V2011 Through the eye of The Beast - Day Two

 

Yeah that's right Eliza we are at V on day 2

 For day two it was just Mrs B and myself (if you don't count the other 79,998 people and we tried not to).  Mrs B was not feeling great having had a headache all morning so it was a bit of a slow start.  We made it in time for the opening acts though as the roads were relatively clear and most of the campers at V seemed to have a bit of trouble getting up.... .

If you missed it or fancy a recap day one can be found here

Imelda May (Virgin Media Stage)

A nice little rockerbilly set to get us underway, although poor Imelda was forced into more of a shuffle having sprained her ankle...I'm not sure that Mrs B was totally enjoying the heavy beat and not because she is not a fan of Imelda May's - it is just not the sort of music you want to experience when you already have a pounding head...

"It's Your Voodo Working"

Imelda trys some faith healing
I don't think Mrs B had enough faith
left for it to work...



"Johnny Got A Boom Boom"
Just what Mrs B ordered a drum banging through her ears



"Meet You At The Moon"
Looks like this space cadet is away with the fairies

D12 (4 Music Stage)

Caught the end of D12 - can't say I missed much other than a total eclipse of the stage


I certainly can't argue that they are not a big act
possibly a little too big for my taste...

 Noisettes (4 Music Stage)
With Mrs B settled nicely with a fairly good view from the hill I wandered down towards the stage for a closer view.



Shingai Shoniwa



"Don't Upset The Rhythm"

"Cheap Kicks"

Shingai does her Ministry of silly walks impression... 


People watching interlude -  faces in the crowd

In case you have got bored with pictures of bands there now follows a short interlude where the not so famous hit centre lens...You have to keep quiet during this section as some of these people are quite shy...Not....

I fear some of these peole would star in a Snuff movie if they thought it would get them their 15 minutes of fame....

These two Wally's just want to be famous and
as a first steps on the slippery path they wanted
their picture taken by The Beast.  I tried to explain
 that the picture would not have wide circulation
but they were lenstruck...

Hi Mum, I wish you had made me get that haircut
I can't see a f**cking thing with this stupid fringe....

Yeah, sorry about the f**cking , no please don't make me come home
early I won't swear again honest ....

Go on mate take a picture ....

 

Apparently there was a 2 for 1 offer

on for drinks. I guess this young

lady took it literally….

 

Is that a camera or are you just pleased to see us...?

I can assure you it was a camera....

Ocean Colour Scene (4 Music Stage)
A bit of a surprise with OCS when they dragged Jay from the Inbetweeners onstage




Simon Fowler - Lead Singer

Simon appears to be doing a quasimodo impression

Dan Sealey

If you watch the Inbetweeners you can just imagine the conversation


Jay - "When I went to V this year Ocean Colour Scene
dragged me on stage and insisted that I play lead Guitar
with them...."


Neil - "Really, that's incredible...Who are Ocean Colour Scene?"


Simon "Have you got any pictures?"


Jay "I couldn't take any pictures I was on stage with them..."


Will "Yeah like he's going to have any pictures of a fictitious event..."


Jay "Bloody Bumdars... "

Fringe-tastic



The Dealers were getting a bit obvious this year...

Either you are a really talented skinartists or
I'm fissed as a part......

What mother would not be proud.

You Me at Six (4 Music Stage)
You can probably tell that I'm running short on time

Hoodie bangs drums

Josh Franceschi - Lead Singer

4 way problem 

At this point in the day it got a bit tricky as appearing on 4 stages at the same time were :-

• Good Charlotte
• Eliza Doolittle
• Hard-Fi
• Scouting For Girls

All of whom I wanted to see, only since I don't have access to the T.A.R.D.I.S (Dr Who won't put me on the insurance you have to over 500 years old or something) or a Time Changer (Hermione Granger has it and is being a complete mudblood about loaning it out). 

Mrs B not feeling well actually worked in my favour as it meant that I could abandon her leave her in charge of the chairs and Kitchen sink, allowing The Beast and I to move rapidly (or as rapidly as 79,998 drunk people will allow you to...)between the different venues....

Good Charlotte (4 Music Stage)
Gutting as it was to leave them after just a couple of songs, they are great live.... having seen them just a few short weeks ago made my early departure a little more palatable. 

Billy Martin - rhythm guitar
"Let the music play"

 "Lifestyles of The Rich and the Famous"
Benji Madden Guitarist & Joel Madden - Lead Singer

"Keep  Your Hands Off My Girl" 



"I Don't Wanna Stop"
Looks like someone is full of beans....

