Reading Festival… Where do I start?!
THURSDAY was an interesting introduction to the day that Reading Festival became EVEN MUDDIER than Glasto! After a week of continual rain, the entire site had become what can only be described as a wallowing hole. The ground was worse than the Reading Monday mornings I had experienced the previous 2 years… and that’s saying something! So I arrived in the rain, a tad miserable but was happy to be rescued by Jess (http://jessbrl.tumblr.com) and a lovely can of warm Carling. Tesco’s was a bit of a disaster… over 4hours after leaving on the boat to the shops we had failed to return, even considering hitching a lift with a pirate on his notsosafe looking vessel…oh dear. Anyhow, on our return a game of makeshift jenga was taking place on top of a friends head, whilst he lay passed out motionless below the quivering tower made up of cans, bread, cups and a folk. The rain became a little more bearable with our friend MR. VODKA.
Friday was the day I had been waiting for, Music time! I started off the day with good intentions… Missed: Young Guns and A Day To Remember. I am now majorly regretting that! Billy Talent is a man who’s voice is somewhat like Marmite… you either love it or you hate it, the latter in my case. My travels led me to the Alternative stage where I chanced upon The Midnight Beast I was a little tipsy by this point and therefore the fact I was surrounded by hundreds of screaming pre-pubescent girls didn’t seem to bother me in the slightest. Chanting the lyrics like a crazy sect made for a rather entertaining set, although the set list seemed a little thin/odd song choices in places. Then came the Main Stage and with it brought the big guns… or so we were led to believe. Lostprophets left something to be desired. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan, but there seemed to be something missing from their performance, even a little lackluster in places. The sound wasn’t up to scratch which didn’t help things, but overall Ian Watkins was a little under par. Biffy Clyro, what can I say? I have nothing but praise for these chaps. I know they are somewhat old hands in the business but man can they please a crowd. I have never seen a bad performance from these guys and they certainly didn’t fail at reading. Despite jesus appearing on stage in the form of Simon Neil and his white beard, the set list consisted of New and Old, (Mountains as always getting the crowd going) it was a great show. Another band that never fail to impress are Queens of the Stone Age. Josh Homme throwing heavy riffs at the crowd, but I have to say, although I am a fan of the band, that heavy thundering bass and galloping guitar sound always seems to feel a little monotonous. My intentions to see delphic were all but that, there was no way I was even going to consider turning down the one and only Biffy to see them. And Finally…
GUNS AND ROSES
I’d love to come out with some explosive start, fireworks, pyro, but no. This introduction has to be kept short as in reality our wait for this legendary band was soo long and soo monotonous that I would simply put you off reading (if you have even got this far). A frontman with an ego greater than the population of a continent, oh yes. At one point the crowd getting so fed up (65 minutes after they should have taken to the stage) half of the 80,000 capacity crowd sat down and began chanting “we want Slash” He finally came out… looking like he had been attacked at a child’s cut and stick party, a shiny baby blue jacket and a face like a taught plastic bag.
Sadly things didn’t improve… his voice sounded like it had been put through a blender, and after enduring half of the ‘Chinese Democracy’ album (along with its domestic violence video playing behind the band, still have no clue what that was about?!) I was just about ready to walk out and follow the other 40,000 people who had already left. Needless to say their set could not be finished due to sound regulations after 11pm and my did that go down badly. Axel Rose first storming off stage and returning with a megaphone looking slightly bemused. After shouting through the turned off device for several minutes and trying an acoustic version (you can guess how that went down with no microphone and 40,000 people) he gave up and said farewell, shouting and raving about how they had been kicked off the leads headline slot as a result.
