You are here
Home > Music Reviews > V Festival – Saturday – Highlights

V Festival – Saturday – Highlights

We finally arrive at the V festival site in the early afternoon sunshine after a wonderful magical mystery tour of their various car parks after the question ‘Do you know where the VIP parking is?’ was answered in the affirmative by a young man who clearly misheard and thought that I had said ‘I would like to see as many stationary cars as possible today please.’ Despite this the excitement is gradually growing as we approach the 4 Music Stage and kick off a line up that is absolutely stunning for lovers like myself of nineties indie with the delightful Dodgy. We catch ‘In A Room’ performed with all the energy and exuberance that we have come to expect from the band and totally overwhelms one member of the audience who decides to make a life changing decision and proposes. Luckily, the intended bride agrees to the impending nuptials and this adds extra joy to the occasion. ‘Staying Out For The Summer’ has the crowd dancing and the beautiful rock ballad ‘Shadows’ has them swaying from side to side with the music. My favourite Dodgy song, the lyrical lament ‘If You’re Thinking Of Me’ has the crowd clapping along as Clarke sits at the piano and delivers the words with heartfelt sincerity before launches into finale ‘Good Enough’ which is a fantastic way to end the set and keeps everybody smiling. What a brilliant way to start a weekend of great music!

A quick dash over to the Main Stage for punk legends The Stranglers who do not disappoint with some stunning vocals and conclude the concert with the bouncy beat of ‘Peaches’ that has the crowd pogoing along, a frenetic version of ‘All Day And All Of The Night’ with the crowd singing along. Ending with ‘No More Heroes’, The Stranglers show that they are able to take their brilliant live show, which we reviewed earlier in the year, to a festival stage and raucously rock it.

The 4 Music stage is the place to be next for The Rifles. ‘Peace and Quiet’, with its jangling guitars and plaintive emotional appeal for some relaxation is followed by summery laid back indie with a happy upbeat feel courtesy of ‘Sweetest Thing’. An anecdotal ode to the life you end up with despite  your wish not to ‘The Great Escape’ with its pulsating beat is infectiously memorable and reminiscent of The Jam. The crowd are singing along to the chorus of ‘Love Is A Key’, a punchy anthemic indie tune with a joyful vibe that is perfect for a festival crowd. Ending with ‘Romeo And Julie’, a modern love song with a bouncy back beat, The Rifles have the crowd singing along during the woo hoo bit and the V festival goers realise that The Rifles are brilliant. I must admit, I felt a little bit smug as I have been writing about how fantastic they are since 2006 and they certainly confirmed that at V festival 2012.

The Feeling follow on the 4 Music Stage and entertain the crowd with some indie pop. Starting with the bouncy ‘Thought It Was Over But It’s Not’ and then launching straight in to ‘Fill My Little World’ with front man Dan Gillespie seriously rocking out with his electric guitar. Following this with a rocked up version of ‘Get Ready (‘Cos Here I Come)’ that boasts a hefty slice of heavy guitar and screeching vocals including an epic guitar solo. The Feeling certainly know how to reel in a crowd during a live show and the audience stays despite the rain which seems to have dogged the whole of the festival season this year, performing a new song called ‘Anchor’ which proves to be a gorgeous gentle ballad with a soaring chorus and building harmonies. Gillespie jokes with the audience that as this is their fourth album, they must now be old and then have the crowd joining in with the chorus of ‘Never Be Lonely’ where the crowd is divided into two to attempt to out sing each other, which was great fun, before Gillespie ended the song with a gloriously long note. ‘Rose’ is performed by Gillespie at the piano under the silvery grey sky and then end the set with ‘Sewn’, which has the crowd dancing around and singing ‘nananananana’ and then the sun comes out, The Feeling sing ‘I Love It When You Call’, the audience join in and everyone is having a great time. It has got to be said – The Feeling are really fun to watch.

We are sticking with the 4 Music Stage for one of my favourite bands, Shed Seven. Diving straight in with ‘Disco Down’ they fire the field up into a frenzy; front man Rick Witter is accompanied by at least half of the audience screeching the lyrics back at him and the jumping up and down has reached fever pitched level. Witter then takes this a step further by coming down to the crowd during indie anthem ‘It’s Getting Better’ and offers the microphone to members of the audience who gleefully sing along. He then takes a while to return to the stage, explaining that there were a lack of steps and adding sardonically that he likes the pop band Steps (the crowd do not like the pop band Steps). Tragedy nearly occurs during the next song ‘Where Have You Been Tonight?’ as I am so busy singing along and dancing that I am nearly battered by a beach ball that comes flying towards my face and am only saved at the last moment by some timely assistance from Lyric Lounge’s Jordan who sends it back from whence it came. I recover in time to appreciate the brilliance of the brass section during the song and revert back to my previous energetic dancing.

