THE SUN shone and the crowds came out in their thousands to party on the Common yesterday.

The fun packed day kicked off with a rousing performance by local band Pivotal, who had won the I Want to Play at Common People competition.

This was followed by the bizarre but brilliant Elvana who mashed up the hits of Elvis and Nirvana complete with Vegas era Elvis jump suit.

Following a dreamy set by Indie band Plastic Mermaids with shimmering gold tasselled capes, Southampton garage band FooR completely ignited the emerging crowd playing tracks from their exciting new album Friends of FooR.

Hotly tipped Sheffield Indie band, The Sherlocks, played a stellar set of guitar driven anthems – including the UK debut of new song Magic Man and ended on a high with Always Chasing Shadows.

Blast from the past Sparks, who had their first hit in 1974 but are still releasing albums and not prepared to rest on their laurels, opened with new song What the hell is it This Time and played recent hit, Missionary Position, and Edith Piaf – all great pop tunes amid lots of exciting new music and yet still with that same unmistakable Sparks DNA. Old songs including Number 1 Song in Heaven and This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us sounded better than ever.

All Saints looked and sounded amazing with all the dance moves and singalong pop hits, including Puppet on a String, Lady Marmalade, Bootie Call, Never Ever, Pure Shores, their Red Hot Chilli Peppers' cover and hit, Under the Bridge. There was newer music too, including One Strike from their recent album Red Flag.

The rain came down for a few minutes just as James took to the stage to treat fans to songs from their forthcoming album, Living in Extraordinary Times, and he teased the crowd about having no time left to play big hit, Sit Down, before ending their set on a high by playing it anyway.

As the sun began to set, headliner Lily Allen, who was spotted in the crowd watching All Saints perform, delighted the crowd with a brilliant mixture of old and new songs, including LDN, My One, Knock 'em Out, Smile, Littlest Things and The Fear – ending with Not Fair.

Later today it's time to boogie on down for a disco-tastic line-up that will see revellers bask in the dazzling reflection of the World’s Largest Disco Ball and fill their dancing boots with sets from The Jacksons, The New Power Generation, Boney M, Snap!, Jungle Brothers and many more.

New for this year is the Carnival Stage which will see performances on Sunday from Hadda, Fred V & Grafix, Holy Goof and Barely Legal. The Uncommon Stage, hosted by The Joiners, will see rock action from Torcoda Fray, Pale Seas, Saints of Sin and The Lost Boys amongst others.

Follow the Daily Echo on Twitter (@dailyecho) for live tweeting, with more photos being uploaded to dailyecho.co.uk throughout the weekend.