Tag Archives: V2008

V2008 – (the part that wasn’t wet)

For all the gripes I had about V2008 in my last post, in spite of the coke heads and the piss heads. In spite of the miserable weather I still managed to get a couple of photographs. Mainly from artists performing under cover, Mainly in fact from Jack Mcmanus –

I was on the barrier, It was fairly easy to shoot and it was before the rain had started in earnest and I was scared to take my beloved camera out of its bag. The rest of the day it didn’t really come out of the safety of it’s carrying case for fear the wind would somehow snatch it away from me and fill its vital parts with rain or it would get dripped on in the tents from the spray coming from the soggy masses.

You can visit my flickr for more photos of Jack (link over there on the left) and photos of other stuff too!

V 2008 – What a wash out!

Saturday saw me attending the V festival in Weston Park, Staffs. What a waste of a Saturday – I could have been doing something interesting like cutting the lawn with some nail clippers or cleaning my toilet with a toothbrush, but instead I was battling the elements to attend the WORST festival I have ever been to!

The rain I could cope with, I had a rain jacket, even if it did make me look like a pea with legs I could cope with the cold, hey I’ve camped at festivals in worse weather. The line up wasn’t too bad plenty of bands for me to see, Even if James didn’t approve of all my choices but what absolutely drove me mad were the coked up middle class pissed tossers who couldn’t give a shit about the music and were only there to get off their faces!

Grrr!!

The day didn’t start off too badly, We saw Jack McManus in the Union Arena Tent and then the latter half of The Feelings set on the main stage before I parted company with James and made my way over to the T4 stage for a good old festival sing along to Scouting for Girls with James’ friend Ruth and her friend Becks.

There was a bit of jostling as some of the coke fiends by us barely stayed upright and burnt each others rain jackets with cigarette ends. (Cue for us to move further into the crowd) but they were good to see as it was a proper festival moment, the band look genuinely pleased and amazed at the crowd reaction and the crowd fed off their energy singing along with all their songs and generally having a good time.

Once they’d done I caught the last part of Tom Baxter’s set back in the Union Arena Tent stepping over the bodies in the tent that had collapsed through drug/alcohol abuse and at merely 6:25pm that was my bands done for the day – I didn’t get to see anyone else!!

Yes I know Amy Winehouse made it on to stage (30 mins late, I quote one friend of mine in saying “it was like watching the aftermath of a car crash) but the lure or the V.I.P area dry seating and food was more important at this point. _ The V.I.P area had Nando’s dammit how could I resist something resembling “proper” food at a festival?

Yes, Yes I know Kings Of Leon were playing – I tried to to watch them, I saw and heard none of it from behind a group of 5 of the biggest twats I have ever encountered in my life screaming and shouting and flailing about through the entirety of their set, at one point they stripped off one of the female members of their group to the waist screaming at everyone “don’t look don’t look” well I was trying to look BUT AT THE FUCKING STAGE MORONS. Unfortunately I was too short to see anything but the back of peoples heads or a face full of tit and too far back in the crowd for the sound of the band to carry above the idiots so I missed it but a few chords of “Charmer” and “On Call” – I did consider moving but a quickie scan of the surrounding areas convinced me to stay put as it was no better anywhere else, Where was I supposed to go – to stand next to the guys who started fighting behind us? The only saving grace was we’ve already bought tickets to see them again in December where I will be very carefully selecting who we stand behind!

By the time KoL had gone off stage I was exhausted and quite upset so we made our way back to the Union Arena for The Guillemots but with an hour to wait before they started I sat on the floor while the crowd sang along to Echo and the Bunnymen and ruminated about all the idiots I’d encountered during the day. Desperately tried to dry out and slowly lost the will to live looked up at James to hear him ask “Do you want to go home?”

Hell yeah I did! So at only 9:30pm we packed up and shipped out pausing only for a quick chat with James’ cousin Steve who we’d not managed to catch up with all day.

I don’t think I’m going to bother going again unless the line up is too good to miss, V 2008 sucked, V 2006 wasn’t much better and who can forget the flying torch incident of 2005?? I leave most years thinking why did I bother – so free tickets or no free tickets I think in future if one of “James’ Artists” are playing we’ll go watch them and then leave again!