V Festival
August 22, 2010
V Festival is often deemed one of the more ‘uncool’ festivals to go to, as Glastonbury reigns supreme, and Reading and Leeds give smaller gatherings such as Bestival and Latitude a run for their money. Despite this, we went along to Weston Park in Stafford to watch the bands put on their Sunday finest for a jolly good show.
Our day kicks off with Australian pop singer Gabriella Cilmi. Her most famous track, ‘Sweet About Me’, is received with rapturous applause, but the crowd start disappearing, having heard the only song they’d come to listen to. Unperturbed, Cilmi struts her way through various other songs, including ‘On A Mission’ and ‘Defender’, a ballad during which she invites the audience to kiss their loved ones.
Paloma Faith continues the pop vibe, adding touches of jazz to her set on the 4 Music Stage. Not overly convinced by her music before, her performance is so easy and talented that I leave feeling rather impressed. Introducing each member of her band, they all get the chance to do a small solo, which she encourages the audience to cheer on. The set includes all of her big hits, including ‘New York’, ‘Do You Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful’ and ‘Upside Down’. Faith ends her set with a mediocre rendition of Etta James’s ‘At Last’.
Next on the list are Editors. Familiar only with their singles (but liking them all), the first few songs of the set are lost on me, but the Birmingham band wins over the rest of the crowd and goes on to do ‘Bullets’ and ‘Munich’, along with their other hits. Though they’re not great at engaging the crowd between songs, the band are excellent.
Lissie takes on one of the smallest stages of the venue, with a smaller crowd than she deserves. The American singer-songwriter is very chirpy and chats easily with the audience between songs, excitedly telling us she’s been allowed extra time for her set due to the person after her pulling out of their slot. Past single ‘When I’m Alone’ and soulful ‘Oh Mississippi’ go down very well; as does her finale, a cover of Lionel Richie’s ‘Hello’.
Ellie Goulding fills the Juke Stage tent, though, humbly thanking the crowd every five minutes for turning up and singing along. With hype building around the singer all year, I’m interested to see how she holds up live – and she doesn’t disappoint. ‘Starry Eyed’ naturally ends the set and is well received by the ecstatic audience.
Despite Florence and the Machine not chatting much to the crowd, Florence has everyone eating out of the palm of her hand, singing along. She starts with ‘Drumming Song’, making her way through the album tracks and really showing off her powerful vocals before leaving us wanting more with ‘Dog Days Are Over’.
Kings of Leon end the evening as thousands of people turn up to see the band, who fill their hour and a half set with new and old favourites like ‘Four Kicks’, ‘Molly’s Chambers’, ‘Call On Me’ and ‘Sex On Fire’. The quartet, not known for their conversational skills, prefer to get straight into each song – although lead singer Caleb announces near the end of the set that the show has been one of his favourites “ever”. In a magical moment, the crowd unites to sing the penultimate song of the evening ‘Use Somebody’, and it seems the perfect ending to the festival.
V Festival does indulge a wide range of tastes, and there aren’t many festivals you can say that mix grime, pop and rock in the way that V does.
V Festival, Weston Park, Stafford
V Festival is often deemed one of the more ‘uncool’ festivals to go to, as Glastonbury reigns supreme, and Reading and Leeds give smaller gatherings such as Bestival and Latitude a run for their money.
Despite this, we went along to Weston Park in Stafford to watch the bands put on their Sunday finest for a jolly good show.
Our day kicks off with Gabriella Cilmi, the Australian pop singer whose most famous track ‘Sweet About Me’ was received with rapturous applause, before the crowd started disappearing, hearing the only song they’d come to listen to rather early on in the set. Unperturbed, Cilmi strutted her way through various other songs, including ‘Defender’ – a ballad where she invited the audience to kiss their loved ones – and her other well known single ‘On A Mission’.
Paloma Faith continued the pop vibe, adding touches of jazz to her set on the 4 Music stage. Not overly convinced by her music before, her performance was so easy and talented that I left feeling rather impressed. Introducing each member of her band, they all got the chance to do a small solo, which she encouraged the audience to cheer on. The set included all of her big hits, including ‘New York’, ‘Do You Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful’ and ‘Upside Down’. Faith ended her set with a mediocre rendition of Etta James’s ‘At Last’.
Next on the list were Editors. Familiar only with their singles (but liking them all), the first few songs of the set were lost on me, but the Birmingham band won over the rest of the crowd and went on to do ‘Bullets’ and ‘Munich’, along with their other hits. Not so good at engaging the crowd between songs, but the band were excellent.
Lissie took on one of the smallest stages of the venue, with a smaller crowd than she deserved. The American singer-songwriter was very chirpy and chatted easily with the audience between songs, excitedly telling us she’d been allowed extra time for her set due to the person after her pulling out of their slot. Past single ‘When I’m Alone’ and soulful ‘Oh Mississippi’ went down very well; as did her finale – a cover of Lionel Richie’s ‘Hello’.
Ellie Goulding, on the other hand, filled the Juke Stage tent, humbly thanking the crowd every five minutes for turning up and singing along to everything. With hype building around the singer all year, I was interested to see how she held up live – and she didn’t disappoint. ‘Starry Eyed’ naturally ended the set and was well received by the ecstatic audience.
Another singer I was interested to see live was Florence and The Machine. Despite not chatting much to the crowd, she had everyone eating out of the palm of her hand, singing along and reacting when requested to. She started with ‘Drumming Song’, making her way through the album tracks and really showed off her powerful vocals before leaving us wanting more with ‘Dog Days Are Over’.
Finally, Kings of Leon ended the evening. Thousands of people turned up to see the band, who filled their hour and a half set with new and old favourites like ‘Four Kicks’, ‘Molly’s Chambers’, ‘Call On Me’ and ‘Sex On Fire’. Die-hard fans were clearly noticeable by their knowledge of all lyrics. The quartet, not known for their conversational skills, preferred to get straight into each song – although lead singer Caleb did announce toward the end of the set that the show had been one of his favourites “ever”. In a magical moment, the crowd united to sing the penultimate song of the evening ‘Use Somebody’, and it seemed the perfect ending to my pop-fest.
As festivals go, it might not be the most credible (Peter Andre was playing, for crying out loud) but V Festival does indulge a wide range of tastes – acts I’d have liked to have seen were Chase and Status, Tinie Tempah and Groove Armada – and there aren’t many festivals you can say that mix grime, pop and rock in the way that V doesV Festival is often deemed one of the more ‘uncool’ festivals to go to, as Glastonbury reigns supreme, and Reading and Leeds give smaller gatherings such as Bestival and Latitude a run for their money.
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