V Festival 2008

V Festival

Virgin Media’s celebration of live music hits two British locations once again this year – Staffordshire and Chelmsford. With big name acts ranging from Muse, Stereophonics and Amy Winehouse this year is racked with buzz. So how did it go down?

Friday – the arrival

As I step outside of the coach after just arriving at Stafford for V Festival I’m already beginning to wonder why I thought it was a good idea to bring so much stuff. I’ve been looking around at the weird and wonderful things that other people have brought, ranging from the practical sets of chairs and typical army rucksack to the plain bizarre things like bags of straw. Though I think all of the things I’ve packed are ‘essentials’, I’m still beginning to wonder just how long this walk is going to be from the drop off point to the campsite, especially considering I have a bag which looks bigger than me and that if I lean too far backwards I’m pretty sure will leave me rolling around on my back helplessly like a woodlouse that’s been knocked over.

My doubts about the weight of my bag are soon realised, as we trudge alongside our coach companions in what seems like an infinitely long walk whilst other more seasoned festival goers overtake easily with their wheelbarrows, trolleys and other such sensible wheeled items.

We stop several times along the way to readjust the chafing burning pain of too much weight digging into our shoulders, but I try not to complain too much since my boyfriend’s bag is much heavier than mine to the extent that I can’t even lift it. To be honest I can’t even lift my own bag, which means every time we stop I need my boyfriend to put it back on my shoulders before we can set off.

Finally though, after a painful journey leaving us both battered and bruised we manage to find a campsite and attempt to set up our tent. I can’t help but feel annoyed glancing over at the group of tents nearby from a large group of people which have given themselves a front porch space in the form of a huge circle which is comparable to a decent sized garden whereas we have to park our tent in a place where really a tent shouldn’t be able to fit. After unpacking, blowing up our airbed and otherwise recovering from the journey, we set off to explore the sights of V Festival. Having arrived relatively early on Friday I’m wondering exactly what there is to do since no bands are playing. After looking around however, I wonder how I could even think we might be bored.

So… what is there to do at V Festival?

What isn’t there to do at V Festival is probably the much more appropriate question here. Aside from the obvious, y’know live music and whatnot, there are plenty of things to keep you occupied. Numerous amounts of bars with disco music to keep you dancing, cinemas showing classics like ‘Ghost Busters’ at bizarre hours in the morning, millions of shops selling things from T-shirts to bizarre sweets and food… oh and did I mention the fun fair? Yes a fun fair. Now I didn’t actually ride on any of the rides here, my pocket only stretching so deep and my tight fist not allowing me to spend £20 on fun looking rides… but if you’ve ever wanted to be catapulted in a small pod, or discover what it’s like to ride some really scary looking rides filled with drunken festival goers this is going to be like some kind of haven! It was actually quite amusing to see some people on rides whilst the main acts of V were playing away, but if it floats your boat then why not?

If you’re on Virgin, you’re also granted a few simple benefits – a Virgin Garden with its own clean toilets which (you’ll never believe me here) always have toilet role! It also has its own bar. There’s also two free pints of Strongbow if you’re over 18 and into that sort of thing, and most excitingly free inflatables! Yes you can have that much needed accessory of a giant inflatable Samsung, or a wonderfully convenient inflatable seat – for free!

What about this festival spirit?

On the first day I’m wondering whether all this information about ‘festival spirit’ is just a bunch of rubbish since most people have isolated themselves into the groups they came in. However it isn’t until the bands start that I really get the feeling of this spirit and association. There’s something about struggling your way through mud with fellow festival goers, and standing outside in an infinitely long and smelly toilet queue that somehow brings people together to have random conversations. Strangers actually talk to you, you actually strike up conversation with strangers… the result is rather wonderful, even though you know you’d never be having this conversation if it wasn’t for the fact that you were stranded in a field in the middle of nowhere united by music. It must be the lack of bathing and running water, or the shared experience of sleeping in a tent in a mud pool which brings everybody together – but whatever it is a spirit exists and it is strong!

Festivals are a place where new mini celebrities can be born – whether that’s ‘monkey hat man’ – a man who simply has a monkey on his hat…but also holds the ability to make the monkey clap or a man-kini wearing Borat impersonator who is held up high during The Delays – it’s a nice little place for quirks on screen!

