WITH just 500 revellers and only a handful of bands it was a far cry from huge festivals like Reading or Glastonbury. But to music-lovers and artists it was the highlight of the summer.

The fourth annual Arcane Festival, which took place on Saturday and Sunday, was hailed a huge success, with organisers describing it as “the perfect festival”.

The event, which was this year held at a new site, City Farm, near Eynsham, was headlined by Welsh comedy rap act Goldie Lookin Chain, whose frontman Maggot described his time at the festival as “the second best day of my life”.

Boasting live music, two dance tents, vintage arcade games and a real ale bar provided by Horspath’s Shotover Brewery, Arcane was billed as an intimate event for friends and musicians. The site had a deliberately small capacity for 500 people, and sold out on Saturday.

This year’s two-dayer was held in memory of one of its founders, graffiti artist Dan Lewis, who died in June in a swimming accident in West Oxford. Mr Lewis’s memory was kept alive with a graffiti wall, on which friends and festival supporters painted tributes – and a portrait of the artist, who worked under the name Halfcut Art.

Any profits from the event will be donated, in Mr Lewis’s memory, to the Oxford Art Room – a facility giving youngsters a chance to develop through art projects away from mainstream lessons. It has bases in East Oxford, Rose Hill and Blackbird Leys.

Festival compere Susanna Starling, from Headington, Oxford, described it as one of the best weekends of the summer. She said: “It was a perfect little festival – and a great way to remember Dan.

“It was all great fun, and the feedback has been positive. Everyone loved the music and the atmosphere. And it says a lot about Arcane that we had seven wallets handed in – each full of money – and several phones.

“Dan would have loved it. It was a nice tribute.”

She thanked farmers Carol Watts and son Nick for their support, adding: “The farm was the perfect site – it was easy to get to and has the potential for us to expand, if we do it again – which hopefully we will. It had the right people and the right feeling.”

As well as live and DJ sets by Newport’s Goldie Lookin Chain, musical highlights included performances by East Oxford promoter and guitarist Osprey, Oxford reggae band Mackating, and gypsy-folk band Chancery Blame & the Gadjo Club.

Organiser, Aemi Blaza, from Horspath, said: “Dan would have had a great time here. It has been quite emotional, but it was wonderful seeing his face come to life on the graffiti wall.”

She added: “The festival had a really friendly vibe, which is why we like to keep it small.

“Hopefully we’ll be back again next year.”

tim.hughes@oxfordmail.co.uk