Every festival has fans and critics. Glastonbury is a hedonistic, new music haven for some and a muddy marathon for others, with nothing but crusty hippies in jester hats at the finish line. Virgin Media's V Festival has, since 1995, been an overtly corporate affair since day one and has unashamedly purchased the biggest acts to headline. That means you're surrounded by free Pringles, energy drinks and charity workers while running between stages which feature some 'breaking' pop acts alongside the biggest bands in the world. But it's not a deal breaker for us, especially when Kings of Leon are headlining. If we're honest, we're not entirely disinterested in those new wasabi flavoured pringles either.

Announcing that they first played V Festival in 2004 and were 'scared shitless', Kings of Leon wasted no time breaking into the hits such as Molly's Chambers, the song that first made the UK sit up and take notice of the bearded brothers. Predictably it was Sex on Fire that got the biggest Living on a Prayer esque singalong from the crowd but in between humble thanks and small talk, the band urged everyone to party and gave us a sneak preview of their new album Come Around Sundown, due out on October 19th. 

Frontman Caleb said the UK was 'the place that made us who we are' and played new tracks Mary, Southbound and Radioactive. All new songs see the band go back to country blues rock which made up first album Youth and Young Manhood. The new songs are strong rock anthems but are slower, more alternative takes on the custom built stadium anthems of their last album Only By The Night. 

Without a pigeon in sight, Kings of Leon pulled the biggest crowd of the weekend and wasted little time between songs and caused mass air guitar moments from the moshpit for an audience still bitter that 2009 headliners Oasis called their gig off at the last minute. 20 songs in and the band ended the set with on-stage fireworks and yet more humbling words.

Elsewhere at V Festival, we got the chance to catch Kate Nash rip through her new album My Best Friend Is You despite having a broken wrist. Proving that any lingering Lily Allen comparisons are unfounded, Kate Nash stomped around the stage, screaming new hits while swallowing the mic on more than one occasion. The Cribs' Ryan Jarman helped Kate out on Yeah Yeah Yeahs style stomper I Love You More before she continued with Paris, Kiss that Grrrl and - yes - Foundations, the only track from her first album that made the set list. 

Bigger and rockier than before, put Foundations up against any new song and you'll see that Kate is every inch the angry frontwoman that envokes the spirit of Blondie and Karen O to bring catchy relationship angst to V Festival with intent. Before she wraps up, Kate finds a bra on the floor, intended for previous act Peter 'no we didn't see him' Andre. The bra includes a message from a girl to Peter. It says she loves him, followed by her phone number. Kate Nash smirks and then reads it out to the crowd.

Pixie Lott and Diana Vickers both brought the pop to V Festival, while Pixie Lott lost points for a medley which included a cover of The Strokes' Last Nite and a bit of rap, struggling to get through Tinie Tempah's Pass Out before - strangely - she sang Easy Like Sunday Morning. Playing covers proved popular, with Chipmunk running out of songs and doing a bit of Kanye West and Eminem too. Bless. 

Outside of the music, we spotted a sober Sarah Harding, an upset Diana Vickers trying to get friends backstage and security talking about 'people dancing naked on top of winnebagos using fire extinguishers'.  We were not involved.

All in all, V Festival 2010 was a sun drenched triumph that will always be remembered as the one Kings of Leon played before they released their new album and disappeared for a bit - which isn't bad when you think that, right now, Kings of Leon probably are the biggest band in the world.