Muse take V Festival crown

23-08-2008 08:15

With talk of aliens on stage and UFOs in the crowd, Muse were never going to put on an ordinary show - and giant satellites set up alongside the stage in Chelmsford's Hylands Park provided a constant reminder throughout the day that the multi-award winning trio were set to provide the climax to the first day of the Virgin Mobile V Festival. Despite touring solidly for almost two years, the band failed to disappoint. With the crowd fired up before they took to the stage - heralded by the satellites spinning and flashing - Muse blitzed their way through a show-stopping set featuring extended versions of tracks such 'Time Is Running Out', 'Supermassive Black Hole' and 'Plug In Baby'. With smoke billowing in their faces and lasers dancing above their heads, the crowd lapped up the rocking set as frontman Matt Bellamy - dressed entirely in red - opted against interaction with the audience, preferring to let the music do the talking.With such a strong show, artists on the other stages faced a battle to keep a crowd - and luckily for 4 Stage headliners The Prodigy, they had no such problems. The dance legends - performing to a home crowd - mingled happily with fans in the first rows as they went through hits including 'Breathe' and 'Firestarter' with Maxim even donning a fan's grey trilby as he danced in front of the eye-shaped lights adorning the stage. Previews of new tracks 'Worlds On Fire' and 'Warrior's Dance' went down equally well with fans before closing track 'Out Of Space' sent the crowds back to their tents to reflect on a day jam-packed with music and sunshine.The V festival traditionally covers a wide spectrum of music, from rock and indie to dance and pop acts and this year was no exception.

The Sugababes performance to a packed out JJB Arena saw the trio put on such a strong show, Keisha Buchanan hurt her leg while Heidi Range nearly fainted after being overcome by her efforts. Speaking after their performance, third band member Amelle Berrabah said, "I didn't notice first of all. We came off stage and I saw Heidi bending over and I think she thought she was going to throw up, I think she's feeling a little bit light-headed and Keisha hurt her foot. They're all casualties in the dressing room. They're dropping like flies but it's all good, they'll be alright."Will Young braved the hostility of a festival crowd to perform a dazzling mid-afternoon set on the Virgin Mobile Union stage, showing off new material in a set which noticeably avoided any tracks from 'From Now On', his first album released after winning reality TV star search contest 'Pop Idol' in 2002. He later said he felt he had "earned the right" to perform at festivals after shedding his reality star tag, adding, "I think it was like when you start a new job or a new school, you've got to earn respect and that's the way I saw it. I just thought I'm gonna keep my head down. Maybe that's why I'm doing festivals now because I feel like it's the right time now and I feel we've probably gauged it right."Following the death of a long-time friend Ronnie Drew (founder and singer of The Dubliners) at 2pm on the opening day of V, The Pogues showed their true Irish spirit and hid their grief as they put on an incredible performance in front of a packed-out tent which had fans of all ages queuing to be allowed in. With a cocktail shaker in one hand and a sling holding the other, Shane slurred his way through 'Streams of Whiskey', 'Rainy Night in Soho' and 'Irish Rover' as the lucky few who had fought their way in shouted and jigged along.

Earlier on the V stage, another old-timer had failed to energise the crowd. Where once she would've close to the headline slot, Alanis Morrissette now has to make do with the glaring sunshine of the early afternoon. Playing to a crowd seemingly more interested in where their next drink was coming from, her efforts were was wasted as stripped down, more accoustic versions of her classic anger anthems 'You Oughtta Know' and 'Hand In My Pocket' were lent a softer edge, with the Canadian singer's voice sounding just as haunting as ever.

Stereophonics are something of a hit and miss band - when they're good, they're very, very good but when they're bad, they're truly awful. Thankfully, Saturday saw the band in beyond good form, preferring not to speak to the crows in favour of cramming in as many hits as possible, including 'Traffic', 'A Thousand Trees', 'Bartender and the Thief' and 'Mr. Writer', resulting in the final chords of 'Dakota' coming all-too-soon for the heaving throng of fans now more than fired up for Muse.

Sunday fans were faced with a tough dilemma on how to end their weekend - throwing shapes to the Chemical Brothers, bouncing around to the Kaiser Chiefs, or holding lighters aloft to the anthemic sounds of The Verve.