Saturday – the music begins!

The band of the festival that really signals the start of things to come for me was Delays. I picked them on a whim from the list of bands and times hanging from my neck, and I was glad I made that impulsive decision because they turned out to be pretty impressive.

We struggled our way over to the 4 music stage, and easily passed through the crowd to the front. I stood vaguely reading the description of them and ‘operatic’ is how the lead singer’s voice was described. When they first started I thought that they’d over- exaggerated, but it wasn’t long before his inhumanly high pitched voice appeared, interspersed with a quite pleasant raspy and individual lower voice.

The band has a very unique sound and are subsequently quite funky to dance to when they churn out songs like ‘Valentine’. The bands stage presence is obvious and the blond haired high voiced singer certainly likes just being on stage by the look of it!

Girls Aloud are unfortunately less than inspiring, and many people questioned why they were even in attendance. Whilst they held their own in cover songs ranging from ‘Jump’ to Robyn’s ‘Heart Beat’ (which confused me since Robyn was playing the same day anyway…) they seemed lacklustre in playing their own songs and mainly tried to sell the music on their looks alone whilst wobbling in and out of tune. The red haired member of the band was the worst in poor uncaring performances – she looked out of place, uncomfortable and simply unhappy being there. If there’s no joy in your performance, the audience feels no joy and you shouldn’t be there!
Perhaps it’s simply because I’m far away for this act, but I just don’t feel it. It’s easy to slip out to another band or grab a burger whilst they’re playing and it shouldn’t be. You don’t go to festivals to be more interested in food than the bands!

We head over to Alphabeat in the JJB Arena as I finally convince my boyfriend they’ll be more interesting to see than Girls Aloud… and they are. They’re just a fun band! Listening to Alphabeat is light sipping a cup full of rainbows and happiness! They fill you with a lively beat that makes you happily dance to their pure cheesy music. They’re one of few bands who sustain just the right amount of cheese to be pure addictive feel good music. They play their much loved singles ’10,000 nights of thunder’ and of course the new track ‘boyfriend’ which is addictively cheesy – and many more! I hadn’t quite realised this band consisted of so many people, but they manage to hold their own and provide a nice and surprisingly good live set!

The Feeling are one of the surprising highlights of the day. Despite not considering myself a fan, when they belt out their hits I realise how many of their songs I do actually like. ‘Sewn’ in particular is my favourite of their set. Perhaps in my head I have never associated all of their hits with the same band, but when I see them all in one go I realise that I am really rather fond of them!

The Feeling hit an instant crowd pleaser by playing it safe, perhaps they’re being overly cautious but they play nothing which isn’t a single or cover – and this is an easy success! The thing about The Feeling is that because of their popularity and largely innocent and non-offensive selection of singles it’s hard not to know the songs they play and that in itself is the main reason why they’re easily one of the highlights of the day. It’s infectious and simply enjoyable to hear music that you can sing along to – there’s something about bouncing around in a crowd of people singing the exact same thing that makes a performance much more enjoyable than that of a previously unknown band. They aren’t particularly extravagant live but they let out a good solid performance, music and the voice of the lead singer exactly the same as on record except slightly more intense.

After annoyingly missing Robyn since one of the performers at JJB pulled out and subsequently all of the acts are moved forward half an hour, naturally without informing anyone at the festival that this has happened, we stay in JJB for pretty much the majority of the night. I simply endure Calvin Harris, who whilst enjoying a couple of his songs ‘Born in the 80s’ for example, is simply not good live!

Travis for me are the best band of the night however, and it’s wonderful being ridiculously close to the band you love too! As my boyfriend said Travis have ‘gone cool’ – they’ve ‘scened up’ their look with the bassist donning a huge army coat, and the lead singer a bowler hat.

They hit just the right combination of singles interspersed with newer and less known tracks and perform with such natural stage presence and dominance it’s easy to find yourself dancing along and singing at the top of your lungs ‘Sing’ or ‘Closer’ and any number of their other addictively mellow hits.

It’s a shame really that Travis were restricted to the relatively small JJB arena since they could have easily held their own on the main stage. Unfortunately for Travis though, the days of their strong commercial success have slipped by and newer bands are placed above them. They’re still a class act and it’s easy to tell their seasoned performers.

