For a masterclass in making the elaborate seem easy, look no further than Cate Le Bon and her merry band of seven, who deliver hazy beauty, psychedelic elegance, skewed instrumentals, and more across a baker’s dozen of songs – including almost all her latest album – made light on their feet. One last main stage mention has to go to French electro-pop-punk trio DITTER, who came to turn up the party with a highly physical and often unpredictable show, thanks largely to the force of singer Rosa Rocca-Serra, who was utterly convincing as both popstar and provocateur.

Meanwhile, over at the cloister, Annahstasia just about knocked the wind out of me, and I strongly suspect just about everyone else. Joined by cellist Abi Asisa and Genevieve Namazzi on double bass, she was totally transfixing, with a strong gravitational pull of unwavering authority. It’s perhaps a bit too easy to reach for the Nina Simone comparison, in terms of her command of the room, but it’s also not wrong as shown by the way she at one point paused to wait for silence, saying nothing, just radiating self-possession and trusting in the still. Two new songs were played, “Life and Its Interference” and “Trials and Tribulations” (an Ypsigrock world premiere), but it was her cover of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” that sealed her triumph, cut loose from the faulty tech to sing us out, unamplified, into the rest of the night.

Skipping over a deflated set from Horsegirl, let’s show a little love for The New Eves, who bring their old-world art-rock to life in perfectly jagged relief. But the cloister plays its biggest hand by far with the absolute mayhem of GANS, three guys risking it all in the true Ypsi spirit of once. If drummer Euan Woodman and bassist Tom Rhodes are the two-horse engine of GANS, sharing vocals too, it’s Tommy Lawther on sax and flute who most feels the call of the wild, throwing his body around like it’s made of nothing. It’s safe to assume that the medieval courtyard of St. Francis has never seen anything quite like GANS, and that’s because I haven’t really either, as least not for a long while. 

Naturally, the crowd go bananas as a circle pit turns to a stage rush, and we all dance as one. One band, one night, one chance and then it’s gone. Same as it ever was, right? And, the way I see it, that’s the real power of once – not to make a moment feel artificially important, but to make us feel the fact that it is passing; a reminder, then, rather than a rule.