There are too many festivals now, with not enough decent bands to cover them, thus there's never more than two or three bands at a festival that I'd pay to see normally. On top of that (or as a result of that), each festival seems to be increasingly tailor made to suit a specific musical taste, ignoring those of us who don't think "ooh, I like THIS band, so I'll love these 20 other bands that are blatantly copying them." Headliners seem to be complete dinosaurs too - why the fuck would anyone actually want to see Red Hot Chili Peppers?
Leeds used to be the best festival in my eyes, but any metal bands that would once have played Leeds/Reading now play Download instead, which is annoying since Download is primarily full of bands with names that translate (to me at least) as "We're probably an Emo band." So now, Leeds = TITP - neds. Coincidentally, the last mouth-watering festival line-up I saw was Leeds 2002, which just so happened to be the year before the first Download.
TITP and Leeds seem to be completely targeted at the kind of idiots that would think Channel 4's late-night musical output consists of fantastic new original bands who in no way, shape or form are just aping their peers. As for V... well, Morrissey and JDB should be ashamed of themselves for appearing at the same festival as Daniel Powter, Matt Willis and The Feeling. And what is the second stage called? Lo and behold: The Channel 4 Stage!
And for anyone who reckons "it's not about the music, it's about the experience", go camp in Counteswells woods with your mates, and just think how much booze you can buy with the money you've saved from not buying festival tickets. It won't cost you £4 a can either. Give me £50 and I'll even hook you up a TV to a generator so you can watch "Transmission" on Channel 4.
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