The Carling Weekend Leeds Festival, Friday

NOT a chainsaw in sight, but there were plenty of surprises about rap superstar Eminem's headlining performance, which closed the first night of the Leeds Festival.

The man pretty much everyone had come to see - judging from the sea of expectant faces that filled every space in the main stage bowl - made an anonymous entrance as just one of the vocalists in his Detroit rap group, D-12.

And none of the exuberant D-12 (whose ranks also include a rotund gentleman in a shower cap) seemed at all bothered by the fact that one of their number has become one of the world's most notorious superstars, as they bounced lyrics and in-jokes off each other, hyping each other and the crowd up in an impressive display of how to make rap work live, before letting Eminem take the spotlight.

Ironically, for a man so under the microscope of fame, Eminem seems to enjoy it best when he can sidestep celebrity by being part of a group, though his vocals still stand out a mile.

The only song he performed entirely on his own was Stan, and he managed to avoid playing most of his hits, while still being the ringmaster of a show you couldn't take your eyes off. Earlier on this metal-dominated day, Ian Astbury, of reformed rock veterans The Cult, exclaimed: "Leeds invented Goth! And now you've got Marilyn Manson!"

And indeed, the US shock rocker was the day's other big draw. In total contrast to Eminem's approach, Manson takes rock star ego to its ultimate extreme, with his theatrics and costumes, including prowling the stage on 10ft-high metal stilts, and appearing dressed as a dictator beneath a gigantic crucifix made of guns. The music, a mixture of industrial rock, glam and goth, sadly isn't up to the props.

Other main stage names of note included nu-metal men in black Papa Roach, and dark, psychedelic rockers Queens Of The Stone Age.

And, banished to the other stages by all the noisy angst-ridden Americans, the British contingent, with the likes of Lowgold and Gene, were guarding the flame of melodies and jangling guitars, ready for Travis to top tonight's rather mellower bill.

Updated: 09:46 Saturday, August 25, 2001