Festival virgin
Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 9:14 am
I'm heading back down to Chelmsford again in the next hour, and after my first day @ V-Fest, I thought I would post up some half time match highlights.
Arrived yesterday lunchtime, after being ferried down there in air conditioned Land Rover luxury. The VIP hospitality parking made things much easier and we collectively feasted on sandwishes, rolls, snacks and whatever else I could squeeze in (which turned out to be rather a lot) We were led down to the guest area by our host, who escorted us passed hundreds of people waiting to get in. First celebrity spot, celebrity being in the loosest possible sense, was Ollie Muir of X-Factor. He was also jumping the queues and avoiding the great unwashed
Through a small private area and into the VIP bit...........lots of people pissed or stoned, and this is at 1pm, and we could hear one of the bands setting up. It transpired to be Divine Comedy and the band was actually one bloke, a piano and a bottle of red. Bizarre.
After about 10 minutes of wondering what the fuck he was going on about, we walked over to another stage to watch The Coral and then The Courteneers. Nope. I'd hadn't heard of the Courteneers either
Crowds were building, wellies are very much this years thing it seems, as is many of the young ladies wearing Daisy Duke shorts and not much else apart from wellies. What a shame
It was time to march once again across Hylands Park to another tent, to go and watch Tinie Tempah (pretty good live, excellent crowd reaction) and Jason Derulo (fucking awful and had the same effect on the crowd as tear gas) Thankfully the latter artist was only to be endured for around 5 minutes, during which the only words he sang clearly was his own fucking name, and then we walked about a million miles back to watch Paul Weller. Ah.......a proper musician with lyrics and everything.
Mr Weller was every bit as good as you would expect and his rousing set filled an area that was probably more than 6 acres in size. Deeply impressive.
We had briefly seen The Temper Trap en route to Mr Weller and they looked in rude health, Dougie's voice soaring like an F-15. I would have stayed to watch but I've recently seen them in concert so they had been ticked off, as it were. After years of listening to the Jam and Paul Weller, but never seeing him live, there was no real option. It was a good decision.
It also keyed us up very nicely for one of the best live appearance I have every witnessed.
The Stereophonics.
They were sensational. 75 minutes of pretty much every top tune they have made and the band absolutely destroyed the standards laid down by other performers. Honestly, they made a mockery of the Tinie Tempah's of this world and I never thought I would say that.
The way the band tore holes in songs like Dakota, Bartender and the Thief and Superman. Sensational. I ducked out before Kings of Leon started and made our way back to the guest area. Time for another drink and snack before the drive home, itself an event.
More to follow with video, photos and feedback from Kasabian, Faithless and The Prodigy
Arrived yesterday lunchtime, after being ferried down there in air conditioned Land Rover luxury. The VIP hospitality parking made things much easier and we collectively feasted on sandwishes, rolls, snacks and whatever else I could squeeze in (which turned out to be rather a lot) We were led down to the guest area by our host, who escorted us passed hundreds of people waiting to get in. First celebrity spot, celebrity being in the loosest possible sense, was Ollie Muir of X-Factor. He was also jumping the queues and avoiding the great unwashed
Through a small private area and into the VIP bit...........lots of people pissed or stoned, and this is at 1pm, and we could hear one of the bands setting up. It transpired to be Divine Comedy and the band was actually one bloke, a piano and a bottle of red. Bizarre.
After about 10 minutes of wondering what the fuck he was going on about, we walked over to another stage to watch The Coral and then The Courteneers. Nope. I'd hadn't heard of the Courteneers either
Crowds were building, wellies are very much this years thing it seems, as is many of the young ladies wearing Daisy Duke shorts and not much else apart from wellies. What a shame
It was time to march once again across Hylands Park to another tent, to go and watch Tinie Tempah (pretty good live, excellent crowd reaction) and Jason Derulo (fucking awful and had the same effect on the crowd as tear gas) Thankfully the latter artist was only to be endured for around 5 minutes, during which the only words he sang clearly was his own fucking name, and then we walked about a million miles back to watch Paul Weller. Ah.......a proper musician with lyrics and everything.
Mr Weller was every bit as good as you would expect and his rousing set filled an area that was probably more than 6 acres in size. Deeply impressive.
We had briefly seen The Temper Trap en route to Mr Weller and they looked in rude health, Dougie's voice soaring like an F-15. I would have stayed to watch but I've recently seen them in concert so they had been ticked off, as it were. After years of listening to the Jam and Paul Weller, but never seeing him live, there was no real option. It was a good decision.
It also keyed us up very nicely for one of the best live appearance I have every witnessed.
The Stereophonics.
They were sensational. 75 minutes of pretty much every top tune they have made and the band absolutely destroyed the standards laid down by other performers. Honestly, they made a mockery of the Tinie Tempah's of this world and I never thought I would say that.
The way the band tore holes in songs like Dakota, Bartender and the Thief and Superman. Sensational. I ducked out before Kings of Leon started and made our way back to the guest area. Time for another drink and snack before the drive home, itself an event.
More to follow with video, photos and feedback from Kasabian, Faithless and The Prodigy
never been to a concert of any sort. So this has wet my appetite even more