the first day's biggest crowds by creating a wall of sound with a dance set using samples and loops of his own voice.

Elsewhere, Ash Grunwald – a one-man-band of the more traditional type – was turning The Musician tent into a Delta blues club, circa 1969.

The Aussie bluesman does a fine line in bottleneck guitar which went down well with the purists.

Over at The Rising Stage the hotly-tipped Wild Beasts struggle to justify the hype. Aside from the standout single The Devil's Crayon, their brand of soaring falsetto and chiming guitars starts to sound a little bit wishy-washy after a few songs.

Summer Sundae had been waiting a year for the Mystery Jets after the eclectic four-piece had to pull out in 2008. As the opening strums of the weekend's first bona-fide hit Two Doors Down ushers in a mass outbreak of singing and dancing, it becomes clear it was worth the wait.

The cancellation of The Streets means closing the opening day's festivities is left to Idlewild. Singer Roddy Woomble proclaims they had only prepared 45 minutes of material but with a back-catalogue of seven albums to draw on – and having headlined here back in 2005 – the Scottish indie rockers knew exactly how to send the crowd home happy.