Y Ffîn’s humble beginnings saw many trials and tribulations in the days, hours and minutes leading up to the start of the festival at 12noon on Saturday 25th. A 20ft lorry that should have been the 2nd stage went awol which led to a complete change of schedule; an almost apocalyptic flood washed a number of local residents out of their homes and put the fairground knee-deep in water which led to a complete change of venue (at 10.30am on the day); the main stage had to be in the centre of the field purely because that was where it sank and nobody was going to move it; and rumours that the event was cancelled were rapidly spreading throughout the region.

BUT despite all of these hiccups once 12noon arrived EVERYTHING ran so smoothly you would think that was how it was all planned. Over 1000 people turned up to sit through a glorious day of sunshine and be witness to a line-up that included some of North Wales’s finest musicians and poets.

John Lawrence’s eco-tipi provided the stage for festival-goers to experience some of the most beautiful folk music from the likes of Nia Morgan whose delicate, enchanting voice was beautifully accompanied by John Lawrence on pedal-steel guitar to create a truly magical sound. Watching John play the guitar is enough to ensure that even the most critical listener is totally lost in music, giving themselves over to sheer abandonment of the moment. Stacey Cohen’s jazz influenced vocals caused many a wanderer to pause and bathe in her gorgeous sound. Whilst a more dirty burlesque feel was added to the Drip Dry Man’s blues set by Sven on synth transporting listeners to a netherworld of dark alleys and gin.

On top of this were poetic interludes from theAbsurd’s Sophie McKeand, Rhys Trimble and Jonny Fluffypunk who all brought their own unique poetic style to Y Ffîn – and proved that the modern spoken-word is a far cry from dusty old poets in cardigans…

Whilst the main stage saw a more traditional line-up of welsh guitar bands, no-one was going to complain about it. The quality and calibre of music coming from this stage was exceptionally high by any standards, and the fact that practically all of the artists are from, or live in, north Wales only serves to highlight the impressive music that is being created in this region at the moment.

From JKLMNO to Y Promatics and Lupin Thieves, to The Roseville Band and Race Horses each and every band brought their own unique sound and style to the stage to make this day memorable, including Mr Phormula’s totally crazy beatbox drum ‘n’ bass set built entirely with his mouth. Meilir’s performance was so full of expertly crafted passion that by the final screaming chords of Oedi the crowd were left breathless, whilst Mechanical Owl’s epic tunes created a magical soundtrack to this summer festival that would be hard to forget.

Derwyddon Dr Gonzo showed exactly why they’re playing so many festivals this year. Blasting from the stage with a mix of ska, funk, party tunes and wrestling moves guaranteed to get any crowd on their feet, the guys from Dr Gonzo bounded, stomped, squawked, whooped and leapt their way through a set of sheer brilliance – you have to see these guys play live, in a really big field, to see just what strokes of genius they’re capable of.

Which did leave some worrying how on earth Sibrydion were going to follow that with their headline set – we shouldn’t have. The band played a blinding array of songs from their first 2 Welsh language albums as well as some from their latest offering ‘Campfire Classics’. This was a performance from a band who know what they’re doing, that their music rocks and are totally up-for-it… and so were the crowd. A quality finish to the first Y Ffîn festival in Mold, lets hope we’ll see many more.