Performing at RockNess 2010

The fifth anniversary of RockNess (est. 2006) looks every inch the belter, thanks to a heavyweight roster of headliners: Fatboy Slim, who crowned the festival's debut year by bringing his Brighton Beach Party to the Loch-side, brandishes the pure adrenaline of "The Rockafeller Skank" — a splendid blend of northern soul overlay and big beat undercurrent — the Strokes steam in from Manhattan on a throaty blast of "Last Nite", the second single released from 2001 debut album Is This It, and Leftfield rumbles the world's collective sternum with the hypnotic, two-note bass assault of "Phat Planet" from 1999's Rhythm and Stealth. Plan B joins the extended Rockness A-list, in Next Steps.

There's quality all the way through the card at Clune Farm in 2010, which means that RockNess has certainly set the bar high for the rest of the summer's festivals. Blondie gives us a quick fix from the '80s with "Call Me" — heard on the soundtrack of the decade-defining, Armani-adorned movie, American Gigolo — Ian Brown lays his Manc magic on "Stellify", which the former Stone Roses singer acknowledged as the first time he "consciously sat down and decided to write a love song", and Ben "Plan B" Drew makes the transition from hoodie/rapper to hip-hip soul boy on "Stay Too Long", the smooth/rough standout from 2010's concept release "The Defamation of Strickland Banks". All of your Rockness '10 dance demands with be met in Deep Cuts.

The real test of every festival is not just what's happening on the main stage, but how lively it's getting in the margins, and by the look of the undercard, RockNess 2010 has "outstanding" written all over it — High Contrast (aka Lincoln Barrett) lays his peerless drum and bass technique on slivers of Julie London's "Cry Me a River" to create "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" from 2007's Tough Guys Don't Dance, the Freestylers team up with Pendulum for "Painkiller" from 2006's electrifying Adventures in Freestyle, and Vitalic (aka Euro electronic wiz Pascal Arbaz) boldly scales new heights of innovation with the skyscraping "Second Lives" from 2009's Flashmob.

If you're going to place yourself at the start of the annual festival season, you may as well hit the ground running . . . and that's exactly what RockNess has done for 2010. The fabled lakeside setting has been a constant during the event's opening half-decade, but this year the line-up has an epic look about it, as the roster sets returning hero Fatboy Slim alongside northern legends Doves and Ian Brown, retro-goddess Debbie Harry (with Blondie), and a couple more cultured rock 'n' roll visitors from the other side of the Pond, the Strokes and Vampire Weekend. And, as always, the dance stages and tents are packing enough rhythmic dynamite to rouse the local beastie from the loch's most profound depths. It's all about the cagoules, the sunblock, the glow-sticks . . . and the sounds.