ANN NUGENT

Concert In The Gardens, Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh:
Star rating: *****

This year Edinburgh's Hogmanay offered an array of explosive performances from Idlewild, Kasabian and Calvin Harris, to rival the spectacle of the fireworks that coloured the midnight sky.

Mixing rock with punk and even folk influences, Idlewild opened the night's festivities with a sound that is distinctly their own. The Edinburgh-based band performed a greatest hits set culled from the album Scottish Fiction, the highlight being the gorgeous layered harmonies on You Held the World in Your Arms.

With roots in late 1960s soul fused with 1970s glam rock, Kasabian were the darlings of this year's festival circuit - a feat that won them the coveted NME award for Best Live Act 2007.

For Edinburgh's Hogmanay, the band were determined to provide more than a few fireworks of their own on stage with a performance doused in swaggering arrogance. Front man Tom Meighan's earthy strut is matched to lead guitarist Pizzorno's galloping riffs in a way that recalls their rock forerunners at their youthful best.

Opening with the soaring anthem Shoot the Runner, the band took the audience on a euphoric ride through trippy, electronic flourishes with songs such as Lost Souls Forever - dedicated, touchingly, to late Motherwell captain Phil O'Donnell - and the ferocious pounding beats of Club Foot, for which they were joined on stage by special guest Noel Gallagher, in a collaboration greeted with a roar of delight from the Edinburgh audience.

Dumfries born retro-electric pop darling Calvin Harris provided the soundtrack for the first hour of the new year with a DJ set that featured synth-tastic singles Acceptable in the 80s and The Girls and goaded the audience of revellers rocking Princes Street Gardens into an enthusiastic arm-waving frenzy.