For many, the natural choice was The Verve - assuming they would actually turn up. Dogged by rumours they were set to split (again), guitarist Nick McCabe had been sectioned, they were on site but refusing to share a dressing room, few knew what to expect from the comeback stars. Shunning the elaborate stage set and light show co-headliners Muse had employed, the band's set was compelling enough for the crowd to forget the torrential rain - admittedly better conditions than the band had played during their Staffordshire set the previous evening - to sing along with almost every word to their relatively short headlining set. Paying tribute to his bandmates, the supposed tension between the frontman and the rest of The Verve was nowhere to be seen. However, if this was, as rumour - and the announcement of Ashcroft's solo festival slot at the Last Days of Summer Festival on Monday (25.08.08) - suggests, the newly reformed band's last ever gig, they are definitely going out on a high.

With the crowd for The Verve visibly smaller than that for Muse, it was clear to see that the lure of the Kaiser Chiefs' lively sing-a-long rock was too much for many. A typically energetic show from the band was only matched in energy and enthusiasm by the watching fans, who sang and danced along to every word uttered by manic frontman Ricky Wilson, who refused to let the bad weather get him down as he leapt and bounded across the stage like a frenzied kangaroo and encouraged the crowd to sing louder and louder, saying, "We can go louder, we can go twice as loud and we can drown out anybody."

For those wanting to avoid the by-now torrential rain, the Chemical Brothers provided a more than entertaining refuge in the covered JJB Arena. Having experienced problems with rain water leaking onto their mixing desk the previous evening, the duo had no such problems this time around as they mixed together a greatest hits set. Although dance acts are widely viewed as dull because of the non-visual aspect to the performance, Ed and Tom combatted this with a spectacular laser show, most impressive on crowd favourite 'Hey Boy, Hey Girl'. The sound of ear-splitting feedback at the end of 'Block Rockin' Beats' signalled the end of their set and the end of the festival as partied-out revellers finally left the two-day extravaganza.

Earlier in the day, all eyes had been on Amy Winehouse. As news filtered through of her shambolic set in Staffordshire the previous evening - where she appeared dazed as she mumbled through her songs, taking to the stage 20 minutes later than expected - word escalated that she wasn't going to appear and even Colleen Rooney and Lisa Snowden were overheard discussing the much-whispered - and false - rumour that she had been arrested the previous night. As her stage time approached, the throng surrounding the V stage grew bigger and bigger with many apparently hoping to witness the troubled star break down again. Thankfully, they were disappointed - sipping a drink throughout her set, Amy appeared on stage at times, and, though her voice didn't seem as strong as it has done in past performances, this was largely due to the poor quality sound system rather than any fault of the 24-year-old. Perhaps having been warned by her management not to speak to the crowd, gone were the rambling stories and pleas for husband Blake Fielder-Civil to be released from jail as the fragile-looking singer opted to concentrate on the music. Clearly seeing Amy on average form was too much for many - the crowd left in droves halfway through her hit-packed set.

Following Amy's performance, any band following was going to have it easy - though a bad performance from Kings of Leon is about as rare as a coherent Winehouse. The once-cult heroes showed why they were chosen to headline Glastonbury with a flawless set which defied the sound problems that had dogged other artists on the stage earlier in the day. Admittedly they started stronger than they had finished, but by that point the band had whipped the crowd into such a frenzy that no one seemed to notice, and if they did, they really didn't care.

One of the surprise festival hits were The Feeling. Known for the sort of 'nice' music your average festival goer's mum is a fan of, the bulk of the crowd - who were no doubt watching just to kill time - received a pleasant shock by their high standard that provided a perfect wake-up call to the sleepy, hungover crowd with their energy and enthusiasm, leaving many calling for more by the end of a 45 minute set which included fantastic covers of A-Ha's 'Take On Me' and The Buggles' 'Video Killed The Radio Star'.

Girls Aloud attracted a massive crowd for their set. Organisers had learned their lesson from V2006, when thousands of fans were left disappointed at not being able to see them in the JJB Arena, and put them on the main stage this time round. Sadly, the vast crowd appeared too much for the quintet, with their vocals failing to reach the standard that their dance moves achieved. None the less, their lacklustre singing didn't seem to bother the crowd, who danced and sang along happily - even to an ill-advised cover of Salt 'N' Pepa's 'Push It'.

The Kooks' hit-and-miss set proved their new material is not as strong as their back catalogue, judging by the response from their crowd, who were by turns massively excited and incredibly bored. Producing a surprise collaboration, singer Luke Pritchard provided the high point of their set when he invited The Kinks' frontman Ray Davies onto the stage for a storming cover of his band's song, 'Victoria'.

With such a varied line up and party atmosphere, there is no doubt that the bulk of the crowd will have trudged straight home to sleep it off. And then picked up the phone to book their tickets for next year's Virgin Mobile V Festival.