September 14, 2006 10:25

The V Festival to go global

Richard Branson confirms festival expansion plans

The V Festival is set to expand to Italy, Spain and South America, Virgin boss Richard Branson has confirmed.

The event took its first international steps last week, with the Canadian leg of V being held last weekend (September 9-10) in Toronto’s Island Park. The bash featured performances from the likes of The Flaming Lips and Gnarls Barkley.

Now Branson has confirmed he is looking to export the festival to other countries.

“We are looking at Italy, Spain and South America. We will roll it out,” he explained, adding that Australia was also a target.

“The great thing about doing it in more than one country is we can coordinate it (and) get the bands moving between countries," he told Reuters. “Tour will play a much greater part in the coming years. From a band’s point of view, they make more out of playing live than out of music sales.”

The US leg of V Festival will be held on September 23 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore where The Who and Red Hot Chili Peppers will headline.