V-Festival

A few of us Play4me-sters headed over to Melbourne's V-Festival on Saturday. The V-Fest line-up included acts like: Robyn, Hot Hot Heat, Duran Duran, The Smashing Pumpkins, Jesus & Mary Chain, Roisin Murphy, Modest Mouse, The Presets, CSS, Queens Of The Stone Age and Air.


The first person to comment and tell us who their V-Festival highlight was and why, will score a $5 play4me voucher. Don't forget to leave your email address. Alternatively, if you didn't go - tell us who you would have liked to have seen the most.

Because we LOVE to tell you about ourselves, here are our favourites from Saturday:

Anthea hearted HOT HOT HEAT the most:

I was honestly a bit scared about seeing Hot Hot Heat play in 2008. I last saw them play in 2005 and it was probably my favourite gig of that year. It was one of those nights where every part of my night was brilliant. So, when looking back - I wondered whether the band were actually as good as I thought they were, or if I just had a great night which made them seem spectacular.

So, I was worried that seeing them again could potentially tarnish that memory. But, that was not the case at all! They made me remember how much I loved them. Its a cliche to talk about how much "on-stage energy" a band has, but it has to be said about Hot Hot Heat. Their singer, Steve Bays is a little firecracker on stage! He (and his hair) bounced all around the stage, inspiring the crowd to indulge in some indie-kid stlye dancing with their hands above their heads (this was most notable during "Bandages")... And then to air-cowbell during their cowbell fuelled number, "Talk To Me, Dance With Me"... And then to panto'-dance during "Goodnight, Goodnight".....

Five starts to Hot Hot Heat from me! They made me remember how fun it is to be an indie-kid.

(NB: When I've referred to "the crowd" dancing, I might've just meant me)

Steve hearted ROBYN the most:

Having seen Robyn perform twice before in the past six months, I wasn't expecting anything new from the Swedish queen of cool, but in her usual fashion, she was full of surprises! Smack bang in the middle of playing the hits from her 2005 (released in Oz in late 2007) self titled album, the pop dynamo got her sass on and performed a medley of tracks - Neneh Cherry's "Buffalo Stance", Salt n' Pepa's "Push It" and her latest collaboration with US rapper Snoop Dogg "Sexual Eruption". While the medley was definitely a highlight for me, the show stopper was her worldwide hit "With Every Heartbeat" complete with no chorus and big swirling string section which erupted blissfulness. She certainly knows what it takes.

Daniel hearted QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE the most:

The last time I saw Queens of the Stone Age, I copped a stray boot to the head from a lovely chap crowd surfing. Whilst I can't remember much of it, my friends tell me it was, apparently, one of the best festival sets I have ever seen. So it was with high expectation that I headed toward that (or was it this?) stage - joining Josh Homme and co. already a couple of songs into a ripping set. QOTSA sure didn't disappoint. Little Sister and Feel Good Hit Of The Summer definite highlights - with plenty of tracks from Era Vulgaris, Rated R and Songs For the Deaf peppering the set list.

Lauren hearted ROISIN MURPHY the most:

You know what makes us happy here at Play4me, aside from chocolate and salt 'n' vinegar chips? Aha, yup - costume changes. Costume changes of the highest order. And thank god for Roisin Murphy, who was a clear stand out at V Festival 2008 and probably the only performer to don more than one outfit during her barely there performance on Saturday. She accessorised like a champion moving between visors, wooly coats, bondage-esque tassles and spherical head pieces that would make Philip Treacy stand up and take note. But more impressive was her fancy footwork and amazing live vocals. Touring on the back of her 2nd album, Overpowered, the set was a good mix of old vs. new. Opening with the Moloko track, Cannot Contain This, she also belted out a few tunes from her first album, Ruby Blue, much to the delight of the Matthew Herbert fans in the audience. In a word - show stopper.