V 2004 (Not 2001) (V2001 (Staffordshire))

Member Name: andrew007

Product:	V2001 (Staffordshire)
Date:	09/09/04 (176 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good bands, good weather

Disadvantages: none

V 2004 at weston park in Staffordshire was my first festival, I do regally go to gigs and I've seen bands like Funeral for a Fiend, Turin Brakes, Ash, The Distillers, New Found Glory and Hundred Reasons live but I've been looking forward to the V festival ever since booking the tickets in April, back then the whole line up was not available but acts like The Strokes, Muse, Snow Patrol and The Thrills on the bill I wanted to make sure I got my weekend with camping ticket which cost £98.50 + booking fee which is a massive amount of money for me and yes it left me with a major budget for a few months.

So on Friday the 20th of august - the day after I got my A Level results (which were great and i got into my 1st choice university - Keele) it was time to go, its best to go on the Friday and get your tent set up in a good place even though the bands don't start till midday Saturday its best to get everything done on the Friday.

I went with two good friends from college of which one of them drove so i didn't need to worry about travel but there are good transport links if you don't drive, Wolverhampton train station has regular bus services to the V2004 site from the Friday until Monday. I was surprised when we got there at about 3pm because there were no massive traffic jams outside which was good so we just parked in the temporary car park (paid £5 for the liberty) but its worth it because there is good security, lighting and CCTV.

The atmosphere when we got there and for the whole weekend was really laid back and relaxed, the first thing you have to do after putting your tent up is get your wristband from the wristband exchange where i was given a lovely blue wristband with a silver V hologram on it, make sure you don't lose it because you need it to get into the camp-sites and main arena where the bands play.

There wasn't much to do on the Friday night but it gave us time to get used to the site which is
really big so we needed to look round to find out where everything is, there were films shown at the JJB tent on the Friday night but i didn't go.

Saturday, after purchasing a program (£5) we were able to plan out what bands we wanted to see and find out what times they were starting, in the arena area there are two massive stages, the V stage is the biggest and the NME stage is about half the size and there are also big tents like the JJB and music choice tents who have lesser known bands playing in them. it was a shame that the Kings of Leon and muse were both down to play at the same time on different stages because i wanted to see both of them.

The Bands I Saw:

Saturday

Kasabian (12:30 - 12:55) NME Stage

I didn't really know many of there songs before there performance apart from there top 10 single L.S.F. but by the end of there set i had become a fan of them. I was really happy because we got there early and managed to get on the front row and we got a really good view of there performance. 7/10

Chikinki (1:15 - 1:40) NME stage

I've never heard of them and after watching them live i don't want to hear them ever again, not my cup of tea at all - there music is like something out of the 80's, an electro pop load of rubbish, the only reason i didn't go and see Jamie Cullum on the main stage was that i had a front row place. 4/10

Goldie Lookin Chain (2:00 - 2:25) NME stage

okay so you cant have missed there song 'guns don't kill people rappers do' which is there current top 5 hit, if you have seen the video you will know what they are about, there a bunch of 8 rappers from wales - well i counted 15 on stage, most didn't rap, they just messed around on stage drinking and there show really pulled a massive crowed. There 25 minute set was full of all there comedy songs like 'your moms got a penis' and they finished there short set becomi
ng one of the standout acts of the weekend just because of there on stage antics. 9/10

Snow Patrol (2:35 - 3:15) main stage

all i can say is that they are a great band and they played brilliantly, i didn't manage to get very close to the stage but as they were playing at the main stage there are massive live video screens on both sides which can be seen far away. They did all there hits onstage run, chocolate and spitting games are all brilliant songs. 8/10

Fountains of Wayne NME stage

i only caught about 15 minutes of them after getting some food (£2 for a tray of chips) after seeing snow patrol but fountains of Wayne were good, there hit 'stacies mom' was a crowd favourite although there where not as many people watching them because there not really a big band over here.

The Zutons (4:35 - 5:10) NME stage

great band, I've been told nothing but good things about them in the past and they look like a good bet on this years mercury music prize with there album 'who killed the Zutons'.
Although i only caught about 25 minutes of there set i still managed to see them perform most of there hits including 'pressure point' which according to the lead singer is a song about stress in the workplace. There matching yellow boiler suits worn onstage made them look like members of slipknot but there music was certainly not like slipknot. 7/10

The Thrills (4:55 - 5:45) main stage

There mew album is out soon and I'm definitely going out to get it, there first album 'so much for the city' was one of my favourite albums of last year. I'm a massive fan of the Irish bands music and i was so glad to get a good view of them performing at the main stage which was really full with there army of fans.
They performed all of there hits including 'big sur' and Santa cruz' as well as a few new songs which went down really well, the crowed loved The Thril
ls and so did I. 8/10

After the Thrills I decided to go and check out the music choice tent because I was looking forward to seeing InMe but on the way i managed to catch a few songs by the Scissor Sisters on the NME stage who sounded good and pulled a big audience.

