Hi everyone,
I've had a busy few weeks visiting London twice and with the football season kicking off, I've spent a lot of my time in front of a TV. Sorry about the delay but I have finally got round to giving you my verdict on this years V Festival.
As you may know I went to the Weston Park V Fest last year but this year I decided to venture to the bigger and televised festival in Hylands Park.
Aside from the roadworks along the motorway the journey down was alright and the tunes in the car got me in the festival spirit. As with last year we arrived at the festival on Friday morning in order to get a tent pitch far away from the loos. After the early morning panic of trying to empty my bowels it was nice to get the tents up and chill out. Once again we had a great bunch of people together so the Friday was very eventful and we had a real laugh. I think I even began to enjoy the camping malarky, although sleeping without a pillow and soaking wet from torrential Friday evening rain isn't my preference of sleeping arrangements. Enough about the camping let's get onto the important matter; the music.
This year's line up had a bit of everything to suit a lots of music tastes:
I have to say overall the line up was better than last years and I saw some acts who I would pay a lot of money to see again.
Let's start with a couple of 'oh dear god what am I doing with my life' moments. NEVER EVER go and see All Saints. I was the youngest person in the tent by about 25 years and a mixture of poor technician work and terrible dancing made it one of the most painful experiences i've ever had to stand through. Let's just say thank god they were only on for a short burst before Kieza came onto the stage to get things going again. Another disappointing performance (queue hate mail) was Bastille, a band I usually love but when live didn't pull it out the bag in my opinion. Agreed their songs are brilliant and on CD I can listen to them all day long. I still can't quite put my finger on why but the lead singer, Dan Smith, seemed vocally weak and it killed the songs somewhat. I still enjoyed singing along to their hits but found it disappointing to see one of my favourite bands and not be overwhelmed with how amazing they were.
Enough negativity let's talk about the WOW factor. Let's start with the one and only Justin Timberlake. Not much can be said about his performance other than 'Man that dude is cool', every man out there would love to be as cool as him, me included, jealous is an understatement. Another stand out for me was Ed Sheeran. I am seeing him again in October in Nottingham and I am all the more excited now, that guy can sing, play the guitar and get a crowd going all by himself with ease. Aside from knowing every word, an hour seemed like 10 minutes and I would have paid 100 quid alone to see him, making it a real bargain.
This year I had the chance to see a few smaller acts compared to last year when I spent most of my time on the main stage. It was great to see the likes of Kieza and Jess Glynne who are up and coming rapidly and I have to say are fantastic live. If I see tour dates for them, I would consider investing and seeing them again.
Back to the big boys I am going to talk about two more artists. Firstly if you ever manage to find a ticket to see Rizzle Kicks I would grab it like it is the last crumb in a world without food. Having seen them before, I still felt like a child at christmas when they came onto the stage. Full of energy, sarcasm and amazing songs it was the best 45 minutes of my whole festival and I couldn't stop smiling. My highlight of the festival. I urge you to see these guys! By the way, whoever murder the dinosaur has some serious explaining to do!
Finally another one of the big boys! The Killers! WOW WOW WOW WOW!!!! I'm not even exaggerating with my WOW's they were insane! A set full of classic tunes off all of their albums they got the whole place rocking and it was a pleasure to watch them. The lead singer Brandon Flowers has one of the best voices I've heard in a long time and it reached across the whole field with ease. They played songs you just can't help but sing along with and I haven't stopped listening to them since. To finish the whole festival with 'Mr Brightside' (my favourite song of all time) was one of the best moments of my year so far!! I haven't jumped, screamed lyrics at the top of my voice and danced so much in my life! Anybody that knows me would agree whenever that song comes on at pre-drinks, clubs etc I go crazy. Well think that and times it by 1million and you are just about there.
Nothing else to say other than V rocked it once again and if I have the money next year (being a student and all) I will definitely be back there. Weston Park or Hylands Park it doesn't matter in my eyes, the acts would have been incredible anywhere and for the money it was a bargain!!
I'll leave you know with my latest DJ set that if focused on my time at this years V Festival! Give it a listen to get a taste of what I'm talking about: http://www.mixcloud.com/alexanderblakemore/v-festival-2014-in-the-mix/
P.s. Eat little and hardly ever whilst at the festival to avoid the most vile 2 minutes in a portaloo. (We take toilets for granted!)
Cya,
Alex :D
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