VAN the Man opened the festival in some style, drawing on his huge reserves of material, but performing plenty of popular hits and, whisper it, seemingly to be in good spirits.

The first night crowd is always a mixture of festival-goers and fans of the artiste in question in for the one-off show.

Thus there was plenty of support for Van in the spot regularly occupied by Jools Holland.

The highly-honed band of seasoned pros, all dressed in black, respond to what appears to be Morrison calling the set list on the hoof, and do it magnificently.

There were individual highlights - In The Garden, Tupelo Honey and, even, Wherever God Shines His Light, but in the main it's the groove that counts - the times when Van just lets the song go on and the band get to show their mettle.

He ended with a much-extended Gloria, disappearing halfway through to let his musicians finish the show, presumably on his way to Stornaway, where he was playing the following afternoon.

Sterling support before and after the Morrison set came from Arab, the alt-country-cum folkie five-piece 'discovered' by Bob Harris and surely set to follow the Mumfords to stardom as folk takes over the world.