Go to Reading Festival

We’ve been lucky with the weather for the past few years but this year it was really windy, pretty cold and occasionally wet.

I got injured on Saturday. I got caught up in the horrendous crush after the Prodigy on Saturday night – people were literally going in all directions and there were frightening crowd surges. I thought I may go under at a couple of points but managed somehow to stay on my feet. Unfortunately my crutches were caught by the crowd and pulled this way and that – one crutch even lost the ferrule that is stuck tightly on the end. I came out nearly 20 minutes later feeling really shaken and felt I may have pulled some muscles in my back or arms so I went back to my tent and laid down for the rest of the evening’s shows and got up when people started returning at the end of the night. Alcoholic muscle relaxants were then consumed.

There was an amazing thing that happened in that crowd of tens of thousands – when I was struggling to stay where I was (ie upright and vaguely moving in the direction I wanted) – a security guard appeared out of nowhere and managed to get me out to the disabled exit that I was headed to. I had taken nearly 15 minutes to get about 50m from where I started but he got me the final 50m in just a few minutes more – people were actually letting us through fairly easily whereas previously we had both struggled in the crowd. I can’t imagine just how low the chances of him passing by me were but boy was I really happy to see him.

The next morning my right shoulder was feeling a bit tender and during the day got stiffer and stiffer. Once I couldn’t lift my arm enough to drink my can of Kopparberg (again as an attempt for muscle relaxation) I decided that perhaps I should seek medical attention and went to the Festival Medical tent and saw a triage nurse quickly who referred me to the physio. Unfortunately there was quite a wait with others injured the night before (but the night before the medical tent was apparently chocka full of injuries). I got some good advice and exercises from her for a shoulder wrench (nothing torn) on the same side as the crutch with the missing ferrule – possibly related as it takes some force to pull one of those off? It did mean no more alcohol (because of painkillers), mostly resting the arm and only using one crutch for the rest of the weekend which really hampered carrying anything like food! It also meant missing one band when I was in the medical tent that I really was looking forward to – Broken Records. Hope to see them some other time.

I saw:

Friday

1. Sonic Boom Six – hadn’t heard them before but they were good live
2. Manchester Orchestra – really liked this set
3. The Virgins – nah
4. The Flatliners – nah
5. Tim Minchin – slightly self-indulgent set but not badly so – he always is fun live
6. Streetlight Manifesto – good set
7. The Aggrolites – really great bouncing reggae set that I loved
8. Leftover Crack – nah
9. Bouncing Souls – OK but not amazing as I’d hoped
10. Fall Out Boy – sound was bad as the wind was strong and in the wrong direction (ie towards the stage)
11. Placebo – ditto they also looked good on stage
12. Jamie T – better than I expected (but my expectations were low)
13. Faith No More – sorry guys you were disappointing :(

Saturday (the best day of music for me)

1. Mariachi El Bronx – a great way to start the day, very uplifting and novel for Reading to have this style of music
2. Delphic – I quite liked them but the howling wind was making me so cold I couldn’t stay the whole set
3. Detroit Social Club – a good set (away from the wind) and look forward to seeing more of them in the future
4. Snuff – what more can I say but this was the band I was most excited about seeing, punk-style covers galore including Florence & the Machines and the BBC Cricket theme tune! They didn’t disappoint and got the crowd going well too
5. Them Crooked Vultures – a SECRET set that stole the show this weekend – the hard rock super-group line-up included Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones and Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age and they rocked! Glad I heard the rumour :)
6. Mad Caddies – they put on a great show and got the punk stage more lively than any other band I saw – always a great show and they didn’t disappoint
7. White Lies – oh this set was really great and I would have been happy if it went on longer
8. The Prodigy – was curious and the set was OK but I’m not really into them too much (then got injured – see above)

1. Bear Hands – didn’t think they were bad at the time but cannot remember at all what they sounded like – unmemorable :(
2. Titus Andronicus – nah
3. Jeffrey Lewis “Watchmen” lecture – really interesting and given much food for thought
4. The Living End – nah
5. Frank Turner – he put on a great show and the set really worked
6. Vampire Weekend – great set and it worked on the main stage
7. The Gaslight Anthem – nah
8. White Denim – OK
9. The Rumble Strips – really good show
10. AFI – nah
11. Lostprophets – a good but not great show but a rocking way to end the weekend

The sound was pretty rubbish all weekend on the main stage which was a shame.
Sound in the tents was much better.

