Despite its name, this festival involves no naked women. It does involve a lot of rock n roll!

The Primitives rock like its 1988. Shimmering spangly guitars, walls of feedback, cymbal crashes... its like listening to the Jesus And Mary Chain, only without the feedback. And without the songs, come to think of it. The singer looks like she's escaped from a Tim Burton movie too, all black and white stripes. You all know "Crash", but that does seem to be the only one people recognise. Mostly disappointing, but the drummer is the best thing about them. I expect to see him playing for Morrissey soon enough, the rate that Moz gets through drummers.

Senser, on the other hand, are a band I've never experienced live before. Which is odd, because it seems in 1993-1994, they played everywhere. You couldn't leave the house without finding them on a stage somewhere. Or at very least hearing the huge riff behind "Eject". So to finally catch them 16 years down the line is very welcome, not to mention very overdue. At a family festival though - the kind where the security insist on a sniff test on a bottle of squash to make sure you aren't smuggling in alcohol - they might be a little more in your face than anticipated. After all, its not every day you get a agit pop hip hop metal band ripping it up. And they do rip it up. Within 30 seconds of the opening "Resistance Now", there's large riffs , loud guitars and singer Heitham is like an uncoiled spring of articulation and aggression. Every word , ever syllable counts, focused and formed.

Senser are a timebomb, ticking, in a field.Why the hell did we get Gogol Bordello, and not this lot supporting Rage Against The Machine last month?

Security seriously, didn't have a clue what to expect, did they? Before the end of the end of the first song - "Resistence Now", the 30 feet at the front of the stage is a whirling mass of bodies, rushing into the melee. its clear many of those here have never heard the genius of "Stacked Up", couldn't tell you the name of one song, but are using it as springboard. the music is secondary to the activity - and given the vitality of Senser, the information overload of political expression with meter and rhyme, thats means such things get overlooked. Beats fall over one another, riffs the sizes of houses, and the pit goes wild.

Seriously - i lost count of the number of times security go wading into the pit , isolating individuals and stopping the natural movement to the beats and the riffs. And then as soon as security get back to the barrier, its all kicking off again. Predictable, I know.

Senser are incendiary. Tight, Efficient , they get things kicking off and never stop. To those of you who only ever heard "Stacked Up" - which sold 400,000 copies - the new material matches up exactly with the old stuff. You've probably never heard it before, but its a perfect fit. "State Of Mind" sets things off again, before "So Refined" and "End of The World Show" is backed up with "No Comply", the latter introduced as "This is a song about insidious creeping fascism, a nice topic for a day out with the children". Somehow Senser know they might not be what the organisers are expecting.

And I'm kicking myself for never seeing them before. If they're this good in a field in the middle of the day... imagine how good they could be, live in a dive. Its like a fuse going off...singer Heitham stalking the stage, bare chested and uncoiled.But its not just that - the female vocals of Kirstin give this band a completely different edge to the usual rapcore shouty young man & heavy guitars vibe. And thats before the veer off into ambient atmospheric noodling, such as the opening of "State Of Mind" or the scratching and beats of "Switch", which sums up a completely atmosphere. Most bands of this genre just seem to lock themselves in a particular box of rap vocals and thrash guitar, but Senser are so so much more than that. 16 years on, and they still sound perfectly up to date.

Its all over too quick. Its not often you go to see a band most people here don't seem to have heard of, and yet find the obvious tracks missing. "Age of Panic" closes the main set, and the impression I get is that the set has been curtailed at the demand of security. I can't find another reason why their signature tune, "Eject" is absent. I've spent many a night back in the nineties, hair flying on a packed dancefloor to that tune. If one song defines the band perfectly, its that one.

Bentley Rhythm Ace are similarly, back from the void. Last time i saw them was in the late nineties, and then they were... a mash up of live drums, live bass, and general eclectic wierdness, all in a smoky nightclub in deepest Digbeth. Over a decade later, its just the same. But so so much better.

Bentley Rhythm Ace, are , by their own proclaimation, "Hardcore Jumble CarbootTechnoDisco".Well, thats nice. And mostly true. Tight as hell, They take the vibes of a backyard Jumble sale and a car boot sale in a field on a Sunday morning, transplant it to Studio 54 in 1978, add in bad wigs and seventies funk loops, add in found samples, air raid sirens, whistles and pure retro cheese. Seriously, its unlike anything else I've ever heard or seen. Eclectic, its a prime example of turning up, tuning in, and turning an anodyne tent in a far flung field into a heaving mass of bodies, sweat and vibes. The rhythm locks in with Fuzz Townshend - technical editor for "Practical Classic Guitar" magazine, sporting the most unusual facial hair I've seen all week and possibly one of the most underrated drummers on the planet - and Richard March, both in sync.

Mind you, those two have been playing together since 1992. There's flutes, hit singles, bizarre and obvious samples jumbled up together in a mish mash which works. It shouldn't on paper, but it does. Its big beat, its old skool, its bloody bizarre. But its turns an indoor tent into something else. a 50 minute extravangza, of light shows, of vibes and rhythms and thousands of people dancing their asses off. You see, good music takes you away from where you are..into somewhere else. And for a little short of an hour, we're transported in the big beat time machine. Back to a seventies funk disco hell. All Spangle clothes, big wigs, big beats, and big grooves. And I love it.

Badly Drawn Boy is shit.

