As the Sydney festival season draws to a close, the mighty V-Festival returns to Australia in 2008. Building on the success of the 2007 inaugural, V Festival revisited Sydney and the Gold Coast this year and added Melbourne and Perth to its busy schedule. Since the inception 12 years ago in the UK, V Festival has built a reputation for creating line-ups that combine an intangible, eclectic hand-picked mix of the absolute iconic with the new and the cutting-edge. Featuring a glittering world class line-up in 2008, the festival included acts such as The Smashing Pumpkins, Duran Duran, Queens Of The Stone Age, Roisin Murphy, Modest Mouse, Cut Copy, CSS, Air and many more.
Our crew kicked off the day at the Light Brigade pub already brimming with pre-festival meetups and sporting a great warm-up vibe. All the while excited party goers filtered down the street heading down to the festival entrance deep within Centennial Park. The weather gods had blessed the day with the sun beating down solidly through patches of interesting cloud formations, while the temperature stayed comfortable all day. After making it through the security and police we walked into the This Stage area in time to hear Modest Mouse kicking off with tight rocking funk sounds playing tracks like Paper Thin Walls, Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes and Float On which got an amazing reaction from the crowd who were singing along in unison.
On the way over to sample the other stages we checked out the Venue tent which was pumping out funky beats all day long. Outside the tent was a makeshift beach area complete with sand and people playing in an inflatable volleyball court. Over at That Stage Roisin Murphy was playing, showcasing her amazing voice and chilled tracks in a hot top that didn’t leave much to the imagination. This time of afternoon was perfect for just lounging around on the grass. We moved next door to the Other Stage to check out the rolling grunge sounds of The Rakes who exuded so much energy and were another unexpected highlight of the day.
Back on the That Stage, eclectic French group Air kicked off their set with some tripped out vocoder sounds and chilled lounge grooves, slowly building up to some of their more rocking tunes but overall set was a tab too obscure and we made a move. Unfortunately due to set times being rearranged we only saw part of the manic party vibe that was the CSS show. Next door Duran Duran was just kicking off their set to a huge arena now in darkness with the many bopping heads of punters being lit up but the huge explosions of white light creating epic visuals from further back. The night however was all about the last few hours at main stage, where Queens Of The Stone Age belted out some massive tunes. They played a number of tracks from their extensive catalogue Go With the Flow, Little Sister, Battery Acid, Burn the Witch, A Song for the Dead and 3’s & 7’s.
Finally, iconic rock group The Smashing Pumpkins, touring Australia for the first time in over 10 years, took to the stage. This newly reformed group is by far my favourite band ever and the Pumpkins didn’t disappoint. They kicked off their show with a burst of energy paralleled only by the epic lightning show happening in the distance behind the main stage. They played a great mixture of new and old tracks from Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Tracks played included Today, Hummer, Tonight Tonight, Silverfuck, an acoustic version of 1979, Revolution and unexpectedly a cover of Aussie band The Church’s Reptile. Perhaps the most epic moment of the night was hearing the generation defining track Cherub Rock played as final track of the night
Overall, I have to say this was one of my favourite festivals of the summer season. Good music, lounging on the grass, interesting fashion, ladies looking goprgeous and a good mixture of relaxed or manic performances with something to satisfy almost every taste. Throughout the festival Virgin had organised little freebies at locations around the festival including inflatable seats, free drinks, frisbees and other toys. The sound at all the stages was good but definitely could have been tad louder, especially during some of the heavier acts. However lighting and general production rocked the house, especially at sunset when all the lighting effects really took shape. In my opinion the Pumpkins were by far the stand out act of the night and I can’t wait to see what Richard Branson and his crew have to offer in 2009.
Stace the Mace says...
Presets were incredible.
locky says...
The Air set too obscure??? Well i guess if u dont even listen to them..
Noonsta says...
Awesome day....sun, crowd and superbly organised! Well Done V - Presets were a "massive" standout
domega says...
The sound at the festival was horrid and far too low. As a result it became patchy and only if you were up the very front could you actually get a good atmosphere. The Pumpkins were very disappointing and played only too many low-key songs from a catalogue which should have had the crowd begging for more. I'm a huge fan of Air but I agree they were disappointing. They just don't do well at big festivals - better to see them at the Opera House. Presets were a HUGE standout and the highlight of the day. QOTSA were decent but again suffered from low volume. Modest Mouse were great too but should have been on later in the day. The mix-up and change of times for CSS was unforgiveable. Roison Murphy was like a bad Eurovision contestant. Stick to Moloko hunny. My first average festival of the season and it happens to be the last one :-/
mlucinda says...
This was one of the first festivals that I arrived on time to see Robyn and Cut Copy who were absolutely awesome! Robyn was a total flirt and belted out some great tunes with incredible percussion backup. Then Cut Copy came on stage and gave us a teaser of their new album which sounded so good I just wanted them to keep going. After hanging out under tree with Roison Murphy and Air in the background we headed over to Venue tent to hear Munk who really had the crowd going. Ended the night with Presets. What a great day!