I saw:

Friday

1. Future of the Left – nah
2. Pete and the Pirates – good live set and songs – played a much bigger tent than last year
3. John Cooper Clark – punk poet- not amazing but interesting
4. These New Puritans – nah
5. Serj Tankian – interesting set but poor sound didn’t help his voice get across well
6. Biffy Clyro – always great live – they rocked again :)
7. Jack Penate – just needed to find somewhere to eat but set was better than I expected
8. The Fratellis – the sound was poor but we still sang and danced – yay :)
9. Vampire Weekend – my best band of the weekend – I want to see/hear more from this lot
10. Queens of the Stone Age – not bad live set – esp the version of No One Knows
11. Pennywise – didn’t enjoy this much – the listing was wrong and I thought I would be seeing Less Than Jake but stayed anyway
12. Less Than Jake – good set and reasonable crowd despite clashing with Rage Against the Machine

Saturday

1. The Automatic – great set with singalong tunes – didn’t disappoint
2. British Sea Power – how did this band get onto the main stage? – they were boring but would have probably done better in a tent
3. Fucked Up – quite good punk but unnecessary nudity from the singer (please no more fat hairy man bum) :(
4. The Ting Tings – OK
5. Editors – blinding set despite poor sound
6. Black Kids – OK
7. The Raconteurs – OK but not as good as expected
8. Bullet For My Valentine – cheesy metal set which I couldn’t take seriously – good pyros though
9. Manic Street Preachers – OK
10. Elliot Minor – nah (unless you’re 15 years old)

1. Beans on Toast – musical comedy – OK
2. Henry Rollins (spoken word) – one hour wasn’t enough
3. Lightspeed Champion – nah
4. Dropkick Murphys – OK
5. Emmy the Great – she’s great
6. Feeder – nah
7. The Rascals – they rocked
8. Cage the Elephant – best ‘heard 1 song on the radio and wanted to hear more’ band of the weekend – I want to buy the CD now, oh yeah need more of this
9. Tenacious D – a good show – as expected – with a great Who cover
10. Metallica – good fireworks at the end but some of the set was so pedestrian that I fell asleep watching them

I saw:

Friday

1. Gogol Bordello – fun and bouncy just like last year
2. Gossip – nah
3. Tim Minchin – great comedic musician (want to see again live)
4. The Enemy – nah
5. Alberta Cross – nah
6. Reverend and the Makers – best ‘heard 1 song on the radio and wanted to hear more’ band of the weekend – I want to buy the CD now, oh yeah need more of this
7. Mad Caddies – always great live
8. Maximo Park – OK
9. Interpol – didn’t suit the big stage unfortunately – would have been much better off headlining the main tent
10. Albert Hammond Jr – nice end to the day

Saturday

1. Pete and the Pirates – great new upcoming band – good live set and songs
2. Paramore – great new band whose young singer interacted well with the main stage crowd
3. The Dead 60s – not the best idea to wear black against an all black background but a good show and they played some of their more dubby numbers
4. Eagles of Death Metal – OK
5. Mute Math – best completely unknown (to me) band of the weekend – OMG awesome live – must see them live again then decide whether to buy the CD
6. Nine Black Alps – nah
7. The Young Knives – fantastic music and a great show with quirky interactions – seen this band before and wasn’t disappointed YAY they lived up to my high expectations
8. Pigeon Detectives – nah
9. Panic! at the Disco – OK but nothing special
10. Arcade Fire – best band of the weekend who really got the main stage crowd going
11. Red Hot Chili Peppers – most disappointing set of the weekend by a long, long way – just 5 real songs in 2 hours (headliners normally only get 90 mins) – too much self-indulgent widdling – think they only played Can’t Stop, Californication, By The Way, Dani California and Give It Away – lost so much respect for this band L and Antony Keidis has cut his hair short again

