Blog: A good year for V Festival fans

Blog: I woke up this morning in excitement after reading tweets from @vfestival which revealed American rapper Eminem and songstress Rihanna have been signed up to perform at this year's V Festival at Weston Park, near Shifnal.

My favourite British bands including Arctic Monkeys, Manic Street Preachers and Pendulum will also be taking to the stage during the August festival weekend.

For me you can't have a summer without a music festival, and I have spent many a year wallowing in mud or baking in extreme heat in order to listen to the latest top bands.

And by the look of this year's line-up it seems as if festivals are evolving from indie-rock to incorporate more mainstream sounds including RnB and rap.

Five years ago I would have never have thought that pop singers or hip-hop acts would have agreed to headline a music festival.

But today it seems that festivals are broadening their horizons, allowing more people with a range of different tastes to be embraced by festival culture.

I think V Festival this year is going to be great value for money for revellers. How often do you get to see world-famous acts such as Eminem arriving in the UK to play alongside many other popular musicians, and all in the same venue?

Especially when people have already paid around £50 just to see Rihanna play in Birmingham - and now she will be singing literally on our doorsteps at Weston Park.

Another surprise for me looking at this year's V Festival listings was to see Fun Loving Criminals, the American band which sang about Scooby Snacks, performing.

Now this early 1990s band is a group of guys who I haven't seen in a long time. They are a lot of fun and always seem to put on an entertaining show. They have produced a number of chart-topping hits which you'd recognise once they start playing them.

The festival will also see the return of Tinie Tempah who last year used his hip hop to whip the crowds up.

The artist was relatively new to the music scene then but got the crowd bouncing to his and top hits Frisky and Pass Out.

V festival also provides other entertaining moments for those attending including a host of stalls, fairground rides and food vans.

Last year many attending the event got into the festival spirit by dressing up as superheroes, lollypop ladies and bananas. Free hugs were also dished out, and Mexican waves randomly washed over the campsite.

So if you haven't already decided to go, buy your ticket now.