The forecast had been for heavy showers all weekend, but someone up there must have been smiling on the Mighty Boosh (perhaps ‘The Moon’ had a word?), as they enjoyed uninterrupted sunshine for the first ever BooshFest last Saturday. Just as well, since it was a long day with not an awful lot going on. Considering the fantastical nature of the series, and the hype surrounding their foray into festival territory, there was every reason to expect the unexpected. But fans could be forgiven for feeling let down when what actually materialised was something much more run of the mill. With a bizarre mix of distinctly average bands and DJs playing to indifferently drifting crowds for most of the day, the atmosphere was lacking from the off.

Even the comedy tent, which had looked like the most promising option for an afternoon’s entertainment, was too small to accommodate the hoards of people who had evidently come specifically to catch surreal stand-up heroes such as Ross Noble and Flight of the Conchords (hardly surprising since it was essentially a comedy-based festival). There was one tiny face-painting tent, but no other activities to speak of, and the exotic-sounding ‘Nabootique’ was in reality a straightforward merch stand selling the usual T-Shirts and overpriced souvenir programmes. It felt a lot like the Boosh had simply been slotted into a pre-existing event format - designed for a more mainstream audience - than something entirely imagined by the eccentric comic geniuses themselves. The phrase ‘squarepeg into round hole’ springs to mind.

Only a small proportion of punters had bothered to dress up, but those who did get full marks for effort. Several ‘Old Gregs’, a sprinkling of ‘Future Sailors’ and quite a few ‘Tony Harrisons’ joined a throng of ‘Howard Moons’ in the obligatory rollneck/Hawaiian shirt/trilby combo. This at least made for some excellent people-watching and photo opportunities. It was gone nine o’clock by the time The Boosh made it onto stage, up until which point we’d only seen Rich Fulcher as brash tranny ‘Eleanor’ coming on between acts, endeavouring to enliven the sluggish crowd with his entertainingly manic and often vulgar repartee. Making a dramatic entrance, accompanied by impressive pyrotechnics on a massive pirate ship, a New-Romantic looking Noel Fielding, aka Vince Noir, was trailed in a tiny dinghy by Julian Barratt as the ever-petulant Howard Moon - nicely reinforcing their ongoing dynamic.

All the favourite characters from the series – Old Greg, Lester Corncrake, Naboo, Rudy Van DiSarzio etc. made an appearance at some point, as the team reeled off their back catalogue of songs, including ‘Future Sailors’, ‘Electro Boy’ and ‘Isolation’. Barratt proved himself a competent musician, switching between keys and guitar with apparent ease, and a tight backing band held things together in the face of the odd chaotic moment. The banter between songs was obvious and minimal, not really amounting to a ‘sketch’ at any point, and the lack of any significant new material made the whole set come across as nothing short of ‘Boosh by Numbers’. A nicely orchestrated firework display and some flamboyant costume-changes saved the day, giving the audience something pretty to look at if nothing else.

Rumours have been circulating recently about a possible Mighty Boosh musical, allegedly to be co-written with legendary shock-rocker Alice Cooper. The mind boggles (in a good way), but if it does happen, let’s hope that they put more imagination into it than the sadly disappointing BooshFest.

The Mighty Boosh are also appearing at The Big Chill festival in August, and will be on a tour of the UK starting in September.