The line up for V this year is patchy at best - now its just got a lot worse. Seasick Steve myspace revealed that he has been chucked off the bill and replaced by the blond (should that be bland?) Shania Twain - Taylor Swift.
Really not good and another sign that this year is turning into a muddier T4 On The Beach
The headliners and the first batch of acts for V Festival 2009 were announced yesterday. I posted back in January how Seetickets and V Festival organisers emailed a survey asking What acts you would like to see at V2009 - well I guess they didn't listen to my suggestions.
Even by V's standards, this years line-up seems particularly boring and there's a huge feeling of deja-vu all round with half the acts returning from two years ago and the lack of any surprises on the stages so far.
I reckon the upstart Green Man festival on the same weekend has a lot to do with this - it would be ridiculous to say it was a direct competitor, but what it does do is pick up many of the curios that would occasionally pop up to enliven the V line up of previous years.
This year offers Bon Iver and Wilco - and is a good bet to join Bestival and Latitude as a highlight of the alternative festival circuit.
Sensing a chance to avoid forking out what will be closer to £200 this year - I clicked on the link which threw up some interesting ideas as to what to expect from V this year (bonus points for noting the potential for a 3-day V mentioned right at the bottom).
In surveying what the customers want from V this year, including the likes of Take That, Robbie and Kylie in the potential headliners, it seems the organisers are considering at least one poppy act in the double bill of act they usual have heading up the main stage. I just hope my requests for Dinosaur Pile-Up, Gaslight Anthem and Frank Turner don't fall on deaf ears and we get some rock.
After The Apocalypse came once again this year (thankfully during The Verve and I'd made my escape), the site was left like a giant slosh of a mud pit meaning moving from stage to stage was almost out of the question as it took almost an hour to get anywhere of interest.
What didn't help the mood was that Sunday has the considerably shitter line up and 3 of the bands I wanted to see all clashed - So out of Tokyo Police Club, The Hold Steady and Iglu & Hartly I plumped for the topless Californian surfer dude-types, mainly so I could claim bragging points this time next year when they are massive. They put on a great show for 30 mins, not sure it'll work over an album - but I'm happy with my sweaty man hug and free frisbee.
V has just announced the line-up for this year's Virgin Mobile Union stage.
Over 2 days you get:
Richard Hawley, Guillemots, Sia, Echo And The Bunnymen, Young Knives, Siouxsie, Will Young, Little Man Tate, The Long Blondes, Tom Baxter, Roots Manuva, Drive - By Truckers, The Dykeenies, Goldie Lookin Chain, Paul Heaton, Jack McManus, Tokyo Police Club, Beth Rowley, Noah And The Whale, The Like, Runaway Sons, and Sam Beeton
Out of those I'd look out for
Roots Manuva
Tokyo Police Club
Noah And The Whale
plus I may well end up perving over The Like
Which pretty much just leaves the Sessions stage to go, which is going to have a tough act to live up to last years bill which featured Ting Tings, Newton Faulkner, Scouting for Girls, David Jordan, Joe Lean & the Jing Jang Jong and The Script (okay, no ones perfect)
Whilst all the hoohah surrounding Jay-Z at Glastonbury was kicking off and a flood of announcements from rival festivals hitting the music press, the organisers of this year's V Festival had been keeping pretty quite since the first batch of names broke - until now. Estelle, Sam Sparro, Calvin Harris, The Stranglers, Captain, Presets, Alphabeat, Royworld, Delays, Michael Franti w/Spearhead, The Script, and Air Traffic complete the second batch of additions to the V Festival line-up and I've got to say I'm still pretty underwhelmed so far.
V has always had a reputation as the most corporate and soulless of all the summer festivals, which I always thought was harsh as there were always jewels to be found somewhere on the list - I have particularly fond memories of Cypress Hill back in 98, though a glance to the list so far reveals Prodigy aside, a lack of a name that promises to do something similar this time round.
Maybe its due to huge amount of festivals that are about these days that the big 3 struggle to attract a depth of line-up that they previously did, with many cult acts that would fill up the bill signing deals to headline the lesser-known festivals that are cropping up all the time. However I do hope that V manage to surprise me like they did last year with the announcements of Graham Coxon and the smaller stages to save me from hitting ebay with my hard-earned ticket.
