Thousands of music fans poured into Weston Park for this year’s V Festival and spirits weren’t dampened despite the occasional rainshower.
About 9,000 music fans arrived at the festival venue on the Shropshire border this weekend for the 15th musical event.
Heavy traffic and rain clouds were reported as people entered the site in Staffordshire on August 20.
Armed with wellies and ponchos festival-goers were pleased to discover the weekend was definitely not a washout after skies began to brighten as the event wore on.
A host of chart-topping bands including Kings of Leon, Paloma Faith and Pixie Lott were appearing, along with a host of stalls, fairground rides and food vans.
Many of those attending the event got into the festival spirit by dressing up as superheroes, lollypop ladies and bananas.
Free hugs were also being dished out, cheer Mexican waves randomly washed over the campsite and the distant call of ‘Alan’ echoed round the arena - all classic signs that this year’s festival was going to be full of good fun and high jinks.
The festival launched into action on Saturday when Pixie Lott took to the main stage for the first slot of the year.
Next on stage was Skunk Anansie who pulled off a great show with classic hits including Twisted and Weak.
Seasick Steve has become a legend from word of mouth and has already performed at Glastonbury this year.
Aged in his 60s the singer brought his rock sound to the stage using a variety of different and unusual guitars.
Madness were also at the festival performing their classic hits for the audiences resulting in knee-bending dancing to tracks such as Our House and Baggy Trousers.
Other acts on Saturday included Jamie T belting out his hit Sheila, the Sugababes and Pet Shop Boys.
Prodigy were chosen to headline in the evening and they treated crowds to a range of hits from throughout the years including Breathe and Firestarter. The group went down well although the set could have done with being a little bit louder.
Sunday kicked off with Paloma Faith on the Chanel Four stage and she did not let down the crowds.
She was in full humour as she addressed the audience and her voice was also on top form as she performed her well polished set.
Tinie Tempah was also at the festival and used his hip hop skills to whip the crowds up.
The artist is relatively new to the music scene and already has two top hits tucked under his belt, Frisky and Pass Out, and he proved his talents are set take him far.
During Sunday afternoon The Editors and Paul Weller set a relaxed tone before Florence and the Machine took to the stage.
They were given the special slot of 8pm which saw the band playing to audiences as the sun set.
Kings of Leon, well-known for the hit Sex on Fire, were given the crowning glory of ending the festival on the main stage.
This year’s V Festival was a great weekend and, although the line up wasn’t as as impressive as other years, the bands featured still made it a worthwhile weekend.
Unfortunately the sound on a lot of stages this year did disappoint. It just wasn’t loud enough and people were complaining about being distracted by sounds from nearby attractions with some tunes hard to hear.
But all in all it is great to have a top festival so close to home . . . roll on next year.
Festival spots
It seem- trendy to name drop some of the famous people spotted around the site and there were a few celebs hiding behind the scenes including Hollyoaks soap stars.
But there were also some other great things to see including:
- A roadie driving a buggy while playing the harmonica
- A sound check guy shouting about slimy sausages over the mics.
- A man with the most fantastic beard – he looked like a Viking…
- A group of Where’s Wallies wandering around.
- Lollipop ladies arriving on scene to help festival-goers cross the field.
- Giant hamster balls in splashing around in a blow-up pool.
Chrissy’s Festival highs
- Tinie Tempah
- Prodigy
- Sticky toffee pudding with custard
- Festival pies with gravy
Festival lows
- Not much phone coverage and difficulty in tweeting
- The sound just wasn’t loud enough
- A few rainshowers
- And as with many festivals, the loos
by Chrissy Symmons