I do hope you’re reading this either Monday evening after a
proper meal and extremely thorough shower or on some weak Wi-Fi link, huddled
with friends around reading this on some tiny electronic screen in the middle
of swamped field some time between breaks of the amazing bands you’re
seeing…because hopefully most of you are at Reading…or Leeds…but preferably
Reading this weekend. Getting down and dirty with the likes of Mumford &
Sons, Metallica and The Libertines. If not for various reasons, such as lack of
funding, can’t get the time off work, jail sentence isn’t through yet…I’m here
to bring a brief insight to the Festival.
This is my first time heading to the festival after giving
to a friends nagging…it’s taken her four years to drag me down there and finally
managed to scrape the money and time off of work to venture down to Reading. In
fact it’s the first festival I’ve been to as a paying customer…so not including
The Great Escape Festival I volunteered for a few months ago. However, I could
only purchase a single day ticket as I couldn’t afford to take the whole
weekend off of work…can I get an awww? Come on let me hear it…come on…there it
is…hey I don’t need your sympathy! As I was only staying for the one day I also
wimped out and booked a hotel…so I haven’t exactly received a full festival
experience…shhh stop judging. One what’s the point of camping for one day, can
you even camp for a single night? And two… I like my comforts of a bed and
shower.
Moving swiftly on…let me lay down a brief…and I mean history
of the festival this isn’t a history lecture after all…no ones got time to get
the black boards and chalk out to draw you a pretty little timeline. Now
Reading actually started as a Jazz and Blues festival called National Jazz
Festival…creative I know…anyways…this started out in Richmond…in the mid 60’s
bands such as The Who and Rolling Stones increased so much that it overtook the
previous genre of the festival. Due to noise complaints the events department
had to shift the place of which it would take place…long story short it reached
Reading in 1971 and became one of the most globally acclaimed festivals,
bringing £16million to Reading’s economy in 2009…£16million! In three days!
I travelled down on the Thursday so that I could
settle into my hotel, scout the area and get a decent night’s sleep before
facing whatever antics the festival would throw at me. Coming down on the train
my carriage continuously picked up hitchhikers of all ages being weighted down
by bags twice their size, tents and various Sainsbury’s' and Tesco’s bags
filled with the cheapest alcohol they could find. Speaking of alcohol…pretty
sure I was the only one not drinking in this carriage, not because I don’t
drink…. simply because my own bottles of wine and cider were at the bottom of
my bag…unreachable. Now this carriage because so full that we were more like
sardines in a tin rather than passengers heading to a mind blowing weekend.
Let’s skip to the festival itself shall we? As much as my
mindless rambling is entertaining I know your sole interest is in what I have
to say about the Friday line up. Ya know what they say? Give the people what
they want and all that jazz.
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| Site Map from readingfestival.com |
One thing I was instantly aware of was how close everything
was, my hotel was in the town centre, 10 minute walk from the station and only 20
from the festival itself. However, for the lazier goers out there was a
Festival bus that continuously ran between Reading Festival, Reading Station
and Friar Street (where my hotel was as well as Sainsbury’s that many campers
were venturing to stock up on booze and baby wipes for that make shift shower).
As a day ticket holder we were recommended to get to the festival for 9:30 am,
and that’s exactly what my lovely friend and I did. The security is insane
there, but demonstrates excellently how professional this event is. First of
all we had to go through the Green Day Ticket Holder Entrance...if you’re
anything like us you’ll be thinking Green Day? The band? They were playing this
year? Not quite, the festival is colour coded, this section was Green and just
happened to be where Day Ticketers such as myself had to go, but being huge
Green Day fans this tickled our tired funny bones.
The organisation at this place was insane…we were into the
waiting area in less than 15 minutes…bags checked, wristband exchange the whole
shabang. Now we had 2 hours to wait until being let into the arena, so I’ll
skip that time for you, we were let in at 11:30, and in that time an orderly
queue had transformed into a impatient cohort of drunk (yes people start
drinking early here!) yet relatively calm crowd of music lovers. To top it all some
girl fainted in it…before getting into the music…hate to be her…anyway after
another bag check we were finally in the sacred grounds of Reading Festival. I
was immediately struck by how small the actual arena is, I mean everything…by
everything I mean dozens of refreshment venders, 8 stages and merch stands… in
there fits comfortably, but I’ve always been under the impression that it was
gigantic! After that was how diverse the people there was, from Indie kids to
metal heads…from singles to families (note to families who take their 7 year
old kids to things like this…parenting…you’re doing it right!)
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| Click to enlarge...if you're interested that is... |
Now for the bit you’re all waiting for with bated breath…the
bands themselves…
<-- So here’s how my day panned out
After being let in at 11:30 and not having to meet a group
of friends who were camping like professionals until 12:45 we had some time to
kill. With this time we explored a few of the stalls, bought merch early so we
would know exactly how much we’d have left for alcohol…I mean…well…think of
something more responsible to fill that gap…anyways we also fleeted in and out
of a few stage tents to have a curious nose about at the earlier playing bands
who had the task of waking up a crowd caught between hung-over state and
drinking through it.
