"We haven't played a festival in so long, it feels amazing," Sir Mick Jagger told the Isle of Wight crowd.

In fact, the Stones last played one in Britain in 1976, when they headlined Knebworth. So their appearance at the first major festival of the summer was something special, as well as an education for the notoriously prudent Jagger.

"This is a great festival, very nice, very clean and everyone has a good time," he said. "I did find things a bit expensive though. Two quid for water, four quid for a hamburger."

Unable to resist a punchline, he added: "And the dog ate my dope!"

There was nothing stingy about their set, though, which was specially tailored for this 50,000-strong crowd.

The band opened with pyrotechnics and Keith Richards's thunderous riff to Start Me Up. It may not be the best Stones song, but Jagger was so fired up, running around and gesticulating, it acted as a starting gun for an impossibly energetic 90-minute set.

"I hope you've got a bit left in the tank," said Jagger, making it clear that - at 63 - he had. Amusingly, he even claimed to have got into the festival spirit by staying "in the tents over there for a couple of nights with my kids."

Richards, meanwhile, just gave us a raffish grin. Perhaps it was the guitarist's amusement at his sparkly sequined jacket, which may well have been visible from the mainland.

Jagger made a point of praising the other bands on the bill - even though the Fratellis' bassist wore a T-shirt saying "Who the f*** is Mick Jagger?"

Keane, in particular, made a big impression with the crowd, as did Paolo Nutini - and he was rewarded with a guest spot with the Stones on Love In Vain. The young singer was, naturally, awestruck.

But the band's next guest, Amy Winehouse, didn't seem intimidated at all to be dueting with Jagger on Ain't Too Proud To Beg, a Temptations song the Stones recorded for the 1974 album It's Only Rock'n'Roll. In fact, Amy and Mick made a fine double act, with different vocal styles but similar waist sizes. After some okay blues jams and a couple of songs sung by Richards, the rest of the evening was all about proving the Stones could triumph at a festival.

And they did it in some style when their stage extended a couple of hundred feet along the ego ramp, the band playing as they slowly went past thousands of beaming faces.

If that was an expensive gimmick, their finale for the weekend was a rock'n'roll masterclass, including spectacular versions of Satisfaction, Sympathy For The Devil and Jumpin' Jack Flash.

Apparently, Glastonbury couldn't afford the Stones' £1 million price tag. But after this return to the festival circuit, it appears they missed out on a bargain.