V Festival 2016

If you’d confessed your love for Justin Bieber two years ago, your pals would probably have nodded politely and made their excuses to go speak to someone else. Not now. Thanks to Skrillex/Diplo-collaboration ‘Where Are Ü Now’, and last November’s excellent LP, Purpose, everybody wants a piece of Biebz. He headlines on Saturday in Chelmsford and on Sunday in Staffordshire – tell all your friends, because they won’t want to miss him.

Returning to V Festival for the first time since 2011, Rihanna will be bringing the Anti World Tour to Staffordshire on Saturday and Chelmsford on Sunday. If her recent Wembley Stadium setlist is indicative of her plans for V, fans are in for a huge treat. Expect compelling renditions of songs from Anti, interspersed with an array of crowd-pleasing smashes, including ‘Rude Boy’, ‘Umbrella’, ‘We Found Love’ and ‘Diamonds’.

Discovered in 2008 on the Swedish equivalent of ‘Britain’s Got Talent’, 18-year-old Zara Larsson is already a huge star throughout Scandinavia. Following her huge collaboration with MNEK, her irresistibly summery single ‘Lush Life’, and her recent VMA nomination for Best New Artist, she looks well on the way to repeating the trick over here. Go see her on the MTV Stage at V, and you’ll have bragging rights when she inevitable becomes huge.