V.Big Festival Review

• 21st Aug 2007

On the eve of the Carling weekend at Leeds and Reading we look at the commercial element of the summer festival and ask are they the best festivals to go to?

Last weekends V festival saw, apart from a lotta lotta rain, an awesome line up of international acts.

Despite typically amazing performances from Basement Jaxx and Foo Fighters there were few pluses from festival-goers.

Horror stories of ten hour queues to get into T in The Park, bad food and [beware of generalising quotes] “idiot people” at V festival making personal experiences less than exceptional.

The Killers have been THE band of many of this years festivals, without doubt. Headlining everywhere that would have them, which is pretty much every single festival. Amazingly headlining Oxygen, Glastonbury, T in The Park and V festival in one year.

Crazy drinks prices, shit food, overly zealous sponsorship, hiked car parking prices and Snow Patrol are the other factors at play in dampening the festival experience for many people.

The alternatives are of course the smaller independent festivals. They have had a tough time this year with the adverse weather conditions and licensing problems. Many have been forced to cancel. The list of non-festivals for 2007 goes:

Lodestar, Livefest, South Liverpool festival, Truck fest, Fflam fest, New Cross festival, The Song 07 Festival, any more…?

Bloom festival with only “a 3000 capacity, really nice people, organic food, real ales, a two minute walk to the car”, being one of the highlights. The small details coupled with acts such as Soul To Soul and Coldcut mean this was one of the hidden jewels in the UK festival crown.

There were other success stories and these were the real gems in the summer calender. If they don't have either or all the Razorlight's, Chemical Brothers, The Killers or The Arctic Monkeys playing it may not be such a bad thing, it may even be a blessing and they may also open your ears to some new music.

Latitude, Bestival, The Big Chill, Glade and Bloom are the ones to look out for next year when booking your UK summer weekend holiday.