Gig review: Rewind Fesitval

Festivals like Rewind virtually defy criticism, with performers and audiences equally complicit in a greatest hits love-in.

In pleasant sunshine, amidst a sea of mascara and fashions that taste forgot, the retro Eighties gathering delivered everything you'd expect from a decade that seldom preoccupied itself with subtlety, irony or understatement.

Some acts skipped through the motions more than others and a sense of faded spotlights and marginalised careers was palpable. Yet the sparkling Clare Grogan was the perfect MC and it was a fun day throughout.

I arrived in time for Grogan's flirtation with The Bluebells, frontman Ken McCluskey sporting a fetching deerstalker. The exuberant I'm Falling and a rendition of All I Ever Said, which segued into Maggie May, confirmed the Scot's legacy of sentimental jangly guitar pop. With The French Wives' Siobhan Anderson on fiddle and to the fore on Young at Heart, Grogan re-emerged to assist on vocals.

Of all the acts, Hue and Cry offered the strongest impression of being a current concern, a reggae version of Looking For Linda eventually overcoming the crowd's initial wariness. Recent MOR track Fireball was less successful, but Violently and Labour of Love brought them back on side with jazzy flourishes.

Next, the day's standout turn. Billy Ocean's lusty voice is undiminished by the years and he hotfooted around the stage in controlled arcs. Helped by strong backing vocals, Love Really Hurts Without You had everyone up and dancing, and although the 61-year-old crooned impressively through Suddenly, it was up-tempo favourites Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car and When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going that were the abiding memories. Tremendous.

A change of pace and deployment of a house band saw acts arrive and depart in quick succession, with the likes of Kid Creole and his Coconuts jiggling around for three numbers and Carol Decker rocking T'Pau's China In Your Hand.

The likeable Go West shrewdly supplemented their hits with covers of Tracks of My Tears and Sex on Fire that absolutely stormed, while ABC's Martin Fry bantered smoothly through punchy renditions of Poison Arrow and a soulful When Smokey Sings.

Keren Woodward may have grumbled about the effort required to perform Bananarama's spunky pop these days, but she and Sara Dallin powered through the likes of Shy Boy, Venus and Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye, producing one of the best-received sets of the day.