It’s after Travis that I rather stupidly decide to have a toilet break. Now this is all well and good if you need the toilet, and it’s relatively simple getting out… it’s just the getting back in, especially when it involves fighting your way to the front again, where the problems arise! I’m glared at evilly by many people, talked at drunkenly by others but only challenged once and luckily for me at the stage where my boyfriend is within reaching distance. As soon as the person sees that I’m genuinely trying to find someone though, I’m given a wink and told to enjoy the night and helped on my way. That’s the thing with festivals; people are pretty friendly but can be pretty defensive at letting you by if they don’t believe your tale of woe.

Hot Chip are a band that I don’t know all that well, but that I was ridiculously close to and I must admit in the end despite everything I did enjoy their performance. They are a band which in American terms simply typify the epitome of ‘nerd’ and ‘geek’ – they are not geek chic, or ‘scene’ – they are just pure and simple geek! Despite this though they have found untraditional success and popularity through music, which I suspect was absent in their lives at school. Their performance is the only one of the night where the philosophy of concerts ‘bounce or be bounced upon’ holds true. The tent is practically pumping for all the jumping and dancing. I’m surrounded by people who keep stepping or should I say stomping on my feet and who absolutely love the band. I know only a few songs, and it’s ever so slightly too hot but I bounce away anyway.
We have been befriended by an extremely stoned couple who keep grinning vacantly at us and swaying with the music. Throughout one of the few songs I know ‘Ready Fir the Fall’ I am more concerned about the irony of falling over than the music but I eventually push these concerns aside when I notice that Jess, the extremely drugged up girl of the couple, has somehow managed to stay on her feet despite barely even being able to lift her head up. If she can manage to stay upright, I assure myself, then so can I!

The headline of the night The Verve on the main stage were good but unfortunately for them came at a time when I was simply too tired to thoroughly enjoy their performance. Unlike Muse the following day, they simply didn’t distract me enough from the poor conditions - the rain, the cold and the aches and pains that slowly build up from a day of dancing. I enjoy their classics like ‘the drugs don’t work’, ‘bittersweet symphony’ and ‘sonnet’ which are played perfectly and the despair really resonates throughout the stage, but perhaps due to being so far back, and definitely being so cold and wet we simply decide it’s time to head home and sleep.

Unfortunately for us, we must have picked the loudest and most annoying man in England to set up tent next to who insists on singing rather drunkenly poor renditions of songs of the day. I want to go and strangle him, but unfortunately this isn’t quite in the festival spirit so I put up and shut up and attempt to sleep off the day.

Sunday

When I wake up to the sound of squelching feet and complaints of ‘eww’ running by my tent, I know that this day is going to be interesting. We cautiously peep our heads out of the tents and are surrounded simply by a pool of mud. Ah yes, it wouldn’t be a festival without the mud really would it? A night of rain has truly taken its toll – what once was green stretches of fields is now simply churned up thick mud. Along with the rest of the festival, we squelch our way to the stages.

Whilst this day starts off particularly badly it turns out to be an amazing success in the end. It begins with the discovery of mud, and for some reason the gates separating off the main stages are left until an hour late meaning that the first acts are dropped off the list without warning, and the second acts are rushed into a small set.

We arrive at the 4 music stage eagerly as Air Traffic run on and inform us that they have ten minutes to impress us, and so aren’t going to do any talking! They rush off into their songs, and do indeed manage to impress us in such a small slot. It may be their ‘shortest set ever’ but it’s no less a good set – they churn out ‘Shooting Star’ to finish and the crowd bounce along happily.

Another of the big but odd names performing today is Alanis Morissette. Unfortunately for her set I’m pretty far back and alone, so whilst when she finally plays the classics ‘Ironic’ and ‘Oughta Know’ I dance quietly to myself, her performance feels a little flat. It certainly isn’t down to lack of effort on her part though, as she spends one song spinning around in circles and flicking her hair – she’s very much into her music… I simply think that perhaps people just expected her to play old songs whilst she wanted to try and let us all know that she’s not just a one trick pony.

