So, after strategically planning our itinerary for the weekend, we set off towards the Arena Stage for our first performance of the weekend courtesy of Britsh/Ghanian rapper Fuse ODG. Starting with 'Azonto' where we were taught how to 'Azonto' (I was unaware that this was a dance move so this was an enlightening experience for me,) or rather a simplified version, which involved shaking our hands up towards the sky and then down towards our feet.. Next up was 'Million Pound Girl (Badder Than Bad)' and 'T.I.N.A' (ft Angel) both involved a lot of call and response shouting between Fuse and the audience and if I remember correctly, ALOT of clapping along, especially to T.I.N.A (which if you didn't know, stands for This Is New Africa.) These 3 songs were just the warm up to ODG's last, and obviously best known tracks. Freshly released 'Dangerous Love' featuring the one and only Sean Paul, who much to my disappointment, didn't make a surprise entrance and global hit 'Antenna', saw every girl unleash their inner African woman with lots of gyrating hips and booty shaking (guilty.) This topped off his 25 minute set in an increasingly crammed and consequently, sweaty tent!
Next up was John Newman on the MTV Stage. Personally, I always associate John Newman with Sam Smith because John broke through onto the music scene in 2012 with Rudimental and their smash hit 'Feel The Love,' as did Sam and Disclosure with 'Latch'. Now as you may or may not know, I am completely and utterly obsessed with Sam Smith so of course I followed Sam and his career whilst John took a bit of a back seat. However, there is no denying that this man can put on a S H O W, as a bit of a Newman 'newbie' I could only properly sing along to Rudimental's 'Feel The Love' and 'Not Giving In' which he featured on, and also his solo tracks: 'Losing Sleep', 'Cheating' and the obvious crowd pleaser 'Love Me Again'. John looked quite the gentleman in a cream suit as he whipped out the infamous Charleston step and gave the audience numerous hair flicks from that unmistakeable blonde-streaked quiff of his. The raw, almost gravely tone is his voice is just as amazing live, as it is on his album.
Finally we trekked over to the main stage for the final 6 hours of our Saturday, V Festival experience. First on the agenda were Bastille, once again I wouldn't label myself as a massive fan but I'd been told by numerous friends and also by the random bunch of lads that we made friends with in the crowd, that Bastille are amazing live. To be completely honest, because we were so far away from the stage I couldn't really hear their voices that clearly, but the instrumentation and the atmosphere during their set was incredible. Even though I didn't know the words to many of the songs, the atmosphere during 'Pompeii' was almost tangible and obviously I belted out the lyrics at the top of my lungs.
Example took to the stage next and he was one of the acts that I was most excited to see live, Example is one of those artists who hasn't really released a song that I haven't liked. When I was reeling off all of the songs that his set would comprise of, I realised just how many hits he has actually had! Now Example himself, said during an interview at Radio 1's Big Weekend this year, that when people come to see him perform live he doesn't expect them to go away saying how amazing his voice is or how good looking he is, he just wants people to come away feeling like they've had a great time. And that's what I had, kind of.. Apart from being leant on, crushed and grinded on by some sweaty and rather large boy behind me in the crowd, Example's set was just like one massive party. Compiling songs such as my personal favourite, ' One More Day (Stay With Me)' and crowd favourite 'All The Wrong Places' from his new album Live Life Living, and also some of his old bangers such as 'Kickstarts', 'Won't Go Quietly' and 'Changed The Way You Kiss Me' he definitely catered to the huge audience that looked on at him and didn't let me down.
