A manic energy and sense of mild chaos is palpable before you’re even inside the Riverside Festival. Confused by the booming kickdrum from the main stage, our Uber driver makes a hash of the relatively easy junction leading up to the museum then struggles to navigate the car park to the point where people are looking. It’s mid-afternoon and already there are throngs of visibly hungover kids in reflective RayBans waiting to get in.

Disgruntled day trippers with buggies and backpacks mill around outside the gates, scowling at the mob converging on the site for scuppering their vehicle-admiring bank holiday plans. We get through security and head straight for the Ice Cave Rave, where the parka-clad local duo Illyus and Barrientos are playing their third gig in as many days, for a dose of shimmering, summery house that is at odds with the cave’s frosty interior.

We chow down disappointedly on some offensively basic burgers from the Lov stall, then head to the Mastermix Stage to catch DJ Koze and bump into some friends who say they had to abandon Nina Kraviz’s set here the night before due it not being all that good. Hemmed in by the museum on the right and the Clyde on the left and with a couple of thousand raving, stumbling loons going for it in all directions, it feels like everything is just about to kick off. The German drops his disco edit of Lapsley’s Operator, with its lush vocal and irresistibly simple bassline, and everyone goes nuts. It moves one punter to clamber over the fences and onto the tall ship, the ravey Jack Sparrow descending back into the cheering morass a hero.

We have a lie down in the sun, devour some slow-cooked chicken satay and salt and chili chips from Julie’s Street Kitchen (debating all the while how anything could ever be THIS delicious) then head back into the fray to see Glasgow’s own Jackmaster going back to back with Jasper James. They’ve drawn by far the biggest crowd of the day for their headline set, and we fight our way through – satay raised high in the air, lest it meet a flailing elbow – to the front, where we can see the main man triumphantly holding aloft the hoops with “Jackmaster 11” on the back. There’s joyous celebration among exactly 50% of the audience, before Jack toys with the crowd during an extended teasing session – dropping the bass, bringing it back in, dropping it again – after which the relief is overwhelming. The floor is sticky with two days of sweat, rain and spilled drinks – it’s like dancing on syrup, but nobody seems deterred. Towards the end, Jack grabs the mic and calls for a moment of solidarity with the people of Manchester. A Guy Called Gerald’s acid house classic Voodoo Ray kicks in, the hypnotic vocals drift into the mix slowly, and we all share a collective moment – it’s a quite beautiful end to an outstanding couple of days.

We asked revellers what’s the worst holiday you’ve been on?

Vartan Sall, 19, Irvine - "India. It was far too hot, and there was nothing to do".

Steven Norwood, 22, Troon - "Turkey. The airline lost my luggage, which had my cash in it. The whole thing was a total disaster".

Aaron Rodgers, 19, Troon - "I went to Greece. It was so grim that we all left early".

Scott McCallum, 45, and Lorna McCallum, 46, Clarkston - "Disneyland Paris in the winter. It was freezing. Our son got frostbite".

Craig Bentley, 21, Bridgeton - "Fell off a bike at an event organised by the hotel in Spain. Badly injured, including a broken ankle. The air ambulance rescued me, and I spent the rest of the trip in a wheelchair".

Daniel McBride, 21, Dennistoun - "Spain, when I was ten years old. A massive cockroach crawled across my belly when I was in bed".

Sarah Ingham, 36, Helensburgh - "Turkey, when I was 15. I just felt very unsafe all the time".

Emma Clancy, 35, Helensburgh - "Butlins in Ayr. The place was run down, just not reaching its potential".

Jide Sosimi, 35, Edinburgh - "I went to Belfast on a football trip. I hate flying and there was an emergency landing on the way there, and on the way back".

Ashleigh Bernhagen, 26, Edinburgh - "A year seven camping trip at a farm in Australia. It was awful, we were sleeping in a shed. We went home the next day".

Robert Kerr, 47, Edinburgh - "Mexico, for a wedding. I was wearing a kilt, it was roasting, and I got seriously burnt".

Fiona Carley, 47, Edinburgh - "A girl guide trip to Gogarburn. I was really ill and they wouldn't send me home".

Kenzie Mitchell, 18, Falkirk - "Turkey. All I can say is that it was just generally dodgy".

Meghann McShane, 18, Falkirk - "Magaluf. I was hungover 24/7 - felt so rough".

Emily Millar, 19, Falkirk, 19 - "Lanzarote - it was freezing, despite it being July".

Jordan Simpson, CLUBBER OF THE WEEK

Q: Favourite club?

A: Kokomo

Q: Favourite pub?

A: The Bunker

Q: Favourite DJ?

A: Tiesto

Q: Favourite band?

A: One Direction

Q: What are you drinking?

A: Vodka and coke

Q: First club you visited?

A: Sugar Cube

Q: Describe your dancing in three words or fewer?

A: Two step