V Festival day one: A potted history of pop in the sunshine
IT started with Abbamania and ended in an Oasis rally – a potted history of pop.
A sell-out crowd of 85,000 fans basked in the sunshine on the first day of this year’s V Festival at Weston Park in Staffordshire.
The show, now reckoned to be Britain’s best summer spectacular, kicked off with Abba tribute band Bjorn Again.
As the crowds danced to hits like Mamma Mia, Waterloo and Gimme Gimme Gimme, temperatures soared.
But even when clouds threatened, the day remained dry.
Next onstage were Birmingham favourites Ocean Colour Scene, who treated the crowd to hits such as The Riverboat Song and The Circle while frontman Simon Fowler introduced a new track titled My Name is Saturday and promised a new album.
In fact, there was a strong Brummie presence with Mike Skinner’s The Streets – recovered from their recent swine flu bout – playing The Arena, and The Twang promoting new album Jewellery Quarter in the Virgin Media Union Tent.
With more than 40 acts across four stages just on Saturday, the most difficult decision was who to watch and who to miss.
It was possible to follow a nostalgia trail with bands like The Lightning Seeds, The Proclaimers and The Human League.
Or go for newer acts such as Biffy Clyro, Alesha Dixon and Katy Perry, who took the second stage into the evening just three nights before playing Birmingham Academy on Tuesday.
