 | | Get that tent up Josh! |
Prior to the take off of this year’s festival, it was already public knowledge that V 2005 was going to be the best one yet and I can certainly say that it didn’t let anyone down. The whole weekend was just one big birthday party and a great way to celebrate 10 years. Friday 19th August Armed with my site map, I was able to find the press office more or less straight away, though when you have a heavy backpack and tent in your arms, any distance seems like forever!  | | V is as much about friends as bands |
When I arrived there, there was no one in the office! Just a little message with a phone number on it! Note to self…when they say 10 minutes, they mean one hour! By the time they got there, Josh had arrived and we were already planning on what we wanted to do. First thing was to get those wristbands on! But then came problem number 2, the wristband machine had broken! So we were given VIP wristbands instead, which got us into all of the same areas as a press one, not like I was going to complain! But we were told that we had to come back to get the camping ones later, so off we went.  | | Enjoying the festival atmosphere |
All the way on the other side of the site was Orange Campsite, our home for the weekend. Setting up camp was the first task but because the weather was scorching there was no hurry, just the threat of people trying to steal your spot! But voila! Our circle of tents went up without a struggle (apart from the pegs not wanting to go into the ground!). Later on in the afternoon, after we had all settled in nicely, it decided to rain…nice. Luckily for us it only lasted for a short time so nothing really got too wet! Felt sorry for the people that hadn’t put their tents up though, even though it did make me giggle a bit – I’m sorry! Evening came and one of the arenas was holding some sort of welcome warm up party and blasting out tunes from the artists of the weekend, which were then followed into the morning by film screenings. But ‘the exorcist’ wasn’t really that tempting for me. Saturday 20th August  | | But I'm so comfy! |
Here it was, the first official day of the weekend and the level of excitement had risen to the extreme. After being woken by the noises of toilet doors slamming shut and security radios, there was no chance of going back to sleep so I decided to greet the day instead. It had been quite cold that night, but my mummy bag did its job and kept me nice and warm, three cheers for the mummy bag! Emerging from my tent I realised that half of the campsite was already up, trust me to be one of the last!  | | Kirsty and teddy meet Good Charlotte |
Still half asleep, I was dragged to the breakfast bar - ham and cheese toasties were my saviour this weekend! Our next task was to find a gate that would let us into the arena early…gate 14…no…13…no…12…no, after lots of walking we finally got to gate 6…success! We headed towards the guest area where we were going to plan our day and decided to stop off at a few stalls beforehand. This is where I am going to take the opportunity to say that Josh can get almost anything! We got free Ribena, free Boost pills (to keep me awake) and managed to get ourselves some guest passes for the Bacardi bar – get in!  | | Kirsty and Athlete |
Eventually we arrived at our destination complete with inflatable volley ball and picked our table as we were among the first ones there. Equipped with a running order, I planned who I was going to see, and Josh planned who he was going to photograph so we could see when we had spare time to meet up etc. We came up with some ideas of how we were going to plan our day, and ended up with the idea of getting the BBC teddy bear photographed with as many celebs as possible. My first mission was to interview Idlewild and as they are one of my favourite bands, the butterflies started to take over! After ringing up and arranging a meeting place, I was collected by the band’s manager and taken to the dressing room area. Luckily it was over just as the first band came on stage so I was able to hear myself think! The first bear pictures were taken and I was off to do some celeb watching in the guest area. Throughout the day I didn’t really watch that many bands, just listened from the back and chatted to a few random stars that walked past me (of course getting them with the bear). 3 O’clock came and it was time for my next interview…Athlete! Butterflies reappeared but left as quickly as they cam,e as the band were so easy to talk to. Five minutes turned into half an hour and it was time for them to leave to prepare for their set.
By this time, the bear had met members from Idlewild, Athlete, Rooster, Kasabian (who had turned up to watch the show), The Hives, Scissor Sisters, Bodyrockers, Nine Black Alps and Franz Ferdinand, and I wanted to see some normal festival goers so out into the crowd I went. Wandering around on my own I found people dressed as cats, people dressed up as Tarzan and even a whole gang of 118-118 men which was almost as strange as seeing Ian Brown walk past in a bright pink tracksuit! Hmmmm! Sun still shining I headed from stage to stage to check out what was going on until deciding to head back to meet Josh.  | | Kirsty with Scissor Sisters |
The day started to draw to an end and then came the ultimate wait for the headliners Scissor Sisters. Lighting and costumes were almost as bright as each other and I don’t think there was anyone in that crowd that wasn’t dancing. I know I was making the most of it! That night led to late night conversations in the camp site about the events of the day and how much our legs ached! Sunday 21st August With today starting pretty much in the same way as the previous, I looked at the day's line up and realised that it would be a lot more eventful! Josh armed with his camera and me with the bear, we headed our separate ways for the day. I decided that today I was going to try my luck with the autograph signing tent that proved to be more than successful when the NME manager said that I could actually go inside to take photos. Feeling majorly important, I started taking photographs and telling various band managers about the BBC bear, who may I add were very keen on getting the bands to meet it! Just my luck, the bear being the favourite…geez!  | | GLC and teddy |
However, the bear was to be short lived, as when the mob from Wales, also known as Goldie Lookin’ Chain thought it would be funny to rip its legs off! It was pretty amusing…but how to tell Josh – oh dear! I saw a few more bands' performances, including Kaiser Chiefs – nothing can stop frontman Ricky Wilson from running across amps and jumping around, not even a pair of crutches and a damaged leg!  | | Kaiser Chiefs |
Today I realised how much I love guest hospitality. Thirst got the better of me and I decided to go and purchase a hot chocolate, expecting a small, half full, plastic cup. Imagine the shock when I was presented with a big cup, complete with added cream AND marshmallows! Amazing I tell you! It started to get dark and I ran into a few more stars including Dave McCabe of The Zutons. Who killed The Zutons? I’ll tell you, it was the bear! As it started to run into the final acts, I made my way across to the JJB arena to see a bit of Robert Plant, one of the true legends at the festival, and from the few songs I saw, it was amazing. Slowly wandering again, I walked the whole arena and bumped into a few friends who I chatted to until it was time for me to go again. Busy busy busy!  | | There were a few strange characters! |
Again, I met up with Josh to see the close of the festival. Oasis stole the spotlight from the other stages, but it was obviously going to be that way wasn’t it? Although Chemical Brothers put on a spectacular lighting performance with their animated back drop, or so I thought. And so we face the final curtain and I catch the end of Oasis’ set, just in time to hear ‘don’t look back in anger’, a true classic! We spent the rest of the night back at camp looking through the photos of the day and sharing experiences, then it was time for heads to hit the pillow as there was a very early start ahead the next morning… Monday 22nd August Waking up to rain is never good…ever! Especially when you have a huge puddle in front of the tent entrance. *moans*. It didn’t really take us long to get the tents down, as we are pro, though getting mine back into its bag proved to be the biggest difficulty! Roll, squeeze, sit on, zip, done! Next was the journey to the Manor House where we were being interviewed by Radio Shropshire about what we’d done this weekend. Half asleep, we headed off leaving the camp behind, it was officially over. This weekend has given me so many memories that I will remember for the rest of my life, and the experiences were just one of a kind which made it that whole lot more special to me. I want to thank everyone that made my time there one to treasure, and especially Josh for being such a great co-reporter. Note to self: ‘Sew the bear’s legs back on!’ Kirsty Hannah | 
