V-iva las Stafford

Another year, another Virgin Mobile Festival (V Festival, for those who are now furrowing their brows). This year, however, the festival was graced with my presence. This single fact obviously makes it better this year than it has EVER been before.

So, in true Bobbikk reviewing style, here's a run-down of the best and worst bits of the festival:

The Good

Beck - A great performance, truely memorable. He used puppets to mimic his band on the stage, which were shown on the huge screens either side of the stage. Performances of Loser, Devils Haircut and E-Pro had the audience singing along and even though I didn't know too much of Becks music, there were plenty of sing-a-long choruses. A what seemed like, impromptu set of covers by Beck alone on what I think was a ukulele or small acoustic guitar showed off his singing voice before the rest of his band and himself started playing kitchen utensils that were brought on with a dining table at which they all sat. The set was rounded off with a video on the screens of the puppets around the V festival and trashing the Radiohead dressing room and an encore of Where It's At, much to my delight. Despite at this point it being obvious that Beck was more of a warm up act for Radiohead, I would easily call him best in show. If you get a chance, go and see Beck.

Keane - Despite being said to be 'a bit bland' by some people and their 'goody goody' reputation, Keane pulled off a stonker (that's right, a STONKER) of a show. Tom Chaplain's voice was brilliant and boy, didn't he know it. After the revelations about him and rehab in the papers, he might have been a wee bit high at this point, but who cares when he can pull a show like that out of his hat. And he wasn't even wearing a hat! There's nothing like a huge audience singing the chorus to your song to get you going and once Keane were in full flow there was no stopping them. Renditions of Somewhere Only We Know, Everybody's Changing, This is the Last Time and Bedshaped were fantastic and new songs Bad Dream and Is It Any Wonder? were easily as good.

The Beautiful South - I grew up with this band playing in the car on any long journey with my mum and dad. I thank them so much that they made me listen to them. I had a great time listening, and singing along, to all the classics. Rotterdam, Don't Marry Her, Perfect 10 and Good as Gold all bringing back memories. There were a few newer numbers that drew a blank and mild boredom, but when you can get hundreds of people singing 'Don't marry her, fuck me!' in one place, who cares??

The Cooper Temple Clause - Many will call me crazy for going to see these instead of Razorlight, but I'm so glad I did. Despite technical difficulties caused by the sound crew, the band were on top form. And, because of said difficulties, rarer live songs, such as Who Needs Enemies? were played. Unfortunately, there was no Same Mistakes, however. New song Damage is looking very impressive, and hopefully the new album (apparently expected in the new year) will be equally as good. A rendition of Panzer Attack, as usual, finished off the set in fantastic style, full of menace and an almost trance-like state of fear and loathing. Brilliant.

The Bad

Radiohead - Even though they are my favourite band, I must say, I was not impressed with the performance by Radiohead on the Sunday. This may be because I got crushed at the front of the crowd where people were moshing. Seriously, moshing to Radiohead? C'mon. I sternly deny anyone who says they're a depressing band (usually in vain) but they're not THAT lively. Anyway, they did a lot of old stuff, which I did like, but it just felt like their heart wasn't in it. Like they'd played it so many times before that it was just boring to them now. I guess that's why they say never meet your idols, you'll always be dissapointed. A rabble rousing performance of You and Who's Army? was inspiring and the encore of Creep was a nice finish, but it wasn't enough to fill my growing sense of emptyness. I'll probably see them again, if they tour, but I'm not holding my hopes high.

Dandy Warhols - I, probably like many others, went to see We Used To Be Friends and Bohemian Like You. I, probably like many others, enjoyed them then fell asleep during the rest of the set.

The Magic Numbers - They played well, however, since I could sing pretty much any of their songs over any of the songs that they were playing, without sounding off key, or even attracting odd looks from people very close to me, I didn't rate them highly. They're nice enough, but once you've heard one song, you've heard them all.

The Ugly.

The Toilets - Ew. Do I need to say more? If you go, remember to bring your own loo roll. However, the alcoholic handwash in there was enough to get you off your tits by the smell alone. Maybe it's to make you forget what the toilets were like...

The Rain - I didn't so much sleep in my tent as swim. Ever seen a ship going down with people pouring buckets of water over the side? That's what I was doing with a towel. I stayed dry in the end. Just. And everyone loves a bit of mud. Right?

Being Bottled - Now that just plain hurt. Luckily, it bounced off the back of my head (I obviously have a very bouncy head, I must make a note of that for the future) and didn't smash. Plus, someone asked me if I was ok, re-affirming my faith in human decency. All is well that ends well.

All in all it was a great festival and I hope to go again next year. All hail the Branson!

Bobbikk