A capacity crowd, a peaceful event, some awesome performances and a generally happy time - V2001 is over, done and dusted. When the music's over, the Essex and Staffs crews begin the arduous task of restoring Hylands & Weston Parks back to normal...
The attendances for both sites confirm V2001 as one of the biggest, best and most popular festivals of the summer. Both sites held capacity crowds with Hylands Park pulling in 58,500 people and Weston Park, 60,000 people each day. Over the course of the two days and the two sites - police confirmed that crowds were well behaved with a total of 54 arrests, the majority for drugs and petty offences.
It may only be a two day festival, but setting up and breaking down takes a lot longer than that. It's no wonder - over 700 toilets, 17,600 square metres of tentage, 3,000 metres of metal roadway, 68 Portakabins, 6,000 metres of festoon lights and 20,000 metres of fencing have to be removed for starters. It was a truly massive operation - requiring 600 catering staff, 23 chefs to cook for the stars, 200 litter pickers, 300 bar staff, 22 electricians and 5 plumbers!
In a mixed summer of weather, V2001 almost came off second best to the elements. A pretty shocking weather forecast for both days nearly happened. In Chelmsford, rain was expected for most of Saturday but never seriously materialised. A torrential downpour overnight and further rain throughout the morning kept everyone on their toes - but the carpet did its job. Similarly up at Weston Park - things got pretty wet, pretty quickly. Rain for most of Saturday was followed up by a drier day on Sunday - but everyone pulled through.
Bob Angus of Metropolis Music, V2001's promoter in Chelmsford commented:
"When you've had over 60,000 guests over for the weekend you can imagine we have a little bit more to do than sweeping up a few fag butts. We've had a great weekend, and the reaction we've had from the council and the police have been overwhelmingly positive. Above all, we've kept some large crowds very happy - even if they have got a bit wet at times."
Andy Redhead of SJM up in Weston Park added:
"It's been one of the best Vs ever up here. The crowds were huge, well behaved and generally well and truly up for it. We've all seen some fantastic performances and had a great time. Looking forward to V2002 if not today - well, probably in a couple of weeks time!"
