V Festival

The V Festival is an annual music festival in England, the first to be held simultaneously at two sites - currently Hylands Park in Chelmsford and Weston Park inSouth Staffordshire, organised by SJM Concerts. Previously it had been held at Temple Newsam in Leeds, before being replaced by Carling's Leeds Festival. Originally, the festival took the name of the current year, with the first festival being named "V96". Since 2003 it has been known as simply the V Festival.

The idea for V came in 1995 when Pulp's front man Jarvis Cocker announced he'd love to play two outdoor venues in two days. Pulp's promoters got together and came up with the idea of putting the gig into Victoria Park Warrington and Hylands Park Chelmsford giving fans in both the North and South a chance to see the band. Then came the idea of adding more bands to the bill, putting on a second stage and letting people camp for the weekend. In the end Victoria Park was just too small for two stages and camping. So in August 1996 there was one day of artists in Victoria Park and two days at Hylands Park with camping.

The northern leg of V97 was switched Leeds Temple Newsham to provide room for camping and three stages. In 1999 the Northern leg of the festival was moved to Weston Park in Staffordshire and has remained there since.

The "V" represents the Virgin Group, and began as another means of promoting Richard Branson's companies. The event is sponsored by Virgin Mobile, with Virgin Radio the official radio station.

The festival generally takes place during the penultimate weekend of August. Its weekend format, low queuing times and professional organisation have given it a loyal audience. The festival sold out in record time in 2006.

Although predominantly rock music, the festival books a wide range of music and is probably the most likely amongst UK festivals to book some pop acts each year. Mel C, Dido, and N.E.R.D. have all performed at the festival, and both Razorlight and Faithlessperformed in 2006. V showcases a mix of British and international musicians, from up-and-coming bands such as Coldplay in 2000 and the Kaiser Chiefs in 2003 and 2008, and glam rockers El Presidente in 2005, to veteran crooner Tony Christie. Girls Aloud also performed at the 2006 show, and received rave reviews for their performance. McFly performed at the festival in 2007 and received a huge turnout and great reviews that were not expected.