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 REVIEW The V Festivals are often unfairly seen as something of a lighter option to that of, say, a Glastonbury, a Reading or a Leeds; a more sedate proposition in the annual festival calendar. Perhaps this year’s line-up will do something to remedy this, with the likes of the blistering Foo Fighters and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers providing two of the weekend's biggest draws. Even the melancholy headliners Coldplay interspersed their downbeat material with huge wall-of-sound wig outs, which had the front rows bouncing.
Not all was jumping, however, as Underworld discovered headlining the NME stage at the Stafford site on Saturday night. A tiny crowd had gathered for the dance veterans, with a massive pull from Main Stage headliners the Red Hot Chilli Peppers seemingly the reason for the poor turnout. But vocalist Karl Hyde braved the storm (or lack of it) showing consummate professionalism, giving it his all, although clearly more accustomed to playing to festival crowds of tens of thousands rather than merely hundreds.
Oddly, Moloko fared far better in the JJB Puma Arena the following night, hitting up a packed-to-the-rafters tent with a perhaps slightly predictable selection of their classics from ‘The Time Is Now’ to the sing-a-long anthem ‘Sing It Back’. Icelandic crew Gus Gus also lit up the same stage the previous night, with a memorably fantastic performance, notably the superb ‘David’ and ‘Call Of The Wild’. They soon succeeded in taking a crowd that seemed previously uneducated to the finer points of Icelandic electronic soul music into the stratosphere. Quite wonderful. David Holmes’s Free Association proved something of a disappointment, however, in spite of playing to a capacity crowd. Holmes’ input on stage is something of a mystery; as the rest of the band bang, pick, blow or strum their respective instruments, the band leader is hidden behind decks that seem to do little or nothing to the band’s sound.
Aside from The Strongbow Rooms, of course, The Virgin Mobile Red Light Bar saw some of the best DJ action of the weekend, with fine sets from Good Times sibling Joey Jay mixing it up from soul to hip hop. Electric Chair stars the Unabombers, injected house music into the equation, along with the deepest of disco. So sure, it may be a little more branded than some other festival events. It may even be a little more family friendly. But sedate it ain’t. |
