One good idea if you go to a festival - don't spend £10 on the laminate that tells you when the bands are playing. Just take a decent camera phone instead, and take pictures of the pages!! So, here is the less-than-stellar line up for the Sunday of the V Festival in Chelmsford - significantly eclipsed by Saturday's line up, which included Radiohead, Beck, Magic Numbers, We Are Scientists, Kasabian, Fatboy Slim, and a load more. Never mind, a good day out nonetheless.I arrived just in time to see the Sugababes "perform", to a pretty large crowd of day-outers, clearly appreciating their chart-friendly stuff. It was forgettable in the main, hearing some familiar songs that sounded almost exactly like the do on the radio. They were immediately followed by a "surprise" set from James Morrison, who played his smash chart hit single, and another song - sounding very much like James Blunt mark 2, or David Gray mark 3.
After all that radio-friendly music, Hard Fi came on stage. Still touring pretty much the same set as I saw last December, and indeed this May. Having heard it all before, it was slightly tedious - Richard Archer's on stage banter was pretty much word-for-word the same as every other time I have seen Hard Fi. They persisted in playing their bad cover of Seven Nation Army, but despite all that, the hits still sounded as good as they undoubtedly are. They also became the first of many bands that I heard, to say that Chelmsford was much better than Stafford the previous day - but then I'm sure all the bands in Stafford were saying exactly the opposite!
Off for a wander, it struck me what a strange festival V is. On one hand, it is a very sanitised, safe festival - posh food stalls, not too much mud, and it even had the Beautiful South playing! On the other hand, the chav count is pretty high (but then it is in Essex).
Next up were The Crimea, playing in one of the tents. I had heard their single Lottery Winners On Acid earlier in the year, so decided to take a look. Their set went down quite well and I quite enjoyed it - although I can imagine that if you weren't in the right mood, you would have hated every minute. Towards the end, the singer got into the crowd, microphone stand and all, and sang a great cover of Jealous Guy - not something you see every day, so it made for a special set.
Following The Crimea, Starsailor played on the second stage. I last saw them at Glastonbury in 2002, and really liked them, despite the singer's dreary voice when he speaks (in contrast to his great voice when he sings). Their set was excellent throughout, packed with their anthems, and absolutely perfect for a festival like this (thankfully without rain today too). The guitars were turned up, and the whole set bobbed along fantastically well.
After Starsailor, it was back to the main stage to see Faithless, another amazing live festival band. They drew what was, by all accounts, the biggest crowd on the main stage all weekend, beating even Radiohead. The chavometer was off the scale for this one, with the crowd a mixture of lairy Stella drinkers, and pill poppers. The set lasted for over an hour, and had the huge crowd going for the whole time. Excellent use of a real drummer and guitarists, really adds something to their music when they play it live.
Once Faithless had finished, it was time to decide which headliner to see. In fact, I had already made that choice, it was Morrissey for me without question. However, when Faithless finished, the vast, vast majority of the crowd ran off elsewhere, and I was almost trampled underfoot in the crush. 15 minutes before Morrissey came on, you could almost walk to the front barrier, there were so few people around the main stage. With Razorlight and Groove Armada playing elsewhere, there was plenty else to do, but surely Morrissey deserves more people?!
So, Morrissey arrived, a healthier looking crowd materialised, and he launched straight into Panic - which was absolutely incredible. The other Smiths songs played tonight were Girlfriend In A Coma, Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before, and finale How Soon Is Now. In between those, it was a strong set, with excellent sound and a very well drilled band - he of course also found time to moan about the radio stations not playing his new single. For a 40-something man, he looked grizzled but good. A great way to finish the festival, and it deserved more people watching.
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