V Festival - Fun, frolics and Stereophonics

The rain may not have stayed away for the whole weekend, but nothing could dampen the spirit of more than 100,000 revellers who enjoyed another memorable Virgin Media V Festival at Hylands Park.

Enjoying the luxury of calling the Virgin Media Louder Lounge our base for the weekend, this gave us the perfect meeting point should we ever get lost in the throngs of people cheering on their heroes on the music stages.

Getting treated to acoustic sets from acts such as Paloma Faith, Scouting For Girls and Labrinth was an added bonus, as was the excellently-managed bar and food areas.

The festival was lit up by some terrific acts (All pictures courtesy of JAMES MCCAULEY) 

Kings of Leon ended a superb weekend in great style

Bringing the Chelmsford leg of the festival to a fitting finale on Sunday night were American rockers Kings of Leon, who really were on fire.

Starting with new single Supersoaker, which is sure to be a massive hit, they went through a full repertoire of their classics including Use Somebody and Radioactive, before ending with Sex on Fire, which was screamed back at them by the swaying throng of fans.

A personal highlight of mine was seeing Stereophonics' Kelly Jones doing his thing

Labrinth was his usual, happy self

Stereophonics had warmed the crowd up with a terrific performance as the sun was setting over Essex. Playing a range of hits from Mr Writer and Dakota through to more up-to-date tunes including recent release Indian Summer, the large crowd really did Have a Nice Day.

Earlier in the day, Scouting for Girls fans missed a Heartbeat as the three-piece put on a  fantastically energetic performance with the full range of their smash hits, including perfect festival anthem, She’s So lovely.

Ellie Goulding brought her sweet notes to the masses

Emeli Sande put some feeling into her performance

Also thrilling the crowds on day two of the festival were Calvin Harris, Rita Ora, The Saturdays, home-town boy Olly Murs, Maximo Park and Basement Jaxx among others.

Music fans were Crazy in Love with Beyonce by the end of her rollercoaster headline set in the rain on Saturday night.

The singer, sporting a new blonde bob haircut, got off to a storming start, but a few too many costumes changes left a lull and a strange calm around the Virgin Media stage.

Fresh from a mesmerising performance in BBC One drama Luther, as the lead character, Idris Elba showed us his other talent

However, Queen B picked the pace up again with her smash hits including Single Ladies and Halo having everyone singing in the rain.

Over on the 4Music Stage, Liam Gallagher’s Beady Eye may have pulled out, but revellers were not looking back in anger as Swedish House Mafia's Steve Angello put in a stunning performance, with tracks like Don't You Worry giving Hylands Park an Ibiza-style atmosphere.

The Saturdays looked their very best

Other amazing sets on the first day included The Script, who had the audience at fever pitch with Danny O'Donoghue climbing down from the stage to meet fans, putting the band into the V Festival Hall Of Fame.

Paloma Faith, Two Door Cinema Club, The Courteeners, Jessie J and Labrinth also showed off their talents to the Essex crowds.

The Script's Danny O'Donoghue melted people's hearts with a fine performance

Cheeky chappy Olly Murs gave an energetic performance - and he was just happy to be there!

Meanwhile, over in the Virgin Media Louder Lounge, celebrities, media folk and guest of Virgin Media were spoilt something rotten yet again.

Celebrities and music stars enjoying the experience included Little Mix, Niall from One Direction, Tulisa, Union J, Cara Delavingne Laura Carmichael and Idris Elba.

Guests were able to get their hair and make up done, receive a bronzed natural spray tan, and even kick back and relax in a hot tub. As if the free-flowing drinks and beauty treatments were not enough, there were also stunning acoustic performances on the Sony Xperia stage from the likes of Paloma Faith and Scouting for Girls.

See you again next year, V.

Paloma Faith entertained Louder Lounge guests with an acoustic masterclass

Rita Ora's performance was the talk of many revellers at this year's festival

Advance tickets for next year’s Virgin Media V Festival go on sale on August 22. Visit www.vfestival.com for more.

Guest blogger - GC