InMe (6:00 - 6:30) music choice tent

Most of you reading this have properly come by InMe in the past but I was really looking forward to seeing the Essex 3 piece rock out. They provided the V festival with the first Mosh/Fight pit of the weekend. There set was only 30 minutes which is not really long but they made every second count and the crowd made the most of one of only a few heavy bands performing at the festival. They were excellent live and I really hope they do a UK tour soon to promote there new album because i defiantly want to see them again. 8/10

N*E*R*D (6:15 - 7:15) main stage

I missed the first 20 minutes or so of nerd but i wasn't really fussed because I'm not really a fan although they were good performers on stage and tried there hardest to get a party atmosphere going.
Hits like Lapdance, Rockstar and maybe were standout tracks on there set although the crowd was not really feeling there energy because most people who turned up probably went to get a good place for the next acts like the strokes on stage like i did. I suppose if I was a fan there performance would have been amazing because they did put loads of effort into there set. 6/10

The Pixies (7:45 - 9:00) main stage

There a big band with loads of fans at the festival but I'm sorry to say that they are a bit before my time and i didn't really like them. The music was okay but i wouldn't really go out and buy there CD and there stage presence was very static. The lead singer's voice sounded like he was in a emo band but he was about 30 years to old. I did want to go and see starsailor on the NME stage but i also wanted to keep my good plac
e to see the strokes who were on next. 6/10

The Strokes (9:30 - 10:45) main stage

Brilliant band, I'm already a big fan and was really looking forward to seeing the strokes who have so far released two brilliant albums and look soon to become legends after already becoming one of the biggest bands on the planet.
They really performed well enough to earn there place as headliners, with an amazing light show and great performances of crowd favourites like 'last nite' and '12:51' and the crowd really loved them, there must have been about 40000 people watching and most singing along with the American band.

So that ended a brilliant Saturday and I was just hoping that Sunday could be as good as the day I'd just had so i went to my tent to get some well needed sleep.

Sunday:

The Divine Comedy (1:10 - 1:40) main stage

They didn't really pull a big crowd as it was early and people were still recovering from last night. I'm not really a fan but i did recognise a few songs like 'national express' and there overall performance onstage was very good. 7/10

Athlete (2:00 - 2:40) main stage

A bigger crowd turned up to see Athlete and it was worth it for fans because there performance like most bands all weekend was brilliant. I've only heard there single releases before but i was surprised with the quality of all there songs especially Westside. 7/10

The Killers (3:10 - 3:45) NME Stage

The killers are a really good up and coming band from Las Vegas USA and they are one of those bands who have made it big here before they are well known in there native country.
They must be doing something well because they pulled a crowd worthy enough to be on the main stage. The performance of Mr Brightside was the standout track that the crowd really loved.
I,m really glad I made the effort to go and see them because they were really good and i can s
ee them going on to bigger and better things in the future. 8/10

All American Rejects (4:05 - 4:40) NME stage

There a really good American pop/rock band and i managed earlier in the day to meet them at the NME signing tent and they were really nice people who didn't take there fans in the UK for granted like some American bands do.
The band had the most energetic performance of the weekend and the lead singer wanted the sound people to turn the volume up because they were rocking hard. There big UK hit 'swing swing' went down well with the fans and they left there other single release 'the last song' till last which also included the lead singer climbing 30 feet up the side of the stage which got the security worried. 8/10

Dashboard Confessional (5:05 - 5:40) NME stage

Id only heard there new single off the spiderman 2 soundtrack 'vindicated' but I knew they were a good band from word of mouth in the past and again i had a near front row view of there performance which was good. Dashboard Confessional were really good and the lyrics of there songs were the most powerful of the weekend performed with real emotion. 7/10

Keane (6:05 - 6:50)

Keane have really come out of nowhere in the past 6 months and are now one of the biggest bands of the moment and they deserve to be popular because there album 'hopes and fears' is one of the best I've listened to this year.
I massive crowd turned up to see keane who sounded really good live and had many sing alongs with the crowd with hits like 'bedshaped' and 'somewhere only we know' being the standout tracks of there set. I want to see where they go with there future albums because I can see them becoming even bigger in a few years. 7/10

After watching keane me and my friends went to get some food and rest after standing for 4 hours straight. We managed to catch a few songs by Elbow on the NME stage who
sounded great and we also went for a look in the music choice tent and watched 'Long view' and 'Hope of the States' who were also really good. Then we went off to get a good place to stand and see muse who were headlining the main stage.

Muse (9:25 - 10:55)

With there base player being sidelined to the keyboards after a hand injury in was up to the base player from 'the streets' to fill in (he did a good job too). I was really looking forward to muse to top off a brilliant weekend with a blinding set which included all there hits from past albums 'showbiz' and 'origin of symmetry as well as there current album 'absolution'.
The stage show like last nights headliners was brilliant with the lighting been put to good use as well as loads of massive white balloons been launched from the stage into the crowd.
Singer Matthew Bellamys voice was on top form and the crowd loved it, they were a great choice to finish the weekend on and i really loved it. 9/10


So those are all the bands i went to see but there were other's performing who you may have liked including: Badley Drawn Boy, BRMC, Massive Attack, Groove Armada, Primal Scream, Pink, The Charlatans, Dido, kings of Leon, Aqualung, Jamelia, Human League, Amy Winehouse, Kelis and Basement Jaxx to name just a few. There were also dance tents with DJ's performing as well as quiet areas to rest in.

Festival horror storeys about the loo's didn't not surface at V (well at least the ones i went in) but it is best to use the arena toilets and not the campsite ones which are used much more, although there were queues for all of them and a tip for next year would be for the organisers to get more cash points because the queue for it was massive.

The overall security of the festival was good with check points at all the entrances to campsites and the arena as well as watch towers and CCTV. The festival shop was g
ood too as it was the only place to get newspapers which meant we all caught up with the goings on, okay i did but the news of the world but what do you expect?

I recommend the V festival to everyone, it had a great atmosphere which is child friendly. The weather was brilliant on the Saturday and Sunday which was rare because the weather recently had been very wet as we all know.

Thank you all for reading, I hope it was written well and I hope you enjoyed reading it.


As you will see i have put this in the V2001 section because its the only one on the site, there is no 02 or 03 aswell, hope you dont mark me down for this as i have no choice and i dont know how to get the dooyoo site workers to add V2004

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