They had a dream...

A Marketing Man once had a Dream. 50,000 well heeled receptive 18-35's fenced in a field with only access to "approved" products. And lo his dream came to pass in Hylands Park in Essex. (NB This view of the evolution of the Festival may not be strictly correct - the marketing supremo might have been a woman).

I missed V99 but since 98 a few things have been added. The Dance area now contains 2 large tents, an outside DJ Stage and quite a few blasting sound systems from the various stalls and "product outlets".

This gave the V a greater "Festival" feel than previous years'. There is nothing quite like the buzz of walking up and down a field on a sunny day with different sounds floating in and out and different tunes taking over every few yards.

More amusements had been laid on and there were even a few walk about theatre acts, like the "Tea Ladies on tour" moving around the site. These things, as well as the presence of the Hari K's and Greenpeace seems to indicate that the organisers are trying to widen the V's appeal and move from a concert vibe to a festival one.

The pervading atmosphere was of people having fun, determinedly making the most of two beautiful days. Surprisingly there was no visible police presence on site and the stewarding and security were generally polite and reasonable. There was no sign of trouble, with only a small number of beer monsters engaging in their macho rutting. (How come such impressive examples of manhood never have girlfriends?). There was a general absence of interestingly attired people, no crusties with their dogs, relatively few doved-up ravers 'aving it large, but a disturbingly large number of people with Tottenham shirts on.

You couldn't get away from the commercial element of the festival, with every square inch of available space plastered with adverts and each stage or tent heavily sponsored. Now I'm a bit old fashioned [a bit? - Ed.] and firmly believe that corporate advertising is an evil and pointless activity. The showing of credit card adverts on the big screens flanking the main stage was ridiculous, had no relevance to the festival at all (virtually nowhere took credit cards for payment) and is entirely the result of that particularly loathsome financial organisation trying to seem cool and trendy - well they can fuck right off (OK, they did once turn me down for a card, but even so.....). It was good to see that the showing of the advert was met with a fair amount of booing, second only to the reporting of the score from that other bastion of corporatism - Manchester United plc.

Full marks however to the "Followers of Graham" - a piss take of the Hari K's, but with free cereal, milk and repetitive beats rather than curry, lassies and repetitive chants. The Salad Cream bar were also handing out freebies with salad cream on them (although no salad).

So maybe all this corporatism isn't so bad after all. Perhaps the money they received did keep down the ticket price or pay for the generally good state of the toilets and the waterpoof covering in front of the main stages to ensure one's Gap Khaki's didn't get soiled by nature.

I suspect that the "profile" of the average V goer demands that sort of luxury was provided and I've got no objections to that kind of thing, but I think the money could have been better spent. The Dance tents were exceptionally bare, not so much a problem in the arena where the bigger acts played and put on decent shows, but it was noticeable in the club tent where the DJ's only turn up with their records and nothing else (apart from the obligatory pufferjacketed girlfriend). Haven't the organisers ever been to a rave or even a club? What about hangings, blow up pointy stars, flouro paintings for us to stare at? The "Hair Products" Club Tent had a good idea to situate the DJ in the middle, but then beggared up by installing two video screens, which played the same one minute clip continually - even worse the clip was also pretty much just advertising for their products. Don't they know how impressionable mashed up ravers are? I for instance, headed straight to the 24 hour chemist in Chelmsford and stocked up with a vast amount of pre-lightner (what ever that is).

Justifiable paranoia after the appalling events at Roskilde earlier on in the season meant that entry into the tents was very strictly managed. This meant disappointed punters outside but lots of happy ones inside because there was enough room to dance (or the nearest thing some of us can manage) even for the biggest acts of the weekend - Glastonbury please take note.

Other good points that impressed were very large number of urinals dotted around the site and the incredible ease of getting out when the whole thing had finished.

All in all a different type of festival for a different type of festival goer. You can see more for yourself by checking out the extensive coverage on MTV w/e 26th August.

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