V Festival Countdown!

There’s just two weeks to go until some of the biggest names in the music industry arrive in Hylands Park in Chelmsford and Weston Park in Staffordshire for one of the best weekends of the summer.

Over 180,000 visitors will travel to Chelmsford to help celebrate V Festival’s 18^th birthday in style with the support of over 70 performers across four stages.

Line-Up

International Queen of Pop, Beyoncé, will join Tennessee rockers, Kings of Leon, to headline the festival on 17^th and 18^th August.

Beyoncé, who will perform in Chelmsford on Saturday night, will be making her only European festival appearance at the festival and her first UK festival appearance since headlining Glastonbury in 2011.

Kings of Leon are no strangers to the V Festival stage, having headlined the festival in 2010. With undeniable festival anthems in their back catalogue, including ‘Sex On Fire’ and ‘Use Somebody’, the Followill brothers can always whip the crowd into a chorus.

Their sixth studio album titled ‘Mechanical Bull’ will be released at the end of September, so spectators can expect to hear many new tracks in their set, which will close V Festival in Chelmsford on Sunday night.

Beyoncé will be joined (on Saturday in Chelmsford and Sunday in Staffordshire) by Irish-trio The Script, ‘The Voice’ judge Jessie J and Liam Gallagher’s Beady Eye.

Joining Kings of Leon are V-Festival-veterans Stereophonics, Scottish-sweetheart Emeli Sandé and DJ Calvin Harris.

Other returning artists on the bill include Essex-boy Olly Murs, who will complete his hat-trick of performances at the festival in his home-county, as well as Labrinth, Ellie Goulding and Scouting For Girls. They will be joined by V Festival newcomers Two Door Cinema Club, The Vaccines and X Factor-winner James Arthur.

Chart-favourites Rita Ora, Little Mix and Fun will also be appearing over the August bank-holiday weekend.

Bob Angus, one of three of the festival’s directors, has recently explained the process behind booking acts.

“We look at what’s currently out there and popular with the general public and try to get them, it’s as simple as that’.

“We ask ourselves who’s the hottest, most popular act right now, and we go after them.”

Craig Hayward, 22 from Folkestone, agreed with this. Having attended V Festival for the past 4 years, amongst many other festivals, he said: “It’s the best all-round festival on offer in the UK, simply because you get a bit of everything.”

“They always have a really good variety of acts from different genres, which attracts a variety of different people, which produces a great atmosphere.”

Price

So what price can you expect to pay to see some of the world’s top artists?

Prices start at £89 for a day ticket, but you would have to save £160 for a weekend ticket or £185 for a camping ticket.

Iona Rawson, 17 from Chelmsford, says she ‘would be silly not to go to V’ but is still shocked at the increase in ticket prices.

“The price has risen dramatically due to the celebrities performing and tickets are now ludicrously just under £200 when they used to be just over £100, but this is a price I can realistically be expected to pay for all musical events.”

“This year I look at is as I’m paying more for the camping experience than I am V Festival itself. By day it is a family event but by night it is party central.”

Despite any appreciation for the nightlife or line-up at V, a recurring issue is the price. Tickets may have sold out, but have organisers narrowed their demographic with a steep price that excludes a younger generation, particularly of students, who struggle to pay for a ticket?

Krina Patel, 18 from Essex, said: “Beyoncé is by far the greatest act V has ever managed to secure. But, I was a fool to think that I could afford a weekend ticket. I don’t actually earn enough to cover the cost of a ticket and still have enough money for university.”

Nevertheless, V Festival continues to sell-out each year and if world-class artists like Beyoncé are consistently topping the bill, people will manage to find the money to pay for their ticket to the most electrifying and exciting weekend of the summer.

Effect on local residents

Aside from the price of a V Festival ticket, This Festival Feeling have investigated further to find out the true price V Festival has on Chelmsford, and even more locally, Writtle, the small village where Hylands Park can be found.

Local residents, Margaret and Don Smith, live just a 10 minute walk from the V Festival site and are fed up with the annual event.

“We live on a private road that is usually quiet. The festival causes a lot of youths to come down our road and we don’t like the anti-social behaviour that follows, particularly as a result of alcohol and also the litter that they leave.”

For business owners however, it’s a slightly different story.

Barry Long, Landlord of the Rose & Crown Pub in Writtle, said: “V Festival is good for our village. Our pub and the shops get really busy and it definitely boosts revenue if you’ve had a bad start to the year.”

Anne Martin, landlady of the Sir Evelyn Wood pub, just a one minute walk from the V Festival site, says that she has ‘never had a hint of trouble’ over the V Festival weekend.

Just a stone’s throw from the site, the pub is a popular destination for many festival go-ers, with many punters returning each year.

Mrs Martin, who has been running the pub for more than 14 years said: “V Festival is wonderful for us. There is always such a wonderful atmosphere. We see people returning year after year and it’s lovely.”

Nevertheless, living and working so close to the site of one of the country’s most popular festivals will inevitably have some drawbacks, particularly for Anne, with the closure of her road. After much inconvenience, Mrs Martin complained to Essex County Council and managed to attain several passes to show to the officers who stand at the top of her road to allow local taxi firms to access the pub.

In recent years, Anne has found the festival to be slightly more ‘self-contained’, with many visitors utilising the food and drink stalls in the park and campsite instead of returning for a drink in the pub.

“If you’re being inconvenienced you want to join in. If this continues we may not get the financial benefit that the chaos is worth.”

“Even so, I do always look forward to it.”

Despite many expectations, a Tesco superstore situated just a 10-minute walk from the V Festival site say that they only get ‘a little bit busy’, perhaps as a result of the festival’s self-contained nature described by Landlady, Mrs Martin.

The Tesco store’s Duty Manager Darryl John said: “We get a flood of people in the morning for food, water and alcohol and also to use the toilets, but it’s nothing massive.”

Is it worth it?

Whilst some local residents may find the festival a nuisance, it seems that for just two days in the year, the advantages heavily outweigh the disadvantages. V Festival benefits the area financially and in terms of reputation, helping to put Chelmsford ‘on the map’. 

Richard Branson’s Virgin team and the V Festival organisers provide residents of all ages with an exciting date in their calendar, enticing some of the world’s biggest stars to the newly-crowned city of Chelmsford, compensating for the short-term noise and traffic disruptions.