‘Devil In Your Shoes’ keeps the tempo going and then Witter mentions Nicki Minaj, who has pulled from the concert due to vocal issues (we suspect this being a sudden realisation that she can’t sing) and explains that she has the endearing nickname ‘Sticky Minge‘ where he comes from…which has me spluttering at the sheer hilarity of this but I manage to regain my composure to dance deliriously to ‘Dolphin’ despite the missing bongos. Witter then shares some banter with the crowd regarding his excitement at the Olympics due to possible royalties from next song ‘Going For Gold’ but then explains that Spandau Ballet swept up that prize before performing this festival favourite with a cheeky Spandau Ballet segue towards the end. Shed Seven are one of the best live acts on the circuit with a back catalogue that never fails to impress. Ending with the beautiful ‘Chasing Rainbows’ it is hard to see how they could possibly have topped this performance. Maybe if the drummer back flipped over the drum kit at the end of ‘Chasing Rainbows?’ Well, Alan Leach wouldn’t want to disappoint the crowd and so he does this and it looks amazing! Shed Seven…totally epic!

Over to the Main Stage to see the kings of ska, Madness. An animated ‘One Step Beyond’ livens up the crowd as Suggs smiles in the sunshine and dashes across the stage to engage with the audience. The crowd then sing along to ‘You’re An Embarrassment’ and you see the gradual spread of what we at Lyric Lounge term the Madness effect, where a crowd seem to be possessed by the spirit of skanking and dance around like best friends with people they have never met before, united by the love of infectiously bouncy ska. ‘NW5’ is brilliantly bouncy and the sunshine is suddenly also brilliantly scorching as today’s weather really does veer towards madness itself; torrential rain to a veritable heatwave. A chilled out version of  ‘My Girl’ quickly picks up pace and then becomes an excuse to dance. It is evident that you don’t watch  Madness concert…you participate in a gig with Madness. Suggs then proves this by engaging in some humorous call and response with the crowd and then follows on with ‘Sun And The Rain’ of which we now only seem to have the former, and to a ridiculously scorching extent. ‘Iron Shirt’ provides a bouncy vibe where ska meets reggae and has the crowd singing along before Suggs announces that he would like to do some music that persuaded them to be in a band in the first place and perform their version of ‘Taller Than You Are’ with its quirky keyboard melody and bouncy beat that has Suggs singing spiritedly over the top and smiling at the audience.

The hurdy gurdy fairground melody of ‘Bed And Breakfast Man’ then echoes across the field and the crowd are bopping happily along. ‘Misery’ has many members of the crowd pulling some excellent skanking moves to the jaunty ditty as Suggs gives a shout out to a blow up doll that someone has as company near the front of the stage. Chris Foreman then did a rap looking resplendent in a skull tie and trilby in honour of Pussy Riot and their anti-Putin protest. ‘House Of Fun’ and ‘Baggy Trousers’ have the crowd dancing and singing along in a practical frenzy, with one enterprising trio taking their adoration of Madness to even headier heights by abandoning the usual put one person on your shoulders to attract the band’s attention in favour of the let’s precariously balance three people on each other’s shoulders. This was fairly impressive even though it quite predictably didn’t last for very long. An entertaining encore featuring ska favourites ‘Our House’, ‘It Must Be Love’ and ‘Night Boat To Cairo’ conclude a fantastic gig that really got festival goers rocking.

The Main Stage is then graced by none other than Tom Jones who performs a varied set that attracts a large crowd and includes his hits ‘Mamma Told Me Not To Come’, ‘It’s Not Unusual’ and ‘Kiss’. The ultimate tale of revenge ‘Delilah’ is enthusiastically accompanied by the crowd as is ‘The Green, Green Grass Of Home’. A huge cheer indicates that the crowd have had a great time and Jones himself looks like he has enjoyed playing to such a varied crowd.

The 4 Music Stage provides yet more fantastic music courtesy of Frank Turner. Launching straight into the gig with ‘If I Ever Stray’, Turner has the crowd clapping along to the beat as his earnest voice echoes around the field. A brilliant slice of bouncy folk infused indie ‘The Road’ is performed with passion and intensity and has the crowd joining in the chorus as this brilliant balladeer encapsulates the spirit of England in his soul searching lyrics. Turner then announces that the next song is about drinking in the sunshine and performs a slice of summer infused dance inducing indie guitar based folk rock entitled ‘Peggy Sang The Blues’.

