The Verve succeeded in matching the headline performance of Muse on the closing night of the V Festival in Chelmsford proving they are more together then ever.

Richard Ashcroft and co were rumoured to have cancelled their performance at this year’s festival due to rifts within the band, however their set quickly quashed any of these reports.

Having escaped the bad weather all weekend, the rain began to fall as The Verve played second song ‘Sonnet’.

Ashcroft quickly put everyone’s worries into prospective by saying: “you think this is bad, you should have seen it last night (in Staffordshire), at least it started dry.”

The rain dried up quickly enough for rousing renditions of ‘History’, new song ‘Sit and Wonder’ and the deafening chants of ‘Bittersweet Symphony’.

Closing with recent single ‘Love Is Noise’ the band were in fine form throughout with Ashcroft constantly holding the mic to his heart so the crowd could feel his energy.

The Verve have had a successful summer of festival appearances including headlining slots at Glastonbury, T In The Park and Oxygen and look set to continue their fine run of form with a high chart entry for comeback album ‘Forth’ later this month.

(by James Dannatt)