The Reading Festival remains a shining light amongst the glut of summer festivals. Whilst Glastonbury seems to be less about the music as each year passes (as well as nigh on impossible to get a ticket for) and the V festival books Dido and Faithless and believes that to be acceptable (it’s not, ever), Reading is the music lovers festival. Reading may not be the prettiest venue (it’s in the middle of an industrial estate) and by the Sunday smells like the bowels of Hell but it sports a musical bill that reads as a veritable who’s who of the leading lights in today’s alternative music scene. Sure the main stage had an inevitable look about it but this was more than made up for by the line ups on the other stages.
As we arrive on the site on Friday morning it has been raining solidly for days and the ground underfoot is underneath several layers of water and mud. Such minor set backs won’t stop us however as we march across the main arena laughing callously at those poor fools who turned up with only a pair of Converse to their name and head straight for the Radio 1 tent to catch THE OPEN. And what a way to kick off the festival it is too. Their epic songs banish all thoughts of mud and rain and we are lost in their swirling sound. With hints of early Verve (pre The) and a climax that veers straight into Spiritualized territory with it’s thrashing chords and walls of guitar we are blown away. It’s about time we checked out their debut album on this evidence.
IKARA COLT fare less well. Initially their super charged garage rock bodes well. Chuck in some sleazy electronic pulses and we prepare ourselves for take off. Unfortunately they don’t quite deliver on their early promise and soon their unrelenting grind and churn wears us down and they come across too heavily indebted to the Stooges, all be it a hyper active Stooges, to really impress.
With the rain finally abating we find ourselves in a mid afternoon lull. At a loss for anyone that set’s the old heart racing we wander into see THE WILDHEARTS and find ourselves surrounded by every bloke over 30 on the site. Bugged by technical difficulties from the start doesn’t stop Ginger and co producing a set that keeps the faithful singing from start to finish. ‘I’ve only got one guitar left that works’ states a pissed off yet still smiling Ginger, ‘I’ve waited ten years to play Reading and I ain’t going to walk away now’ he adds to heartfelt cheers. And on they plough, knocking out their unique version of hard rock crossed with classy pop hooks. Whilst they fail to float W&H’s boat we can’t help but doff our caps to their staying power, not just today but in general. ‘Have you heard, we’re hip again’ a disbelieving Ginger notes. Stranger things have happened.
To be hip however can also be a curse. Just ask HUNDRED REASONS. A couple of years ago, around the time of the release of ‘Ideas above our Station’, Hundred Reasons were the emo band that were about cross over to mass acclaim. What a difference a couple of years make. With their second album bombing badly they have been unceremoniously dropped by their record company. Hence the mock ‘For sale’ advert on their backdrop on the main stage. With the wind blowing the sound all around the field it all becomes too much and after the second song both guitarists smash their guitars into smithereens. An act slightly diluted when a couple of roadies wander on with replacements for them both. Rock ‘n’ roll. If this is the sorry state of the top British emo band then hopefully we are hearing the death knell of one of musics most irritating genres. We can but hope.
Early evening and we find ourselves in the dance tent eagerly awaiting the arrival of LCD SOUNDSYSTEM. And we wait, and wait and then wait some more. In fact we wait 40 minutes after their allotted start time whilst James Murphy and crew sod about with banks and banks of electronic equipment. All the time this is happening The Hives are strutting their stuff on the main stage and our feet are getting itchy. When LCD Soundsystem finally launch into ‘Beat Connection’ everything is in place, the hammering bass lines, the gradual build to a frenzy and finally James Murphy’s dry vocals but the curious in the tent are unmoved. After airing a new song and then ripping through ‘Give it Up’ we admit defeat. It’s not happening for LCD today and we’d rather cling to their venue razing performance at the Scala earlier this year.
A snap decision has us legging it over to the main stage to catch the end of THE HIVES just in time for ‘Supply and Demand’, ‘AKA Idiot’, ‘See Through Head’ and ‘Hate to Say I Told You So’. Their stage show holds little surprise these days but still has the ability to blow most other bands away. With a surprisingly good new album to back up their strutting moves you can’t help breaking into a wry smile as Howlin’ Pele finishes a song with ‘Thank you, or should I say, you’re welcome’. Their sound is a bit thin in such an open environment but you know they will slay the Brixton Academy when they next venture to these shores. You know you love the Hives.
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Although The Hives perked up our mid afternoon lull, Reading still hasn’t taken off for us yet. Must be about time for !!!(CHK CHK CHK) then. Appearing in the dance tent on a stage twice as big as the last time we saw them would phase many a band cruelly wrenched from their natural environment. LCD had tried and failed but !!! have no such concerns. Opening with ‘Pardon my Freedom’ and following it up with ‘Hello, is This Thing on?’ is an audacious move that pays dividends. Nic Offer has transformed himself into a front man extraordinaire, careering from one side of the stage to the other, dancing like he has electrodes strapped to his nads and generally acting like the star we always knew he could be. Musically !!! get better and better, the whole tent is dancing like they’ve been slipping pure MDMA into the lager. ‘Shit, Scheisse, Merde Pt 2’ brings the tempo down to a skank before ‘Me and Guliani Down by the Schoolyard (A True Story)’ blows us all away. As the hypnotic guitar flies across the funkiest of beats the curious and the converted are as one kicking mud across the tent as though dance acts stealing the show at the most rock of rock festivals is utterly natural. !!! didn’t just drag us out of our mid afternoon apathy, they leave us in a state of near delirium.
After being rogered senseless by !!! we scout around for our post coital jazz fag and stumble into the Radio 1 stage and settle upon the SUPER FURRY ANIMALS. This is the ticket we think, skunked up space rock is just what the doctor ordered. They draw an unfeasibly large crowd (well the alternative is the Offspring on the main stage) and things get off to a promising start with a souped up ‘Rings around the World’. As the set pans out though things begin to meander broken by the occasional highlight such as ‘Golden Retriever’. The Super Furries continue to be an acquired taste we’ve yet to acquire and although we hear later they suffered from technical difficulties, particularly in respect of the visuals they had lined up, it’s still a lacklustre performance. Goldie Lookin’ Chain arrive and run through one of their ‘comedy’ raps which amounts to a bunch of badly dressed twats bouncing up and down and shouting incoherently. No stop, I fear for my sides. ‘The Man don’t give a Fuck’ is dusted down and given an airing but it’s all too late to prevent a decidedly underwhelming appearance.
The tent then empties drastically before GRAHAM COXON’s set as the masses head to the main stage to watch the Darkness. W&H somehow resisit the temptation to watch a 40 year old man in a catsuit attempt to make one album stretch over 90 minutes in favour of catching up with one of the best guitarists and songwriters this country has produced.
The last time we caught up with Graham Coxon live was one of his first appearances since the split from Blur and he made a nervous start before turning in a blinding performance. No such early jitters this time as we witness a man who has fallen back in love with his craft.
The majority of the set is pulled from ‘Happiness in Magazines’ with ‘Bitter Sweet Bundle of Misery’ putting in an early appearance and ‘Spectacular’ living up to it’s title. When Graham and his band stretch themselves, as they do during ‘Girl Done Gone’, it makes for exhilarating listening. His set is interrupted by what we must admit is a truly spectacular fireworks display and it will remain an abiding memory of Reading watching this display with Graham Coxon moaning about the ‘facking fireworks’ behind me. With a home run that includes ‘That’s When I Reach for my Revolver’ and ‘Freakin’ Out’ the grin across his face is there for all to see. A triumphant finish to a hugely enjoyable day.
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