Kyle
08-29-2006, 09:30 AM
So, when I saw this years line-up for Reading Festival, I wasn’t exactly blown away. I mean sure, Muse and Pearl Jam were always going to put on a good show, but last year I saw The Pixies and Iron Maiden headline, and it was never going to top that. Anyways, living in Reading, I bought tickets anyways because I consider the festival an extremely important part of the towns heritage. You see, I really can’t stand Reading as a place, it’s so devoid of character, but every year during festival weekend I see it come alive. The following is my account of my time at Reading festival;
Friday - Friday was supposed to be the weakest day for me, with Franz Ferdinand headlining and Audioslave pulling out I wasn’t particularly excited. Anyway, after waking up late after a heavy night of drinking, I dragged myself over to the main stage to catch Fightstar being bottled. However, to my disappointment the band seem to have accumulated a fan base, and despite a small bottle shower, the band managed to struggle through their set. The morning being a bit of a joke bands-wise, I was ready to listen to some real music; but I didn’t have many options. I went to see a Thrash band called Municipal Waste in one of the tents, they were kind of fun, but despite a few cool riffs, were quite boring on the whole.
The first real incident of the day came under a minute into Panic! At The Disco’s set. During their opening track, the lead singer was struck with a bottle which was propelled from some distance and height. The frontman was actually knocked out for a brief moment, and had a nasty cut near his eye, but he came around to finish the set. This set included a cover of karma Police, which I suppose wasn’t that horrible, but was pretty emotionless and the inclusion of swear words in the song seemed kind of pathetic. After this I went to see Gogol Bordello, who although I haven’t heard much, I have taken a casual interest in over the last few months. The band provided the first amazing performance of the weekend, and I was surprised at how much I had enjoyed the performance. The crowd packed out the 2nd stage, and everyone was having fun dancing along to the songs.
After this, it wasn’t until the evening that the day livened up again. Around about 7pm I went to check out the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, who I had seen once before, and were really fun live. After a pretty dodgy start (really poor track selection to open the gig) they livened up, and Karen O was impressive on stage as they went through some of the hits, including Y Control, and acoustic version of Maps. After this, I rushed over to the 2nd stage to catch the second half of The Vines. I was eager to see the band as they aren’t doing any regular touring anymore, and they seemed pretty tight. I was only really watching from a distance, but they included a cover of Outkasts Miss Jackson which was a real highlight of the day.
I was then faced with my first real clash of the festival. The two bands that I wanted to see were Eagles of Death Metal, and Dizzee Rascal, but although EODM would have been fun, I’m so glad I picked Dizzee. Opening with ‘Just a Rascal’, Dizzee got one of the best receptions of the weekend, and he left everyone in high spirits. He played through most of his hits, as well as including a few new songs, and a remix of a Korn song which went down quite well. The set was closed with Stand Up Tall, which was probably one of the best songs of the weekend.
Not fussed about Franz Ferdinand, I went back to my tent and got blazed, and then went off to catch Bedouin Soundclash on the smallest stage. Bedouin were again really excellent, and everyone seemed to get behind them. They included a cover of Eddie Grant’s ‘Electric Avenue’, and I think they gained a lot of fans of people who were just passing or checking out a few songs. It was such a chilled way to end the night, and although I got to see no big band as a headliner, Dizzee was intense enough to keep me well satisfied with my day.
Saturday - Saturday was an altogether more exciting prospect, as there were many more bands that I had initially intended to see. However, I had actually enjoyed Friday a lot more than I thought I would, and the prospect of watching dull mainstream indie bands on the main stage was becoming less exciting.
Anyway, as the day once again kicked off with a rather dull line-up (Aiden…ugh), I went a long to the small stage to watch a few bands I had never heard of. Whilst I would never have watched these bands had I been on my own, I went along to please this girl who is pretty over enthusiastic about 2 out of 3 of the bands. The first were The Race who had some nice guitar melodies going on, but never really mastered the art of the climax. Second up was The Morning After Girls who were my favourite of the 3. They had a cool Rock and Roll sound going, and some smooth bass lines kept me interested throughout….plus their keyboardist was hawt. The last of the three was The Maccabees, who I had seen before supporting The Strokes, they bored me them, and they bored me again. What made them worse was the rapturous response they received, despite clearly sucking, when the band before received only mild applause. Anyways, after taking more than I could stand, I said goodbye to my friend, and hoped to go and see some real bands.
