Crowds flock to V Festival

Gillingham, Kent, UK (By Mikey: [email protected]) - Thousands of music fans have been enjoying one of the last major rock music events of 2003 at this weekend's V Festival.
Up to 70,000 people are thought to have headed to the festival's twin sites in Staffordshire and Essex to enjoy headliners Coldplay and the Red Hot Chili Peppers - also the main stage acts two years ago.

The festival, which runs on Saturday and Sunday, also features artists such as David Gray, P J Harvey, Underworld, The Coral, Foo Fighters, Ash, Feeder and Turin Brakes. The two shows at Weston Park, Staffordshire, and Hylands Park, Chelmsford, were both sell outs, and organisers had warned people without tickets to stay away.

Live broadcasts

Staffordshire police secured an exclusion order allowing them to ban from future shows anyone caught committing a violent offence.

Virgin, which is behind the event, has been broadcasting acts live from the main stage on its AM radio network, and will continue to do so on Sunday.
The festival is also being shown live on digital TV on ITV2, with highlights on ITV1.
Acts in five different arenas include Morcheeba, The Hives, Tim Burgess, Super Furry Animals and Kelly Osbourne. Many concert-goers have chosen to camp out over the weekend in specially designated camp sites.