The V Experience and The People We Met

The day starting with an excellent blast from the past.  Denise and I arrived at the V stage just in time to catch the end of the Proclaimers.  All together now… “When you go-o-o will you send back, a letter fro-o-om America-a-a.  Take a lo-o-ok up the rail track….”. 

Then it was off for stage orientation.  We practiced that well-known step in the people traffic – the concert shuffle.  Not quite a dancing but if you’re creative…

Okay now it’s time for a rant…bar tokens… Were the organisers trying to encourage everyone NOT to drink?  We waited in an hour-long queue for a few tokens.  The odd ratio of 5 token sellers compared to the 20 bar staff…no wonder the bar staff looked bored!

Rant over, back to the music…The 4 Music stage hosted The Fray (How to Save a Life).  They were good but not rocky enough for my liking.  So with Bacardi Breezer (aka lollypop drink, thanks Denise) in hand, I tramped off to Sinead O’Connor. 

Laura – I can’t believe I didn’t see you in the JJB tent!  There were only a couple of hundred people there, right?!  I was standing near the very bouncy Irish contingent at the back of the tent.  Does that help?! 

Then it was back to the 4 Music stage for JET.  What can I say, except for, AWESOME!  The boys really rocked.  Definitely worth missing Kanye West for!, even though Denise reliably informs me that he was excellent.

Back to the V stage…where I found Denise chatting with a fellow Kiwi, Hamish (who’d only been in the UK for 5 days).  Hamish…who knew the words to every Pink song.  Did his bottle of neat vodka help?

Pink sounded and looked amazing.  Where did she get those boots? – I want them!  There was another trade off, missing The Holloways.  There was no way I was missing the end of the Pink set. 

Denise and I met brothers Andy & Chris in between Pink and Snow Patrol.  Denise & Andy hit it off straight away…literally!!  Thanks boys for letting us share your “king of the castle” part of the floor.  It did seem a little unstable though, as Denise in particular, kept pitching forward.  Do you know anything about that Andy?! 

Finally, Foo Fighters – OMG!  They ROCK!  I’ll be buying the back catalogue. Just owning the “In Your Honour” album is not enough.

Rain!  It didn’t dampen the crowds spirits.  Denise’s magic raincoat seemed to stop the rain when she wore it.  It’s a shame you weren’t wearing it during the Foos!!

Toilets – congrats to the organisers for the flushing, not nearly as stinky as expected toilets.  Toilet paper was a bit of an issue as usual.  Well done for providing more, though I don’t think you meant it to decorate the sky along with the inflatable balls during the Foo Fighters!

We’re very sad to not be there for Basement Jaxx on Sunday.  I saw them at the O2 festival and they were amazing.

So V is over for this year.  I’ve got the T-shirt, the programme, the aching feet and a list of albums to buy!  Are the weekend tickets on sale for next year yet Denise?