23 August 2015 (gig)
26 August 2015
It was the V festivals 20th anniversary and with a blazing hot day forecast for the Saturday it looked like the perfect day to kick things off.
This festival seems to attract the more TOWIE and Made In Chelsea crowd than I'm used to but with a vast choice of acts there was enough to keep everyone interested.
Saturday headliners Kasabian are a polished closing act and they didn’t disappoint although they didn’t have the crowd they deserved as was the case with most of the indie rock acts. It was the same for The Courteeners, Liam Fray got his loyal supporters going with a rocking set but seemed lost on some of the Essex crowd. New single 'Concrete Love' sounded like a instant hit and went down well with their devoted followers.
Sam Smith provided a faultless sing-a-long set and got the crowd jumping with his Disclosure collaboration 'Latch'. Other Saturday acts included a Mark Ronson DJ set and Labyrinth, who proposed to his girlfriend Muz live on stage! Chvches, whose new album 'Every Open Eye' which is coming soon, were impressive. James Bay, whose album turned platinum this week, enjoyed the festival crowds as hits ‘Hold Back The River’ and ‘Let It Go’ were belted back at him by the lively crowd.
Sunday belonged to Calvin Harris, and although the the day started badly weather wise it didn’t dampen the spirits of the Hylands Park crowd and by 4pm when the rain had cleared and the buzzing anticipation for the DJ/producers long back catalogue of hits started to gather momentum the younger members of the crowd lapped up his banging set with the energy contagious as they crowd clapped and jumped in unison.
The Stereophonics headlined the other stage and performed a career spanning set including a few new tracks from their upcoming album. It was an even split but Kelly Jones could have easily have drowned out Clavin Harris with his powerful guitar hits which kept the ardent fans more than happy!
Other Sunday highlights included the ever colourful Paloma Faith who never fails to deliver, George Ezra, The Kooks, Ellie Goulding, Kodaline and Clean Bandit. Overall a thoroughly diverse and enjoyable weekend had by all!
