Pennfest 2019 - Pictures and video from Friday

Belying his 51 years, lead singer Brett Anderson strutted his stuff like a man half his age and even dived into the crowd for a frantic singalong.

Right on cue, the balmy summer weather turned sour just in time for the return of the annual festival in the Chilterns village of Penn, which has seen its fair share of washouts in recent years.

But there was no repeat of the mud bath of 2017, when negotiating the quagmire around the toilet blocks required more balance than many merry revellers possessed.

It was also a far cry from the heady summer heatwave of 2018, when instead of mud it was dust that covered the site. 

Instead, the driving rain was simply a backdrop to a high-spirited, friendly and colourful family festival with more than its fair share of highlights from day one for the 10,000 strong crowd.

Aside from the music, a stomach-churning fairground provided a backdrop of screams and thrills, 'festival-priced' food vans lined the outside of the site and the impressively long bar remained packed all day.

The entertaining VIP tent was decked out in a Hawaiian theme and became a dance floor of its own as the DJ powered up the decks as the sun went down.

On the main stage, Miles Kane's set rattled along with smooth professionalism and some seriously meaty guitar and warmed the crowd up nicely for the remainder of the Friday acts, which are traditionally more guitar-led compared to Saturday's poppier line-up.

Watch Miles Kane in action below

The mercurial Peter Doherty brought with him an impressive backing band, but his bedraggled appearance and somewhat woozy stage persona did leave some younger festival-goers puzzled as to what all the fuss was about.

While the shabby track-suited bottomed Doherty's powers as a songwriter aren't in doubt, his set underwhelmed, and while he was lining up as a solo artist, it was clear the crowd was gagging for a Libertines mini-set to close. It never came.

Perhaps the biggest cheers of the day came under the canvas of the Big Top stage, where the returning Oasis tribute act Noasis - now something of a fixture at PennFest - had the crowd in the palm of their hands.

The tent was soon so packed it became almost impossible to get in, and the singalong to Don't Look Back In Anger and Wonderwall had the entire audience in full voice.

PennFest has a history of putting on well-chosen tribute acts, and Noasis followed on from the success of their rivals Blurd in 2017.

Not the real thing, it's true, but with a Gallagher reunion looking less likely than ever, it was as close as many young fans would ever get - and they loved every second of it.

Watch the crowd sing in unison to Wonderwall - below

Goldie - the Peter Pan of breakbeat - rolled back the years for his late-night set in the Big Top Stage and the atmosphere was electric.

But it was Indie legends Suede that topped the bill, reminding us all exactly why they have stayed at the top of their game for so long.

The set was head and shoulders above anything else on show for its slick presentation, delicious riffs and sheer energy.

Hit followed hit, with Anderson's evergreen vocal sounding as strong as ever alongside his boundless energy.

The frontman zipped around the stage, mounting the monitors, jumping into the photo pit and at one point (much to the reluctance of security staff) hopping the barrier to walk along the front row and embrace his devoted fan base - affectionately known as 'The Insatiable Ones', who had been camped on the front row since midday.

See Suede perform their hit Trash - complete with crowd singalong

Highlights of the set included a flawless performances of The Drowners from their Mercury Prize-wining debut album, a thumping rendition of Animal Nitrate and the beer-sloshing, hand-waving singalongs Trash and Beautiful Ones.

PennFest continues today with Happy Mondays, Peter Hook and Craig David on the bill.