Over the weekend, around 80 bands descended on two different locations in England for this year's V Festival, one of the U.K.'s biggest annual musical traditions. Oasis were supposed to headline the closing night, but singer Liam Gallagher caught a case of viral laryngitis and couldn't perform. (Snow Patrol filled in for the band in the top slot, covering "Wonderwall" and "Champagne Supernova" in honor of their absent colleagues.) But the weekend really belonged to the ladies, as Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and the always-fashion-forward Lady Gaga turned in crowd-pleasing sets.

(Click here for more photos from V Fest, including shots of Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and more!)

The Killers, MGMT and Lily Allen also turned in memorable sets, but perhaps the weekend's biggest surprise came during the performance by the Specials. In the middle of their set, the veteran ska band brought out a very special guest to join them on two songs: Amy Winehouse. In her first U.K. performance in over a year, Winehouse backed the band up on "Ghost Town" and "You're Wondering Now" before ducking back out again. That wasn't the only appearance she made during the weekend, as she also introduced fellow British tabloid regular Pete Doherty before his set on Saturday. Though she wasn't necessarily in top form with the Specials, her performance was a far cry from her appearance at last year's V Fest (where she was roundly heckled) or her attempt at a comeback earlier this year in St. Lucia (where she cut off her set six songs in because of "technical difficulties"). The festival season is coming to a close both here and abroad, which is why MTV News will be getting our last licks in this weekend in San Francisco at the Outside Lands Festival.

By Nick Neofitidis

Lily Allen is looking for love. Lucky for her, so am I! OK, more like lucky for me. Truth is, I've always had a little crush on Lily, but it wasn't until she showed up yesterday for an interview did I realize that this girl is freaking awesome. Down to earth, cute as a button and just overall a really cool, honest woman. How refreshing!

Anyway, James did the interview, and I did the boyish giggling in the corner, managing to man up only at the end to ask for a photo. I have to admit we look pretty good next to each other!

But let's not go by looks alone. After all, Valentine's Day is coming up. And though Lily isn't husband-hunting, as so many tabloids claim, she is looking for L-O-V-E, dammit! So, Lily, I'll break it down for yah!

· I'm 6'1. OK, fine, I'm 5'10. Read more...

Lily, oh Lily. I guess an apology just isn't good enough, is it? You know I love you and all your childish antics. You're like a not mentally ill Pete Doherty, or a slightly less disheveled Courtney Love. And yeah, I get that it stuck in your craw that Katy Perry once referred to herself as the "fatter version of Amy Winehouse and the skinnier version of Lily Allen." Who wouldn't be pissed about that? But c'mon, Katy apologized and said she "didn't mean anything by it."

But since you insist on picking public fights (watch your back, Elton) — not to mention refusing to wear a top at the beach — there you've gone and done it again: You claim on your Facebook page that you "have Katy Perry's number" and that you're just "waiting for her to open her mouth one more time then it hits Facebook," according to England's tabloid of record, The Sun. The paper also claimed you've joined the "I hate Katy Perry and her dumb-ass song 'I Kissed a Girl' " Facebook group, as well as the "Katy Perry? Who in the hell does she think she is" clique.
Read more...

My colleague James Montgomery and I have a somewhat friendly difference of opinion about many things musical. James, it appears, favors writing hard-hitting stories about female pop stars "jumping" and "screaming," while I tend to prefer grittier exposés about the perils of the mosh pit and uplifting tales of fallen Idols reaching for redemption.

But there's one thing we always agree on: Neither of us will give an inch when it comes to Lily Allen. James, for instance, thinks the British popwreck is simply brilliant, witty and entertaining as she barrel rolls, seemingly with no shame gene, from one outrageous act to the next, frequently with one of her naughty bits hanging out.

Me? Not so much. Though initially charmed by her devil-may-care attitude, I now find her more tiresome than an Amy Winehouse health scare. So it was no surprise that we disagreed about Allen's recently unwrapped cover of Britney's "Womanizer." Producer-of-the-moment Mark Ronson debuted the song on Friday during his "Authentic Sh--" show on East Village Radio, though it's unclear whether he actually produced it.

Changing up the beat from a relentless electro hammer to the forehead into a kind of 1960s smoky girl-group trifle backed mostly by a two-note repetitive jazzy piano riff and some spare drums, Allen has set the table for her upcoming album, It's Not Me, It's You, by showing her relevance in the pop world. Read more...

