Seeing a band you’ve seen before? The Festival Feeling that can be a huge delight or a major disappointment

You’re on your way to the festival of the year with all of your mates chatting about the line-up. “Aaah I saw them last year, they were incredible!” you might say, in response to that artist who topped the bill for you. However, their upcoming set can either remind you of their excellence and why you celebrated them so greatly, or it can completely tarnish your prior experience.

Take Madness as an example. ‘Suggs’ and his reggae pop group are a common occurrence on the line-up of many summer festivals, including V Festival in Hylands Park, Chelmsford and Weston Park, Staffordshire. I was fortunate enough to see these old favourites in 2010, when they appeared on the Main Stage. Playing all of their classic tracks such ‘Our House’, ‘Baggy Trousers’ and ‘House of Fun’, they graced the stage to a booming reception from the crowd, before starting the biggest party the park had seen all weekend. Standing at the barrier, I was surrounded by a range of age groups – teenagers like myself who have grown up listening to their parents playing Madness, as well as those who had been to see Madness in their hey-day.

Two years on and my excitement to relive this moment was one of my predicted highlights of the weekend. On the contrary, I was left disenchanted. Perhaps expectations were a little too high as a result of their performance the week before at the Olympics Closing Ceremony, or had the band prepared so much for the gig of their life and not so much for a standard festival performance? The band failed to get the crowd pumped and alive with many just nodding their heads and swaying instead of the party atmosphere I’d experienced in 2010.

Madness' Suggs in 2010

I had a similar encounter with the V Festival Main Stage crowd in 2010, where we all stood in anticipation of Paolo Nutini – an act I had praised to no end in 2009. After an electrifying and buoyant set from Katy Perry, the soulful Scottish singer had the audience in the palm of his hands, with everybody singing along to the hit tracks from his then new ‘Sunny Side Up’ album, as well as popular songs from his debut album ‘New Shoes’ and ‘Jenny Don’t Be Hasty’.

A year on and Paolo’s easy listening set had gone from bluesy to boring. He was missing a certain spark and his voice was under par in comparison to the previous year.

Paolo Nutini: From bluesy to boring

In the same year, it looked like V Festival was set for even more disappointments with the cancellation of Oasis’s headlining appearance. Instead, Snow Patrol slid up the line up to play the festival out on the Sunday night, with a performance that blew the crowd away. The set was nothing but mesmerising. Having seen the band in 2007 at the festival, I was already impressed with their ability to perform live tracks that sound so incredible that they outclass the recorded version. Their headline slot did not disappoint but instead, astounded the crowd with the sheer talent of frontman Gary Lightbody and his band. With rapturous glances at one another throughout, it was clear the band were euphoric at the crowd’s reaction, and have since praised the gig in interviews as the greatest of their life.

Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody headlining the Main Stage in 2009

Snow Patrol continued to impress me this year at the 2012 V Festival, where they appeared on the bill just before The Killers. The Las Vegas band last appeared at the festival in 2009, shortly after the release of their ‘Day & Age’ album. Every band that performs at a festival runs the risk of falling into the category of being one of those bands who perform their personal favourite unknown tracks or album tracks instead of the crowd favourites. However, Brandon Flowers and the rest of his group seem to strike up the perfect balance, playing the festival anthems ‘Mr Brightside’, ‘Somebody Told Me’ and ‘When We Were Young’, as well as simultaneously introducing you to their latest album. 

This could be relayed once again to their appearance this year, whereby the band avoided playing too many tracks from their new but unreleased album, instead playing just one new track, ‘Runaways’, which had already received some airplay on radio stations.

Brandon Flowers whips the V Festival crowd into a frenzy

Another name on this year’s V Festival line-up was Tinie Tempah, who completed a hat-trick of consecutive appearances at the festival, with each set being full to the brim with Tinie’s chart-topping tracks. Never failing to get the crowd dancing and swept up into mosh-pits, you can also guarantee that this set will be fuelled with energy and exuberance, whether you have seen him once, twice or ten times!

Keep it bouncing: Tinie Tempah's brings energy to V Festival

Although there can be that fear of tainting a previous memory of a certain artist, more often than not, you’ll find those festival gems who continue to leave a lasting impression on sell-out crowds year after year.

Have you had a similar experience to those described above? Have you ever been left disheartened by a lacklustre performance from an artist you loved? Or have you been continuously charmed by a festival favourite? Leave a comment and let us know.

Age Limbo – The confusion over the labeling of ‘adult’

For the past two years I've been having the same frustrating conversation every time I step onto a bus. From the age of 16, public transport is quick to classify you as an adult, whereas other areas of society are desperate to wait until you are 18 to permit certain actions.

Currently studying for my A Levels in my final year of school, I step onto the bus in my school uniform. Although we do not have a set uniform, our black skirt-white shirt dress code alongside my 3:30pm daily departure clearly identifies my journey home from school and my involvement in education.

Approaching the bus driver I ask “a single to the bus station please”, or if I’m unfortunate enough to be taking the bus to school in the morning, it’s “a single to Moulsham school please”. If the school uniform didn’t give it away, the ticket to school surely should – I’m a student and should therefore pay an appropriate fare that matches that.

“Is that child or adult?”, I’m asked by the driver. If you have to ask, give me the benefit of the doubt and charge me the more reasonable price – the thought that immediately springs to mind. My conscience and need to be honest kicks in and despite knowing the answer already, I respond “well that depends what a child ticket is classed as”.

‘Under 16’ is quickly snapped back at me; instead of kicking up a fuss, I decide to store my aggravation and pay the extortionate £2.50 adult fare. Although this may not seem too bad, take the bus four times and you’re already paying £10 within the week, when you could be paying a £1.50 child fare instead.

£2.50 Adult Single - The need for student tickets

I appreciate that at the age of 16 it may not be right to be classed as a child, however, it is also not right to be classed as an adult and be forced to pay so much extra, especially if you’re still in full-time education. Within the next few years, it will soon be compulsory to stay in education until you are 18, meaning that there shall be even more students on the bus facing the same dilemma as myself. If we cannot be classed as a child, the bus companies should be forced to introduce a student fare to accommodate for this age limbo between 16 and 18 when it cannot be universally decided whether we are children or adults.

When you consider some of the age limits in place in the UK there are some terrible peculiarities where this age limbo comes into play yet again.

Take driving as an example; you must be 17 before you can start to learn how to drive a car, yet there is no age limit at all to start having flying lessons. It stands solid that flying a plane thousands of feet in the air must surely be more dangerous than driving a car on steady ground with an instructor, so why the confusion over the age guideline?

Another example can be found with the armed forces, whereby at the age of 16, you are eligible to join the army. However, in order to have any involvement in choosing the politicians and government who make decisions about the army, the eligibility to vote is saved for the age of 18. Is it right to be allowed to join an organisation where you are expected to fight for your country and risk your life when you have no right to vote for the political party you believe best supports that organisation?

Much worse things could happen than paying an extra £1 on my bus fare, but the principle behind it is one that correlates to various other life circumstances and therefore needs to be looked at. If everyone under the age of 16 is always a child and likewise, everyone over the age of 18 is always an adult, the middle-ground between is a huge grey area that provides much irritation to the teenagers caught within, especially when it is apparent that it consistently goes against them.