Here we go good people a few festival pictures taken with my Nokia. This is post 1 of 3. I hope you enjoy 🙂
Reading Festival 2011 – Day 2 – Saturday 27th August August 28, 2011
Hello again people and here is the dispatch from the muddy fields of the Reading festival after day 2. Firstly I have to mention a rather funny comment I made on the way to the main arena today. Which strangely enough for me was said completely innocently. My feet were sticking in the mud quite a lot so I said; “If this mud gets any more sticky my boots will be sucked off”. It made Nick and me laugh and if you’re not laughing then maybe you had to be there or you have a much cleaner mind than ours. Or maybe you’re just too mature!
We only caught Funeral Party’s last song in the NME/ Radio 1 tent they sounded pretty good though. Yuck were in the NME/ Radio 1 tent next and were recommended by my friend John Hayhurst who is usually at the Leeds festival but unfortunately can’t make it this year. It was a bloody good tip as it happens! I would describe them as shoegazers with a young Bob Dylan lookalike as a singer. But a great band I will be downloading their album on Monday night. Oh and I almost forgot also the drummer looked like my old boss Bazza Hutton with added afro. Castrovalva were on the BBC Introducing stage, we didn’t see much of them but they definitely need to look at their audience more.
Next was our first visit to the Main Stage, where we spent most of the day eventually. Joined by a supporting cast of really nice and mad in a nice way people from all over the world; South Africa, Brazil and Brighton at least. It was hard to refuse the offer of a free beer from the South African blokes and even shhhhh…… whisper it; a small toke on one of their spliffs! The Pigeon Detectives were on for me they are  just bland identikit indie pop. Although Nick wouldn’t agree with that. In their favour they are very hardworking. Seasick Steve was next up on the Main Stage. What can I say? Well for starters he is a supreme talent with way more charisma and stage presence than Liam Gallagher even when sat down. Amazingly he was joined on stage for most of his set by none other than John Paul Jones off of Led Zeppelin. We saw a couple from Tribes who were pretty good. we then paid our daily visit to the comedy tent to see Michael Fabbri who was very filthy and very funny.
Madness or should that be Mudness (thanks for that one Nick) were next on the Main Stage. When I first read that they were on the bill some months ago I wondered whether they would be able to really pull it off. Well I am happy to report that they did in bucketloads. This was probably the best ever loved up party vibe I have ever seen in 20 odd years of going to this festival at Reading. It even included a mosh conga. Jimmy Eat World were next; they were very good but who could have followed Madness? The National were an excellent chilled out close to the afternoon session and a good precursor to Pulp. If the members of the Doors were born in the 80’s they may have sounded like the National and I will have to download some of their stuff soon too.
Pulp, who were sharing top billing at the Festival with the Strokes were next on the Main Stage; from the simply stated laser phrase show at the start to the brilliant and perfect closer “Common People” they were truly fucking awesome. Jarvis Cocker is a certified genius who has immense stage craft and worked the audience to perfection. Richard Hawley was also on stage with them. The Strokes closed the day and as expected were very, very good, but for me not quite as good as Pulp. Jarvis joined them for a great version of the Cars’ “Just What I Needed”. So sadly only one day to go now but it looks like a good one!
Reading Festival 2011 – Day 1 – Friday 26th August August 27, 2011
So here we are again then, the first day of the Reading Festival. I’m here with my good friend Nick Horslen and I am aiming to post a review of each day for you. Obviously I expect some comment as I doubt that you’ll agree with everything I say. Incidentally some of the opinions in the blog were suggested by Nick. I just wanted to make sure I gave him equal credit!
The Bronze Medal were first up for us on BBC Introducing Stage, they sounded ok, but personally I don’t see them scaling great heights. The Blackout were next up on the Main Stage, with a magnificent backdrop that said ‘Fuck The Blackout’. Personally I’d rather not as I didn’t find them that attractive! But they were pretty good and pretty heavy. Bizarrrely they dedicated what they called their heaviest song to all the sluts in the audience, so I guess we didn’t qualify for that. Miles Kane was in the NME/ Radio 1 tent. He is like an animated Liam Gallagher with a guitar. He was also very bloody good. New Found Glory were on the Main Stage, I thought that they were accomplished but perhaps not as good as they were. However they did a great cover of Sixpence None The Richer‘s “kiss Me”.
We then caught a part of Hugh Lennon‘s act on the Alternative Stage, he is a rather amusing hypnotist. After that we opted for Dry The River on the Festival Republic stage, definitely a good band. They have a  bit of Biffy Clyro with added violin. Pity they couldn’t dry the skies though! It was pissing down again by then and parts of the ground were covered in mud with the consistency of melted chocolate. We then saw Cerebal Ballzy, we were initially attracted by such a brilliant name. What were they like? Ballsy (or perhaps I should say ballzy) punk from Brooklyn! Al Pitcher kept us out of the rain and not only that he was a brilliant comedian. He was followed by Dead Cat Bounce, we felt that their name was better than their act!
Foster The People gave us electro pop via Tom Tom Club and  Talking Heads. An immense band, definitely best of the day for me. I will be downloading their album when I’m home on Monday. The crowd went absolutely mental for them!! The  Antlers came next and their singer gave us soundcheck yodel! Their sound is a kind of tripped out psychadelic space vibe. The Deftones were on the Main Stage, they were heavy and reliable and did what it says on the tin.
Anna Calvi, hmmmm, what can I say, definitely a little strange. Percussive blues,  operatic type vocal and unintelligable lyrics. The Offspring were excellent value for money and still pretty fly for white guys! They have aged well and are still pretty good but definitely not pretty. Noah and the Whale completely rocked the NME/ Radio stage. An incredible build up using an orchestral version of Bohemian Rhapsody; who’d have thought that we’d be singing that song at Reading this year? They truly are  a great fucking band a bit like Vampire Weekend with more orchestration and less African style guitars. We hung around for the White Lies and it was worth the wait. These guys used to come to Reading as teenagers and clearly they’ve learnt a lot! Bloody good band. Then it was the much anticipated Beady Eye, which frankly is really Oasis without Noel isn’t it? They were like an Oasis tribute band playing songs they had written in an Oasis style. Liam’s voice is clearly not what it was either and his stage presence is way past it’s sell by date. We headed for the exit and glimpsed My Chemical Romance who seemed to have quite a small crowd for a Main Stage headline act. Anyway time to sign off for now and get ready for day two!
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 