THE Charlatans ensured high expectations were fulfilled for the return of the Isle Of Wight Festival, with a rock-solid show worthy of their 60s predecessors.

Despite the Bank Holiday Monday attendance falling some way short of the anticipated 25,000 mark, the atmosphere built gradually through the day, with crowds refusing to let un-festival like weather ruin the occasion.

Early on, local act The Bees brought some welcome summer vibes to Newport with distinctive Bob Marley flavoured big-band reggae setting the tone well for the afternoon.

Full marks are awarded to the lads for most imaginative use of a strangely mellow sounding recorder since The Human League back in the 80s.

The clouds darkened for mystic Merseysiders The Coral, touting some psychedelic rock which would not have sounded out of place back in the festival's heyday. Though they were received fairly well, a distinct lack of appreciation for melody did not help their cause.

It was down to Farnborough's rock troopers, Hundred Reasons, to get the party started, and they duly obliged in frenetic style. Energetic frontman Colin Doran hollered for the crowd to get up and dance and they quickly responded.

With a voice as big as his cool 70s rock hair, Colin leads the group in leaping around the stage like Tasmanian devils, stirring up an rapidly growing army of fans to fine effect.

They have some great hard-edged rock tunes in their arsenal, including the singles "I'll find you", "If I could" and "Silver" all gaining the cheers they deserve.

A flock of seagulls and the day's first rays of sun greeted unlikely festival candidates Starsailor, who put in a decent performance. Singer James Walsh declares: "Its good to see some British bands on the bill here. Buy British, its best."

If only their music was as positive as this declaration, with the resolutely melancholy tunes such as "Fever" and the admittedly ace "Misguided Fool" not exactly the kind of material to get everyone in a party mood.

However all is almost forgiven with a rousing rendition of top-ten hit Good Souls, which is affecting, triumphant and positive

Celebrating their 10th anniversary, Ash rifled through their punk-pop back catalogue with frivolous abandon. Highlights included anthems, Girl From Mars, Kung Fu (featuring a neat Jimmy Hendrix tribute) and mellow ballad "Sometimes".

In a nostalgic vein, they play one from the very early days, Jack Names The Planets, which went down a storm, and sounded more assured than ever thanks to girl guitarist/keyboard player Charlotte.

Temporarily taking the mood down a notch, was legendary Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant, looking incredibly well for someone who has spent three decades living the rock n' roll life.

Welcomed on stage to rapturous applause, he takes the mood down a notch with a laid-back eastern ballad, before revisiting some classic crowd -pleasing Zeppelin material.

Revealing a sense of humour, he quips "perhaps you would be better off watching S-Club Seven at the Queen's Jubilee show". The answer to this was most definitely not, for Plant is still able to weave more than a little of his old magic. Even the few token hippies littering the site (perhaps remaining from the original island festival) are dancing along in suitably demented style.

Darkness falls for the headliners, The Charlatans, who bring their soulful rock out to play in style.

Leadman Tim Burgess is clearly impressed by the scene before him: " The Isle of Wight rocks better than Dylan," he laughs.

His recent move to LA has indeed done wonders for the band, and given them renewed creative inspiration.

First up is the towering epic "Forever", featuring the powerful Hammond sound that remains at the core of the bands' music. A confident run through "North Country Boy" is followed by the breezy "Tellin' Stories" which is dedicated to Robert Plant.

They have moved on a great deal since their early 90s "shoegazing phase" with Tim now seeming comfortable with his singing rather-than awkwardly battling against it as he was prone to doing previously.

He even tests out a recently discovered falsetto vocal on the excellent ballad "A man needs to be told" which has lent them an added and pleasantly unexpected dimension.

The star in the pack is always the glorious old-school anthem, "The Only One" which still sounds amazing after all these years, despite their slowing it down a tad.

They are blessed with the rare quality of maturing well, and classily rounded off a day which was doubtless very different from its origins as a "peace and love celebration"- but certainly proved one to remember.

Neill Barston