Festival diaries, day three

We spent 10 hours at the flat before returning to the festival site. Today's shuttle bus was an old Southern Vectis vehicle (it still featured branded informational posters), but it was - obviously - being used elsewhere in the country at the moment. I remarked that it had come home for a holiday. It had carpet on the upper deck ceiling. We didn't sit at the front today as it was too warm; I am not sure the furry ceiling helped with the heat. We have been fortunate with the weather this weekend. All those wet-weather clothes remained in Ryde.

Once again, arrival was marked by the purchase of coffee. I craved a bacon bun, which proved - surprisingly - elusive until I found a burger stand near the main stage selling them. It was one of the nicest bacon sandwiches I've had. We repeated yesterday's moves of getting to the Main Stage area early and holding a place towards the front. The backstage crew had been busy overnight installing confetti canons for Green Day and adding a platform that extended the stage area into the crowd. We'd have moved closer to that if my thinking had been more intelligent.

Beverley Knight was first and early, opening with "Greatest Day". I've seen Beverley many times, and she's an outstanding performer. I was surprised she was first on the list for the day. She started with a reasonable, for lunchtime, crowd around the Main Stage. She'd pulled many more people to the stage by the time she finished her set. Another wonderful performance featuring a great mix of her old and new songs and a cover of Radiohead's "Just". As she said, nobody can imagine a soul sister performing that song. It worked. There's a version on BBC Sounds.

Next up, Kyliefied, a Kylie tribute act, was a lot of fun in the Electro Love tent. PY and I did not join in with the "Locomotion" chain that went around, but we laughed. It was another power walk across the festival site back to see McFly. I think McFly are underrated (I don't know by whom, but it's a sense, and I am sticking with it) because their set is such fun with a list of songs that you will know. I was disappointed we were so far back, but there was no way to get closer. I could just about see Tom was wearing a Green Day t-shirt in honour of tonight's headliners, and Harry's t-shirt labelled him as the drummer.

Zara Larsson was next. There was a noticeable switchover in the age of the crowd at the front. I only recognised "Symphony." Her show was slick, but I wonder if it would have been better in a stadium rather than a field. The youngsters loved it, so what do I know?

We took some time out for food. This afternoon was chorizo-flavoured Mac'n'Cheese. Again, we sat on the grass near the Big Top and enjoyed the sunshine. We headed back to the Main Stage for "Simple Minds". As far as PY was concerned, these were today's headliners. I can't explain why I was never a fan, so I only recognised the biggest hits, probably "Don't You (Forget About Me)" and "Alive and Kicking" — it was another example of a video show that occasionally seemed to forget that we wanted to see the performers. The fans thought it superb.

Afterwards, we wandered to the Cirque de la Quirk stage. There was a bar opposite. For the first time across the weekend, I tried the fruit cider that PY had been drinking, and I wished I'd had it more often. Stone Cold Hustle, a large-ish (7 or 8-piece) funk band, was grooving providing the perfect laid-back soundtrack as evening approached.

After almost three days on my feet, walking was starting to get painful. We found some benches made of pallets and managed to sit for half an hour. We don't bring foldable chairs because we want to avoid being stuck with them, mainly because I like being as close to the stages as possible, and chairs are banned in key areas. But I was very grateful to be able to sit down. 

Sunday's headliners, who closed the show, were Green Day, another band I am not familiar with. However, when many people I know found out they were the main act of the day, they said without hesitation we should stay. And we did for most of the show. 

It was brilliant. From the inflatable aeroplane dropping merch onto the crowd to those confetti canons, we saw earlier via bringing a fan, Mollie, from the audience to perform on stage with them, it was great. Somewhere around "Wake Me Up When September Ends," we decided to do another beat-the-crowd shuffle to the bus, hoping to catch a rerun of the set on Sky Arts. We missed the rerun (but caught the bus). Apparently, it's on later in the week. Dinner was from the kebab shop on Union Street.