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by Paul Carvill

Chelmsford V Festival – From ‘pulp’ To Non-’fiction’

The V Festival in Chelmsford, held in August every year, is fast becoming one of the UK’s premier music festivals. Held in the beautiful surroundings of Hylands Park, the backdrop provides a spectacular setting for a great weekend of musical entertainment.

Since it began in 1996 the event has gone from strength to strength and got bigger and better. Known initially as V96, it was originally the idea of Pulp front man, Jarvis Cocker, who thought it would be a great thing if he could play two different outdoor venues in two days, one in the North of the country and one in the South. This quickly manifested itself and was followed by further proposals including adding more bands to the bill, putting in another stage, and allowing people to camp for the weekend. Hence the V Festival was born.

The first festival took place over the penultimate weekend in August and included artists such as Pulp, Paul Weller, Supergrass, The Charlatans, Gary Numan, The Cardigans, Kula Shaker, and the Lightening Seeds. Deemed a huge success, plans were quickly put in place for the following year.

Since 2003, the event has been known purely as the V Festival. Over the years hundreds of artists have appeared on an ever increasing number of stages and tents. Just a few of these include Lady Gaga, Keane, Amy Winehouse, Girls Aloud, The Stranglers, Sugababes, Oasis, Kaiser Chiefs, & Snow Patrol.

The V Festival in 2009 caused a bit of controversy when due to illness, Oasis pulled out at the last minute. In addition, around 800 injuries, mostly due to falls, were reported, and staff had restrict entry to the performance of Lady Gaga when fans became stuck in a narrow entrance to the Arena stage. Despite this, and the criticism that the festival is over commercialised, it is a highly regarded and seen as one of the more friendly events in the UK calendar.

This year’s event will take place on August 21st & 22nd August, 2010, and was sold out within 90mins of tickets going on sale. Headlining the festival will be Kings of Leon on the Saturday and Kasbian on the Sunday. Others acts confirmed include Florence and the Machine, Paloma Faith, Cheryl Cole, Pet Shop Boys, Mika, Doves, and Calvin Harris.

Whoever is appearing on whatever stage, the V Festival is a great event and one not to be missed.

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