Heaven knows what James Blunt is doing closing Saturday night at Wireless, when he could have been at Royal Ascot in a top hat, representing the Hillier-Blount clan. Eighteen months of intensive touring may have made him a household name, but it hasn't made him a rock star. A man can grow stubble, distress his jeans and single-barrel his name, but that doesn't address the fundamental problem: Blunt walks through his set like someone who's trying to build a house without knowing anything about architecture.

He's likably witty, but as a singer and strummer, the former Captain Blount is passionless. When emotion demands to be expressed - No Bravery is accompanied by video footage he shot serving in Kosovo - he simply veers into a higher key. On the plus side, an unexpected cover of Slade's Coz I Luv You is oddly marvellous, but the looming behemoth that is You're Beautiful is as sticky-sweet as ever.

Obligingly, the sky is aglow with the remnants of a pink sunset as he finishes. In a just world, Blunt would have been on in the afternoon - between, say, The Boy Least Likely To and Nizlopi. The former augment their jolly power-pop with a man dressed as an elephant; the latter are even more attuned to the crowd's sundazed benevolence, urging us to kiss the person next to us. Their December charttopper, JCB Song, is even cuter in blazing June, and it hardly matters that nobody knows any of the folk duo's other songs.

The Puppini Sisters, a medium-hot tip for novelty success this summer, are charming on the tucked-away Blueroom stage. The trio, whose shtick is to give a 1940s swing treatment to modern hits, do amazing things to Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights. On the Xfm stage, human beatbox Killa Kela also amazes, recreating every sound on Donna Summer's Love to Love You, Baby, with his mouth. Is he available for parties?

Finally, to the act who should have headlined. Chic aren't just disco royalty, they're the only band of the day who have enough hits to fill an entire hour. A white-suited Nile Rodgers leads a euphoric crowd through Good Times, Le Freak and all the rest. There's palpable disappointment when they finish. James Blunt, listen and learn.