V Festival : Sydney - Wrap Up

Wow!That was THE BEST festival I have EVER been to!The sound was amazing, so much better than the quality of BDO sound which kept dropping-out during Muse last year and any other festivals. All the bands sounded great even from the back I thought, but I only really watched Phoenix and PIXIES from the back coz I was front-centre for their sideshow...Mercy Arms started what was to be a great day with their opener "Kilby" which caught me by surprise as I rushed to "This Stage" after hastily paying for my BBQ Pork Puffs... They continued with "Shot Right Down", "Kept Low", "Caroline", "Firing Line", "Half Right" and "Too Damn Long" just to name a few.Nouvelle Vague also really surprised me, I knew they did Retro covers with a bluesy feel but I really liked their version of "Blue Monday" originally by New Order. As well as "Guns of Brixton" by The Clash. I couldn't stop singing with a big grin on my face.Ahhh, New York Dolls "This is a song called Pills!!!", what a great buch of glam rockers! So old yet still sounding so raw and fresh. Every song with a harmonica had the leadsinger throwing it out to the crowd at the end. "People say we have a lot of influences but we really like Janis Joplin!" which you could hear a bit of in every song I thought. They were there to have a good time and the crowd enjoyed it all.Beck was good with "Devil's Haircut" as the introductory song, yet he seemed a little fatigued and his sound-check took forever! It was all worth it though and the puppets were great, I also loved the medley with "Wave of Mutilation". Drunkards wanting to get a good spot for PIXIES during Beck's set pissed me off though, should have waited till the end like Beck fans did for Jarvis' crowd. Jarvis was awesome too, same set-list as his sideshow which gave me time to watch all of Gnarls Barkley which was fun but not as amazing as I had anticipated or been told.Pet Shop Boys were a bit old and seedy for me... I think the whole gay cabaret thing weirded me out a little bit but what I saw was alright. It was quite novel too.PIXIES played pretty much (if not) the same set-list as the previous night at Luna Park, so I happily watched from the back of the compacted crowd as I sung along. It sounded great from there and being able to watch them on 2 video-screens either side of the stage, that were just the right height, was a bonus. I loved the encore/post stage walk-around (that they did the night before also) of "La La Love You" and of course "Gigantic" with the lovely "Goodnight"s from Kim to everyone in the band and to us in the crowd. That was the best close to a festival...I do agree with many festival buddies about the fluro tops and short-cut denims, but it seems to be constricted to extremely slutty north shore girls so if you see one with that combination you know what they're like without having to talk to them. It'll be interesting to see what they wear when winter comes 'round... Pink High-top Ugg boots? Let's hope not!I do have another positive to give V Festival and this kudos is due in the merchandise section. The merchandise for the festival looked really good, so much so that I bought a T-shirt, the black one with the line-up witten on it in white and pink that hilighted the shape of a "V". The other shirts looked great too but that was the least trashy in my opinion. As opposed to BDO t-shirts which I would wear maybe to be and then never out coz they look awful, especially the basketball singlets!Coopers beer was good too, a lot better than your average TED's or New but I am a beer snob. The food was the best festival food I've had too. A festival of firsts I'd say...Well I've just about covered everything. I never thought I'd see PIXIES headlining a festival in Australia or at least not one with Beck, Jarvis Cocker, Gnarls Barkley, Pet Shop Boys, Phoenix, Groove Armada and New York Dolls on the same line-up!I CAN'T WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR!WELL DONE V FESTIVAL!PixiesMercy ArmsPhoenix CrowdGnarls Barkley - Cee-loGnarls Barkley - StringsBeckPet Shop BoysPixies