Friday's apparently 'revolutionary' headliners, The Levellers, are now a GuilFest fixture. Seemingly having played every GuilFest since its inception, it would seem odd for them not be on the line-up somewhere. Yet by playing something old and something new and something probably borrowed from elsewhere, they pulled it off successfully. Their sound is still folk-rock laden with violins, land lubber's sea shanties perfect for listening to with a paper cup of suspiciously scrumpy pear cider. C'mon, there was nothing refined about that stuff! Political as ever, the Levellers are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year, and played new tracks "A Life Less Ordinary" and "The Cholera Well" from their forthcoming studio album, Letters from The Underground, due for release this summer. Meanwhile, over on the Ents24 stage, 60's tripsters The Egg were getting things warmed-up psychedelically in festival-style. Hmmm, a great warm-up evening for everyone getting settled into their tents. But Saturday had what everyone was waiting for.

Bright sunshine and the scent of chips, curry and noodles wafting across the field greeted the nostrils of the weekend's happy campers, most of whom were still blearily blinking off a mixture of hangover and lack of sleep. This is never helped by the 'amusing' antics of those who think it's fun to turn up a ghetto blaster next to a camper's ear, separated only by a thin layer of tent nylon. Next year, the tent peg mallet will not be forgot, oh no siree…

The Hoodoo Gurus warmed up Saturday evening's proceedings with their trash pop and infectious song before a time warp commences with Kula Shaker. The last time most of the audience saw or heard of this lot was in the mid-nineties, but miraculously Crispian Mills and his boys haven't seemed to have aged. At all. So they launch into their set of originals and covers. Their cover of Deep Purple's "Hush" gets a great response; parents are getting up and shaking a leg, showing the youngsters a thing or two. Until their backs start playing up and they have to sit down again. It's making everyone come over all nostalgic for those heady days of Britpop wars, it does.

Kula Shaker - Photo By Edward Easton

But there's really no fighting the shivers of anticipation running up and down the necks of the several thousand standing in Stoke Park as a striped monochrome backdrop gets hung at the back of the stage. A small blonde figure wearing a red beret and a black and white striped poncho takes to the stage. She's followed by guitarist Chris Stein, drummer Clem Burke (who still looks as fresh faced as he did back in 1978), and a couple of youngsters who look as though they can't believe their luck. Yes, guys and girls, it's the one and only Blondie. And the whole Parallel Lines album gets played from start to finish to celebrate its 30th anniversary and re-release. A few 'new' tracks (well, "Screaming Skin" and "Maria" from 1997's No Exit) get played too, more about those later. "One Way Or Another" really takes the stalking ethos to the hilt, Harry screams about hanging around outside your house, finding your credit cards, and finding out who you call. Mind you, I shouldn't think many men would actually object to Harry's devices, but there you go. Oh yes, this is the full-on retro trip into the past indulgence that it should be, unashamedly so. Instead of shouting: "This is a new song!" Blondie have recognised that the people who come to a festival such as GuilFest aren't only going to be their die-hard faithful, and have respected that by playing the stuff that everyone knows. And if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And yes, a tear or two comes to the eye with "Sunday Girl". I hate to sound like an over-emotional Take That groupie but it's a classic. There's an interesting rap intro from 1997's "No Exit" that evolves into "Rapture", Blondie being the first band to experiment with rap in a recording. And they're still doing it now, with class and style. And Harry's voice still has the sugar-sweet intonation to do the kind of power-pop that Blondie excelled in – alternating that sweetness with a snarly growl that's the crunchy wafer to your knickerbocker glory. Her voice certainly hasn't been neglected over the years, having grown deeper and more timbresome since her days with the Jazz Passengers. She even drinks tea, how incredibly British of her. To top it all off, they do a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Get off My Cloud", a fantastic moment which just proves that girl can rock just as well as any man.

Blondie - Photo By Edward Easton

Onwards to Sunday! The skies open, the clouds unzipping their contents to marr the non-stop sunshine that had so far pervaded the festivities. And by the time the monsoon had stopped, it was time to take in Cerys Matthew's pleasant Welsh twang. She does the Catatonia hit "Road Rage", which shows off her voice that has come along way since her days of 'billy goat'. It's all fairly pleasant and summery stuff, just right for a July day.

Cerys Matthews - Photo By Edward Easton

Then, another red beret appears onstage. No, not Debbie Harry, but Captain Sensible. Lead singer Dave Vanian announces "Is she really going out with him?" and they launch into "New Rose" the first punk single to be released in the UK back in autumn 1976. I've now lost count of how many times I've seen them, but every time The Damned perform it's always different. They find a new way of playing their classics, Dave Vanian forgets the lyrics and makes up new ones, and Captain Sensible fine tunes his compere bashing technique. Marvellous! Nearing the end, they lament that they will be giving the audience up for Les McKeown's Bay City Rollers and burst into a few bars of "Bye Bye Baby" to the crowd's great amusement. "You know, the scary thing is, you all know the words!" says Mr Vanian. The Damned – the first, last and always of punk – have betrayed their Goth roots by bringing the sunshine out on a rainy day and a smile to every man, woman and child (yes, go play it at your daughter) that listened.

The Damned - Photo By Edward Easton

GuilFest 2008, as all previous, had something for everyone. And if it can satisfy me (and I'm extremely difficult-to-please) it must have been good. Every GuilFest goer should now enjoy the rest of the year knowing there are good things in life – you just have to wander into a field with a bottle 'Alice in Wonderland' style to go and find them.