 So once I had got the photo's I hot footed across to the Arena for

Eliza Doolittle (The Arena)

A talented young lady who sure had the Arena rocking

"I'll Be Your Pillow"

Nice offer Eliza but I'd better check with Mrs B first....



"Skinny Genes"

Well I'd sure struggle to put them on... 

"Rollerblades"

Hard-Fi (Undercover)
I arrived at the undercover tent (the smallest stage at V) to discover that it was 10 deep before you even got into the tent.  The problem of Hard-Fi being a late entry and taking the only available spot was that you end up with a band with a big following squeezed into an unsuitable venue.  I stood for a moment thinking that I was defeated and it was mission impossible….then I thought sod it, I’ll kick myself if I don’t even try…so I held up The Beast and in my most authoritative voice I became man on a mission –

“Excuse me”

“Coming through…”

like magic the crowd melted away once they saw The Beast and we  made our way towards the stage,  like Moses crossing the Red Sea….

"Suburban Knights"

Richard Archer - Lead Singer

"Watch me Fall Apart"

At this point having managed to fight my way into the middle of the Hard-Fi audience I decided that I might as well enjoy the rest of their set....  Scouting For Girls would have to perform without the support of The Beast and I...Still 3 out of 4 aint bad....

NDubz (4 Music Stage)

I arrived back to find Mrs B enjoing NDubz - mainly becuase she could watch them from the prone position of her chair. I didn't hear much of them but they sounded better than I thought they would. I would almost say that I was shocked that they actually appeared to be able to sing....


You say hello, I say goodbye....

  The Wombats (4 Music Stage)
I moved down to the front and waited for the Wombats - I noticed that the people around me had got considerably younger but not particularly shorter and they were a whole lot bouncier (Oh the energy of youth)…I was in teenage hell.  I soon found myself in the middle of a bottle fight (plastic fortunately and mostly empty) Then security made it a whole lot worse by handing out cups of water…. Just how dumb were they, not one got cup got drunk, they just joined the bottles being flung around…I hunkered  down and did my best to keep The Beast dry….


"Backfire at the Disco"

Matthew Murphy lead singer

"Let's Dance to Joy Division" 

Tord Øverland-Knudsen - Guitar and keyboards

The young lady on the left is Sarah
with her unnamed friend.


While we were waiting for the Wombats
 she tapped me on the shoulder


Sarah "Who are you?"


Me - "I’m me"


I’m still trying to work out what she meant by her question


"Who are you…are you some famous photographer?"


Or


"Who are you ….what are you doing in the
middle of all us young people?"


I’m guessing it was the first as she asked me very
politely if I would take their picture...  How
could I possibly refuse?


Once the deed was done she thanked me and apologised
to all the people around who had to shuffle about to make
room for the photograph, not an easy task when you have
have a 140-400mm lens  on The Beast in a crowded area…



"Here Comes the Anxiety"

Harry Potter
practices
"Leviosa"

Oh no my mistake turns out it's not Harry Potter
he's doing an impression of  a bottle bank.

The best you can hope is that the liquid is not warm...

"Jump Into The Fog"

If I had some time I could have digitally added the fog
- just try and use your imagination....

"Walking Disasters"

"Bleeding Love"

The Courteeners (4 Music Stage)
 They were excellent.  A slightly older crowd so not so many bottles but the Mosh pit action was a bit more violent than the Wombats  - The Beast and I didn't stay long at the front - just took the pictures and then did a strategic withdrawal…. As I don't really know the group that well I've been reduced to quoting their song titles as the picture captions...

"The Rest of The World Has Gone Home"

He might find out they are still here if
he took his dark glasses off.....



"Forget The Weight Of The World"

"What took you so Long"

The lead singer takes exception to a
late start from his bass player

"Aftershow"

I was tempted to misquote the song
and call it afterglow....

So that was that for another year ....

After the Courteeners we wondered across to the main stage for Rhianna.  It was packed and it looked like 2/3rds  of the audience had elected for Rhianna and Eminem rather than Primal Scream and Pendulum.  I could tell  Mrs B had had enough and as I'm not a particular fan of Rhianna (I really don't get the global adoration that she gets - one average single about a rain diversion device and she goes stella.) Eminem might have been interesting but since I want to go next year (already got the tickets on the early bird special) I decided not to push my luck...

That's it for another week we are off on Safari to South Africa and then onto Mauritius.  As I'm waiting for our flight with my battery running flat I'm clearly running out of time - hope to be in touch soon if I don't get eaten by lions and can find internet access .....