V Festival Review

Overall Rating

Site is brilliant, bands were pretty good, considering

Long long wait to get inside
Parking was a nightmare
Everything is Virgin-brand

V Festival really is just one giant branding exercise for Virgin. However, it's not a bad festival if you catch it on a day where you like the music. Over the years it's been hit and miss but they seem to be improving things all the time. I'm actually a veteran of all 3 sites on which the festival has been held (Temple Newsham in Leeds in 1998, Weston Park in Stafford in 2000, and - weird though it sounds - Chelmsford also in 2000).

Both years I went the organization was good, the facilities were sparkling clean (well, at least as far as festivals go), the atmosphere was very jovial and there was a pretty wide range of music to choose from between all the stages. Over the years we saw James, The Verve, Ian Brown, Moby, Coldplay, Death in Vegas, Iggy Pop, The Webb Brothers, The Dandy Warhols, etc. It was pleasant and I'd certainly go back (and indeed I am this year!)

If I had to rate the various sites I'd probably say that Stafford is the best of the lot, in fact the best festival site, bar none I've been too because there was plenty of space, the stages were far enough apart that sound didn't spill over, you could get from place to place easily between bands, there was room to move and breathe, and it wasn't a nasty mud-pit stinking of toilets. I would NOT rate Chelmsford nearly as highly....

Overall, if you see some bands you like that are playing and you can afford a ticket, it's well-worth the trip.