Road to V 2008, Chelmsford
Sunday

We begin Day Two back at the 4Music stage to watch the second of our Road to V victors, namely The Rebs. Bands like Dodgy and Toploader immediately spring to mind, and the singer has a big curly 'fro, so that helps with these comparisons. The Rebs are probably for fans of Scouting For Girls and our beloved Hoosiers - light, uncomplicated, up-tempo and upbeat. Two of their song's are about someone called Jane. Who are you Jane? Give The Rebs a call. Work it out.

We stick around to watch The Rifles, who there's been quite a bit of 'fuss' about lately. We are now utterly convinced that there is a big joke being played on all of us, and that the reason why so many groups sound like this is because there's only one band with this Indie (r) (tm) sound and they're masters of disguise, changing their name just to mess with us. They are currently pretending to be The Rifles, but we know what their game is. We're not stupid, us. We resist the urge to tear their masks off.

Over to JJB to catch Aussie overnight-sensation Gabriella Cilmi and see what her other songs are like. First song is kind of Bond theme-esque. The next is heralded with 'hopefully you know this one', and everyone does as it's the hit 'Sweet About Me'. Then she goes all Avril Lavigne with rocky number 'Terrified', all Anastasia with next single 'Saving Lives' and finishes with a cover of Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love'. We're not convinced about our Gabby.

She's followed by Alphabeat who arrive on stage to a monumental cheer. We have heard good things about their live show - good things we can now confirm as being true. They are stupendous. You can tell they absolutely love what they do, especially singer Anders SG, and that joy is contagious; from the outset the audience is in a state of elation. Unhappy people should be brought to Alphabeat gigs as therapy. The word is on your lips, say the word! Hoorah.

And the pop keeps coming. Two years after Girls Aloud nearly burst the tent here at V, they've now graduated to the main stage and are drawing everyone from all corners of the site. Wearing all black against a black backdrop may have been an error (yes, it is slimming but you don't want to look like your head and hands are floating in space) but a hit-filled set with plenty of cover version is not (even if 'Walk This Way' is a bloody racket). It's not a competition but if it were we reckon Nicola won. She's ace and sings up a storm. 'Biology' wins best song of the day. Amazing.

Following them are The Feeling who also go down the covers route with A-Ha's 'Take on Me' and 'Video Killed the Radio Star', which we seem to remember being told they'd never play again (last time we saw them play it). 'Join With Us' and 'Love It When You Call' are garnished with very 'metal' guitar solos, which we reckon is in answer to Muse the night before. The latter winds up the set to an ocean of clapping hands. We like a lot. Obviously.

Calvin Harris is in the JJB is next. He's good, don't get us wrong, but we get pretty bored after half an hour of thumping bass with 80s synths and little variation. Guess you need to be in the mood. He does shriek and roar a lot more than we thought he would, but that's still not entertaining enough. And there's no sign of Dizzee for the hit. You can't have everything. Apparently.

A bit further off the beaten track this time to the Sessions Tent for Belgian group Das Pop. From one song to the next our appreciation for them grows exponentially, until finally we decide they're bloody great. Quite like a punkier version of Alphabeat really. Great drummer too.

Rushing back to the Louder Lounge for a quick Pimms we're fortunate to discover Dan Gillespie Sells belting out an impromptu version of the Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers classic 'Islands In The Stream', backed by none other than legendary power poppers Squeeze. Up until then the most exciting thing we'd spotted there was Holly Willoughby (she is extremely pretty in the flesh, you'll be reassured to know).

We've overheard a lot of idiots claiming they're only going to watch Amy Winehouse to see her "f**k up", so we're delighted that she's on stage pretty much on time, looks healthy and sparky and is absolutely note perfect throughout a good show. What a disappointment for the tabloids and the ambulance chasers. We get a bit choked up at some point during 'Wake Up Alone' when we remember just how lucky we are to be the generation who got these songs first hand. We're in the presence of someone who, no matter what happens next, is one of the great pop artists of modern times.

Kings of Leon were considered important enough to headline Glastonbury but the V organisers think they should play second fiddle to the reformed Verve (a band who really only had about four good songs, at a push). Dressed in black leather, the band crank out a cross section of their career to date, plus new song 'Only By Night'. They don't do a lot. But they don't need to.

And so it's down to the returning Kaiser Chiefs to close the festival, over at the 4Music stage. Perhaps sensing this was not the best occasion to 'play the new stuff', this was a shouty, boisterous gig of mostly old favourites so we're not really able to judge the startling new direction the next album. In fact, judging from 'Never Miss A Beat' and 'You Want History' it sounds like business as usual, with the guitars turned up. But maybe it's just our ears. It often is.

And that's that. A very lovely, relaxing - apart from the few times we had to dodge people throwing bottles of their own wee into the crowd (someone call the moron police) - and beautifully sunny thanks to the weather forecast being wrong. Marvellous.

If you haven't done so already, have a look at some lovely pictures from V 2008...

...then, have a read of Rick Edwards' V blog.

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