Second day at V. Bit of a commute to Chelmsford after a late night home, but still made it almost for the noon start.
Stranglers 7/10
After 30 years, I have finally seen the Stranglers. I enjoyed them live, playing those punk classics like Peaches and No More Heroes. Heaven knows how often these guys will have played them.
Milton Jones 7/10
With great patience I managed to squeeze into the comedy tent, doubly attractive because Milton Jones is a comic of some renown, and it had started to rain. I can't say I
saw Milton Jones, as I had to sit so far to the side he wasn't actually visible, but he isn't really a visual comic at all. He is the master of one liners, almost all of which have a pause in the middle. Typical lines such as "I said to my long-standing girlfriend....Why don't you sit down?" "I installed French windows last weekend....Or as the French call them - windows" "My gran was always going on about downsizing. Now she is in a little urn."
Anyway, all good fun, and a nice little break from the music.
Olly Murs 4/10
Thence to the main stage for the rest of the day, starting with Olly Murs. Strictly for those who like their entertainment lightweight. And Olly is in helium territory. No doubt a very nice chap, but you get the feeling that the least talented person connected with Olly Murs is Olly Murs. The ex- X factor contestant has clearly done very well for himself, and played his Essex roots to the max. ("You don't know how wonderful it is to play in my home town of Essex" - Essex isn't a town mate!) But the poor lad just looks coached to within an inch of his life. Best part of his set was a series of covers - Have you ever fallen in love and Town Called Malice to the fore. Just much stronger songs than his own.
Madness 7/10
Real troopers in the Stranglers mould. They have adapted very well to their middle-aged status. The nutty boys were never going to take themselves too seriously. Obviously they have a huge back catalogue of hits, Suggs has genuine personality and they just always seem to have fun. You also feel they genuinely like their audiences. If only Suggs could sing....
A nice touch at the end was bringing on what I assume were friends and family for a bit of a dance. Party time. You can't help but feel good.
Tom Jones 8/10
If Madness and the Stranglers have been around for years, Tom Jones is from an earlier generation still. His heyday is really before my time - he is now over 70. I wanted to see him out of curiosity as much as anything else. V tends to get a novelty act each year and I felt Tom fell into that bit of fun category.
But I have to say he was surprisingly good. I would much rather see him than say Paul McCartney. Above all else, he still has the voice. Its terrific. A lot of these older guys are clearly losing it and one makes allowances for someone in national treasure mode. But you need make no concessions for Tom. And he looks the part too, neither dressing too young, nor looking too old. He just looks sharp. An elder statesman rather than a fuddy duddy. He can go into slightly self indulgent blues stuff, and is an inveterate name-dropper, but we forgave him his Howling Wolf dirge and a somewhat better Leonard Cohen song, as he edged himself out of his blues spot through a bluesy version "Green Green Grass of Home", to "Delilah" which got a bit jazzier as it went through, and then hit crowd pleasing "You can keep your hat on" and finished on "Kiss". The septuagenarian went down very well with a young crowd who happily sang along.
Tinie Tempah 0/10
Now this is where I feel really old. Am turning into my dad. I was surrounded by 30,000 youngsters loving him, but I hated his act with a passion. 0/10 is a fair reflection of the enjoyment I gained, or it could be justified as disqualification from the contest on grounds of cheating. Despite his references to the next "song", there was no singing. And the music was so basic it barely came into the category. And it was all "played" by DJ Charlesy, ie he stood at the back and pressed a button every now and then. This was what Mr McClure would I think have meant by cheating. This was just bad shouting over basic rythyms. The Essex crowd happily repeated his lyrics as he bawled them out, but I couldn't make out any of the words beyond things "Boom la la" or "Say yeah."
On the plus side, well his light show was ok - if he had done it himself he might make a passable electrician. And when he took off his t-shirt (encouraging the guys in the audience to do the same and twirl them round their heads in sort of mass helicopter display) he did show of a fine physique. (The only kid near me who was actually wearing a t-shirt and took it off looked like a cross between shaggy from Scooby-doo and a young catweasle and was certainly better off keeping it on.) As an athlete Tinie may have some talent, and his ability to bounce around on stage shouting is undoubted. But I won't be buying a cd.
Snow Patrol 8/10
From the ridiculous to the sublime. Snow Patrol are another band who I have seen and reviewed earlier in the year, so I won't say more than Gary Lightbody has a great voice, genial presentation and so many lovely songs that I will be happily seeing them for many years.
The Killers 10/10
Which just left the main course - the Killers. They played an absolutely storming set. While one might criticise Snow Patrol for being a bit downbeat, the same could not be said for Brandon Flowers and his crew. Peerless stuff - he took the show by the scruff of the neck and fairly belted out the full set to an appreciative audience. Definitely the right act to finish on.
And I even made the last train home by edging my way out during the encore. Result. Roll on 2013
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