Camping - We decided to camp in the 'quiet' zone. Partly because it was the nearest field when we were dragging all of our stuff from the car and partly because it just looked far more civilised. We choose to camp next to a couple in their mid fourties because we thought they might be a bit more civilised. How wrong we were.....on the first night she got absolutely hammered, started singing Michael Jackson's 'You Are Not Alone' at the top of her voice in the middle of the night and then proceeded to vomit loudly in their tent for about half an hour. Someone finally asked her to 'shut the fuck up please' (no it wasn't me, there's no way I would have been that polite at this point) to which she replied that they should 'have some compassion'. The next morning we got a half apology which included her informing us that she wouldn't have been the only one in that state. No, you probably wouldn't, but the other morons were 30 years younger and not camped in the quiet zone. Anyway that was pretty much all we heard from them for the weekend - way to burn yourself out before it even begins. Our other neighbours were all very lovely. When walking through the other fields to the arena the tents were absolutely jammed in, there was rubbish everywhere and many tents had been damaged/pulled down so we were really glad we chose the quiet zone. The moral of this story is - the quiet zone is a safer/better place to camp but don't always judge your neighbours by their age.
Fashion - It seemed we didn't get the memo that the uniform was a pair of denim shorts with your arse cheeks hanging out the bottom. It doesn't matter how good your body is (and frankly most of the people wearing them didn't have the body for it) keep your arse cheeks covered. And while we are at it, just because it's popular doesn't mean you have to wear it. I couldn't tell if I was on the set of a cheap porn film or Attack of the Clones.
Toilets - Because we hadn't paid for tickets we decided to treat ourselves to the 'luxury loo' experience at a cost of 40 quid. I wouldn't have been happy to pay that if we had paid for tickets but as we hadn't we didn't mind. BEST MONEY I SPENT. These toilets were amazing - proper flushing toilets with toilet roll, hot water, mirrors, hand driers and attendants that were constantly cleaning and replenishing toilet roll. I didn't get a bad one all weekend. At some points the queues were too long but they had basically oversold the capacity. People were still buying wristbands all weekend which I took as a testament to how bad the portaloos were. Some of them smelt so bad just walking past I would never have been able to go in! That would be my biggest tip - if you can, buy that pass! Next year they said they would have more toilets so smaller queues but this was their first year and they didn't know how popular it would be. I (well me and the rest of the queue) actually watched one girl have a wee behind the box office for the luxury loos. 40 quid or your dignity? You choose. Stay classy festival goers.
Performers - Beyonce and Kings of Leon were headlining the main stage on Saturday and Sunday night respectively. I was pretty excited for both. Had to wait for Beyonce in the rain when she was 25 minutes late which was mildly annoying but it's not the first time a performer is late at a festival I'm sure. I loved her and enjoyed her whole set. I didn't really get what people were saying about her being disappointing until Kings of Leon the next night. They were just AMAZING. Totally rocked it - loads of energy. That's how you do it. I was quite surprised that the main stage area wasn't so rammed with a fair few people opting to watch Basement Jaxx (seen them before: didn't rate them) or Calvin Harris on the other stages. Fine by us - just meant we got closer to the front and the beauty that is Caleb Followill.
Verdict - Maybe I'm just getting old but if I'd paid for the ticket I would have been disappointed. It didn't have the atmosphere or the quality of line up that Isle of Wight offered when I went and the crowd was definitely younger and heavily made up of chavs. However it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be - we didn't see or experience any real trouble ourselves and the only people we encountered were friendly and out for a good time. The most important thing is who you are with. We were with a great bunch of people and had a really good time. I highly doubt I would go again but V Festival 2013: you were pretty damn fun.
