V Festival: Struggling show needs a return to the glory days
It has hosted some of the world’s biggest acts over the past two decades, becoming one of the UK’s ‘must go’ festivals for thousands of music fans.
But now V Festival is no more, after Virgin boss Richard Branson announced he was ending his company’s 22 year sponsorship of the West Midlands’ biggest annual live music event.
The news undoubtedly comes as a blow to organisers Festival Republic, Live Nation who have run the festival at Staffordshire’s Weston Park since 1999.
Losing such blue-chip backing would mean the end for many festivals, but in a bullish response organisers at Festival Republic have vowed to plough on, with bosses even suggesting a revamped version of the festival could expand from two to three days.
Next month, there will be an official announcement confirming the changes and re-branding plans.
But in order to make the new venture a success, organisers may need to take a different approach when booking the line-up.
Ticket sales are said to have dipped for this year’s festival in August, although organisers refused to reveal how many were sold.
The common consensus among music fans is that while many are sad to see V Festival go, a shake-up in its set up is long overdue.
And while Festival Republic insist the new festival will have a ‘pop and dance focus’, there is a strong argument that it is precisely the lurch towards these types of acts that has turned many punters off.
In its first four years of opening, V Festival hosted huge acts such as James Brown, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Foo Fighters, Muse, Manic Street Preachers, Travis, Paul Weller, Oasis, Stereophonics, Elvis Costello and Queens of The Stone Age. Fast forward to 2017 and the top acts were P!nk and Jay-Z – not a bad pair of headliners, despite being a little past their prime.
But the remainder of the acts ranged from pop rockers Busted – whose last number one hit was back in 2004 – to Scouting For Girls, whose last top 10 hit was released in 2010.
Neither band was ever likely to set the pulses racing, or send punters flocking to the ticket office.
Other acts to play this year included grime star Stormzy – who without doubt attracted crowds.
But he was followed by pop princess Ellie Goulding, who appeals to a completely different audience.
In fairness to the festival planners, there was a good variety of acts, but they hardly compare to the likes of James Brown and Red Hot Chilli Peppers in terms of popularity.
The bottom line is that by attempting to have a ‘please all mentality’, you can end up pleasing no one.
If the festival is committed to focusing on pop and dance, organisers perhaps need to hone in on the top acts and ensure some form of style continuity when it comes to selecting the artists.
Huge names on the dance scene include acts such as Calvin Harris (who played V in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2015), David Guetta (who played in 2010, 2012 and 2016), Avicii and Daft Punk, who played the festival in 1997, before it came to Weston Park.
Big pop acts, meanwhile, include the likes of Katy Perry, who last played V in 2009, who has had a total of 47 weeks at number one.
Others with similar success include Mariah Carey, Justin Timberlake, who headlined back in 2014 and Bruno Mars who played in 2011.
Any of them would make excellent headliners, and most importantly for organisers, would bring the punters back in their droves.
V Festival also has a history of featuring massive acts from the past, such as Kylie Minogue, Soft Cell and Robert Plant. The blasts from the past this year, meanwhile, were Madness – whose set was as dull as dishwater and included many songs the crowd did not know – and The Wailers, who are made up of just three of the original members.
The organisers need to up the ante, and that means returning to the formula that was so successful in the golden years of the V Festival.
Back in the days when the focus was firmly on rock and Britpop acts, V could always be relied upon to pull the big names out of the bag.
Let us not forget that Oasis’ last ever gig came in front of a jam packed crowd at Weston Park in 2009.
The secret to V Festival’s success was attracting the biggest bands at the peak of their careers.
If Weston Park’s new festival is to emulate its predecessor, it needs to do the same thing with pop and dance.
