V Festival Melbourne - 4th April 2009 - Review

This years V Festival line-up was not quite as impressive as 2008's but as the festival was so well run I decided to go again. This time it was with a 10 strong posse to celebrate my friend Ako's 30th. After starting the day off with several schooners at the Newmarket Tavern we got through the gate as The Do were playing their fantastic song "On My Shoulders". After grabbing some beers at the bar we headed straight for That Stage to catch the band that I and a few others were most looking forward to seeing, Elbow. The Seldom Seen Kid was one of the best albums of last year and was featured heavily in the hour and fifteen minute set. Opening track from the latest album "Starlings" opened the set with the whole band playing trumpets and it sounded fantastic. Also joining the band on stage were 2 identically dressed violinists who also played in moved in unison and added something special to the stage. "The Bones of You" and "Mirrorball" from the Mercury Award winning album followed and sounded as good if not better than the recorded versions. Singer Guy Garvey interacted with the crowd with ease as he told jokes and introduced the songs with the confidence that comes with 18 years of playing live. The title track from the bands previous album "Leaders of the Free World" upped the tempo a bit and the crowd seemed to be getting into it, even the though it was not as big as it should have been. The crowd favourite from the set would have been "Grounds for Divorce" featuring the best guitar slide riff ever and would have been the best track of the day had it not been for the set's closer "One Day Like This" which I'm still getting chills from just thinking about it. It is a mystery why this band isn't bigger than Radiohead and should have attracted the biggest crowd of the day. Even more baffling was when half of my friends left to see Vanilla Ice try to steal another 15 minutes of fame. But for those who were there to see it, it was an amazing performance and my favourite set of the day.
After Elbow finished I was free to enjoy the day without worrying too much about the timetable. Razorlight were up next on This Stage (Main Stage) and decided to catch half of their set before seeing The Kills. They sounded great and I got to see plenty of their hits including "Back to the Start", "Stumble and Fall" and "In the Morning" before heading the The Other Stage for The Kills. I only started listening to The Kills about a month ago when it was announced they would be playing V Festival and have become an instant fan. For a 2 piece they pumped out some volume and played a great set with the highlights being "U R A Fever", "Black Balloon" and the excellent "Cheap and Cheerful". It was another great set that had the crowd dancing and singing along.
Next up were Kaiser Chiefs who played a great set that had the crowd singing due to their easy to remember and repetitive choruses ("Ruby", "Na Na Na Na Naa"). At a festival after a few beers though it is exactly what you want. It was the most fun we had for the day and was surprised at how many hits they had over 3 albums. Highlights were "I Predict a Riot", "The Angry Mob", "Never Miss a Beat" and the sets closer"Oh My God". I decided to have a look at Snow Patrol but after high energy performance of Kaiser Chiefs they seemed a bit dull so we headed back for the final act The Killers. I've never been a fan of The Killers before but everyone else I went with were big fans of Hot Fuss and were excited to see them so I gave them a chance to win me over. I was glad a did because they played a good set, especially when they played anything from Hot Fuss and the crowd went ballistic. The newer material didn't receive as good a reception but they spaced out their hits for the first half of the set before they finished with a string of crowd favourites (see setlist below), "All These Things That I've Done" and "When You Were Young" were my personal highlights. Once again the V Festival has organised a great day and although the lineup didn't impress me much on paper, in the end there was great live music played all day and I will be back next year as long as there is one great band on the list like Elbow to get me there.

The Killers Setlist
Spaceman / Losing Touch / Somebody Told Me / For Reasons Unknown / This Is Your Life / Joy Ride / Human / Bling (Confession of a King) / Shadowplay / Smile Like You Mean It / A Dustland Fairytale / Sam's Town / Read My Mind / Mr. Brightside / All These Things That I've Done
Encore: Bones / Jenny Was a Friend of Mine /When You Were Young