V-Festival 2006 Review

The basic idea is that the festival is spread over two sites – one in Weston Park, Stafford the other in Hylands Park, Chelmsford and bands playing at one site on Saturday will play at the other on Sunday and vice versa.

This was my third visit to the V-Festival in Chelmsford having been previously in 2002 and 2003, but my first time camping and the omens did not look good, with the weather forecasts predicting rain throughout the weekend. Upon arrival with Ian, a close friend, my fears were realised, with the ground sodden with water and slippery mud everywhere. A gruelling walk from the blue car park to the red campsite didn’t help, but once the tent was pitched I managed begin to get into the festival mood. That was until I realised that it was going to cost a tenner just to find out what time the bands were playing (the organisers had cunningly omitted the line-up times from the official website) – last time it was a fiver!

Having decided to play it by ear I walked over to the Channel 4 stage, and there before me were – shock horror – Kula Shaker! What were they doing here? Had I entered a time warp and gone back ten years? No, I was not hallucinating; I really was witnessing a band that I thought had died a death years ago. Anyway, having gritted my teeth through a few songs it was off to the main stage. On came the Magic Numbers who were every bit as good as I had remembered from the Shepherd’s Bush Empire.

Next came Bloc Party, one of the highlights of the festival, who played an excellent energy charged set that really got the crowd going. The only minus point was the soaking I got from the cups of beer that flew through the air whenever the crowd got excited. I walked away happy with beer encrusted hair.

Keane followed Bloc Party but there was something lacking from the performance which I couldn’t quite put my finger on. They were good, but not great. I later found out that sadly, their lead singer, Tom Chaplin had cancelled the rest of the touring commitments as he was about to enter rehab for drink and drug abuse. I wish him all the best for a full recovery.

After Keane a rest was needed as we were fast approaching Radiohead time, and main reason for attending the festival. Having returned to the main stage early to ensure a good viewing position I had high hopes. They did not disappoint. Radiohead played what I would describe as their ‘greatest hits’ with the best from each of their albums from The Bends right through to Hail to the Thief. They finished with a superb rendition of Creep from their debut album, Pablo Honey. Thom Yorke was in fine voice and the band played with plenty of emotion; the crowd becoming more excited with every passing song. The visuals were also incredible with a backdrop similar in appearance to shattered glass showing the band from a multitude of angles.

I walked to my tent on the Saturday with a great feeling of satisfaction as I had already seen the band I came for and knew that I could have gone home now and it still would have been fantastic value for money – but I had another day to enjoy. Neither the huge queue to re-enter campsite or the bone dry chicken nuggets and fries or even the torrential downpour could darken my mood.

After managing a couple of hours sleep in my sleeping bag I awoke to what looked like a third-world refugee camp, with bleary-eyed festival goers emerging from their tightly packed tents under grey skies. After consuming a coffee and a poorly constructed hotdog I returned to the land of the living and went back to the festival arena. Would the Sunday be as good as the Saturday?

The first music of the day was courtesy of Richard Hawley, who played a very chilled out set, harking back to the past which I think even my dad would have enjoyed. Then came Hard-Fi, who were good for the songs that I knew, but I couldn’t appreciate them fully as I’m not a big fan. Later in the day I saw Paul Weller, who threw back the years with some classic tracks from Wild Wood and even an old one from The Jam, A Town Called Malice.

As evening set in, I watched the Beautiful South in the JJB Arena (basically a huge circus tent) who sounded great, and who really got the crowd going. Although they are not one of my favourite bands, their enthusiastic performance was one the highlights of the whole festival. After this came The Charlatans, who I love and have long wanted to see live – they were slightly disappointing, but not for the quality the music but for their selection of tracks. They should have played more of their early, and in my opinion, better tracks. I did not hear a single song from their self titled album, which is a personal favourite.

Another person who suffered from poor track selection was the uncompromising Morrissey, who headlined the Sunday. I felt that as he was playing a festival, he should have played more of his more well-known songs, and perhaps a few more tracks from his days in The Smiths. As it was, the majority of the tracks played were from his new album and not well known by large sections of the crowd. However, Morrissey’s onstage wit and persona more than made up for the disappointing unfamiliarity of the music, and the song performances were right on-key.

I returned home utterly exhausted, almost unable to move from all the walking and standing of the previous two days, but strangely I felt mentally refreshed as if the cobwebs of boredom and dullness experienced in day-to-day life had been blown away. Would I return next year? If the line-up is as strong as V2006, definitely.