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| http://www.andrewoneill.co.uk |
One of the acts that particularly made a prominent mark in
my mind was Andrew O’Neill (an up and
coming comedian) and his History of
Heavy Metal. The first thing that drew our attention was that everyone was
sitting down in front of this band that looked extremely heavy metal, with the
leather and studs and long hair. So we stuck around until we unfortunately had
to leave due to earlier planned commitments. But I do wish I had the time to
stay and watch it all. This man wasn’t just a musician, but an entertainer, a
hybrid that is becoming increasingly rare now days. His method of educating his
crowd in a humour, musical manner was intriguing and highly amuses. For
instance he was say the genre, the bands and the time and play fragments of
songs to illustrate how vocals or musical integrity differentiated. Also stating
how all metal genres today derive from heavy metal of the 70’s and 80’s, which
then divided into a main 5, then the 21st Century brought forth
literally hundred of sub-sub genres, from Black Metal to “Whatever the f**k
Cradle of Filth are doing today”. With witty, tongue-in-cheek humour and
impersonations in between. However it wasn’t done in a manner that was heavy or
too much for that early! Highly
recommend you checking this guy out!
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| http://www.panicatthedisco.com |
Next act worth mentioning was Panic! At The Disco, not only is this a band that’s been with me
since my early teen years but they are also one of those must see bands if you
have the opportunity to do so, whether you know 1 song or their whole
repertoire. The first thing you can’t help but to notice is Brendon Urie’s
golden microphone and sparkling silver jacket. This is a band made to perform,
all dressed in suits they are there to entertain and give a show as well as
provide absolutely amazing music! Urie’s voice is phenomenal, I never realised
how incredible it truly is until this show, a highly talented vocalist, pianist
and performer. His entertaining performance utilised a key aspect that defines
a truly good artist and that is audience participation, something he instantly
nailed. What’s more, knowing fully well that a festival audience is only full
of a handful of fans he instantly won everyone else’s hearts with a cover of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, as well as mixing appropriately old songs with
the new.
Set List (provided by Setlist.com):
- Vegas Lights
- Time to Dance
- The Ballad of Mona Lisa
- Girls/Girls/Boys
- Ready To Do (Get Me Out of My Mind)
- Nicotine
- Hallelujah
- Miss Jackson
- Nine in the Afternoon
- Bohemian Rhapsody
- This is Gospel
- I Write Sins Not Tragedies
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| http://alltimelow.com |
Another band I was there for was All Time Low, a band I’ve been a fan of since day one. As Alex
announced this is their 4th time playing Reading and Leeds Festival,
this combined with their constant touring throughout the years the band are
really starting to become true performers. Now when I saw them back in 2013
supporting Green Day they weren’t
exactly great with the crowd, luckily there was some of their own fans there,
but I personal thought that they we playing a game they weren’t ready for. But
two years later it is evident they are ready for crowds of that magnitude as
they managed to captivate and entertain the crowd gathered at Main Stage as
4:55 PM. Something I noticed, whether it took touring with Green Day to illustrate how vital this is, but Alex seems to take
more control as a frontman now, weaving in appropriate audience participation
techniques. A key moment in today set was Alex collected roughly 10 willing
volunteers to help sing Time-Bomb then
losing them…having to start the song as they were taking too long to come up,
but luckily his new recruits turned up shortly after the song began.
Set List (provided by Setlist.com):
- Satellite
- Lost in the Stereo
- Stella
- Runaways
- Weightless
- Missing You
- Kids in the Dark
- A Love like War
- Time-Bomb
- Something's Gotta Give
- Dear Maria, Count Me In
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| http://www.thejacques.co.uk |
Who here remembers when I worked on The Great Escape
Festival? And I posted a little entry about some of the bands I was introduced
to whilst there? Well for all of you who have terrible memories, or who didn’t
bother reading it I spoke about a band called The Jacques I was happy to see that they have progressed to playing
on the BBC Introducing Stage here at
Reading. Upon watching their performance it is evident that they are taking
their live shows seriously, thinking a lot more about their attire (matching
gold skinny trousers) and performance in general as they have improved in so
many aspects. I mean they were good before, but now they are an even stronger
unit, a band that I will continue to keep tabs on as they move up the
popularity ladder. Their stage chemistry was unquestionable; they managed to
captivate their new audience without effort, leaving them with the thirst for
more. Make sure to keep an eye on this
band because I guaranty they are going places.
