written by Clair on 21/08/2006
Well, that time of year flew around again, it didn't seem like yesterday coming back from V Festival, when I was so eager to learn that the pre released tickets were instantly on sale. After such a great line up last year I could hardly type my credit card details in fast enough in a quest for more of the same this year.
So now the morning after the weekend before and how do I feel - Disappointed and amazed at how they could get it so right last year and yet so wrong this time.
The line up to say the least was poor with the exception of the Puppet show put on by Beck which was excellent and Radiohead (in which we left half way through, in a bid to get out of the car park before 4am) and there were a few other good bands like Art Brut, who for me stole the show. But saying that there isn't a lot you can say when a festival, which genetically originates from rock has a line up of bands ( I use that term loosely) of Sugababes, Girls Aloud and even Sandi Thom headlining one of the stages.
As for the amenities these had taken a serious downturn from last year. One possible reason is that the capacity was increased to allow for the Glastonbury fall out. It was defiantly the worst toilets I had ever seen and the layout was not as compact as last year. The increase of tickets also proved a problem with camping spaces, as a few were turned away due to overcrowding even though they carried full and valid camping tickets.
One of my main gripes about this year was the mess, this comment is usually reserved for Leeds Festival but there is a good chance V could take the title for the dirtiest festival of the year.
On one final note, V you could learn a lot from T in the park, as this was clean, well organised and had a great line up, basically every thing you weren't this year.
All in all if you are into the music then go but never, never make the mistake of buying tickets before seeing the line up.