Moving onto the man of the moment, Mr Ed Sheeran. Now I was expecting big, big things from this young man and he did not disappoint whatsoever. The simplicity of his set was as expected, just one man and his guitar. (Oh and his infamous loop pedal). In contrast to Example and most of the artists across the weekend, Ed decided to begin his set with old ('+') album favourites, 'Give Me Love', 'Lego House' and of course the 'white lips, pale face" favourite, 'The A Team'. A notable mention goes to Ed's absolutely insane freestyle rapping in the middle of 'You Need Me, I Don't Need You' this was the only moment, that for the minute or so that he just let the lyrics run off of his tongue, that the main stage was awe-struck into silence, only broken by thunderous applause and a rather excessive amount of hooting.. The hooting and call and response sequences of 'ohhh-ohhh-oh' that left me with no voice for the following day, came courtesy of 'Sing' 'Don't' and 'I See Fire' (The one from The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug). One of the highlights of V for me, was when I sat on my friends shoulders during the beautiful 'Thinking Out Loud' (which I have reviewed here) and saw a sea of hands waving from side to side and seeing people embracing one another (soppy moment over but it was an amazing sight.) I would definitely recommend going to see Ed Sheeran if you ever get the chance, well worth the perseverance of being crushed and leant on by the rather large boy behind me during Example, (hi if you're reading this.)
And last but by no means least, the one man that most people had solely come to V Fest to see, you guessed it, Justin Timberlake. Now I hate to disappoint, but in terms of the set and setlist, it was simply a shortened version of what I saw at the O2 during his 'The 20/20 Experience Tour' so if you want to read my review, you may do so to your hearts content just here. The only differences at V were that: Firstly, I was a whole lot closer to the stage (which was obviously amazing.) Secondly, everyone was extremely intoxicated by this point so the singing and dancing was non-stop during his hour and a half set. Thirdly, he stopped to take a selfie with some girls on the front row who were holding an "It's my birthday" sign (can you sense the jealousy?) And lastly, 'Señorita' has never, ever sounded so good.
Oh also I forgot to mention, during Justin's set I turned to my left and Dan Smith (lead singer of Bastille) was just casually standing next to me! I didn't want to pester him for a photo, however I did get a hello so at least that's something right?
(Excuse the bad quality photo's, expensive camera + festival = no)
Moving onto the man of the moment, Mr Ed Sheeran. Now I was expecting big, big things from this young man and he did not disappoint whatsoever. The simplicity of his set was as expected, just one man and his guitar. (Oh and his infamous loop pedal). In contrast to Example and most of the artists across the weekend, Ed decided to begin his set with old ('+') album favourites, 'Give Me Love', 'Lego House' and of course the 'white lips, pale face" favourite, 'The A Team'. A notable mention goes to Ed's absolutely insane freestyle rapping in the middle of 'You Need Me, I Don't Need You' this was the only moment, that for the minute or so that he just let the lyrics run off of his tongue, that the main stage was awe-struck into silence, only broken by thunderous applause and a rather excessive amount of hooting.. The hooting and call and response sequences of 'ohhh-ohhh-oh' that left me with no voice for the following day, came courtesy of 'Sing' 'Don't' and 'I See Fire' (The one from The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug). One of the highlights of V for me, was when I sat on my friends shoulders during the beautiful 'Thinking Out Loud' (which I have reviewed here) and saw a sea of hands waving from side to side and seeing people embracing one another (soppy moment over but it was an amazing sight.) I would definitely recommend going to see Ed Sheeran if you ever get the chance, well worth the perseverance of being crushed and leant on by the rather large boy behind me during Example, (hi if you're reading this.)
And last but by no means least, the one man that most people had solely come to V Fest to see, you guessed it, Justin Timberlake. Now I hate to disappoint, but in terms of the set and setlist, it was simply a shortened version of what I saw at the O2 during his 'The 20/20 Experience Tour' so if you want to read my review, you may do so to your hearts content just here. The only differences at V were that: Firstly, I was a whole lot closer to the stage (which was obviously amazing.) Secondly, everyone was extremely intoxicated by this point so the singing and dancing was non-stop during his hour and a half set. Thirdly, he stopped to take a selfie with some girls on the front row who were holding an "It's my birthday" sign (can you sense the jealousy?) And lastly, 'Señorita' has never, ever sounded so good.
Oh also I forgot to mention, during Justin's set I turned to my left and Dan Smith (lead singer of Bastille) was just casually standing next to me! I didn't want to pester him for a photo, however I did get a hello so at least that's something right?
(Excuse the bad quality photo's, expensive camera + festival = no)
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