Road To V 2009 Winners Announced

Swansea and Ipswich bands to open the V Festival

Virgin Media has today announced the winners of the Road To V unsigned band competition.

The Last Republic

Underline The Sky

With over 2,600 bands applying for this year’s Road to V, the competition was fierce, but now the much anticipated winners have been revealed:

Welsh rock quintet The Last Republic and pop punk band Underline The Sky, from Ipswich!

This year’s mentors, Just Jack and The Charlatans, whittled the ten semi-finalists down to the final six, but this year it was the public who decided that The Last Republic and Underline The Sky should be the lucky unsigned acts to open the V Festival in Stafford and Chelmsford on 22nd and 23rd August and appear on the same line up as Oasis, The Killers and Snow Patrol.

Read The Charlatans interview on Band Weblogs!

The Last Republic lead singer, Jonnie Owen, commented, “We have been following the Road to V competition for years and it was a dream to enter but to get this far and to know we are going to perform at probably the coolest festival of the summer is untrue. We can’t believe our luck and we just can’t wait to get on stage now and give it our best”

Underline the Sky lead singer, Bronwyn Cooper commented, “We got into this competition through our fans. We have worked so hard to keep their support and attract new fans along the way, and you have no idea how very grateful we are for them. The competition was immense, but the hard work had paid off now and our dream has come true. Bring on V Festival!”

Both bands were recognised for their mesmerising performances at Brighton’s The Great Escape festival where they opened for the Road to V mentors, The Charlatans and Just Jack.

Ashley Stockwell, executive director of brand and marketing at Virgin Media commented: “This year’s Road to V competition was of an incredibly high standard and we were delighted by the sheer number and variety of bands who entered. Our finalists ‘wowed’ our mentors with their performances at The Great Escape and then finally won over the hearts – and ears – of their fans in the public vote. Congratulations to The Last Republic and Underline The Sky – we can’t wait to see their performances at the V Festival.”

Since 2004, Road to V has nurtured great new talent with bands such as quirky post-punk trio The Young Knives, who opened V Festival and went on to attract a Mercury Award nomination in 2007 for their second album ‘Voices of Animals and Men’. Other successful Road to V winners include the critically acclaimed Bombay Bicycle Club, The Rebs and The Brightlights.

To find out more about Road to V, fans can visit www.roadtov.com, where they can watch exclusive interviews, extended shows and performances. Customers on all mobile networks can also keep up-to-date and get access to exclusive video clips on their mobile by texting R2V to 801591.

The Road to V winners will be showcased on Friday 7th August, 2009 at 6:55 pm on Virgin1. As well as being broadcast on Virgin1, the full Road to V shows are available on Virgin Media’s Music On Demand.

A show documenting Underline the Sky and The Last Republic’s experience at V Festival will air on Friday 4th September at 6.55pm.

The Last Republic MySpace

Underline The Sky MySpace

For more information on Virgin Media products and services visit:

Virgin Media

Road to V Official Website