Kravitz inspires and Winehouse looks rough on tame first day at V

The V festival has long been recognised as one of the festival season's lightweight events. It was the perfect haven for middle-class twenty somethings who all had a passion for music that extended no further than the playlist of the countries largest radio station. In recent years the Neolithic chav movement have procured the event as a playground for unabashed stag dos and T in The Park rivalling binge drinking sessions.

Nowadays I expect a blend of the two – a minefield of these two class differentiated groups. Violent chavs and middle class twenty somethings scared of mud, rain and the outdoors.

And after eight consistent years of attending this event at both sites I consider myself to be a rather apt judge of character when it comes to the V clientele. So imagine my perplexity when I arrived on site late on Saturday to what can only really be described as the most upbeat party atmosphere I've seen at a festival in a long long time.

Part of this could be attributed to Lenny Kravitz, whose vintage 70's guitar rock treatment was resulting in a collective sing a long of well, surprisingly enough, 'classic' hits. Kravitz, who 10 years ago was voted the most fashionable male artist by Vogue and VH1, may as well have been headlining judging by the feel good vibe his safe, retro sound was giving off.

I'd missed the band I was actually going to see after getting caught up in a circle of Kravitz fans during his riff crunching ‘'Are You Gonna Go My Way'. But was surprised at just how many crowd pleasing numbers Kravitz had in the sidelines. Most notably his version of The Guess Who's 'American Woman' and the multi-commercial endorsing 'Fly Away'. Just proves that good old fashioned rock n roll cheese never can fail at a festival.



I was anxious to continue my personal Amy Winehouse vs Pete Docherty poll (to see who cancels the most gigs I go to). It was looking like Mrs Winehouse was going to take the lead when she finally took to the stage, some half an hour late. Within the first song it was quite clear that something strange was going on. The huge TV screens that stand flanking the main stage seemed to be on a consistent loop of wide shots of Amy, followed by close-ups of her backing band. Basically, if you were at the back like me – you didn't really get a good look at Amy at all, despite the collection of cameras and cameramen all positioned around the stage.

I went and asked the PR people why the cameras were shying away from the jazz/pop singer and nobody seemed to know. The answer was bleedingly obvious and was given to me by a photographer who stated quite simply... it was cos she looked like shit. But at least she turned up.

Sheffield's Reverend And The Makers were putting on a rather catchy set on the Channel 4 stage, and despite Jon McClures rant about people with money, and his ridiculous hairstyle – it was a pretty good set, with tunes that are destined to get stuck in your head for hours afterwards.

I stepped into the JJB Arena to pay my respects to Travis who seem to be on a never-ending plummet in the popularity stakes. It's a shame as I never really considered the Scottish four piece to be as depressing as a lot of people seem to think, but for a group that once rivalled Coldplay in fans, the future now looks pretty bleak. There was still a fair crowd for the band, and everyone joined in for all the old favourites.



Next up were fellow compatriots Hot Chip whose electro swagger drew in a different type of crowd. It seemed like a typically great set from the group, except for the unusual choice to end on a downbeat cover of Sinead O'Connor's 'Nothing Compares To You', a cover they've been parading around all the festivals this year, with mixed reactions.

Next up we had more retro cool with the strangely camp Charlatans. Now for a band that have been going 18 years (Yes 18 years!) you would expect a honed and refined sound but alas the Charlatans were a bit of a shambles tonight, performing a particularly all over the place version of 'One To Another'. Still, they had the decency to apologise for it.

Yet another blast from the past, Echo And The Bunnymen were playing a rather introverted set in the Virgin Mobile Union Tent. They had pulled in a significant crowd for their hits that now span four decades. It'll be a long time before they release anything as poignant as 'Lips Like Sugar' or 'Nothing Lasts Forever' though. A captivating set nevertheless.

Attic Lights are the latest from a collection of similar indie groups whipping up a stir north of the border. Truth be told they're probably not the best of the bunch, but seemed to be quite pleased to be playing The Sessions stage, and the intimacy of the gig aided their appeal.

A tame first day, with enough classic acts to keep the nostalgia fans happy, headed up by a strangely unsupported The Verve performance. Most of the crowd had made the decision to take to the tents to avoid the obvious wash out, and Ashcroft and co had quite a small audience for their headline set. With more rain threatening for Sunday, it looked like this year's V was going to be a wet one.

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