There will be no escape from V

Richard Branson - thankfully resisting his usual impulse to make major announcements naked, or wearing inept drag - has confirmed the V Festival will roll out to more countries in the next couple of years:

"We are also looking at Italy, Spain and South America," the entrepreneur told Reuters. "We will roll it out."

Australia is also being considered for the annual Virgin-backed event.

"The great thing about doing it in more than one country is we can coordinate it and get the bands moving between countries," said the 56-year-old.

"Tours 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."

What Branson forgot to mention, of course, was the sheer joy we can feel with this stride towards the total homogenisation of youth culture. Everyone will wear the same trousers by 2010...

music v festival richard branson