V Festival - Chelmsford - Sunday

[Gurnox]

Anyone going?

 

[maxi]

one of my mates is.

and anotehr guy who i fucking destest is too.

 

[Gurnox]

one of my mates is.

and anotehr guy who i fucking destest is too.

Would be justice if the one you detest was going on the Saturday. Then they would have to endure the repulsive grease that is Dido.

Personally, I'm looking forward to Primal Scream Big Time

 

[Wazzerphuk]

It's a festival for people that can't handle real fesitvals, and like to sit in indie depressive states for a weekend, listening to the wonderful cheery sounds of Keane et al.

Don't think I've ever heard of an interesting person that's gone to a V festival.

 

[Gurnox]

It's a festival for people that can't handle real fesitvals, and like to sit in indie depressive states for a weekend, listening to the wonderful cheery sounds of Keane et al.

Don't think I've ever heard of an interesting person that's gone to a V festival.

Surprisingly enough it was pretty good. Couldn't comment on the overall 'festivalness' of it as I only went for the day and didn't camp. Good atmos. though and no agro whatsoever.

Highlight had to be Massive Attack. They were head and shoulders above everything else there.

A few really shit things though:

- Having to buy tokens to get drinks. If you don't want your barstaff stealing money, pay them more.
- Cash machines running out of cash (Though people really should learn to take enough money with them to these things)
- Bar running out of lager. Criminal seeing as they were not even letting cans in......
- There were some awful bands playing. Indie-schmindie doesn't even come close. 'Fountains of Wayne'? Kiss my fucking arse...

But I would definately recommend it to anyone who was thinking of going. Just don't expect a Glastonbury.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Or any other good music.

 

[Bodhi]

I went to the event in Weston Park (it's just down the road from me) and it was awesome. I avoided the indie-schmindie like the plague apart from The Charlatans (who were really really good even tho i didn't know any of the songs) and Snow Patrol (who were a great first act to see, their set was a right ripsnorter.). Only bands i saw apart from that were The Thrills who were O.K I suppose, N*E*R*D who were unbelievably awesome (set of the weekend imo), Massive Attack who were also brilliant (deepest bass i have ever heard), Faithless (also brilliant). I wanted to see Roni Size but the JJB arena was running late meaning he clashed with N*E*R*D, and as much as I like Roni N*E*R*D win that contest every time. Oh and I missed Muse because i was asleep in a field somewhere. Gutted. Anyway the festival itself was brilliant I liked :-

• The magic mushroom shops. After all the chat about drug amnesty bins and thorough searches when you get in before the event, they never failed to put a smile on my face.
• Getting stuck in my tent for an hour and a half on the first night. The mushroom shops were to thank for this. I just couldn't figure out how to navigate my way round the porch....So i just lay down and stared at the ceiling, lying on the other side of the tent from my sleeping bag, which had transformed into a massive snake which was trying to eat me. Happy days...
• Meeting up with Abbi. She told me some things that had me grinning for the rest of the weekend. In fact i'm still grinning now
• The atmosphere in the camp site we were in was great. Everyone was seriously chilled out and had a good laugh at the guy shagging a screamer. You would do wouldn't you?

I didn't like:-

• As mentioned, the beer token shenanigans. Waiting in two queues to pay £3 a pint was a bit excessive i thought.
• The weather. We got soaked put the tents up and down, and for the rest of the weekend there was a nice chilly wind about. But that may have been the drugs i was taking.
• Some of the lineup was quite poor, Keane and Jamie Callum especially yawn-inducing. However there was normally something else interesting going on so it was less of an issue. But come on, who the fuck goes to a festival to see Dido?

All in all, a great festival. I'm paying for it now tho. Been sick as a dog all day and my knees really ache for some reason. Totally worth it nonetheless.