After explaining that the next song is about a goth that Turner knew who was one of the most annoying people he ever knew, the brilliant ‘Reasons Not To Be An Idiot’ has the crowd dancing under the sky of a lovely sunny day. It is hard to see how a gig could get better than this, but the sheer brilliance of hearing a huge crowd singing along to ‘Glory Hallelujah’ with its refrain of ‘there never was no god’ manages to do it. This intelligent atheist anthem muses on the divisive power of religion and has certainly brought this crowd together in appreciation of Turner’s perceptive poetry. Explaining that the next song is about his home town and not caring that you don’t live in the big city, Turner performs ‘Wessex Boy’ with its elegant piano melody and the crowd singing along with the end section. ‘I Am Disappeared’ has the crowd clapping along with their arms in the air to the pounding beat. Declaring a new song about dancing, ‘I Want To Dance’, and explaining that we are to have a dancing competition which Switzerland, Sweden and Germany have currently won during the tour, Turner encourages the crowd to be wild in their creations. The field is full of an absolute frenzy of reeling crowd members, ballet, break dancing, the robot and my own seventies inspired octopus dancing which was enthusiastic if not particularly sensible or graceful. 

A frenetic folky rant follows in the form of ‘Try This At Home’ and then the fantastic ‘I Still Believe’ is infectious indie at its best and makes it easy to believe that rock and roll could indeed save us all or at least make us feel a little bit better about the negative side of life. The set list ends with a tune that I have adopted as my own personal theme tune ‘Photosynthesis’ certainly encapsulates my own attitude towards life and Turner asks the crowd to sit down and jump up at the appropriate point in the song which is awesome and is a great conclusion to a fabulous performance.

Over on the Main Stage, Snow Patrol took to the stage to a huge crowd. ‘Open Your Eyes’ sees Lightbody’s soulful voice stretch across the field under a brilliantly blue sky until a crescendo of a conclusion that has the crowd dancing. The upbeat tones of ‘Take Back The City’ has Lightbody jumping around the stage and the crowd singing along  and is swiftly followed by ‘This Isn’t Everything You Are’. The beautiful ballad ‘Run’ has the crowd harmonising with Lightbody and is followed by ‘In The End’, an upbeat track of indie rock. Light blue lights flood the stage and the crowd sway in time to ‘Shut Your Eyes’. The crowd then lead the singing for ‘Chasing Cars’ accompanied by the rest of the band until Lightbody joins in at the second verse and this indie anthem echoes around the festival site. ‘Chocolate’ and ‘You’re All I Have’ round off a crowd pleasing set list to rapturous applause under a silvery sky. ‘Just Say Yes’ has the crowd dancing and finishes the concert on an upbeat note.

Headliners The Killers start their set with ‘Runaways’, a fast beat under rainbow stage lights and an ebony streaked navy blue sky with Brandon Flowers striding across the stage in a black leather jacket. The crowd then erupts into a fury of singing and dancing as ‘Somebody Told Me’ is performed by the band. Killers is spelt out in red brick graphics on the screen behind the group. An angry vocal is snarled over the instantly recognisable tune and the crowd is going wild. It is a Hot Fuss festival, which is fantastic, as ‘Smile Like You Mean It’ echoes from the red bathed stage as the distinctive keyboard melody issues from a synthesiser bedecked in lights in a lightning flash shape. The graphics in the background are very engaging with a purple star swathed mountain and Flowers has the crowd captivated as he sings the lyrics to ‘Spaceman’. An elegant melody then emanates from the stage and the band perform ‘This Is Your Life’, closely followed by ‘Miss Atomic Bomb’ as strobe lights streak across the bouncing crowd.

Flowers’ pathos laden voice blends perfectly with the guitar’s gentle riffs and the crowd are swaying along with their arms in the air. ‘Bling’ then keeps the pace going with its upbeat anthemic indie guitar melody and ‘Shadowplay’ rocks under cool silver laser lights strafing the audience. The crowd are soon clapping along and singing to ‘Human’ as a huge cheer goes up from the crowd when the distinctive opener kicks in. Flowers paces the stage singing and smiling as the graphics in the background show hearts which indicate the love the crowd is feeling towards the band. ‘A Dustland Fairytale’ has Flowers staring into the crowd with an intensity that inculcates an immediate reaction of fanatical fervour from the front row.

A fabulous homage to one of my favourite bands occurs next; ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ has the crowd singing along with a smiling Flowers and indicates the love the band have for Britpop which is evident in the sound of Hot Fuss and the lyrics of ‘Glamorous Indie Rock And Roll’ which unfortunately they don’t perform. This great cover is a reminder of one of the Gallagher’s presence on tomorrow’s line-up and is then followed by a clutch of Killers’ classics that remind you that this band wrote many of the songs that you love; ‘Read My Mind’, ‘Mr Brightside’, and ‘All These Things That I Have Done’ with the crowd enthusiastically joining in the repeated refrain. An excellent encore of ‘Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine’ with its infectious melody and ‘When We Were Young’ which ends with a huge guitar rock outro and a firework fountain from the top of the stage. The Killers definitely slay the crowd with a set list to die for and a performance full of charisma, energy and a glamorous finale.

 

Tanya Russell

Editor
Editor of LLR since 2005

Leave a Reply

Top