The first enjoyable band of the day was Wolfmother, who really exceeded my expectations. I know they get a lot of shi here in A&I, but they entertained the crowd, and had some amazing jam sections going on. After this I caught Be Your Own Pet on the second stage, who although are fairly bland musically, really got the crowd going. From the moment they started until the last note, they had the crowd in a frenzy, and everyone was quite out of breath by the end. Regrettably, I was actually too tired to see The Futureheads, so I went back the tent for a few cold ones, and re-emerged for the next band.
This next band was the Dirty Pretty Things, who I was looking forward to, due to my huge affection for The Libertines first album. Whilst they didn’t really do anything wrong, I found their set quite boring, and repetitive to listen to. I was however happy, when they included the Libs track ‘I Get Along’ as a set closer. I then watched Feeder from a distance, who again seemed to play fine, I just don’t really like their tunes.
One of the bands of the day, was without a doubt The Streets. I have never really listened to the band enough to call myself a fan, but always enjoyed a few of the songs. However, from the moment Mike Skinner appeared on stage, I knew I was going to have to go out and buy all three albums. Skinner was constantly funny and entertaining to watch, and his crowd interaction was far and away the best of the entire weekend. The set highlight for me was ‘Blinded By The Lights’, as everyone was told to sit on the crowd, before jumping up a crowd as the song reached it’s climatic stage.
Perhaps the biggest crowd of the entire festival was pulled in for The Arctic Monkeys. The band seemed to please the masses, however did nothing particularly special on stage, and was far from spectacular. I enjoyed dancing away to their set, in the same way I casually enjoy their album, but I still don’t get the hype. After the dust had settled and most of the 10 year olds had left after Arctic Monkeys, it was ready for Muse to take the stage. It was now that I learned why they have such a good live reputation. Their light show, combined with a selection of greatest hits, was just breathtaking, and made for most probably my favourite band of the festival. Bellamy’s voice stood up so well, and although the band did descend into some jams, they were in moderation, and always enjoyable. Set highlights included Bliss, which lived up to it’s name, and the single Supermassive Black Hole which still fails to bore me no matter how many times I hear it.
Friday - Friday was supposed to be the weakest day for me, with Franz Ferdinand headlining and Audioslave pulling out I wasn’t particularly excited. Anyway, after waking up late after a heavy night of drinking, I dragged myself over to the main stage to catch Fightstar being bottled. However, to my disappointment the band seem to have accumulated a fan base, and despite a small bottle shower, the band managed to struggle through their set. The morning being a bit of a joke bands-wise, I was ready to listen to some real music; but I didn’t have many options. I went to see a Thrash band called Municipal Waste in one of the tents, they were kind of fun, but despite a few cool riffs, were quite boring on the whole.
The first real incident of the day came under a minute into Panic! At The Disco’s set. During their opening track, the lead singer was struck with a bottle which was propelled from some distance and height. The frontman was actually knocked out for a brief moment, and had a nasty cut near his eye, but he came around to finish the set. This set included a cover of karma Police, which I suppose wasn’t that horrible, but was pretty emotionless and the inclusion of swear words in the song seemed kind of pathetic. After this I went to see Gogol Bordello, who although I haven’t heard much, I have taken a casual interest in over the last few months. The band provided the first amazing performance of the weekend, and I was surprised at how much I had enjoyed the performance. The crowd packed out the 2nd stage, and everyone was having fun dancing along to the songs.
After this, it wasn’t until the evening that the day livened up again. Around about 7pm I went to check out the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, who I had seen once before, and were really fun live. After a pretty dodgy start (really poor track selection to open the gig) they livened up, and Karen O was impressive on stage as they went through some of the hits, including Y Control, and acoustic version of Maps. After this, I rushed over to the 2nd stage to catch the second half of The Vines. I was eager to see the band as they aren’t doing any regular touring anymore, and they seemed pretty tight. I was only really watching from a distance, but they included a cover of Outkasts Miss Jackson which was a real highlight of the day.
