Nothing strikes terror into the heart of a festival camper then the sound of the wind howling around your tent and what sounds like every drop of rain in the heavens bouncing off the tent. And so, as my 2nd day of Glastonbury 2005 began with floods, I feared that the 2nd day of my electric picnic '06 would begin the same way. Still, this is what raingear was designed for. And in the name of powering through, cans for breakfast at 09:30 AM is the only way to go. My liver was expecting orange juice, silly liver.

I think it's also worth pointing out the breakfast was not solely liquid as the good people at the ''Pieminister'' van on the campsite can testify. Bacon, sausages, pudding and beans in a pie with mash and gravy. Washed down with a can of cider and it's the breakfast of champions.

Let's see now, according to our timetable the comedy tent starts at 13:30 so I reckon some light entertainment is in order. Stash the cans in the pocket, grab the smokes and away we go. Make sure I've got plenty of supplies as it could be a long day.

And so off to the festival site, off to the comedy tent and then off to see the highlight of Saturday, dare I say the highlight of the weekend. After listening to me banging on for months and months about the one act that no-one could miss for the weekend, we headed to see Michael ''I've been all over the world and I had to come to Ireland to get sunburned'' Franti.

You see, I think the crew that I was with went for one reason and one reason only and that was to shut me up. But I was proved right, they not only enjoyed the set, plans are in place to go see him in Dublin next December. I think that it's the first and only gig I've ever been to where there wasn't a bad song on the setlist. I know that it was only a 60 minute set, but anyone that can get security guards pogoing at the front of the stage in my book is pretty cool.

And then, in a step off the edge of the stage, Michael Franti was in the pit at the front, shaking hands and meeting his people while the wonderful road crew set up for the next act. I've now idea who they were as we had a barbecue to get to.

Quick, back to the tents, I can smell Damo's rashers cooking already. Not for me however. It's not that I don't trust Damo's cooking, I just find that eating slows down and gets in the way of my drinking. Food eaten, cans drunk and it's off to see Paul Noonan. Ex-Juniper, current Bell X1 and tonight Matthew, a solo star for our listening pleasure. Alas, the two songs I wished to hear were not played, but 'I'll see your heart, and raise you mine'' more then made up for it. All this running around is making me thirsty and since the Germany - Ireland game is on in the cinema tent at 19:30, it's off I go to see Ireland lose and run down some more time while I await new order.

Aah new order, yet another reason to talk about Glastonbury last year. Any excuse to talk about Glastonbury and I'll jump at it. It thought about raining, for the first time since we left our tents but thatnkfully it came to nothing. And then new order, I can't ever remember what the first tune they played was, but I do remember that it was followed by 'Regret' and the new stuff sat perfectly with the old songs aswell as the joy division material.

And what else would be the perfect tune to finish my Saturday evening with but 'Blue Monday'. I'm loving this festival scene. And as New order shuffle back to nice changing rooms and cold beer, I shuffle off to the electric arena to catch the last 4 songs of the frame's set. But what's that I hear, I do believe that it's asong that is a more fitting end to my Saturday. The ever wonderful 'Heyday' and no matter how many times I hear that tune, it still never makes me want to swim to New York for a pint of guinness.

Saturday over by midnight and some special guest on the big tree stage at midnight. I hope for Bell X1. All 5 members have been spotted strolling through the sit

Friday September 1st and not only is the summer officially over, but it's time for the final installment of the festival season. No Glastonbury to go to, Oxegen is a piece of over priced thrash and only one festival that's truly worth our cash. But like all good weekends, I decided to start mine a little early and by early I mean 6 on Thursday evening. 3AM left Whelans, 4 AM got home, 4:05 AM passed out. This chain of events did not go down too well however when Julz was ever so kind as to ring me, and wonder out loud when I would be picking her up at around 10 AM on Friday morning. One shower and an MP3 playlist selection later I was on my way.

Grabbed Julz in the hostel, home via the off licence to pick up chew, tobacco and alcohol for the weekend. Thank God Fran was driving as there is no way that I could have taken the drive from home to Stradbally. And then, after 2 hours on the road, we found the car park, then the ticket exchange and in turn the campsite. Tent's finally up, someone pass me a cure. The best way to cure a hangover is with, more alcohol.

For a music festival, there wasn't a whole of music that we wanted to see on the Friday night. Just the one in fact, a young Irish songwriter that may have a future by the name of Damien Rice. We stumbled or strolled over to the festival arena, and in between overheard snippets of ''This is so much better then oxegen'' and ''Remember when the campsite was this much fun at WITNNESS'' I finally heard Niall utter the phrase that he would utter more then anything else that whole weekend - ''Holy shit dude, you were right. It's the exact same as Glastonbury, just a little smaller.''

Fran found a coffee stall playing Queen tunes near to the bar so he was happy. We found the actual bar, and then the electric arena. I think I'll have a pint while I wait for Damo to finish taking the 800th photograph of his shoe.

And then for the first time ever, I got to see Damien Rice live and I was blown away. I suppose I was half expecting a near perfect rendition of 'O' but I was so wrong. A band that was bolstered by a full time cellist, a second guitarist and Lisa *SCHWING* Hannigan. 'The professor' seemed like an odd choice to open with, but it worked damn well. 75 minutes of a set that included most of 'O', a couple of tunes from 'B-sides', 3 new tunes and in which Damien Rice gave the festival war cry ''It's a festival, and I don't think I'm nearly as drunk as I should be...'' cue skulling of a pint and then a tasty rendition of 'Cheers darling' punctuated with the skulling of a bottle of wine. Massive attack looked boring and uneventful as we passed so we made a deceision. And that was to head back, homeward bound.

Back to the campsite, to drink more cans. Smoke, smoke, smoke and wait for Saturday to come around. Aah Saturday, the day that would bring the legends that are new order back into my life and introduce the incredible Michael Franti and Spearhead into the lives of my friends.