V FESTIVAL- AUSTRALIAN STYLE. (V Festival)

Member Name: purplegirl1989

Product:	V Festival
Date:	11/06/09 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great bands, easy to get to location, big enough site, free iced- tea, hot and sunny day.

Disadvantages: Rubbish customer service, no ATM on site, most places don't expect card and expensive ticket.

First of all I'm sorry if this is in the wrong place, I couldn't find the page for the Aussie festival.

So its a hot day, we've just finished cleaning the hostel we're staying at for two and a half hours and we've decided that we're going to turn up to the V-Festival in Perth and see what happens. Perhaps, we hope, we'll find someone willing to give their tickets for a cheaper price than the official 140AUS (and this is only a one day festival.)

So we jump off the train at the Showgrounds station outside of Claremont. No sign of anyone selling tickets. Now its rather expensive so we shouldn't go...but then we see the line-up. This year it includes French-Finnish old school band the dø, The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, Snow Patrol, Razorlight and most importantly the Madness! So, that's decided then, in we go. Well we queue for ages first and in the process get my perfume confiscated, and then we're in.

The site seems rather well organised in my first impression. We're handed a flyer with the times and in front of us there are giant signs pointing to "THIS STAGE" and "THAT STAGE" (real names) and all around us there's the buzz of happy people. We have about 45 minutes before the next band starts and so we decide to get something to eat.

It looks like there's a lot of choice, hand made Pizzas, Jacket Potatoes, Chips, Thai, Curry, pasty shops, you name it. However, none of these places accepts debit card. True, most people come with cash to a festival but all of ours went on the entrance fee. Stupidly enough, we believed that there would be at least one cash point on the festival site or near by. We're told by several festival workers that there is "over by the beer tent" but all it is, we discover, is this E-Pos system which is just like using your card in a Visa purchase and getting cash back...however it only seemed to work with Australian cards. "You've got no cash in your account" the cashier rudely says to me. Actually, I do. It declines because they don't bother to take a signature or pin number. It's a chip and pin card I continue to tell them, though I might as well be talking to a brick wall. We then establish that there's not even a cash point outside the festival site and that I would need to take the train to the next stop if I wanted an ATM. How ridiculous. Even for this privilege of being able to get my own money out, I have to put up a fight. "The rules are that no one is allowed to re-enter the premises." So we're supposed to starve then? All this, and we have wristbands to prove our purchase anyway. He kindly agrees to get a bouncer to escort me to the exit and let me out the gate, but only I'm allowed to go and my cousin is expected to just sit and wait whilst I get a train there and back.

After finally getting the cash, I'm fuming and had never been in less of a mood for a festival. However, the dø are playing next and I have been desperate to see them. Somehow, we managed to get to the front and the show was fantastic. The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs and Snow Patrol were great and Madness well, they alone were worth all the money and hassle.

The line-up was brilliant and the crowd was also fine with no violence occurring. It was just such a shame that the organisers couldn't seem to get the hang of the Festival spirit.

Summary: Well it truly was Madness, but (in the end) in a very good way!