SATURDAY was one of those slightly aimless days for me. Im not a great fan of the maccabees…cribs…libertines… you get the idea, so the lineup for the day looked a little frustrating. As it turned out (3 or 4 drinks later) we found ourselves in the radio 1 tent listening to 30h!3 Sadly we missed Band of Skulls but the show must go on… As with every year, rumors start with regard to cockey performers and no shows. After the Guns and Roses extravaganza the night before it was easy to believe that Dizzee Rascal had allegedly pulled out (not true as it turned out)
After a while of getting jolly we found ourselves staring aimlessly at a stage in the dark waiting for a band we had never intended to see come on… The Libertines have converted me. I’m not one to say this lightly but man, they were good. The memories of that night are a little vague in places but i do recall half the festival with their lighters in the air, doing the dosey-do with some strangers at one point and having a jolly good time! I was expecting some epic drama with the addition of Pete onstage but no, the height of the drama was merely a number of sound cut outs.
SUNDAY was a rather marvelous day… If I said I was excited to see the headliners, that had to be the understatement of the centuary. I had waited over a decade!!
Before I could regress back to childhood for a night I found myself front row at the festival republic tent. At this ungodly hour I should have been asleep but the band I was there to see made up for that fact. Foxy Shazam are a band who’s name has been whispered rather loudly but all I knew was that the lead singer was, to put it mildly, on something rather strong. After giving the audience a 10 minute lecture on the significance of cigarette lighter colours, followed by a monkey bar climb up the sound cables, the music made me think of freddie mercury crossed with…well, i have no clue!? Sound Of Guns has been referred to as “the band of the moment” and we have seen big things from them as they’ve risen up the ranks to the mountain that is mainstream radio. They came onstage like they owned the place, and after lead singer Andy threw himself into the crowd on numerous occasions (one of which involved him heading to the back of the tent) they got on with some hair raising music! The belting return of Brit Rock was accompanied by soaring guitar riffs and… well a fair few lost, mumbled lyrics. Apparently they dedicated a song to me but due to the previously stated problem, we are still unsure whether this occurred. There debut album ‘What Comes From Fire’ was released in June and is a cracker so check them out.
Then came the return of Pop Rock, in the form of All Time Low and You Me At Six. The latter stormed the stage after a brief ‘hurricanesque’ weather spell that blew us all sideways. When I say I was disappointed i have to emphasize that it was neither the band nor their music. Admittedly, the set list was a little on the strange side, leaving out some of their best know earlier songs from “Take Off Your Colours” but it was the crowed that ruined the set for me. Being made up of 90% rowdy middle aged men who were only their to see Limp Bizkit and Cypress Hill, there constant screaming for their chosen bands to come onstage and finally when the song ‘underdog’ came on, not one person sang along or entered into the spirit of things. WEEZERcame to the stage with a kick ass performance and a thoroughly entertaining set. Rivers was awesome and man can that man entertain! Their covers of ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ and ‘Poker Face’ made me grin the entire way through. Paramore were supporting the headliners on the main stage and boy did they do a good job. Great set list, Great Energy and an all round great performance! I don’t think Hayley Williams has ever failed to impress (and the fact I have a crush on Josh Farrow has absolutely NOTHING to do with it). But all this aside, It had NOTHING on the band I have wanted to see live ever since I was in my tweens.
BLINK182 came to the stage with the loudest cheers I have ever heard, no joke, I was convinced I would come out of the arena deaf! I was left totally and utterly speechless. Admittedly Tom’s voice is a little on the unsteady side, but If you want a band that can hold 100,000 peoples attention for over an hour, look to these guys! ‘Feeling This’ came on and I was like a cucumber caught in headlights, utterly fantastic! As ‘Always’ came on my friend Jess was lifted onto a guys shoulders and watching her face as she stared on in wonder was amazing. Travis is a brave, brave chap. This was his first tour abroad since the tragic plane crash that killed a number of his friends and ultimately causing the death of the awesome DJ AM. I have nothing but respect for that chap, not only for his bravery but for his KICK ASS 360 DEGREE drum solo! I hold travis up there as one of the all time greatest drummers and being a drummer myself I can truly understand what an insanely technical maestro he is. This was one performance that I will NEVER forget as long as I live.