 

[Doh_boy]

Went to the essex one meself

Sat
Musical Highlights :-
Dead 60s - Ok not the most original band but a good set. Also good considering I went there because all american rejects sucked so hard.
Tim Booth - Missed a lot of the set because the charlatans were late because of some fucking about on the main stage. Bird got naked on stage which was kind of a bonus.
Muse - Not seen them live before. Good set.
Killers - Enjoyed myself emensely
Musical Lowlights :-
All american rejects - Reminded me of busted, with a bit more swearing.

General highlights - Finding free internet access, but more importantly phone charging
Hope of the states lead singer having a hissy-fit about his guitar being badly tuned and throwing things about after the set

Sunday
Musical Highlights:-
Kasabian - Good set.
Zutons - Fucking top set!
N.E.R.D - Wasn't sure what to expect, bloody good.
Strokes - Was tired, really fucking sore and was considering going home/sleep in my tent. But they came on and I forgot until they got all weird towards the end.
Musical Lowlights :-
Pixies - Ok but I was expecting more

General Highlights :-
Goldie looking chain - Fucking lmao! Top stuff, might buy the album just to cheer myself up

As for the above gripes, I didn't do any shrooms because I had feck all money and food > shrooms. Saw the queue for the cash machines and decided to fuck it off. The beer was shocking and I only managed to buy 4 because I couldn't be fucked to queue twice for a can of strongbow.

All-in-all it was good and I enjoyed myself BUt I'll be seriously considering something else next year unless they do something amazing with the line-up.

 

[Gurnox]

Oh yes, the idiot who decided to stick Primal Scream in a tent far too small to cope with the sheer amount of people who wanted to see them should be shot.

Still, Massive Attack were a great consolation.

 

[Vae]

Agreeing with Bodhi (there's a first for everything) and disagreeing with Swift (not entirely a suprise) I thought it was a great weekend.
We had a group of 10 people camping at Weston Park so the camping was a laugh - although women should really only pack what they can carry and not rely on us poor mugs (men) to carry it for them to the furthest possible campsite from the car park (50 minutes walk loaded up like a packmule was not fun )
The weather had been raining earlier in the day so the ground had started churning up already but thankfully not too badly yet.

There was no-one I was particularly aiming to see so I more or less went with the flow.
Highlight - smuggling a bottle of whisky and coke into the festival both days by distracting the woman on security

Saturday:
Very sunny day which was very welcome after the previous day.
Caught bits of Jamie Cullum as we wandered round the stalls etc. I quite like him so wouldn't have minded catching more esp the cover of 'High and Dry' I heard he did. Judging by comments texted onto the video screens I think I might have been alone in my liking him though.
Chicane - awesome if rather too short set. They seem to be changing/have changed their style rather a lot from 'Behind the Sun' adopting a more rock based style to their music but it was still great. This proved a great way to really start the festival and probably would be my 3rd choice for best set that I saw. They also seemed genuinely glad that so many people came to see them so early on in the day.
Badly Drawn boy - I'm a fan of his music so it was nice to relax after Chicane and have a nice drink in the sun.
Part of the Thrills who I don't really know but seemed pretty good before moving (along with half the festival population) to the NME stage to see Scissor Sisters. Imo this was the biggest screw up in scheduling - they should have been on the Vstage with the video screens but I don't think they expected them to attract so many people when they scheduled everyone as I suppose a lot of their success is comparatively recent. It was a good show although since there were no video screens I did spend part of it with a girl on my shoulders which kinda kills after a while Also someone mentioned that all their linking material was the same as a previous gig they'd seen them at which is kinda disappointing but not unsuprising.

Caught half of the NERD set next who, although I'm not a fan, were excellent.
Pixies - to my embarrassment I knew none of their music but standing with an ardent Pixies fan he assured me they were superb. I enjoyed it - just wish I'd got hold of some of their music before the festival.
Strokes - A band I do like and they played a great set although maybe the lead singer needs to come up with more linking material than "I'm so fucked" Plenty of initial crowd surging near the front where I was but it soon died down (especially after a couple of unsubtle elbows to the ribs of the idiots next to me).