1. Hadouken! – OKish
2. Billy Talent – strange the singer even talks/shouts in a squeaky way!
3. New Young Pony Club – nah
4. Operator Please – nah
5. The Casualties – good punk
6. Fall Out Boy – OK
7. Devendra Bernhart – oh no never again
8. LostProphets – they get better each time I see them
9. Charlotte Hatherley – OK
10. Gallows – great punk will be big – singer was tattooed live on stage
11. Turbonegro – more melodic than I thought they would be and they started with the theme tune to Wild Boys
12. New Found Glory – good set and they interacted well with the crowd

Can’t wait.
Have ordered luminous guy ropes this year to hopefully help people not trip over them and fall into our tent.

This is my hubby’s 22nd Reading festival and I’ve been going periodically since 1991 (and every year for the last 5 years).

Sunburn or mud – which will it be?

They went on sale today and we got a pair.
Still some left if you’re interested…

Reading Festival #22 for hubby!

Reading 2006

I saw:

Friday

1. Send More Paramedics – best (and only) Zombiecore band of the weekend with a punk/thrash metal hybrid so powerful they blew the entire stage’s power system – lights too!
2. The Long Blondes – nah
3. Guillemots – best ‘heard 1 song on the radio and wanted to hear more’ band of the weekend – I want to buy the CD now
4. Gogol Bordello – fun and bouncy
5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – nah
6. Kaiser Chiefs – OK
7. Franz Ferdinand – best set design of the weekend and good crowd pleasing bouncy indie pop

Saturday

1. Flogging Molly – energetic folk punk set
2. Wolfmother – sound not as good as on CD – disappointing but not the band’s fault
3. Rumble Strips – best completely unknown (to me) band of the weekend – OMG awesome – must check them out further
4. Tilly and the Wall – a tapdancer rather than a drummer! interesting
5. GoodBooks – nah
6. The Automatic – good set and they interacted well with the crowd – ‘What’s that coming over the hill? it’s a monster, it’s a monster’
7. Dirty Pretty Things – OK
8. Flogging Molly – yes they played again on a different stage and were even more drunk than for their 1st set!
9. Artic Monkeys – overrated and still inexperienced and should have been lower down the bill or in a tent but some good tunes
10. Muse – when they stopped for the encore I looked at my watch – 90 mins gone felt like just 30 mins and I wanted more, a lot more! Great musicians and fantastic music

1. The Dresden Dolls – most unusual and wonderful band of the weekend – just keyboard and piano playing fantastic tunes – didn’t play my fave tho – boo ;)
2. Boy Kill Boy – good indie pop
3. The Kooks – crowd pleaser, good tunes
4. Placebo (1 song only) – grow your hair back Brian, please
5. Hot Chip – most surprising band of the weekend – saw them years ago and didn’t like them but the set was great and the music is much better too
6. Animal Collective – nah

I can’t wait and I’m sure a little rain won’t do me any harm ;)

We love it :)
He’s still a rock monster.

I haven’t been every year due to a long-term illness and I didn’t start going quite as early as him – I’m a few years younger – but I’m still quite a veteran.

I had an AAA pass in 1993 and spent a lot of time backstage – the facilities, and toilets especially, are so much better.

MTV even interviewed me and a mate, Tom, backstage. Frank & Walters (headlining the tent) got bored with their interview and walked over to us as we looked more interesting (I had purple dreads and Tom had pink dreads). We’d never met them before. MTV waited until we’d finished our little chat then came to find out who the hell we were! Bet that ended up on the cutting room floor quickly.

This year is also my brothers first ever Reading Festival. He’s not that young so has very little excuse for not going before!