DESPITE Saturday's ominously-leaden skies, Sunday saw the sun add to the pleasantly laid-back atmosphere of York's first open-air music festival for a good many years.

Though the weekend turn-out - just short of a thousand over the two days - was less than organisers York Arts Forum (YAF) had hoped for when they began their ambitious project, the mostly-local bands rose to the occasion in style, on both the intimate acoustic tent and the mighty main stage, where the full festival sound and lighting rig certainly looked the part, especially when Chris Helme's ex-Seahorses/Shed Seven supergroup The Yards turned in a classy headline set on the Saturday night.

Earlier, the broad grin and broader girth of Bad Manners' Buster

Bloodvessel had incited the mid- afternoon crowd to a mass knees-up, in which even someone's dog was joining.

AIR2003 was definitely a family affair - sometimes more village fete than

festival - with numerous children enjoying the open space and music, and even a gentleman wandering around with an umbrella which rained on him - in the name of art, presumably. Heck, even the toilets were tolerable.

Memorable AIR moments included rap-metallers Lynchpin's brave attempts at crowd surfing, Dust Bowl Central's opening "Hello Knavesmire!", Syncrownised's Hendrix-inspired guitar destruction, talented singer-songwriter Jessie Gardham keeping her cool on the acoustic stage despite having to compete with the sound of Bad Manners at full belt in the distance, good vibes all round from Huge, and 'sixties legends The Animals actually playing despite the recent death of a band member.

Alexander King, frontman of York band AKP, who played on the main stage, said: "YAF do great work putting events on all year round, and it's fantastic that local bands have had the opportunity to play such a

high-profile event"

YAF organiser Catherine White said: "The bands have all said there's a

great atmosphere. Obviously we'd have liked more people, but we've learned a lot doing it. We've had great support from a lot of people, especially the council."

City of York Council events manager Liz Topi said: "It's gone very

smoothly with a lot of good bands, and the weather's been favourable.

"Unfortunately it hasn't really been well-publicised, but it's been a learning curve."

Updated: 10:15 Monday, July 28, 2003