The 'chill' in the festival's name is supposed to refer to the atmosphere – you can party hard or just chill out – but for much of the weekend it was a nod to the weather overhead the picturesque Herefordshire setting.

Grey clouds, cool winds and the odd shower were not what organisers wanted, but at least the performances weren't patchy.

The line-up was as eclectic and international as the food at the dozens of stalls, with music from all corners of the globe – LA's all-girl Warpaint, US swing siren Janelle Monae, Ethiopian jazz man Mulatu Astatke (who played with Aussie hipsters The Black Jesus Experience) and Nigerian Femi 'son of Fela' Kuti just some of the delights.

The homegrown acts were on good form too – Robert 'I live 45 minutes away' Plant was a Sunday evening [Band of] Joy with a set combining his latest album and some great reworked Led Zep covers including Houses of the Holy and Black Dog.

Purple haired Jessie J was there too, even if she had to come on with crutches and perform her set seated but Dionne Bromfield perhaps stole the show.

The teenage prodigy and goddaughter of Amy Winehouse may be petite but she's powerful and confident, without being precocious.



What a talent – and mature far beyond her years. She paid a fitting tribute to Winehouse – despite cleverly not mentioning her name – with Mama Said and her closing cover of Love Is A Losing Game which brought a tear to not just her own eyes.

The inclement weather threatened to make it a chilled festival weekend for all the wrong reasons – until DJ Norman Jay stepped on stage Sunday afternoon.

He has a habit of bringing out the sun every year – his 90-minute set another triumph, not least when he dropped in Rehab to a huge cheer.

Supercool hip hop newcomers The Bullitts – with special guests Lucy Liu and Idris Elba – lit up Saturday afternoon with a lively set and their own nod to Amy.

Saturday headliner Kanye West also paid tribute to the late star, but not before almost being booed off stage when he spent 10 minutes self-eulogising mid set. 

It was a wonder there was room on stage for the troupe of dancers, West and his ego. Stick to the music, Kanye.

Like Neneh Cherry earlier in the afternoon, Empire of the Sun were a surprise delight on Friday; the Aussie space rockers dress like Noel Fielding's distant cousins and put on a great visual show, as did The Chemical Brothers who followed them to round off the night in block rockin' style.

While music is the heart of the festival, The Big Chill always does a nice line in alternatives; the therapy field and its massages, pottery classes and fortune telling; the Art Trail; kids' area The Little Chill...

A pity it didn't look as busy as previous years, but perhaps with what seemed a bigger site, everyone was just more spread out. Chilling.

VERDICT: FOUR STARS