It would be hard to argue that this year’s V festival lineup was anything to get excited about. With The Killers headlining the festivities, it had nothing on the Pixies and The Smashing Pumpkins of previous years, reading like a very average British festival. And a last minute set change, which caused The Killers to basically clash with NO ONE, while theoretically an almost unheard of smart move, caused more than enough confusion during the day for those out of the loop.
But the day wasn’t without it’s highlights. Firstly, the Virgin Mobile VIP tent just keeps getting better each and every year. With a free drink on arrival, free BBQ, haircuts and makeup sessions for the girls, and a photo shoot with Vanilla Ice, I don’t even think you needed to see any music to have a fun day. One thing Virgin Mobile have over everyone else is that they know how to keep their customers happy!
And on the accompanying Virgin Mobile Stage, there was quite a lot of quality local content to keep anyone happy. Playing just before Vanilla Ice’s “Surprise” performance, The Temper Trap returned to Australia after a UK tour to a crowd who actually knew some of their music! Having been a fan and a supporter of the band for many years, it was superb to see some grounded support taking form, along with a newly energised band.
But it was indeed Vanilla Ice who stole the show on that stage, being “let off the hook” for bad music by Tim “Rosso” Ross, as part of the fantastic promotion “Right Musics Wrongs”. Performing “Ice Ice Baby” while women were grinding against him, and then, that song he did for the Ninja Turtles Movie, “Go Ninja, Go Ninja Go”, bizarre would probably be the best way to describe it.
The only pity about his performance was that it coincided with the last half an hour or so or the best band of the day – Manchester’s Elbow, a strong draw card for many. While I surprisingly never really picked up on it as strongly on their records, seeing this band live feels like what it must have been seeing The Smiths back in their hey-day. Goosebumps never left my body for the whole set, which launched through their latest “The Seldom Seen Kid” and favourites from their 10+ year career, including “Leaders of the Free World” fro the 2005 album of the same name. The song that introduced me to the band, it was truly spellbinding live, lead singer Guy Garvey placing everyone under his musical spell.
One beautiful moment of audience interaction was during the immaculate “The Stops”, in which the crowd sung the “Don’t Look Back” backing track of the song. To be completely honest, I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it. It was a pity I couldn’t get to their Metro show, and it was even more of a pity that I had to miss their last 20-30 minutes to catch Vanilla Ice (note they had an-almost 90 minute set, which was fantastic by festival standards). But I’m sure they’ll be back soon enough, and needless to say, I’ll be first in line for a ticket.
Duffy, one of the day’s opening performers, had a massive fan base at her disposal, and definitely made them happy. As I was by the MySpace show, however, I remained unimpressed by her backing band, but she did sound fantastic. I couldn’t say the same for Razorlight, whose brand of “Indie Brit Rock” is about as generic and bland as you get. Still, hearing “In The Morning” live was a little bit of alright! Louis XIV, with whom I’d completely forgotten were playing, are a band I’d considered to be under the same belt, but surprised me live with a hell of a lot of talent on the stage. Lead singer/guitarist Jason Hill does come off as a bit of a tosser though. But maybe that’s just me?
Madness! To be honest, I didn’t even know who these guys were before they were announced on the lineup. But needless to say, I knew word-for-word at least half of what they played at V festival, much of which I didn’t even realise was by them. “Our House”, for instance, I always just assumed was a song made for a TV show! How uneducated in Ska I am! I plan to remedy this in due course, as they were amazing live. Like Elbow before them (who, by the way, had every other band singing their praises throughout the day), there were trumpet’s a plenty, echoing all the way to the stage next door, where The Kills were just about to perform.
I was hotly anticipating this performance, but armed with just the two of them on guitars and a backing track, following the instrumental madness of Madness and the collaborated beauty of Elbow, it was simply a boring set. Probably because I was so far up the back, but I can almost say the same about the Kaiser Chiefs. Sure Ricky Wilson is one of the best performers of the modern “Indie Brit Pop” era, but the new material is simply lacking the flair of their first two albums, and kept the band’s energy from reaching their full potential.
I wasn’t sure how Snow Patrol’s melodic soft rock would translate in a festival environment, but coinciding with Earth Hour, they were particularly fitting. They are well known for getting sing-alongs and tears unlike any other group, and tonight was no exception. With every song, you would hear wimperings of “this is my favourite song!”, with tears welling up in the faces of those exclaiming it. I definitely prefer them in the smaller rooms, but this was still a beautiful set, with the first half of “Run” taking place in the darkness for Earth Hour, before exploding in light and sound. Probably defeated the purpose, but definitely provided a memorable moment.
As they finished up their set, The Killers had already performed a couple of tracks, and the crowd wandered over to the main stage as “Somebody Told Me” started blaring out of the speakers. Still remaining their best track, it’s always fun live, but I really think these guys are a very average live band, being immensely disappointed by them when I first saw them in Vancouver in 2006. As such, with no one else to see, I left the festival pretty early in their set, but the setlist is available to your right.
Elbow definitely stole the show, both with the crowd and artists alike, and it certainly wasn’t a bad day – Virgin definitely know how to plan a good festival from a technical point of view. The layout, the VIP areas, the sound systems – all top notch. But at the end of the day, an average lineup can only do so much.