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| http://www.peaceforeverever.co.uk |
So I had a few hours to wander around whilst I waited for my
next pivotal band to emerge onto their stage, so I went to random tent stages
for a little mosey around. In the NME Tent I stumbled on Peace, they had just finished playing
on the BBC Introducing Stage as the
Secret Act of the day…I say just finished…they played around 2ish then…but you
get what I meant! Anyways, a friend of mine always bangs on about how I should
listen to this band, so I gave them a quick listen and honestly didn’t think an
exceptional lot about them, they were okay but nothing I was exactly jumping at
the gun about. But watching them live has changed my opinion about them. Their
show was remarkable. They crowd were completely immersed in what the band had
to offer. It was truly thrilling, and I was highly impressed with the performance.
I found myself staying for the entire set even though I didn’t plan on it; I
even danced for a most of it…well…gracefully swayed…
Set List (provided by Setlist.com):
- I'm a Girl
- Bloodshake
- Perfect Skin
- Lost On Me
- Follow Baby
- Lovesick
- Gen Strange
- California Daze
- Wraith
- World Pleasure
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| http://www.simpleplan.com/boom |
Now…the band I bought my ticket for. Simple Plan.
This band defines my adolescence. A band that bring back
good memories. And how I over came some of the bad ones. I’ve been waiting to
see them since I was about 12 years old, but something always came up, whether
it was money or exams. Either way I can safely say that they were worth the
wait. This band has been together for something like 15 years now. Never had a
dramatic break up, an on and off relationship that put Ross and Rachael to
shame like most bands they rose through the ranks with. Still with ALL the
original line up. They chose some absolutely amazing songs to perform, ranging
right across their four albums. A key song they decided to grace the crowd with
was Jetlag which features Natasha Bedingfield, brilliantly Pierre
got the crowd to sing her parts, immediately introducing audience
participation, as well as making me extremely aware how the band utilises
harmonies in their songs. Sorry the inner music nerd being unleashed there, let
me just put her chain back on. Okay so where was I? Oh yeah, they played
classics such as Shut Up and I’m Just a Kid (in which my friend and I
looked at each other with Cheshire cat grins remembering certain parts of how
the foundations of our friendship was created) to literally new songs, for
instance BOOM who’s video was
released at 5am that morning, and Summer
Paradise (which included countless amount of giant beach balls being tossed
about the crowd). An absolute breath-taking and pivotal moment for the entire
audience was the final song Perfect, in
which the whole tent lit up with mobile phones and lighters. Such an emotional
moment brought tears to my eyes. Rekindling my love for this band. This was my
favourite moment of the entire day. A band that will forever be in my heart.
Right I’ll stop before I get too emotional over this.
Here's their set list (no particular order though unfortunately but to the best of my recollection)
- Jet Lag
- Welcome to My Life
- Shut Up
- Jump
- Boom
- I'd Do Anything
- The Worst Day Ever
- Can't Keep My Hands Off You
- I'm Just A Kid
- Loser of the Year
- Summer Paradise
- Perfect (definitely last song)
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| http://www.mumfordandsons.com |
I kinda
have to mention the next band as they were the headliner for Friday’s festival
date, and that’s Mumford & Sons. Now I’m not a great fan of this band, but
they were a must see for the day. The ambiance for the entire thing was extremely
chilled, people were either locked in a romantic embrace with lovers or doing their
best Irish/folk dance impressions. It
was clear that everyone there was having a good time…as well as being extremely
drunk…but let’s be honest everyone has been drunk since Wednesday night from
when the first campers arrived to the fields.
Moving swiftly on…again…overall I was amazed with the
festival, from the professional mannerisms of the event to the vast selection
of bands that were there. But would I go again? Hell yeah I would! But would I
camp? Hmmm…I have a few months before I have to make that decision. Although
there is an excellent volunteering programme that I might consider as another
friend of mine (I know I have several friends what is this?!) did, which sounds
like an opportunity that might be worth taking…although there is a chance I’d
miss vital bands…and this is me…I’d miss every band I’d want to see…hmmm…we’ll
see, we’ll see.
Here's a little playlist I created, involving ALL the bands I saw whilst on my Reading adventures, you never know you might find your next favourite band in there so give it a gander (note their in order of appearance on the schedule at the top...OCD coming into play?).
I can see why my friend bangs on about Reading all the
time…I mean as soon as she gets back it’s “Reading this…” and “Reading that….”
For 12 straight months. To the extent you’d do ANYTHING to shut her up! I only
went for a day and I’m already having trouble trying not to talk about it every
single second. I’m gutted that I’ll be missing Baby Metal and Metallica on
Saturday’s line up, but hey I guess I have to look at the brighter side of
thing.
Oh and to top it all I got slightly sunburnt, everyone knows
that England is infamous for its constant rain, especially the torrential
seasons e.g. every single festival date. But the sun graced us with its
presence today.
Now my creeps, I have to end it there, apologises for not
talking about every band I saw in detail, but ya know…I do have a life…well
kinda…okay not very much…but I can’t spend all my time chit chatting to you
folks now can I? …Don’t answer that question!
Until next time, unpleasant dreams.
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