I used to be a fan of The Lost Prophets but as a band I grew out of them, this doesn’t stop them from being quite fun loving live. Since the vast amount of mud has appeared, a ‘mud pit’ has been created in the centre of the main stage for people to run into and otherwise be covered head to foot in mud. It’s hilarious to watch during the bands and good entertainment for the waits in between, but what’s most amusing is the comment from one of the band members. A female fan flashes the camera and the lead singer yells out ‘Ah just hope your mum isn’t watching the tellie’ – it’s at this point that the fan actually visibly looks horror stricken. Perhaps she hasn’t quite realised that this is being broadcast on TV for millions to see!

Whilst all this is going on, we’re queuing patiently to get signatures from Air Traffic. They’re a friendly bunch, down to earth and happily sign all of the cards, and even the tables put in front of them.

Newton Faulkner is one of my personal favourites of the day. He’s so utterly chilled, so utterly unique and he holds the stage simply by telling you stories about the day and about his songs. He tells us a story about how he came to covering Tear Drops – that he was told he needed to do a cover song and the first song that came to mind was ‘You Spin Me Around (Like a Record)’ – yes the song you’re thinking. He then of course goes on to play this for us, whilst placing amusing emphasis on the word ‘record’ by going an awful lot higher. After this little sidetrack we’re then given the chance to listen to ‘Tear Drops’ – an amazing song, and an amazing acoustical cover.
Another highlight of the set is his rendition of ‘UFO’ – not only are we treated to the song itself which is pretty amusing on its own but we’re given the other ending which wasn’t included – a much more funky and hard version which is in my opinion actually much better!
As well as tracks from the album, he plays a song he wasn’t allowed to include simply because it didn’t ‘fit’. It’s very funky and different.

Disappointingly Stereophonics just overlap with his performance so we bow out to get a decent viewing point. I’m not disappointed for long though once they hit the stage as Stereophonics are simply an amazing live act. They have tune after tune which get the audiences dancing under their belt to equip them for a great performance. They are a band with great passion and enthusiasm and simply energy that translates on stage and emits for the audience to follow.
It’s something about their music that gets everybody singing along – even if you don’t know the words! They start their set with ‘The Bartender and The Thief’ and it’s difficult to stop for all the hits.

After each new song, Kelly Jones progressively seems to go from what otherwise could be deemed as arrogant faced grin to slightly despairing as he tells us one of the songs is about losing sight of what’s important. He seems deep in thought, but despite his apparent concerns the set is amazing. The rain hasn’t held out, but that really doesn’t matter when a band like Stereophonics hit the stage. Nothing matters when a band like Stereophonics hit the stage actually, except for singing along and dancing to the music.

After ‘phonics leave the stage I’m left in complete anticipation. The band I have been waiting for, the band that sold the cost of the ticket for me… Muse are the next act to come on and we’re in a prime viewing place!

Muse are for me simply the best live act of now. Seeing them in like watching something not from this world – they have an amazing power, raw energy and presence which means that they command the stage with little to no words needed. And we’re all left wondering what’s in stall when we notice that the main stage is spotted with several large satellite dishes.

Once again I am not disappointed by this band. After a long way in the rain, they come on in their usual tension and excitement building entrance. And there they are. Muse a three piece band with the sound from another planet, the multi talented Matt Bellamy who ranges from lead guitarist, pianist to vocalist for the band often all within the same song. Chris the bassist with one of the most impressive bass lines in the ‘biz and Dom who simply rocks out on the drums this band is certainly not lacking in talent.
Muse are a band that like to pull out all the stops. As well as being amazing live simply without the tricks (I was treated to this when I saw them at their intimate gig in Shepherd’s Bush), but they really know how to light up the stage. At V they wanted to have a UFO join them at some point during their set but health & safety came in their way – instead they settled upon satellite dishes that serve as light strobes and screens for effects, flames, fireworks and of course the trusted giant confetti filled balls that drop during their last track and that inevitably one of the band needs to pop with an instrument. They certainly do like to party on stage!

When songs like Knights of Cydonia are bellowed out the strength and energy of the act are unmissable – they create the feeling of fighting against oppression. Suddenly you’ve gone from being a free festival goer to a person who is genuinely fighting against unjust oppression united with the band.

The mud pit goes mad for the band; the rest of the muddy field is filled with moshing and dancing people. Muse easily steal the festival. They tell us ‘see you next year when we’ll have new stuff!’ for them it’s their last live gig on their Black Holes & Revelations Tour in England, and what a way to end it… and what a way to end an amazing festival too!