From: Richard Lee
Message:
Right, not posted for a while so here's a big fuck off
mammoth review for you all! erm, it's not dance
related though.
Went to Reading Festival on Saturday and Sunday, first
time I've been to a festival in a good couple of
years, what a twat, I forgot how much fun they are!
Fave bands in order:
The Libertines, mainly for the fact that I've had both
their albums on constant rotation and become slightly
obsessed with them, it's always good seeing a band
live when you know every one of their songs inside
out, if truth be told they probably could have been
better and it's obviously never gonna be the same
without Pete Doherty but hey, they still sounded tight
and their songs fucking rock!
Supergrass. I've loved this band since '94 but for
one reason or another (usually laziness) I haven't had
the chance to see them live, they were headlining the
Radio 1 Stage on the last day so the atmosphere before
they came on was amazing, everyone was just buzzing to
see them and they certainly didn't disappoint, like
the Libs every tune was a winner, kicking off with
"Lenny" and "Richard III" and not letting up once for
the whole show, they were was just amazing, Gaz
Coombes voice was pitch perfect, they closed with "Sun
Hits The Sky" sending everyone home with a big cheesy
grin on their face. The only one bad thing about
Supergrass was that they clashed with Green Day, ah
well, ya can't have it all can ya.
Franz Ferdinand were a band I knew wouldn't fail to
get crowd going, it was an hour of sharp suits and
twitchy funk, they played a couple of new songs both
which went down a storm, that's the thing I like about
them, their songs just hit you straight away. Tune of
the set was obviously "Take Me Out" which was made
even better by the sun making a full blown appearance
right on cue.
The Streets. Weren't sure how old Mike Skinner would
go down but my gosh, he pulled off a blinder! the
crowd instantly warmed to his geezerish charms and by
"Dry Your Eyes" there wasn't a, ahem, dry eye in the
house, "Don't Mug Yourself" gets my vote though, it
got the crowd pogoing like mad, as did "Fit But You
Know It", the main thing that done it for me though
was Mike Skinners totally relaxed attitude, talking to
the crowd as if they were just a load of mates down
the local, quality!
White Stripes. Not a huge fan of them, but fuck me,
they can half get some noise out of a set of drums and
a guitar!! plus we got to watch them backstage,
daaaahling! :-) It was worth seeing them just to hear
"Seven Nation Army", total carnage! and they done a
cool cover version of "Maps" by the Yeah Yeah Yeah's.
Devendra Barnhart. Stumbled across this guy in the
Carling tent, cookie eccentric acoustic hippy bluesy
business, can't really describe him but he had me
locked for a good hour, I was only trying to find the
toilets as well!
The Stills, caught some of their set and liked it a
lot, might check their album, melodic big indie music
from Canada, erm, crap explanation really!
Von Bondies, another band I've never really checked
but liked a lot, "C'mon C'mon" fucking rocked!!!!
Other highlights:
Getting full backstage business, yeah yeah, it's not
the full festival experience if you can swan off to a
nice bar with clean amenities, but fuck me, have you
smelt the toilets?! or tasted the shitty cold noodles
they sell for about ten quid a pop, I know where I'd
rather be!
Meeting a load of 18 year olds who turned out to be a
much better crack than most of the boring old farts
who were too busy trying to look cool in case someone
spotted them, plus they thought I was 20 which is fine
by me! :-)
Chatting with the drummer from the Libertines, well, I
said "top gig mate" and he said "nice one mate", not
sure if we're best mates or anything though.
No chavs! I didn't spot any scallies or chavs all
weekend, and the general vibe was really cool, didn't
see one bit of trouble.
Decent weather, well, it wasn't brilliant, but it
didn't rain and the sun even come out a few times!!
Low Points:
Missing Razorlight, doh doh doh!!!
Some tosspot couple who thought it was "like, really
wacky and craaazy" to shout in everyones ear through a
rolled up poster, first time they done it I laughed
politely, second time I gave them a look, but the
third time it just had to be "FUCK OFF YOU TWATS", now
I'm not an aggressive man but I was trying to watch
bloody Supergrass!!!
50 Cent getting booed off, now I'm no big fan of 50
Cent, in fact I can't fucking stand his lazy boring
obvious commercial Chav Hop, but there's no need for
that, if you don't like him then go and check out
another stage, I think most people stayed there just
so they could boo and bottle him, fucking twats, if
anyone got booed it should have been Placebo, but they
all seemed to love the whiny american tosser! The
Rasmus also got the same treatment as 50 Cent, they
only lasted six minutes! What I want to know is what
complete fucktard booked these acts?! it's them who
should be getting all the flak not the artists!
Thinking it was going to be really muddy and wearing
my incredibly uncomfortable green wellies, have you
ever tried dancing in them bastards?! wore my
trainers on Sunday though.
Pete Doherty not appearing with the Libs, would have
been something to tell your grandchildren about.
Lack of decent Dance acts, was pretty poor to be
honest, but then it was a rawk festival, if I wanted
four to the floor I could have gone to Creamfields I
guess.
All in all, probably the best weekend I've had all
year, was nice to get out of the clubs and away from
the decks for a while, plus I got my girlfriend to
listen to some proper bands, and she loved it!
Cheers,
Roo
