a Caribbean Christmas comes to V-Dub Island

It seems that the current trend amongst festivals these days is to have a theme, in an attempt to conjure up some fancy dress from its attendees. V-Dub Island is no exception, and this year in the build-up much was made of the 'Caribbean Christmas' theme, with the Saturday being declared Christmas Day for the event. While certainly an imaginative idea and one that a lot of the attendees had taken on board, with plenty of VWs decked out in fairy lights, tinsel and even one given an oversized Santa-hat, I was a little disappointed that the site itself seemed to have largely ignored the theme, apart from a slightly wilting 5ft tree in the middle of the sand pit, there was very little to make the site feel particularly festive.

Today was also the main day for the VW owners, with a drive-out followed by a chance to show off their vehicles in the arena. It seemed to me that there were less VWs on show this year, but it was possibly down to more people keeping their vehicles in the camping area. None the less, there were still some really nice examples on show, and the attention that the owners bestow on their campers really shows.

Music in the first half of the day was a varied mix, as in amongst the acoustic music from Rachel's Reason and the excellent Cherishport, was full on head-banging metal from Oblivion. Meanwhile in the Bay Café there was a chance to catch an acoustic set from The Planet Good Vibes - local band Weatherkings, minus a couple of members – Ironically as the set went on, they just seemed to increase in numbers as, when they bought on guest vocalists, everyone seemed to hang around until the stage was spilling over with extra bodies.

In contrast to the relaxed air of the café, the main stage was beginning to ramp up a gear in anticipation of the Dub Pistols headlining set, with performances from three of the Isle of Wight's rappers. First up was a chilled-out set from veteran rapper Cooly Haste, followed by a more raucous turn – first by collective Kingz Of Vocals, who gave way to Born InA Barn. I have to confess to not being a great fan of rap, but I was pretty impressed by both these acts, even if their references to local locations seemed a bit odd – one such example was a reference to The 'Tri-bay massive', which sounds quite Californian in its terminology, but less so when you realise they are referring to the three old Victorian seaside towns of Sandown, Shanklin and Ventnor on the south coast of the Isle of Wight!

You may be aware of the film Field of Dreams, where Kevin Costner ploughs up a field of corn to build a baseball square under the promise of "If you build it, they will come." If someone were to remake the film for music festivals, then the 'they' in that statement would no doubt be the Dub Pistols, a band so ubiquitous on the festival scene that there aren't many festivals they don't play at. This is not to their detriment however as a festival is their natural home. Whether playing on a massive stage or a small tent, the band put in the same performance, full of energy and power. This was certainly the case here. Also revealed was the perfectionist nature of singer and DJ Barry Ashworth, who stormed off the stage during 'Peaches' after a mike problem left him out of the proceedings. Not that the crowd noticed, as even without Barry's vocals, they still cheered and danced along regardless.

Sunday by contrast saw a more relaxed side to the festival as the effects of three days of partying were starting to show. Early forecasts for the weekend were fairly unanimous in predicting rain for Sunday, but actually it was the hottest and driest day of the whole weekend. Anticipating the lethargy from the crowds, today's music was similarly relaxed and laid-back - although the crowd showed that given the right band they were still ready to get up and dance, as the crowds for the Folsom Prisoners, and Weatherkings showed. The former are a Johnny Cash tribute band whose covers of classics such as 'Ring of Fire' and 'I Walk The Line' gave the crowd a good sing-along. The latter were popular with all ages – the older members of the audience enjoying their funk-folk sound, with the younger members excited at the liberal handing out of shakers in the band's attempt to "set the Olympic record for the most cans with stones in, shaken inside a tent."

Away from the music those who were enjoying the sun still had plenty of entertainment happening around site, the more energetic could join in Zumba classes, while those with less vigour could just watch performances from belly dancers, magicians, and cannon firing displays from the pirates who had taken up residence in one corner of the field (presumably helping with the Caribbean theme, if not the Christmas one).

As the afternoon wore on, there was a subtle change in the audience, with the hard-core VW fans starting to pack up and leave – the camping fields were half empty by about three o'clock – to catch early boats back to the mainland in time for work tomorrow. While a younger audience started to come in for the final evening's entertainment. After some classic rock and blues from The Hillmans, it was the turn of Reggae band The Ohmz to get the crowd going.

Already favourites at the other two big Isle of Wight Festivals, as the last live act of the weekend, they were determined to play like they were the headliners, and pulled out all the stops into a classic set largely of self-penned songs, with a couple of covers thrown in – some expected like Bob Marley's 'I Shot The Sheriff', and some unexpected ones like the reggae versions of White Stripes 'Seven Nation Army'. Finishing with a really up tempo take on the Coolio classic 'Gangster's Paradise'.

Tonight's headliner came in the form of a DJ set from Bestival and Camp Bestival organiser, and VW owner Rob da Bank, who kept the party atmosphere going with a mix of classic tunes and the odd curve-ball thrown in, and the now-packed tent seemed to lap up whatever he threw at them.

For a festival only in its second year it really is shaping up to be a great event - although it advertises itself as a festival aimed at VW enthusiasts, you don't need to be a fan to enjoy it as there are plenty of non-VW related events going on. A lot of festivals say they are family friendly, but what they usually mean is they offer face painting and not much else, but V-Dub Island seems to go the extra mile and there is plenty to keep all ages amused, while managing to find the balance that doesn't alienate those without children. The music programme is pretty varied, and is probably the best showcase for the breadth of talent on the Isle of Wight at the moment. It's still needs a few elements ironing out - it does need to decide what it's going to do with the dance tent – as it doesn't seem to fit in very well in its current form, it was often empty during the afternoon - but finishing quite early at 9pm, meant it stopped just as it was getting into its stride. The food situation needs more consideration too, as although the selection was better, the single venue often had long queues coming out of the tent at times. But these aren't major problems and if you're looking for a cheap summer festival, you could certainly do a lot worse than V-Ddub Island.

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