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. 

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.

Chelmsford granted city status

In her Diamond Jubilee year, the Queen has granted Chelmsford as a city. Along with Perth in Scotland and St Asaph in North Wales, Her Royal Majesty granted three cities on three corners of the country a new city status in order to help mark the celebration of her 60th year as our monarch.

As the county town of Essex and with a population stretching to around 160,000, many people would say that this news has been a long time coming. Most importantly due to the cathedral, which is often a defining aspect of a city, many people have argued the case of Chelmsford's city status for quite some time.

Chelmsford Cathedral

After 24 towns across the UK placed a bid to win a competition to be officially granted as a city, Chelmsford fought off some strong competitors, including Middlesbrough, Bolton and even Reading, the bookies favourite due to being the largest town in the country. With just 18/1 odds, the outlook did not seem particularly promising, so the news came as a shock to the council and to those who helped to place the bid.

Chelmsford even beat Colchester and Southend to claim the title, becoming the first ever city in Essex. It seems only just that the county town should become a city before any others.

With so many assets that would be expected from a city, it only seems about time that Chelmsford should be upgraded from a town to a city. Anglia Ruskin University has, in recent years, been expanded using a £81 million investment and is one of the largest universities in Eastern England.

Chelmsford also boasts multiple top-class high schools, each varying greatly in specialities; these include Moulsham High School specialising in Humanities, Boswells School in Performing Arts, Great Baddow High School in Sport, as well as the two grammar schools, Chelmsford County High School and King Edward Grammar School, which are within the top schools in the country.

The former town also provides various superb amenities that you would expect from a fantastic city.

With a fantastic high street and two shopping precincts, The Meadows and High Chelmer, Chelmsford is packed full of retail opportunities. With John Lewis on its way for 2013, Chelmsford will be complete with virtually every popular high street store that the country is offered.

Chelmsford's Broomfield Hospital is the largest in Essex and with a substantial re-development in recent years, various new facilities have been added. The St Andrew's Centre within the hospital is worldly renowned for its specialist work for people suffering with burns and a cleft lip or palate.

Substantial development: Broomfield Hospital's new building

The sporting successes within Chelmsford have been awaited this news for quite some time, with Chelmsford's football club being called Chelmsford City! Chelmsford is also home to Essex County Cricket Ground, as well as ice hockey team Chelmsford Chieftans. It will also welcome the Olympic Torch as part of the Olympic Festival celebrations in July.

Chelmsford receives media attention through the V Festival, held in Hylands Park, every year. With some of the UK's and the world's biggest musical artists coming to Chelmsford every year, it seems only right that the likes of Eminem and Rihanna, who performed at the festival in 2011, should be welcomed into the City of Chelmsford, as opposed to the town.

Crowds pack out at the annual V Festival in Hylands Park

Having been specifically chosen by the Queen to be one of the three places representing her within her Diamond Jubilee year, Chelmsford should hopefully receive the appropriate positive publicity that it deserves, as a place packed full to the brim of exceptional facilities and figures. The news should attract business and investment into what is a bustling and successful city of the UK.

House's haircut makeover making headlines!

A Chelmsford house has been making the headlines in national papers for its extravagant makeover.

Covered in ivy, the previous owner had left the leaves untouched, allowing it to grow for over 20 years. Even the windows had been totally covered up, with the house appearing as just one, large, green mass, with just the chimney to show. The house, on Lynmouth Avenue, attracted a lot of attention from passers-by, with people even stopping and pulling over to take pictures.

New owner, Neil Utley, says that it took a team of workmen around two weeks to strip and shred all of the ivy from the house.

The prominent, and possibly notorious house, should have been sold for around £350,000 if it were to be compared to the other houses on the street. However, due to the sheer volume of the evergreen plant that had grown in bulk over the house, estate agents were asking for just £120,000. Although the ivy is not particularly dangerous, many neighbours had described it as an 'eye-sore', taking away from the 3-bedroom property's value.

Renovation has now begun on the property to convert it into a comfortable home for a member of the new owner's family.

So long: The mop of green ivy is a sight of the past, after taking over a week to be cleared.

New Date Announced For Park Gig!

For those of you who were unfortunately not able to get tickets for JLS & Olly Murs at Hylands Park, I have some good news for you! It has been announced that the two X Factor stars, as well as more guests to be announced, will play a second day at Chelmsford's largest park.

After the event set for Saturday 9th July sold out, the acts will now stay in Chelmsford and continue to play the following day. Tickets will be on sale soon for Sunday 10th July.

Tickets cost £32.50 and are available from most ticket outlet sites.

Got To Dance shows off Chelmsford's Talent!

Sky1 TV show Got To Dance has been back on our screens since the start of January, with the live Semi-Finals airing this weekend. Essex hip-hop dance troop 'Bam Bam Boogies' featured on the third episode of the show and left the stage with two votes from the judges and a place in the next stage of the competition.

