I had this review all worked out before packing my bags - rock & roll finally arrives in the county formerly known as the garden of England (that historic label having passed onto West Yorkshire following the chav infestation that has plagued Kent in recent years). I've lived in Kent for 22 of my 25 years (with occasional breaks for student residences in Portsmouth & South London), and despite the best efforts of small local venues like The Forum in Tunbridge Wells & Chatham's Tap 'n' Tin, it's largely been a deadzone for live music - too close to London for it to be worth bands' while to play both, and not close enough that Londoners want to trek down here to see them.

Unfortunately, there's never been much of a local scene to shout about either, and since the Rolling Stones exploded from Dartford in the 1960s, our greatest addition to the musical landscape has been 70s one hit wonders Chickory Tip (if anyone knows of any other Kentish musical successes, I'd be more than happy to be corrected). It's a fact that's sadly reflected in the line-up of today's festival, held in the splendid surroundings of Mount Ephraim Gardens near Canterbury, with only opening act Kid Harpoon and unsigned competition winners Fortystore here to represent the host county (and they're both onstage at the same time).

Anyway, that's how I'd intended for the article to pan out, but as we were stuck in a huge queue of traffic because the festival site was at the end of a road that wasn't suited to such a huge volume of traffic (or indeed for two vehicles to pass in opposing directions), I was starting to have my doubts. Of course, any small boutique festival I come to will draw mental comparisons to my beloved Truck Festival and its friendly community spirit - as we drive into the festival site, our path is blocked by dreadlocked youth. He turns around slowly and gives us the finger before eventually moving aside - score one for Truck.

However, it's the music that we're really here for, and to start with, we decide to plump for Kid Harpoon in the worryingly named Eat Your Own Ears Tent, and it turns out to be a good decision. He plays an entertaining solo acoustic set, commanding the huge stage with confidence and charm and producing country tinged songs with a powerful, gravel-throated twang. Our next choice turns out to be less successful though, with The Hot Puppies' anaemic garage pop failing to spark any reaction in me beyond ambivalence.

Next up came one of my expected highlights of the festival, as well as one of the biggest irritations, as South London indie heroes The Boyfriends are scheduled at the same time as Sheffield's glamorous retro popsters The Long Blondes, the two bands I most wanted to see today. Ordinarily it's the kind of decision that I'd be pulling my hair out over, but as The Boyfriends sorted us out with our tickets, the decision is made rather easier.

The Boyfriends stride onstage, clad uniformly in monochrome save for a splash of red on bassist David's neck scarf, frontman Martin cutting an imposing figure at the front of the tiny stage, and launch into a set that features a mixture of old favourites and less familiar material (no place for 'No Tomorrow' though, perhaps their best known tune).

The songs sweep through the tent with a romantic flourish, Richard casting swarms of swirling dissonance from his banks of guitar pedals for the opening of recent single 'I Love You', while Martin's dulcet tones keep everything in check. It's by no means the greatest performance I've ever seen from them, but The Boyfriends do plenty here today to suggest that they are one of the most promising prospects amongst the hopefuls on show here today.

Freshly enthused by The Boyfriends' splendid set, and with niggling irritations about scheduling forgotten, we make our way for the first time to the main stage, an arched structure stood thoughtfully at the bottom of a gentle hill, offering near perfect views even to those at the back of the crowd. We duly find our places about halfway down to enjoy half an hour of quirky, chirpy guitar pop courtesy of The Young Knives. They play all of the single, which are great - particularly 'Weekends and Bleak Days (Hot Summer)' which has half the field jumping up and down to its angular rhythms, and the frenetic 'She's Attracted To', recalling Blur at their most accessible. The album tracks are less immediately appealing, but it's all carried off with such good humour and charisma that we barely notice.

Back to the New Bands Stage and we're just in time for the start of Duels set, and a good thing too, for they proceed to wow us with an impressive set that switches dynamically from eardrum burstingly loud to whisper quiet at the drop of a hat. This was the first time I'd seen the band live, and they certainly left an impression with an impassioned and energetic performance, particularly from their guitarist who jumped about the stage like a kid who's forgotten to take their Ritalin. It's not just about the energy though, there's great craft behind these carefully constructed tunes and they're delivered with precision timing.

Then follows a bit of a lull, with no bands to grasp our imaginations on the horizon, we decide it's time for a beer. However, on arrival at one of the sites few bars our plan comes unstuck. It would appear that there's been rather a great demand for alcoholic beverages (at a music festival, who'd have thought it?), and they've run out of anything that doesn't come in a plastic bottle. Undeterred, we head for the food tent only to find that they too have been busier than expected and have also run out. However, if we wouldn't mind waiting 20 minutes, there will be more food available soon.

So we wait and wait and then wait some more. Eventually, after rather more than twenty minutes, a door opens and we are informed that the only food available is beef burgers (and we quite literally mean that - just a burger in a bun, no lettuce, no chips, no cheese, just reconstituted meat in a bap). The price of this exotic delicacy? Five pounds - still we should count ourselves lucky, judging by the hastily amended sign, if we'd been here for yesterday's dance night, we would have been charged seven!

We decide then to skip dinner, and make our way to the EYOE tent for the bearded splendour of Archie Bronson Outfit. The three serious looking gentlmen onstage then create massive, hypnotic walls of sound with their instruments punctuated by the singer's twitchy vocal. It's extraordinarily effective, even more so live where the sound can really grow and envelop the crowd, wrapping us all in a blanket of glorious noise. It's quite an experience, and one I hope to repeat again soon.

Strangely, as it's still broad daylight, our day is coming close to its end, and the once beautiful festival site is starting to look rather repulsive. Litter is strewn as far as the eye can see, in some places you can barely see the grass for all the plastic bottles and burger cartons, and unfortunately, it's the fault of the organisers - there simply aren't enough dustbins, and the few that are there don't seem to have been emptied all day. The most worrying sight of the day comes in the form of a small group of children playing with the scattered debris. Not good enough. Another trip to the bar also confirms that the festival is now officially out of water as well as food.

Moaning over and done with, it's time for our final band of the evening. Young South London hopefuls Battle have been raising the collective eyebrows of gig-goers and record buyers around the country for a while now, and on tonight's evidence, it's not hard to see why. Their epic indie sound is both edgy enough for the hardcore indie kids and accessible enough for potential mainstream dominance, and it's certainly not unimaginable that they could follow in the footsteps of Bloc Party et al into the big leagues. We leave with big smiles on our faces and rush back to the car to avoid the rush as in the distance festival headliners The Charlatans run through their cavernous back catalogue.

So, the Electric Gardens Festival then - not all that I had hoped that it would be, but considering it was their first attempt, not a bad effort. If they can sort out some fairly basic organisational flaws, like making sure that there is enough food and drink for everyone, and someone is hired to empty the bins every now and again, they could have a great event on their hands. Here's hoping they get a second chance.

www.electricgardensfestival.com

Review & Photography by Paul Madden