Bluedot - Saturday

I like waking up under canvas, especially when the canvas is more than a few feet away from my face, and doubly especially when the Minx is making coffee. What a bloody lovely start to the day.

We had a leisurely morning on the site before heading out into the festival, starting off with a talk called 'All About Mars' delivered by Dallas Campbell. Maybe he's a natural public speaker or perhaps he's had loads of practice but he was totally mesmerising, effortless enveloping the audience with his enthusiasm for his topic. Once or twice I looked to make sure Dan and Abi were OK only to find they were totally engrossed.

After that we had a mooch around the science stands which were uniformly interesting. From rocket technology to the science of sound, all of the stands were perfectly designed to lure the passing punter into the world of science. And I think that's a brilliant thing: it's all to easy for scientists to take an interest in the arts but the opposing journey can be far more difficult.

Of course, the festival is about music, too. I enjoyed Beth Orton, although she was wasted on the main stage and would have been far better suited to the intimacy of one of the music tents. Air, also on the main stage,  veered occasionally too close too muzak but when they were good, they were very, very good, not least because of their drummer who added a fresh and dynamic dimension to some of their well-known numbers.

The main event was Jean-Michel Jarre, a great choice for the first Bluedot festival. Perhaps more than anyone else - and certainly earlier - JMJ realised how there was a risk that electronic music would be dull live and consequently made his concerts into big, crowd-pleasing events, and tonight was no different, with complex projections and his laser harp contributing to the show.

Musically, though, it was varied. Certainly the earlier material, such as the predictable but still totally welcome 'Oxygen IV', was all brilliant, sounding different and innovative even after four decades. There was a dearth of mid-period material, though, and a mix of tracks from his most recent couple of albums, 'Electronica 1' and 'Electronica 2'. Some of these, such as 'Exit' featuring Edward Snowden, I enjoyed immensely but too many of them are just modern electronica by numbers: the big drums, sequenced basses and rapid arpeggiations. (Exactly, in fact, like the disappointing and, at times, unforgivably boring, Underworld, last night.)  

When JMJ finished we headed back to the tent and I was rather gratified to find that Dan had enjoyed the concert. It had been a long day and everyone was ready for bed so I poured myself a drink and sat outside the tent to watch Brian Eno's light installation that was being projected onto the Lovell telescope. 

I first saw an Eno light installation and a gallery in Austria, maybe twenty years ago and was hugely disappointed. But, where I might have given up on the idea, he has stuck with it, refining the process and trying it on a number of projects until it has become something both beautiful and hypnotic. Eventually, though, the falling temperature and my empty glass brought me to my senses and I went to bed.