A day festival taking place at Victoria Park for £27 from 11am till 8pm for 14 to 18 year olds. Although London transport wasn't great on the day, thousands of teenagers from all over the country managed to attend.
This year had a wider variety of acts then previous years, with headline acts such as Tinchy Stryder, Little Boots, JME, Mystery Jets, The Horrors, Ladyhawke, and Hadouken!. The wider range of music genres also meant a very diverse crowd of teenagers. We got into the festival around 11.30 am thanks to disorganised queues.
We caught the later half of the Hadouken! set at the Converse Stage, we managed to get ourselves near to the front but then realised it was way too crowded and was starting to get a bit violent despite the Hadouken! front man asking people to calm down and stop pushing each other. After Hadouken! we made our way to the Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage to see My Passion, a band who we discovered last year at Underage '08. Their New Wave style caused the crowd to head bang harder than they really should. They gave a great performance despite having grass and various other items thrown at them.
After seeing some of the bands which were favourites of the majority we saw some more grimy artists such as Tinchy Stryder in the Topman Tent who turned out to be a bit disappointing as he doesn't sound different live then he does on the record, but he certainly got the crowds going. After that we went straight to Mystery Jets who gave a more laid back performance than other acts. We then went to see The Horrors who took a while to get on stage which caused the crowd to become restless which meant they were all the more excited during the set.
All in all we thought the festival was a great success, the acts topping the previous year's and truly worth the money, but unlike last year we didn't get as many freebies which we know everyone appreciates. Also I think that if you're not a particularly confident person then you may feel intimidated by the hustle and bustle of boisterous teenagers.
But, to be honest all these points are overlooked by the sheer fantastic success of this day long festival. The weather was superb and the acts performing were perfect. The vibe was cheerful, fun and exiting, I think everyone had a great time listening to good bands and meeting new people their age which gave it a great atmosphere. Having no adults there gave everyone a great sense of independence and it proves that teenagers can be responsible for themselves as nothing terrible happened which some parents would have been worried about.
The next day I woke up with bruised feet and a neck which has really taken the impact of crazy dancing but hey, it was worth it.
All together we had a wonderful and fantastic day and cannot wait for next year and hope that it lives up with our high expectations following Underage '09.
review by: Kyra Greenway
photos by: Jamie Gildea
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