Led by Vicki Stavrinos, owner of V Dance Studio in Chelmsford, Bam Bam Boogies are a talented group of young, passionate dancers who are all based in Chelmsford, Essex. Having previously performed at the O2 Indigo Arena in London as part of a Michael Jackson tribute exhibition, the group were prepared for the crowd and pressure that Got To Dance were set to bring them. Along with their performances of 'Bam Bam Boogie in Wonderland' and 'There's No Place Like Funk' - urban adaptations of Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz - this dance troop already have a lot of experience in the industry.

On the 6th of October of last year, Bam Bam Boogies set off for Battersea Power Station in London in the early hours of the morning. Upon arrival at the infamous Got To Dance 'domes', the group registered and got themselves prepared for their performance. They met presenter of the hit show, Davina McCall, who helped to calm their nerves. After many hours of waiting and anticipation, their determination and energy paid off and helped them to receive a place in the next round. Despite only receiving one gold star initially from Ashley Banjo, Pussycat Doll Kimberley Wyatt changed her mind, putting Bam Bam Boogies into the second stage of the competition.

Although the group have not reached the Semi-Finals of the competition, they are eager to continue practising, rehearsing and performing so that they are even better for next year's competition. Keep looking out for Bam Bam Boogies - watch this space!

Bam Bam Boogies at the Got To Dance domes! (courtesy of Alice Wood)

X Factor Stars Perform at Hylands!

With V Festival prepared to pack in thousands of music fans to Hylands Park in Chelmsford in the summer, another event has just been announced that is expected to be just as popular. JLS are bringing their UK tour to Chelmsford, and bringing Essex boy, Olly Murs, with them!

Tickets go on sale tomorrow morning (31st January) at 9am from all popular ticket outlet sites. Tickets are expected to sell-out quickly with the concert being hailed as one of the events of the summer! Essex fans of Olly Murs and JLS will be overwhelmed with the news that two of the most successful X Factor artists will be performing locally.

The event will take place on the 9th July, just over a month before V Festival. Good luck to anybody trying to get tickets - see you at Hylands Park!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

After watching the news for days and seeing the snow in other parts of the country, it was time that Essex had some snow of its own! However, we never expected the snow to be to this extent!

The county woke up to a blanket of snow this morning causing much disruption to schools and roads. On higher ground, the snow was several inches deep and many people were snowed in, or in some cases snowed out.

Over 100 schools were closed before 9am this morning, with more schools closing as the day went on. Moulsham High School opened as normal this morning but due to the snow, the grounds became unsafe and insufficient numbers of staff were able to reach the school. Students were then dismissed and were free to enjoy the snow with friends.

Local councils and emergency services in the county have done as much work as possible all day to clear major routes and pavements to make Essex accessible and safe for the public.

Councils also warned any commuters travelling by car to allow ten times their usual journey time to reach their destination. This was due to the icy conditions on the roads, as well as accidents on the motorway causing chaos.

Whilst some schools have already told students that they will be closed tomorrow, other students still wait to hear whether they will have to wake up and fight the cold and snow in the morning.

Fingers crossed for all students in Essex hoping for a day off tomorrow!

Chelmsford Christmas Lights!

On Sunday 28th November, thousands of fans queued down Chelmsford High Street to watch X Factor Finalist and Essex-Boy, Olly Murs, turn on the Christmas lights!

The event ran all day with many local up-and-coming acts performing in the bitterly-cold weather!
From 4:00, the Under-16s singing competition started, with UK Eurovision entry, Josh Dubovie, as one of the judges. Ellie Smit, from Moulsham High School, (and a great friend of mine), sung 'Let It Snow' and was fantastic!

Following on from this, Josh took to the stage to sing to the audience with songs such as 'Just Haven't Met You Yet', made famous by Michael Buble, and 'Cooler Than Me', a recent Top 10 hit by Mike Posner.

The acts prior to this only had to mention 'Olly' to be followed by screams erupting from the very eager audience of 'Ollyettes'! When Mr Murs finally came to grace the stage, with 'Please Don't Let Me Go' playing to the crowd, the tech-team had a slight failure as Olly had to chat to the audience whilst his microphone and track were fixed!

Olly charmed the crowd with three songs: his number one, hit debut single 'Please Don't Let Me Go', the B-Side to this single, 'This One's for the Girls', and his brand new single, 'Thinking Of Me'. All girls in the crowd who had come to their local high street for the exclusive gig were hugely pleased to hear the B-Side to Olly's debut single, where Olly sings about Essex girls and finished the song by saying 'you can't beat you Essex girls!'

Olly said he was 'delighted' and 'honoured' to be back in his hometown to be turning on the lights. He said that 'he hoped to be home again soon' and wished the crowd a huge thank you for all the support they gave, and contine to give, to him over the past year.

He also wished for the county to back current X Factor contestant, and fellow Essex boy, Matt Cardle. 'Please support Matt like you supported me', said the Essex heartthrob, just before he left the stage to the sound of screaming fans!

Thank you Olly for a great evening. Maybe we'll have Matt next year?