Review: V Festival - Weston Park

Celebrating its 20th anniversary the V Festival has established itself as one of the major festivals of the summer. The early V Festivals were held at Temple Newsham outside Leeds before the festival became split with the same line up appearing in Chelmsford and Weston Park over 2 days.

With 2 main outdoor stages and various tents spread across a huge site there is always plenty to see with lots of variety.

Maverick Sabre's take on white boy soul is perfectly suited to a sunny afternoon; his set was perfectly timed as the sun shone down with I Can Never Be sounding good with the late summer sunshine.

Jack Savoretti drew a sizeable crowd, at times his music drew a close comparison to Paolo Nutini, and his short set went down well.

Lunchmoney Lewis was one of the surprises of the day, his Bills hit is unlike the rest of his tracks - whilst his single is more of a novelty track, the rest of his songs are quite soulful. I Got My Momma and Ain't Too Cool to Dance being good examples. Backed by a tight band and two brilliant backing singers he came, he saw and he defiantly conquered.

George Ezra has built up a strong following; naturally his big hit Budapest went down the best of his songs. He looks like he could be around for many years.

The Charlatans are now old hands at this game. They released one of the best albums of their career earlier this year and decide to treat us to a few tracks off the album with So Low and Come Home Baby showing that they can still come up with great songs. Of course they couldn't leave without playing their early hit The Only One I Know.

Kodaline always remind me of an Irish version of Coldplay, as well as playing the hits they treated the fans to a new track, Love Will Set You Free.

The Script drew one of the biggest crowds of the day, at this rate they will be headlining the festival in the future. Last years single Superhero had the fans singing along.

Clean Bandit are all classically trained and mixing the classical influence with some house music beats works really well. Of course they saved their biggest hit No Place I'd Rather Be until the end of their accomplished set.

Calvin Harris headlined the main stage, from behind his DJ mixing desk his performance was accompanied by a huge firework display.

Paloma Faith headlined in the Sure Tent; with her 6 inch heels and black dress she had definitely made the effort. She tells us that she is an honorary Northerner - she studied in Leeds. Her set is polished and entertaining. With tracks such as Picking Up The Pieces and Stone Cold Sober, her whole set was a delight.

On the second day the sun may have temporarily disappeared but the music continued. Marina and the Diamonds had the task of being one of the first acts of the day to appear on stage.

She had made an effort and dressed up for the crowd, some might say that she is a low budget Lady GaGa but she has a confident manner and with hits such as Prima Donna Girl to keep the fans happy this British singer left everyone smiling.

James Bay might have a big hit with Hold Back the River but he could not hold back the rain as the clouds opened at the start of his set. He thanked the fans for standing through the pouring rain as he delivered a set that was very tight and concise. Worth seeing when he visits Leeds in late September.

Celebrating her #1 single two days before with her new single, Jess Glynne suffered at first with a bad mix with the bass drowning out and spoiling her set, things improved though by the time she got to the hits Right Here and Hold My Hand. Even the rain stopped. She has some great pop songs and her set was very uplifting. Job done.

Hozier appeared on the main stage - only two years ago no one knew much about him and his album was being advertised on posters throughout the V Festival at the time; now after the worldwide success of Take Me To The Church he was able to draw a large crowd.

Sam Smith, for me, was the highlight of the day. With his friendly personality and soulful voice he had the huge crowd in the palm of his hand. As well as performing all the hits he even managed to slip in a cover of Amy Winehouses' Tears Dry on Their Own before leaving the fans with Stay With Me, informing the fans that he was now going to write his second album.

Tom Jones was one of the acts to raise a few eyebrows when they saw his name on the line up. They need not have worried as with re-workings of his hits like It's not Unusual and You Can Leave Your Hat On he was perfect for the festival.

Kasabian headlined the main stage and with their brand of rock meets Oasis they delivered a rocking set even including a cover of the Cameo hit, Word Up.

Olly Murs is still the cheeky chap you always knew him for. Like one of his hits Troublemaker, he knows how to make the crowd enjoy themselves. He even managed to perform a duet with Ella Eyre.

A diverse weekend with some top acts, here's looking forward to the 21st edition next year.