Vimto Fusion Festival 2015 – August Bank Holiday Weekend!
Hi everyone,
So during the last August bank holiday I attended a huge music festival with my younger sisters in Birmingham’s Cofton Park. The event has been running at the venue for the past three years and hosts Capital FM had promised that this year’s festival would be the biggest yet and they certainly didn’t disappoint! With huge headline acts over the three day weekend, including Ed Sheeran, Rudimental and McBusted, Vimto Fusion Festival was one of the highlights of the 2015 music calendar so far.
Image courtesy of Google Images
We visited on the Sunday, 30th August, to see supergroup McBusted as the headliners along with a host of other stars including British pop princess Jess Glynne, US rocker Adam Lambert, hit boybands The Vamps and Union J and teen heartthrob Conor Maynard to name but a few. We arrived at the festival shortly before the gates opened at midday so didn’t spend much time queuing. Our transport was courtesy of a brilliant Fusion package put together by the festival in conjunction with National Express. Our ticket price was £79pp including entry to the festival and a return coach journey from Cheltenham which worked out brilliantly as the coach stop was virtually opposite Cofton Park. The event was very well organised with each act on stage at an allotted time and intervals in between each one so there was plenty of time for toilet, food and drinks breaks which was essential!!
The layout of the festival was brilliant, the site was enormous and there were plenty of food and drink outlets offering almost every type of food you could think of; from pizza to pancakes and curries to candyfloss there really was something for everyone! There were a couple of bars on site and drinks prices were about what you would expect to pay at a pop up event but there were also free wine samples being handed out which me and my middle sister took advantage of… much to the dismay of our disapproving 16 year old sibling!
As well as food and drink outlets there were also a range of pop up shops selling sweets, confectionary and typical festival items including flowery headdresses, glow in the dark boppers and, of course, the trusty pac a mac’s and ponchos that have been seen everywhere during this rainy summer! Although it did rain most of the day, it was warm and humid and was lovely when the sun was out! The umbrellas and wellies were out in full force though and this added to the festival vibe that was present throughout the event- think Glastonbury but without the tents and communal showers!
As the event was sponsored by Vimto and Capital FM, there were free goodies being handed out throughout the day along with various competitions and prizes up for grabs. Vimto staff members were handing out as many free drinks bottles as you could manage, whilst Capital FM were giving away free ponchos (extremely useful as mentioned above!!) and were mingling with the crowds taking professional photos for their online social media gallery. Huge loudspeakers blasted out the latest chart tunes across the park whilst the entertaining Dance Cam was on hand to capture the audience singing and dancing along to the music before projecting their beaming smiles on the large screens on stage. There was also a large bouncy castle and a fairground for the kids (and adults) which was a great way of passing the time before the show started at 2pm.
We had been sitting on our coats up on a hill a short distance away from the stage and were getting up and dancing along with fellow crowd members before we walked down towards the stage to get our spots prior to the larger acts being introduced. Blankets and coats were allowed but deck chairs were forbidden so be mindful of this if you are hoping to set up for the day! Capital FM DJ Christian Williams did a warm up to the concert shortly before 2pm, playing new music and chart hits to get the party started before fellow DJ act Gorgon City opened the show. They were followed by teen sensation Conor Maynard and Youtubers Alexa Goddard and Karen Harding along with new Irish boyband Hometown before the bigger acts appeared on stage from around 5.30pm until 9pm. Union J and The Vamps both played brilliant sets and really got the crowds going – there were hundreds of screaming girls everywhere we looked! Adam Lambert was brilliant and Jess Glynne was incredible, both of their voices sounded amazing with the live music!
Finally, just after 9pm, headliners McBusted graced the stage and kicked off their show with hit song Air Guitar. They sounded brilliant together and it was easy to see why the newly formed super group had been such a hit with audiences. They proceeded to delight the crowds with Busted classics including You Said No, Crashed The Wedding and Thunderbirds Are Go along with McFly chart toppers Five Colours In Her Hair, Obviously and All About You. The set was brilliant and I have never danced so much in my life! I saw McBusted in July when I went to their outdoor Concert at Westonbirt Arboretum so the set was virtually the same, but seeing my sisters faces light up when all our childhood classics were played was an amazing moment and made for a fantastic concert. McBusted bowed out to the hugely popular Year 3000 which we were singing all the way back to the coach and was a perfect ending to the show.
For our first experience at Fusion we all had a wonderful time and categorically agreed that we would all be back next year without doubt! The festival was great for adults, kids, groups and families alike and there was something on offer for everyone. A big thank you to all the organisers and the brilliant acts for putting on such a fantastic concert, we will certainly be back!
Have you ever been to a music festival before? How did you find it, and was it worth being out in the rain all day?! I’d love to hear your experiences!
Love Jess x