He doesn't deserve a longer review than that, really. But I can't let it lie.Badly Drawn Boy is less Badly Drawn Boy, more bad tempered bloke. In front of a 40,000 crowd. The professional tea cosy wearer - complete with lank unwashed grey hair that makes him even more like ahobo than the guy I buy the Big Issue from - came on stage and looked, sounded and was bored.

"45 minutes, is that I get? I've got seven albums of stuff to choose from", He says at one point. "Was it worth coming all the way to fucking Coventry for that?" He then says. We all came, so if I'm glad he didn't have anything more important to do. Like vacuuming. Tell you what - if you don't want to play to thousands of people who've turned up to see you, and would rather be at home watching TV, then sod off. Let someone else play instead.

But no, he then indulges his passions with four unreleased songs from the new album to be released in October. Shorn of the full band sound, with just him and a guitar, some drum loops, and occasional bass, its spartan and empty, devoid of the lush and crafted sound of the records. New songs "In Safe Hands" sounds just like... well, anything else he's ever done, even if it is available a free download from his website. "Order Of Things" is more of the same, only in the process of falling apart. Then he plays "This Electric", which is tuneless and shambolic. "I wrote that in 1994, which is the longest gap between writing a song and releasing it", he says, mentioning its on the new albums.

"It's shit, isn't it?" , he says.

Yes, that sums up the whole gig so far. How can you expect anyone to like what you're Doing when you can even stand it yourself? I couldn't have summed it better myself. He then plays a fourth new song in a row - "Failure At Heart", which probably sums up the self esteem issues - and then abandons it mid song. Out of apathy, I presumably. Then a couple of off the wall cover versions - "Tired Of Being Alone", and then a medley of Madonna's "Like A Virgin" and his own "Silent Sigh", and he's off, before coming back for a solo piano version of "Magic In The Air" that seems to transcend every single one of the awful songs he's played so far. And then he's off again. "Thank You Coventry", he says "You've been a brilliant audience" he lies barefacedly.

Even neglecting to play his one biggest hit - "Something To Talk About", drowning himself in self pity and looking with a long, grey hair hobo, Badly Drawn Boy is a bizarre festival proposition. Describing yourself as "shit" isn't going to win over the crowd. Actually being shit isn't either. I've never seen Badly Drawn Boy before, despite owning four of his albums - and I'm certainly not going to see him again. If I wanted to spend an hour with someone surly, talking shit and being depressed, I'd ring my dad thanks very much.

Ash, on the other hand, hit the ground running. Its a set of hits, and its only when you put all their hits together that you actually realise how good they really are. In the middle of a huge tour of small venues in every corner of the country, Ash are a smooth, oiled, rock machine, releasing a new single every two weeks. And that's on top of the 17 tracks on the greatest hits already. They simply can't play them all, never mind all the tracks that you know and love that aren't on the albums. So whilst expecting to hear them doing Helen Love's "Punk Boy" is highly unlikely, you get hit after hit after hit. And all the ones that aren't hits, just sound like hits in waiting.

Opening and wrongfooting everyone with the no album single " A Life Less Ordinary" - which is one of those songs you know but just can't place it - then its back to the first album for "GoldFinger". God knows what the title means but you know every single line, from the start.

"Shining Light" sounds limp to start with, lacking the subtle production of the studio version. For a second it sounds like the band have had the wind taken out of their sails.... but once the chorus comes in its a distortion fest, and hell, its a huge hit. And its great.

Next to me, is a guy rocking the Liam Gallagher look. Sunglasses at night, faux leather jacket, ruffled up perfect floppy indie boy hair, not watching the band but swaggering around in a semi disinterested detached manner, hands in pockets, looking like he'd rather be doing anything else - the air of unearned arrogance. The world has one Liam Gallagher, and that's too many already. He doesn't seem to know a word of any of the songs, isn't facing the set, and trying to avoid eye contact with anyone. Emotionally detached, and vacant, passionless. The music is just the backdrop to the chase.

"Orpheus", the opening track of 2004's "Meltdown" , sounds like a gigantic wall of riffs, hooks and sound. Still one of my favourite Ash songs of all time. And then there's the new songs - "Joy Kicks Darkness", and old ones like "Oh Yeah" and "Kung Fu". And then its "Acadia".

"Arcadia" is the sort of song most bands dream of writing. hooks and choruses a four year old can sing - short, catchy, instantly memorable and unforgettable. It is, of course, bloody good. And the guitar solo is pure Brian may.

Oh dear, Liam Gallagher guy has pulled. Oh god, this is embarassing. Stick all this bands in a field and some people just use it as an excuse for random rutting. Jesus. I would say geta room, but it looks that room is round his mums house. nice. Look, having an oasis live video is no substitute for having your own personality.

Just a few more songs - "Twilight Of the Innocents", the newie "Return of the White Rabbit" and then closing riff fest of "Burn Baby Burn". And we're done. Ash are smooth, efficient, spiky, angular, and filled with hooks, and almost every song is a pop punk classic.12 songs and gone.

The Park is filling out, as people rush to make the last train home. Somewhere behind me, Ash are playing an encore. But given the choice between an encore and walking 7 miles home from the centre of town after the last bus has gone, Its no choice at all - I leave slightly early. Me and thousands of others.Its a shame to miss, but with a little more planning and a little better late night public transport - the biggest obstacle many people have to overcome for an event like this - this free festival could have been much more successful.

But as it happened, 40,000 people saw some great bands, and had a great day out. Same time next year? I should hope so....

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