What a shame that professionals like Adam Ant, Sam Bailey and Black Box – with 5 No 1 hits between them, no less – were let down by the event’s utterly shambolic organisation.

Adam Ant was two hours late on stage – not appearing until 11.20pm – by which time a good number of his fans travelling by train had been forced to depart. Adam himself – the headline act and the sole reason that many fans including us had paid up to £40 a ticket – got just half an hour.

The organisers apparently blamed a faulty generator for the interminable delays between acts but this doesn’t explain the amateurish production. When Adam finally did get on stage, the crowd had to shout at the sound booth to turn his mic up because nobody could hear him! Background music was also left on at the start of Jocelyn Brown’s set, so the crowd couldn’t hear her either. The event’s schedule allowed a totally unrealistic 10-15 minutes between acts.

There were more apologies from the artists than the organisers, who went to ground and pressed on ostrich-like when they clearly should have dropped an act to give more space to Adam Ant.

If the organisers want to get serious artists in and charge serious money for tickets, they need to get serious themselves. This amateurish shindig would have disgraced the beer garden of the Dog and Duck.

Yours sincerely

Russell Lynch