Infadels outshine a pedestrian Muse on last day at V

Following last night's torrential downpour, the site was covered in mud. Thankfully though, V is the lager top equivalent of festivals and V mud is pretty much no hassle at all. In fact you can quite easily skate along it with little or no fuss.



I stood bleary eyed in the rain while Alanis Morisette walked from one side of the stage to the next, singing squeaky versions of vaguely familiar songs. Certainly wasn't the most exciting thing I've ever seen at V and I felt slightly better for having missed her when she last played about six years ago.

In 2005 it was The La's, in 2006 it was Kula Shaker, In 2007 it was the Happy Mondays...this year it's Shed Seven, and so continues the everlasting nostalgic recycling bin of 90's Britpop throwbacks, all desperate for a quick buck and a second last gasp of breath before their career can be well and truly written off for good.

The consistent re-emergence of these groups are fuelled not only be their empty pockets but by festival crowds unrelenting thirst for apparently reliving yesteryear. As Shed Seven cruise quite seamlessly through 'She Left Me on Friday', 'Chasing Rainbows' and 'Disco Down' it just serves as a reminder of how the group epitomised middle of the road Britpop. Yet I'm obviously just a miserable git as the optimistic audience seemed to be loving every second of it. Perhaps this love for bands that broke up only a few years ago can be related to societies attempt to remember a day when the economic climate wasn't so grim? Either that or we're simply running out of past eras to re-do.

If it wasn't for Amy MacDonald's shoddy lyrics her music would be a great folk pop cross over. But when your main influences are Travis and you're barely out of your teens you can hardly expect her to wax lyrical on the meaning of life. She sings with a celtic tone, and many will probably lump her into the same category as KT Tunstall. I think Amy's target audience might be more Radio 2 than V festival, but she seemed to be going down well anyway, even throwing in a Bruce Springsteen cover for good measure.

Over on the main stage Lostprophets appeared to have finally succumbed to the temptations of emo life and were looking the most ridiculous I'd ever seen them, and probably sounding the worst as well.

Sugababes seemed to have ditched their sulky look in place of choreographed dance routines as they drew in a substantial sized crowd at The JJB Arena. It was predictable pop eye candy, but nobody was really expecting anything different. All the favourites were played, along with a couple of songs I'd never heard of; presumably new ones, but my knowledge of the Sugababes' back catalogue isn't the most extensive.

Compared to their performance at Live at loch Lomond The Dykeenies were a bit of a let down, but it was quite humbling to hear that their drummer was worried that nobody would have a clue who they were. The group were well received, but their songs were less than memorable and I wouldn't hesitate to pass them off as indie mediocrity.

The Kooks were a bit too gay for me so I sauntered off to watch Will Young. I was really hoping the Pop Idol champ was going to be amazing so I could ditch my hate of reality-check talent shows but his performance was pretty dull to be honest. No doubt that he's a talented singer, but his annoyingly over nice personality makes me want to punch him in the face.

Stereophonics are one of those bands that I seem to have seen countless times (it's definitely in the double figures now) and they have a deep affection for their earlier material. Which is handy, as for the most part their earlier work is far superior. Having said that, this was quite possibly the best Stereophonics performance I've ever seen. They were tighter, more energetic and except for a brief foray into the world of granddad rock ('Have a Nice Day') they were exceptional. The reaction from the audience completely shocked me as well. I would never have predicted the group to have gone down so well at a festival but judging by the people singing, dancing and clapping along with the group's surprising collection of hits, they're not quite dead and buried yet.

Band of the weekend for me without a doubt were the infallible Infadels, whose disco dance repertoire and high octane set far superseded anything else I saw all weekend. It was refreshing to see a band enjoying themselves so much, and an audience reciprocating the feeling. 'Can't Get Enough' was an obvious highlight, and a great cover of The Eurthymics' 'Sweet Dreams' capped off a great performance, ending with the keyboard player exuberantly climbing into the crowd to jeer up what was already a fantastic party.

Finally... Muse, the greatest live band I've ever seen, consistently fantastic, always spell binding to watch, never ever let me down. Until now. In spite of four huge satellite lasers perched either side of the stage, and a dazzling light display reminiscent of Fatboy Slim and The Chemical Brothers, Muse were definitely not at their best.

After a long drawn out intro we're treated to the lacklustre opening that is 'Map of The Problematique'. Hardly the same as opening with 'Dead Star' , or their phenomenal 'Citizen Erased' intro back in 2001.

Things don't really pick up when they opt to play 'Supermassive Black Hole' early on. The crowd seem to love it but the truth is it's their weakest ever single and not nearly as interesting or dynamic to watch as some of their better work.

Irritated, I'm forced to watch a version of 'New Born' that seems to have had its heart and soul ripped out, and about two thirds into the set I decided to call it a day.



The truth is that Muse on a bad day are still better than most other bands, but thanks to their incredible 2001 performance, and another similarly impressive show in 2004, they have set a benchmark that will be highly difficult to reach again. In a week when people are talking about whether the 100m world record will ever be broken again, I'm wondering whether Muse will ever be as good live as they once were.

Overall this year's V was an improvement over recent years. Although not much has changed, and we are still subjected to the usual barrage of commercial poison that attaches itself to this festival.

Still, it has to be said that the atmosphere was brilliant. People rallied through the constant rain, trudged through the mud and maintained a happy and chirpy mannerism throughout. Never have so many people bumped into me at a festival and apologised for it.

There seemed to be less aggressive chavs, and less snobby middle class twenty-somethings than ever before at V. Instead, there was just one big party atmosphere and that is the essential ingredient of a great festival.

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