I was then faced with my first real clash of the festival. The two bands that I wanted to see were Eagles of Death Metal, and Dizzee Rascal, but although EODM would have been fun, I’m so glad I picked Dizzee. Opening with ‘Just a Rascal’, Dizzee got one of the best receptions of the weekend, and he left everyone in high spirits. He played through most of his hits, as well as including a few new songs, and a remix of a Korn song which went down quite well. The set was closed with Stand Up Tall, which was probably one of the best songs of the weekend.
Not fussed about Franz Ferdinand, I went back to my tent and got blazed, and then went off to catch Bedouin Soundclash on the smallest stage. Bedouin were again really excellent, and everyone seemed to get behind them. They included a cover of Eddie Grant’s ‘Electric Avenue’, and I think they gained a lot of fans of people who were just passing or checking out a few songs. It was such a chilled way to end the night, and although I got to see no big band as a headliner, Dizzee was intense enough to keep me well satisfied with my day.
Saturday - Saturday was an altogether more exciting prospect, as there were many more bands that I had initially intended to see. However, I had actually enjoyed Friday a lot more than I thought I would, and the prospect of watching dull mainstream indie bands on the main stage was becoming less exciting.
Anyway, as the day once again kicked off with a rather dull line-up (Aiden…ugh), I went a long to the small stage to watch a few bands I had never heard of. Whilst I would never have watched these bands had I been on my own, I went along to please this girl who is pretty over enthusiastic about 2 out of 3 of the bands. The first were The Race who had some nice guitar melodies going on, but never really mastered the art of the climax. Second up was The Morning After Girls who were my favourite of the 3. They had a cool Rock and Roll sound going, and some smooth bass lines kept me interested throughout….plus their keyboardist was hawt. The last of the three was The Maccabees, who I had seen before supporting The Strokes, they bored me them, and they bored me again. What made them worse was the rapturous response they received, despite clearly sucking, when the band before received only mild applause. Anyways, after taking more than I could stand, I said goodbye to my friend, and hoped to go and see some real bands.
The first enjoyable band of the day was Wolfmother, who really exceeded my expectations. I know they get a lot of shi here in A&I, but they entertained the crowd, and had some amazing jam sections going on. After this I caught Be Your Own Pet on the second stage, who although are fairly bland musically, really got the crowd going. From the moment they started until the last note, they had the crowd in a frenzy, and everyone was quite out of breath by the end. Regrettably, I was actually too tired to see The Futureheads, so I went back the tent for a few cold ones, and re-emerged for the next band.
This next band was the Dirty Pretty Things, who I was looking forward to, due to my huge affection for The Libertines first album. Whilst they didn’t really do anything wrong, I found their set quite boring, and repetitive to listen to. I was however happy, when they included the Libs track ‘I Get Along’ as a set closer. I then watched Feeder from a distance, who again seemed to play fine, I just don’t really like their tunes.
One of the bands of the day, was without a doubt The Streets. I have never really listened to the band enough to call myself a fan, but always enjoyed a few of the songs. However, from the moment Mike Skinner appeared on stage, I knew I was going to have to go out and buy all three albums. Skinner was constantly funny and entertaining to watch, and his crowd interaction was far and away the best of the entire weekend. The set highlight for me was ‘Blinded By The Lights’, as everyone was told to sit on the crowd, before jumping up a crowd as the song reached it’s climatic stage.
Perhaps the biggest crowd of the entire festival was pulled in for The Arctic Monkeys. The band seemed to please the masses, however did nothing particularly special on stage, and was far from spectacular. I enjoyed dancing away to their set, in the same way I casually enjoy their album, but I still don’t get the hype. After the dust had settled and most of the 10 year olds had left after Arctic Monkeys, it was ready for Muse to take the stage. It was now that I learned why they have such a good live reputation. Their light show, combined with a selection of greatest hits, was just breathtaking, and made for most probably my favourite band of the festival. Bellamy’s voice stood up so well, and although the band did descend into some jams, they were in moderation, and always enjoyable. Set highlights included Bliss, which lived up to it’s name, and the single Supermassive Black Hole which still fails to bore me no matter how many times I hear it.