Thousands of music fans enjoy summer sunshine at V Festival

Crowds have packed out Hylands Park, Essex for a scorching first day of V Festival.

Kasabian lead Saturday's line-up, which marks the event's 20th anniversary, to which Sam Smith, James Bay and Tom Jones will also be lending their vocal talents this afternoon.

Around 50,000 music fans are expected to enjoy the sunshine today, with a further 65,000 at the event's sister site in Staffordshire.

Imelda May opened the main stage for the weekend, with temperatures having already reached 28 degrees Celsius by midday.

Rapper Example, who will doing a DJ set at the Sure stage this afternoon, tweeted: "31 degrees. Music Festival. Essex. Sounds like a strange dream doesn't it? See you later @vfestival"

The crowd were then treated to an energetic performance from Marina And The Diamonds, whose soulful tones provided a fitting backdrop to the heatwave.

But the summer sun is not expected to last long, with showers threatening to dampen spirits throughout Sunday.