Feel the bass: a Moonlit crowd. (Picture: Alex Digard, 1010500)

MOONLIT MADNESS – it was never going to be great after the day-long downpour of last Saturday.

The event was due to kick off around 2pm, with bands playing during the day. But the rain meant it had to be postponed until six, and in the end only the DJs performed.

First off, I have to admire the organisers’ enthusiasm in carrying the responsibility of putting on an event of this size.

They proved that it is possible to hold a large event on a small budget.

As well as a sick lighting show, there was also video projection and a set-up that allowed people to send texts that were then projected on a large screen.

Yet I can’t help but feel it might have been a ‘run before you can walk’ scenario.

Before that comes across as an absolute slating on my part, there were some things that impressed me.

Firstly, the sound: considering it was an outdoor rave, you could feel the bass from right at the back of the castle. In a large open space, it easily carried all the bleeps and effects of the dance tracks.

Beefy and bold, the sound was what kept this gig together.

You couldn’t ignore the attention to detail of the stage, either: full of flashes of neon-coloured material, it resembled a web created by a spider on LSD.

I guess the reason I found it difficult to get comfortable at this event was because it was at the Vale Castle and it wasn’t the Earth Fair.

I’m used to walking up the hill to the arched entrance of the castle and being overwhelmed with the number of people running about the place, dancing, drinking and singing.

I walked up the hill expecting that and instead found a lot of police and a lot of kids.

Inside the castle, things didn’t really improve.

The place seemed full of underage ravers dressed as fairies in luminous tutus and leg warmers, and there was a marked absence of older people.

Underagers on a wet Saturday night, in the Vale Castle listening to trance, psytrance and breaks? It wasn’t a great vibe for me.

The line-up was somewhat focused on electro/trance. That isn’t my cup of tea, but I can appreciate it when a track hits me. When I arrived, DJ Tank was on stage. Electro, breaks and trance – his set was a mixture of all three. He seemed to be a crowd-pleaser DJ and was often seen pushing his fist in the air to the music.

Then I saw it: the laptop. He wasn’t even spinning records, yet he still managed to mess up a couple of mixes.

Despite that the crowd loved him, and he had people dancing.

Ray Marshall was up next, a veteran of the scene who soon had the crowd moving.

Infrasonic was to come, but by then I had bailed.

It was a huge shame that the weather turned out the way it did. It totally washed out this event, which on paper looked like an awesome day out with a diverse line-up.

Unfortunately, nature won this fight. Let’s hope for sun next year.