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User
Soundoffs 5
Album Ratings 945
Objectivity 78%
Last Active 01-27-21 6:11 pm
Joined 05-27-09
Review Comments 2,161
| Reading Festival 2011
Bands i saw at Reading this year, the second largest music fest in rEngland. Pretty standard year roverall, slightly below average line up rbut compensated with better camp site banter and the rquality of top r3 bands on here. | | 1 |  | Muse
Origin of Symmetry
Believe the hype, Muse put on one hell of a fucking awesome show.
Flamethrowers, lasers and a crazy graphic show complemented Matt's
showmanship and Muse's catchy yet often intense songs. Absolutely loved
the little riff interludes between songs and the giant forks propped up on
stage. Made the weekend by playing Origin of Symmetry in it's entirety and
only 3 Resistance tracks. Classics such as Plug in Baby, Citizen Erased,
Stockholm Syndrome and Time is Running out were all incredible.
Unbelievable set. | | 2 |  | The National
High Violet
Suffered from a slight mix issue which meant the bass drum almost
drowned Matt?s vocals and the guitars out completely at times but were
otherwise predictably superb. Had a decent balance of Alligator, Boxer and
High Violet tracks which kept everybody happy, with the performance
peaking in the final two songs Mr November and Terrible Love. Pretty
mesmerizing,. | | 3 |  | Frank Turner
England Keep My Bones
Perhaps my biggest regret of the festival, apart from that litre of vodka that
one night, was not listening to Frank Turner?s new album beforehand.
Managed the promotion to main stage brilliantly and it didn?t affect his
performance one bit with Frank still at his infectious best. | | 4 |  | And So I Watch You From Afar
And So I Watch You From Afar
Listening to this album I have always known it would absolutely shred live
and my God, did ASIWYFA live up to my expectations. Combining crushing
intensity with intricate post-rock parts the crowd inside the smallest tent at
the Festival were left floored. | | 5 |  | Madness
Complete Madness
Madness are one of those bands that everybody knows and everyone can
have a dance and a sing a long to - and dance and sing I did. Suggs was
his stumbling and charismatic self and one couldn?t help but get caught up
in the fun. | | 6 |  | Deftones
Diamond Eyes
Only a pretty small crowd turned out for Deftones on the main stage, and I
couldn?t help thinking the entire experience would have benefited from a
tent atmosphere, but you wouldn?t have known it from the band?s, and
especially Chino?s, performance; he completely owned the stage. Those riffs
man, those riffs. | | 7 |  | Noah and the Whale
Last Night On Earth
Not exactly a Sputnik Favourite but Noah and the Whale put on an
enjoyable show for the packed NME crowd. | | 8 |  | Rise Against
The Sufferer and the Witness
Disappointing performance overall. The mix was too quiet and the front man
lacked energy. | | 9 |  | The Streets
Original Pirate Material
Only caught about half the set because they clashed with Muse and I was
pretty pissed but I remember enjoying myself for tracks I both recognised,
such as Has It Come to this?, Turn the Page and Dry Your Eyes Mate, as
well as those I didn?t. Pretty gutted it proved to be his last ever
performance - I would have loved to see them when I knew more of their
stuff. | | 10 |  | The King Blues
Save the World, Get the Girl
Again only caught part of their set and didn?t recognise any of it, but the
band had great energy and passion. | | 11 |  | Two Door Cinema Club
Tourist History
Surprisingly, I enjoyed these guys immensely; the delicate indie pop was a
joy to listen to in the sunshine. | | 12 | | CockNBullKid
Adulthood
My obligatory random festival find turned out to be one of the best acts I
saw over the weekend. Comparisons to M.I.A in the guide were not really
that accurate, but the gal produced some real feel good soul-pop than
definitely lifted the spirits. Supported Janelle Monae on a recent London gig. | | 13 |  | The Offspring
Americana
Not one of my favourite bands but provided light hearted mosh fodder. | | 14 | | Bands I wish I saw, but didn't
for whatever reason
Mostly clashes, forgot to listen to their albums or alcohol. | | 15 |  | Glassjaw
Worship and Tribute
Patrick Wolf, The Antlers, Interpol, OFWGKTA, Elbow | |
SmurkinGherkin
08.31.11 | Music ain't as good as last year but you win some and lose some. Any one else hit summer festivals this year? | FruityCatOfDoom
08.31.11 | How was Glassjaw? any good? or was daryl shit. | AliW1993
08.31.11 | I went to Leeds, and thought it was much better than last year to be honest. Looks like we saw fairly similar stuff..