· Beck has finally confirmed the release date for his upcoming Danger Mouse-produced album, Modern Guilt. The 10-track LP — featuring the trippy first single, "Chemtrails" — will drop July 8. A release announcing the disc describes it as vacillating between "economy and experimentation, hybrid and pop classicism, while consistently manifesting Beck and Danger Mouse's shared interest in psych-rock, folk, electronic minimalism and orchestration." What, no space-age polkas? No drum-machine-assisted cumbias?

· Mötley Crüe shout at ... their former manager. The band has filed a suit against Burt Stein and his companies, alleging that Stein screwed them out of lots of cash.

· It's the battle of the century! Perez Hilton has been saying mean things about Lily Allen, and she's pissed! Go, Lily go!

· Michael Jackson might be coming out with his own clothing line. Blah, blah, blah, designer surgical mask joke.

I know some of you think she's awful, but as [MTV News producer] Monty put it, "Lily Allen rules. She put pics of herself hammered and being carried out of a club up on her Myspace."

And I agree. She'd be the awesome girlfriend you'd have when you're 22, and you'd backpack around Europe with her, take mushrooms in a field and go to Ibiza. You’d stay up late, do bad things, swim in the ocean nude, drink Ouzo, laugh and get bright red from the sun. You would wear sandals. She'd wear a sarong. Then, like a decade later, you'd be staring out your window onto a cul-de-sac in Wisconsin and you'd think to yourself, "Wow, I wonder what she's doing right now."

And you'd die a little bit inside.

2008 has not been the best year for our much beloved Lily Allen. With her personal life in upheaval, and some reported misery-soaked appearances at parties at Cannes, it’s been hard to guess how soon we can truly expect another release from the lady.

But you know what? Ms. Allen could not care less what you think. And she’s inside her Bat Cave (MySpace account) plotting her musical checkmate…

“So I've been on holiday for the past couple of weeks…I had such a nice break, lots of swimming and eating yummy French food, but now I'm back and in the studio with Mark in the countryside trying to finish off the album. I'm so close now, I just really want to get it done so I can tour again. I'm also putting the final touches to this mixtape I'm working on. Sorry it's taking so long, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to these things. I hope you've been enjoying the tunes on the player. I'll put up some new ones when the album’s done.”

And here’s the bit we liked best, where she more or less tells all the doubters where they to stick it… Read more...

· Lily Allen's had enough of the paparazzi. In her blog, she claims some overzealous photogs smashed a window in her car, while trying to snap her picture. "There were so many of them hassling us that it is difficult to say which one of them did it but i had to leap in a taxi to get away from them, my friend Emily had to get into the car which was covered in broken glass and drive it away," she writes. "It was a scary situation and I want people to know that it was totally their fault and that the whole situation has angered and upset me."

· Britney Spears popped up again at the Millennium Dance Complex on Tuesday to serve as a guest instructor to a group of 15 kids. In February, the troubled pop tart first visited the California studio and now has become somewhat of a regular (at least that's some sort of consistency in her life). "I like Britney," a 5-year-old student said, doting on her teacher. Clearly, this is where the comeback starts.

· Given her new boyfriend, I guess this qualifies as music news? Yeah, probably not. But Paris Hilton is set to appear on the sitcom, "My Name Is Earl," which returns to TV on April 3, the first episode for the series since the end of the writer's strike. She'll be playing - wait for it - herself.

· Canadian metallers Kittie are down a member, following the departure of bassist Trish Doan, who has been diagnosed with the eating disorder anorexia-athletica-nervosa; she developed the disorder during the recording of the band’s 2007 LP Funeral For Yesterday. "It breaks my heart to say goodbye to this family that has given me the best two years of my life," Doan said in a statement. "I wish my time with Kittie did not have to end, but this decision was made based on doctors' orders. Unfortunately this is the only option that will allow for my full recovery."

· According to the Canadian Press, Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger had a blood-alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit when he was pulled over two years ago on suspicion of driving drunk by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. In a ruling Monday, the judge in Kroeger’s impaired driving trial ruled the results of his breathalyzer test admissible. The rocker was stopped by police back in June of 2006, after an officer saw a Lamborghini going "well over" the speed limit. An officer noted Kroeger had red, glossy eyes and a red, flushed face, and the singer allegedly handed over his credit card when asked for his driver’s license. Awesome.

· We don't even really know what to say about this. Korn guitarist James “Munky” Shaffer has announced plans to release music by a new side-project, called Fear and the Nervous System; the band’s debut will be in stores August 8. In addition to Shaffer, the band also features Faith No More’s Billy Gould on bass, Limp Bizkit’s Wes Borland on guitar, and Bad Religion’s Brooks Wackerman on drums.