Sunday
Sunny and Cloudy but still no rain

Divine Comedy - Excellent to start with and did some nice covers.
Athlete - I didn't have a clue who they were tbh but really enjoyed their gig - gonna have to go get some music now
Pink - Considering I don't have any music by her she's probably my contender for the best set I saw.
Faithless - A close 2nd and really got the crowd going.
Charlatans - I was with a Charlatans fan who said it was the best gig he'd seen them play - others I spoke to thought it was poor and that the lead singer still can't sing. I reckon they were somewhere in between tbh. An ok set but nothing compared to what they had followed.
Dido - I still don't know why she is playing a festival but she did a pretty good set. In hindsight I think I should have gone to see Amy Winehouse, Kelis and Basement Jaxx but I couldn't be arsed to spend the evening in that tent. The reviews I heard of Jamelia, Kelis and Basement Jaxx were superb. Highpoint seemed to be Kelis claiming to like relaxing by having sex in public and then going through a series of sex moves/imitations of foreplay in front of the group of 12 year old girls in the front rows of her gig!
Muse/Kings of Leon - I caught bits of both sets as I flitted between the two stages - The NME stage really should have Vid screens although we found a ridge near the back which gave us an unimpeded view of the stage. I'm not a huge fan of either but both seemed to be playing good sets - Muses light effects seemed especially good.

Monday
Got up early despite the rain and had left the site by about 8:30 to avoid all the horrendous queues.

I consider myself a civilized person so I'd rather go to a civilized festival rather than endure a 'real' festival. The atmosphere was great with very little aggro and the conditions were pretty good - toilets were still awful although probably not as bad as other festivals I guess. We had a great time so I expect we'll be back next year when I hope there'll be some bands I actually really want to see rather than ones I would kinda like to see.

 

[Doh_boy]

Oh how could I forget the genius that is outside, communal piss-pot/bins?

They were hilarous but damned useful, saves pissing in a hedge/through a fence.

AND FUCKING VIRGIN COLA!!!! NO FUCKER SOLD ANYTHING ELSE AND IT TASTES LIKE SHITE!!!!

 

[Gurnox]

I consider myself a civilized person so I'd rather go to a civilized festival rather than endure a 'real' festival.

Too bloody right. I live about 20 minutes from the Essex site so didn't even need to camp. Ah, bodily cleanliness...... Besides, I spent about 6 hours trying to get tickets to a 'real' festival (Glasto) with no luck at all.

Disagreeing with Swift is an automatic reaction and part of the normal human thought-process. It's more or less what he's there for.

Oh, doh_Boy, you are bang on the button about the outdoor urinals. A truly brilliant idea. Saved so much time and stopped the festival from turning into a lake of stale piss. The overflowing ones were fucking grim though.

 

[Gef]

I went to the Stafford one, my mom lives in Telford and was away for the weekend so me and the mrs stayed there, just got taxis back in the evening. I didnt really spend much time at the main stage, I watched Kosheen who were exellent and Snow Patrol. The rest of the time I spent at the NME stage and in the Music Choice tent, the highlight was definately The Delays. Something really cool about watching a band in front of an audience of maybe 100 people in a tent. Kinda wish I had watched more bands like that.

The Killers was quite disapointing, the sound on the NME stage wasnt the greatest if your werent right at the front. But that said, Elbow, Longview, Dashboard Confessional, Hope of the States and Athlete were the highlights for me all excellent.

The beer situation did indeed suck, and was bloody expensive, I took in a water bottle filled with Vodka on the second day. I found a few places selling Fanta to save me having to drink sickly sweet V cola all day. All in all a really good weekend, and didnt get rained on once, I actually got sunburned ffs!

And Swift, maybe some people actually like sitting in 'indie depressive states' nowt better than sitting half pissed in a sunny field listening to some nice melow tunes.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

It's Cool To Be Sad

 

[Gurnox]

It's Cool To Be Sad

Irony.........