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/list.php?memberid=283563 | SmurkinGherkin
08.31.11 | Nah, glassjaw clashed with the National unfortunately :( They seemed pretty okay watching their set on iplayer though.
Nice one Ali...interesting that you thought Deftones sucked and Frank Turner didn't translate well to the big stage. Obviously it wasn't as amazing as the NME tent last year but i didn't come away thinking it hurt his performance. Was it raining when you saw him? :P
And also lol, you saw twice as many bands as me...maybe i should spend less time drinking next time haha | AliW1993
08.31.11 | Well I don't drink, so the whole idea of going to a festival and getting wated has absoloutly no bearing on me - I just go to have fun and watch music.
And yeah it was raining, which did seem to dampen spirits a bit. Don't get me wrong he wasn't bad but I'd seen him twice already this summer and both times he was absoloutly fantastic. He did a 'secret' solo show on the Lock Up Stage at Leeds too (not sure about Reading) which I would have liked to catch, but it would have meant sacrificing a decent spot for Muse.
Deftones were easily the biggest disappointment for me. I thought it might just have been where I was standing but a few others I talked to afterwards were pretty underwhelmed too. I saw the tv coverage from Reading, though, and they looked far better. | clercqie
08.31.11 | Slightly below average lineup? What the hell? | Deviant.
08.31.11 | Deftones are honestly one of those bands that will set the stage on fire one night and then burn out the next. Most of the blame for that falls on Chino's shoulders | AliW1993
08.31.11 | Yeah I actually thought that this year's lineup was far better than last year. | AliW1993
08.31.11 | Hmm I wouldn't bet on it since they only headlined back in 09.
Would be great if they did, though. | SmurkinGherkin
08.31.11 | Don't get me wrong Ali, i feel the exact same way. It was mostly the fact didnt spend any time researching bands that i didn't recognise so my days were a bit empty music wise. Like i had no idea about Letlive, Frankie and the Heartstrings, Pulled Apart From Horses and Warpaint - all of which I would have probably enjoyed a lot.
Although it has to be said that festival + alcohol = fun times.
Frank turner played in bright sunshine so the atmosphere was awesome. I remember someone mentioning about the secret show but i had no idea when it was, but yeah would have been awesome to catch it. Will have to see him again when he tours.
The really sad thing about the Muse set was that the crowed lapped up the Resistance tracks and like you said had no fucking idea what was going on during Citizen Erased and Microcuts n shit.
And Chino was the boy at reading. | SmurkinGherkin
08.31.11 | Really pissed Glasto is cancelled, was so up for going. Idk, last year there was Arcade Fire, Gaslight, Weezer, Phoenix, Streetlight and Queens of the Stone Age...all great great bands.
I would sacrifice a child for Radiohead to play except they would probably only play KoL. | SmurkinGherkin
08.31.11 | Yeah Reading 2010 was my first...had a blast. It's a really good atmosphere for first timers as the vast majority of campers are young with not much festival experience themselves. Don't camp in Yellow or Green though...they turn into utter shit holes, believe me aha.
Want to move onto other festivals next year, gutted Glasto isn't on but might hit Bestival. Line up for Bestival this year is incredible but it's the day i go back to college so it couldn't be done :( | clercqie
08.31.11 | Dudes, you have so many cool festivals in Britain... | AliW1993
08.31.11 | I was going to get volunteer work at Latitude this year, but you had to pay a deposit and I decided that I'd rather spend that money on going to Leeds and not working haha | SmurkinGherkin
08.31.11 | Yea there's a healthy choice, the only trouble is finding people to go with...specially when youre the only one in your friend group that's heard of most the bands you want to see.
Really want to go to NY sometime. You heading into first or second year college? | clercqie
08.31.11 | @ sehguh: No, we have Rock Werchter, Pukkelpop, Dranouter, Dour festival and Tomorrowland :p | SmurkinGherkin
08.31.11 | Yeah Latitude is another...they had the National headlining last year i believe. Saving the volunteering work for when i'm a poor unemployed uni student aha. Good thing about festivals in Englalnd is that England is a tiny country and it doesn't take long to get to any of them. | SmurkinGherkin
08.31.11 | Some mad shit went down at Pukkelpop this year, pretty terrible.
Yeah went on a 10 day trip to Ghana with my college in June...cost like £1400 in total but it was so worth it. Just get a supermarket job and youre sorted really. Gotta take these opportunities while you still can. |
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