Ben Sherman Blog

Ben Sherman Marketing Intern vs V Fest

Find out what happened when our Marketing Intern Charlotte took on her first ever festival. Wellies included...

 

As this was my first proper festival, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from V. Coming from near where the Chelmsford event is held I understood that its all about the music, the ever changing weather, big crowds and great fashion but what was the real attraction to this massive festival? I sure understood come Sunday night!

 

First day, wristbands on and first necessity had to be to purchase a programme lanyard to ensure no acts were missed (I soon discovered that wearing this lanyard causes a hell of a lot of people to use you as their information point!). Lanyard brought, it was time to pinpoint who to see first. Drink in hand it was straight to the music. First up, Plan B, and wow was what a crowd! We caught a couple of songs, but not enough for my liking! This just gives me an excuse to go to his gig in the O2 next year!

 

 

Now we couldn’t go to V and miss our new collection act perform. Madness hit the Main stage in Weston Park and provided such a great performance with some of their new songs and also their classics, One Step Beyond being my favourite – I have never seen so many people dancing! They also made a very funny apology to Calvin Harris for locking him in a portaloo at Camp Bestival a couple of weeks before which amused the festival-goers greatly...

 

   

For the rest of the Saturday it was a case of running between bands including Calvin Harris, Paulo Nutini, Faithless and Jamie T before ending the night with half of each headliner. Kasbian’s set was really entertaining, I had 'Fire' stuck in my head for the rest of the night and so did most of the other fans it seemed. Overhearing a bloke singing his heart out whilst in the toilet has to be one of the most humorous sounds I heard all weekend! We finished the Saturday with The Prodigy, and I must admit the big beat group put on the best performance of the whole festival. The show they put on and atmosphere they created was amazing! They are well and truly nuts! My favourite part of their act had to be Maxim, he has such an amazing stage persona, telling the whole crowd to crouch down to the floor in the middle of Smack my…and then making thousands of people to jump from that position when the music started again, I would have loved to see it from the stage! The Prodigy’s set also provided the most random crowd moment I witnessed at the festival when one fan pulled a huge branch from a tree and proceeded to hold it above their head and walk it through the crowd until they got right down at the front of the stage....such a hilarious sight and I know what to do next time I want to get close to the acts!

 

And then it was Sunday…the final day. The sun was shining after the rain on Saturday meaning no wellies!The perfect start to the day was The Magic Numbers whose tunes have a great summery feel to them. It got us psyched up and ready for the day ahead. We continued with seeing new band Chew Lips, who although with a tiny crowd, put on a fantastic act with some excellent tunes and I highly recommend taking a listen.  

 

 

Over on the main stage, the ‘Modfather’ Paul Weller, was supplying the crowd with some entertaining renditions of 'Town Called Malice', 'Start' and other great classics as well as some of his newer songs. Florence and the Machine, what a show! Florence’s voice is just astonishing and filled the huge field; her stage presence was awesome! She owned the 4Music stage! The performances of 'Dog Days' and 'You got the Love' were definitely my two favourites. And then it was the final act of V 2010…Kings of Leon. 6 words describe this set: 'Woahhh your sex is on fire!' An immense show to finish this years V festival in Weston Park

 

Well what an awesome weekend! I experienced everything and more at V from the rain and the mud, the moving tree, the drunken singing and being showered in beer; it was truly a different way to spend a weekend! I must admit I may now have been converted into a festival lover and most definitely will be attending next year’s festival…better get those tickets now!

 

The Reunion - Part One

Seven years, five albums and countless column inches had all boiled down to this. The first public performance for The Libertines. Wednesday 25^th August was the date, the HMV Forum the venue and at 9:30, the four slightly older band mates took the stage and ripped straight in to a version of Horrorshow that would make even the most skeptical of fans realize that this isn’t one last cash filled hurrah, oh no, this was it, this is what it always would be, this is the raising of the good ship Albion and with a new found energy maybe this time they will make it to Arcadia.

 

Having been signed up for Reading and Leeds festival the excitement between fans as to what warm up shows would be played was pretty much a fever pitch. Expectations of impromptu gigs at the Rhythm Factory never materialized and with only a few weeks to the festivals word came that the band had only just started rehearsing. Now call me old fashioned but if I’m preparing for one of the most crucial weekends of my musical career, the kind that could bring euphoria like that seen with The Specials last year or the utter appalling showings as seen when the Beatles reformed in 1995 (so I’m told), then I think I would like start dusting off the old song book a bit sooner than 2 bloody weeks before hand. But hey, that’s just me and maybe, just maybe that’s why I’ll be sleeping in a tent at Reading this year and the Libs will be sleeping in a bigger tent...of money!

 

I digress, last week the news everyone was waiting for was released, The Libertines would be playing a one off show and the only way to get tickets is to enter a ballot. A mad rush ensued people like me would sign up everyone I could get my hands on, and after initial rejection I managed to get a ticket, even though it was upstairs standing, nothing would spoil this great occasion. And as it turns out, all you need is a few like minded people and in the furthest corner of the Forum we had created our very own little ‘pit’.

 

The set was all about business, no larking about no stage dives just a pure focus to play the songs in the best possible way they could, and boy did they get a bingo. Every track was a reminder of the good old days, but as Pete says, ‘there are no good old days, these are the good old days,' and nothing could be truer. If this is to be a mere warm up to greater things to come (new songs maybe) then I for one will be at the front of the queue, boarding pass in hand ready to sail into that sunset.

 

 

 

Set List

'Horrorshow'

'The Delaney'

'Vertigo'

'Last Post On The Bugle'

'Tell The King'

'Boys In The Band'

'Music When The Lights Go Out'

'What Katie Did'

'Can't Stand Me Now'

'Death On The Stairs'

'The Ha Ha Wall'

'Don't Look Back Into The Sun'

'Time For Heroes'

Encore

'Campaign Of Hate'

'Begging'

'Lust Of The Libertines'

'What Became Of The Likely Lads'

'The Good Old Days'

'Up The bracket'

'What A Waster'

'I Get Along'

Alex Gets Offended.

So me and the lovely lady went to a gig different to the ones we usually frequent last night. We went to see one of the most mental bands I have seen since Prodigy at Reading festival last year! Does it Offend You, Yeah? As the name asks, it did. They were crazy! And also fresh from supporting Prodigy on their recent world tour. It's not often I go to gigs with mosh pits! I enjoyed it very much as an event but it was more show than substance for me. With some great dance rock tunes, they are what I deem a weekend band. Music to party to.  They also had a support act that really interested me. The band Worship really stood out. With galactic sounding songs that reminded me of Radiohead, I really enjoyed them. Also their bassist/ keys player is my band's recording engineer and producer. So I promise I'm not being biased!

 

 

Also on that note my band, Golden Hours, are recording at the moment so hopefully we will be releasing some of it very soon! Got some really awesome stuff coming up so I will do some more blogs ASAP!

 

Keep up to date with our Brand Ambassador Alex by following his Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/alexwookie

 

Does it Offend You, Yeah? will be supporting Kele in a series of gigs in the US with Nylon and sponsored by Ben Sherman! Check back here and on our Ben Sherman Facebook Fan Page (http://www.facebook.com/bensherman) soon, for details on how you fans from the States can bag yourself some tickets!

 

Ben Sherman's Creative Director Mark Maidment braves the camera...

Our Creative Director, Mark Maidment is becoming more famous by the day!

Check him out here talking about the Ben Sherman brand in an interview for Swedish television!