We don’t want to blow our own trumpet but, damn, SOURCEfest 09 was a hell of a party. A last minute venue change to Jam didn’t stop it being roadblocked, so sorry if you had a wait to get in. Once inside all were treated to killer sets from what had to be the line-up of the year. Kinema – who could have headlined but someone had to go first – dropped smooth disco pop and had an instant dancefloor going. The Half Sisters charmed the room with quirky, optimistic folk and joyful games, before Telegraphs took the roof off with their tight rock grooves. Those who hadn’t caught The Agitator before were blown away by how a softly spoken Scot could make so much noise with just his hollering blues voice, his stomping foot and Robert Dylan Thomas on drums. Lyrebirds! Well, Lyrebirds epic, moody indie was enough to have us decide to put them on the cover, while Heels Catch Fire’s taut complexity was simply jaw dropping. PRCTMYHM freaked everyone out when their fans came facepainted up to match the drummer’s clown mask – their dubstep-driven hip hop wasn’t much less dark. Filling the gaps with a huge range of tunes were JFB, Craig Transformer, Geometri and my good self. Everyone played for nothing so that we could put the party on for free. They need your thanks rather than us, as do Red Bull for making the venue look like Glastonbury’s green fields. We can’t wait for the next one.