The Verve close V Festival 2008

The Verve closed V Festival 2008 by playing a headline show at the Chelmsford leg of the event tonight (August 17).

Powering through their set, the band kept talk to a relative minimum aside from frontman Richard Ashcroft making reference to the rain, which had started to fall as the group kicked off their performance.

Ashcroft did, however, lead cheers for his three band-mates, name-checking them early in the set.

"If you think it's wet tonight you should have seen last night," Ashcroft said after 'Space And Time', referring to the torrential conditions The Verve played in at the Staffordshire leg of the festival yesterday, adding, "at least we started off dry."

He later dedicated 'The Rolling People' to the late soul legend Isaac Hayes, who recently died of a stroke.

"I'm going to sing an urban hymn," the singer announced before leading his band through 1997 UK Number One single 'The Drugs Don't Work'. "It sounded like a good name for an album, but now it's ten years [actually 11] on."

During 'Bitter Sweet Symphony', which inevitably drew huge cheers, Ashcroft pressed his microphone against his heart to signal his appreciation for the crowd.

The Verve then ended their set with new single 'Love Is Noise', one of three songs they performed from comeback album 'Forth', out August 25, as they also gave 'Rather Be' a rare live airing.

The show closed with the group surrounded in a cascade of rainbow-coloured smoke, marking the end of V Festival 2008.

The Verve played:

'This Is Music'
'Sonnet'
'Space And Time'
'Sit And Wonder'
'History'
'Life's An Ocean'
'Rather Be'
'The Rolling People'
'The Drugs Don't Work'
'Lucky Man'
'Bitter Sweet Symphony'
'Love Is Noise'
Relive the festival now at NME.COM by checking out all the news, pictures, videos and blogs from both V Festival Chelmsford and V Festival Staffordshire.

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