Despite the fun people had sliding about in the oceans of mud at last year's Glastonbury, a music festival really needs great weather to be an unmitigated success.

Bestival seems particularly lucky in this regard and once again the weather gods smiled on Rob Da Bank's Isle Of Wight extravaganza, where 15,000 happy campers basked in hot sun and the diverse sounds of an outstanding selection of artists and DJs.

The fine setting of Robin Hill country park is ideal for the occasion - although the hill itself can seem a mountain to climb when you've spent the weekend partying and it's time to go home - and Bestival's encouragement of fancy dress, happily adopted by almost everyone, guaranteed a spectacle almost everywhere you looked.

Topping the bill on the main stage on Sunday night were The Scissor Sisters, currently at number one in the UK charts and the perfect embodiment of Bestival's "dress up and get down" concept of revelry.

Jake Shears and his flamboyant cohorts delivered their over-the-top glam-rock disco, accompanied by outrageous pyrotechnics as the ground shook to the stomping of thousands of dancing feet.

Gogol Bordello also rose to the occasion as Friday night's headliners with their accelerating gypsy-punk and melodramatic antics, but it was the Pet Shop Boys' appearance on Saturday night which brought truly transcendent moments to the main stage.

As Neil Tennant's ever-youthful voice uttered the words, "I've got the brains, you've got the looks, let's make lots of money", it seemed almost impossible to believe that we were singing along to a 50-something man's ironic indictment of consumer culture first released over 25 years ago.

Still sounding entirely contemporary, the Pet Shop Boys' hook-laden disco classics and perfectly poised style showed them as they what they are - modern legends.

Other great figures weren't hard to find. John Martyn brought summer afternoon bliss, Carl Cox packed the Big Top that night, and Kid Creole And The Coconuts were an unashamed joy.

Brighton's finest, including The Pipettes, The Hat, CagedBaby and Metronomy all made outstanding contributions to what was, in Glastonbury's absence, surely one of the festivals of the year.