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| THE V FESTIVAL FEATURING MANIC STREET PREACHERS. 18/ 08/ 02. WESTON PARK, STAFFORDSHIRE. The day began with me getting up at the ridiculous time of 5.30 in the morning having had just an hour�s sleep the night before. I then got a car ride to York and a train to Stafford before arriving by bus to the festival site at 11.30 am. The first artist of the day was Mr Ed Harcourt. I had previously seen clips of his live performances on TV so I kind of knew what to expect. It has to be said, Ed was alittle disappointing. I was expecting better. I still enjoyed his set though and tracks like �Apple Of My Eye�, She Fell Into My Arms� and �Shanghai� proved to be a big hit with the crowd. Before leaving the stage, Ed sprayed them with a bottle of champagne. Then it was the Mull Historical Society who despite what many believe aren�t a band, but instead one man, Colin Macintyre. He does have a backing group though. He/ they opened with new song �Gravity� before launching into tracks from the album �Loss� including �This Is Not Who We Were�, �Watching Xanadu�, �I Tried�, �Barcode Bypass�, and �Animal Cannabus�. This was the fourth time I had seen Mull and was with out a doubt the best of their gigs that I had seen. I was very, very impressed and hope that I�ll get to see Mull again sometime soon. The Bluetones followed. They were using their set to plug a lot of new songs, way to many. They were all good but they should have sung more tracks that the crowd would already know. They sang a few oldies though including �Autophilia�. We went over to the NME stage after that to see relative new comers, Halo. They look like a boy band but have a rock/ metal kind of sound. I really like them and will be very surprised if they don�t make it big. They already seem to have a fairly large following. Tracks performed in their set included first release �Cold Light Of Day�, �Sanctimonious� and latest single �Never Ending�. They were followed by My Vitriol who I didn�t really like the 1st time I saw them. However my opinion of them now has changed and for the better. Their set at V was rather good. My favorite track of theirs is �Always Your Way�. Amongst the other songs performed were �Losing Touch� and �Mood Swings�. They seemed a lot more energetic than last time I saw them. Because we wanted to be near the front for the Manics, we ended up staying at the NME stage for the rest of the day watching bands that we didn�t really like and didn�t really want to see. Sigur Ros had their good moments but were generally really boring to watch. I struggled to stay awake during their set. I was that bored. People around me decided to sit down during their set, probably incase they fell asleep while standing. I guess they are quite alike some of the slower, quieter Radiohead tracks but not as good. I think they would be a cool band to listen to in bed or to chill out to but they aren�t the type of band I personally would go to see live. The Beta Band were, erm, different to say the least. I don�t really know how else to describe them. Im not really sure what I think of them. There were parts of their set I thought were really good and enjoyed watching but there were other parts I thought were rather c*ap and pointless and boring. They were very talented musicians but they didn�t seem to use that talent to its full potential. Before Ian Brown came on I spotted Nicky Wire�s microphone stand wrapped in feather boas at the side of the stage. It was at that point I realised how close I was to seeing one of my altime favorite ever bands. I was soooooooooo excited. I, like many others had got all glammed up for the occasion. I was wearing eyeliner, nail varnish, glitter and a cute pink tie amongst other things. I wanted to get Ian Brown out of the way as soon as possible. As soon as he finished it would mean I was just 30mins away from the Manics. I�ve never liked Ian Brown and after seeing him, I still don�t like him. Guess a few of his songs are ok but there is no way I would ever buy anything by him. Unless I saw his singles in a bargain bin for 20p that is. His fans seemed to worship him and I really don�t understand why. What is so amazing about him? He can�t write lyrics, he probably can�t actually write, he can�t sing, he can�t even talk properly and he acts like a total wanker. Hmmmmmm. How attractive. Anyway, enough of him. I cannot describe how I felt when the Manic Street Preachers walked on stage. I was so happy and totally over come with emotion. Some how I kind of got pushed onto the front row. I couldn�t believe how close I was to some of my heroes. I had such a good view. Their set-list was just amazing. I had heard rumours about what they were going to sing but kind of thought that those rumours were to good to be true. However, those rumours were true and they went onto sing hit after hit after hit. They played tracks they hadn�t performed in years. They came on and began straight away with �Motorcycle Emptiness�. I love that song. They continued with �You Stole The Sun From My Heart�. I sang every word to every song throughout their 70minute set. I don�t really know what happened or how to explain it. Something took over me and I had no control over myself. I was dancing and singing. I was in my own little world and was totally unaware of anything that was happening around me. I have never experienced anything like it. It was just the most amazing feeling. I was getting crushed but I couldn�t feel it. I guess I was on a high but without taking anything. I didn�t need drugs. I had the music of one of the greatest bands to ever exist. They went on to sing �Masses Against The Classes� and �La Tristesse Durera�. They continued with �Kevin Carter� before singing �Little Baby Nothing�, one of my favourite songs. �Australia� and �Tsunami� came next before 3 Manics classics in a row. They sang �From Despair To Where?�, �Suicide Is Painless� and �Stay Beautiful�. I couldn�t believe it. I thought I was dreaming. It didn�t feel real. I'm still in shock. Oh my god. After �Everything Must Go� came another classic in the form of �Faster�. Fuck. By this time I was finding it hard to take in what was happening. I couldn�t believe what I was witnessing. Then came �Ocean Spray� followed by the outstanding �Motown Junk�. I now thought I was imaging things. This set-list was too good to be true. But evidently not, all those songs were performed. At the time it felt like the manics were playing to me and me only in my own little exclusive gig. I felt so special. �If You Tolerate This� gave me the chance to get my breath back before going mental to �You Love Us�. The 18 song set was then concluded with �Design For Life�. And that was it, it was all over. It went so quickly. I can honestly say that it was the best set by any band I have ever seen. I have seen a lot of bands so that�s saying something. Hope I got some good photos coz Nicky Wire was looking very, very sexy. He was dressed in a white suit. James looked the best he had looked in a long time. He seems to have lost some weight. Just wish Richey was there. I hope he is happy where ever he may be. So that�s the V Festival for another year. Roll on Leeds and the Manics Greatest Hits Tour in December. See you down the front at the Nottingham gig! Stay beautiful but be natural. BY MR MARTYN. AUG 2002. |
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