Another year has passed and its time for us "Dirty F*cking Rockers" to party at the best damn festival of summer! Glastonbury is for Hippies, the V festival is for Clean people Yuppies right! Reading is THE festival to attend. That's what Uncle Dave (Grohl) told me. He knows as this was his seventh visit to this festival. And you know he is right! It was awesome! The festival site was abuzz with all sorts of entertainment, Carling tents serving beer like there was no tomorrow, food stalls serving all kinds of grub! Merchandise stalls offering everything imaginable! T-shirts, hoodies, posters, rings, badges, camping equipment, the lot! All this going on whilst each and every band, new or established bashed out fans favorites or new material!
Arriving at the site just after the gates had officially opened together with my music correspondent Mr Green, we headed straight for the Main stage, where ALL AMERICAN REJECTS had begun their set. A bruising forty minute duration in which some of the best songs were played. Due to poor research I was only able to identify one song SING SING! [shame on you! -Ed] The set was ace, even though I didn't know any of there songs! After a break for lunch (as it was nearly two), a 1/2lb burger and a pint of Carling, we headed over to the NME/Radio 1 stage to see NINE BLACK ALPS! A forty minute set of ripping roaring power! The band blasted through songs such Cosmopolitan, Not Everyone, Shot Down, Ironside were awesome! These guys are fucking ace! If you've yet to see them I seriously recommend that you do! and buy the album!!!
After negotiating who to see next and where to go, a quick stroll across the site we entered the Carling Stage, just as MYSTERY JETS were finishing their set. Would have loved to see then but due to other bands set over lapping on different stages, it was always going to be difficult to see all the bands that I wanted to! The next band up were ARCTIC MONKEYS! A band who had caught my interest, ever since I read an article about them in a copy of NME! These guys had a strong following, who lapped up every word and every note of their songs. Knowing nothing about them, expected they're from Sheffield, and not knowing any of their songs, it was all a bit new for me, but I loved every second of it! Must make my next project to track down material from AM!
Once the set had ended, it was another swift walk back over to the NME/Radio 1 stage to see THE OTHERS. Having played the self entitled debut album over and over again on my HI FI system at home, I was really looking forward to their set. Lackey, Stan Bowles, Psychovision and William were among the songs played. Each one a gem. William was the one song I was especially looking forward to and the band did not disappointed! Stan Bowles was ace! Dominic Masters screaming at the top of his voice "QPR Ninety Seventy Fiiiiiiiivvveee" was sweet!!!!!!
The first of two breaks occured after The Others sets had finished, just really to catch our breath, and grab a much needed pint of Carling! Having stood for the best part of five hours, my back started to give way! A sit down with a burger and a pint was in order! Here I had a brief meeting with Mr Green about who to see next. We both agreed that after the break we would hot foot it back to the Carling Stage to see BE YOUR OWN PET. Then go over to see RAZORLIGHT on the main stage. That was the plan and that's how things turned out. The Carling tent was a little sparse but probably because we were hovering around the outskirts of the main huddle. BYOP were electric and full of energy, especially lead singer Jemina Pearl, wow! Babe!!! They rip through there set as if being struck by lightning! Songs such as Damn Damn Leash, Spill and Electric Shake were fucking ace! Jemina was throwing her self around the stage, like a small child who had the rats with their dolly! This culminated in, at the end of their set, poor Jemina chundering on stage a number of times. Errrr!!
Straight from the Carling Stage we headed directly to the Main Stage. Arriving a few minutes before Seven O'clock we headed as far as we could into the crowd, getting as close as we could towards the front. At 7pm RAZORLIGHT came on and played for about an hour. The sun was setting for the day and the scene before the crowd could not have been any better. The sun drenched the stage and it set up the band for one of the best performance of the year. Having missed a Razorlight gig early in the year, due to the gig being cancelled and having my ticket refunded as I couldn't make the rescheduled date, this was a set I was NOT going to miss. Hits such as Golden Touch, Rip It Up, Stumble And Fall were played. The whole crowd moshing to every moment! It was ace!!!
The second of the two breaks during the day occurred at just after 8pm. Here another pint of Carling was in order. A walk about of the site was in order. There were a number of merchandise tents in the local vicinity. Therefore a little time to do a bit of browsing. One tent which we went into was selling posters of various bands, and films. There was loads to choose from. In the end I bought two small badges from the front counter. They were only 60p each. Fucking ace! One stated "WORKS SUCKS", the other said " I LOVE BEER" Sweet!!!
At just before 9pm we entered the NME.Radio 1 tent to see the band I wanted to desperately see: BABYSHAMBLES! Peter Doherty appeared and the crowd went mental!!!!!! Pete wearing a Ripped plain white shirt and a pair of blue jeans, lauched into their set. 'shambles played an hours set! Killamangiro and F*ck Forever were ace!!! A number of B-sides were played like The Man Who Came To Stay! All other songs were new to me BUT DAMN they were good!!!!! Can't wait for the new debut album!!!!
As their set finished just after 10pm, it was a mad dash out of the tent, towards the last and final destination of the night. The main stage was awash with rockers who just wanted to have a good tiiiiiiiime!!! FOO FIGHTERS were in full swing as we arrived, the whole festival site seemed to descend upon the main stage the same time we did, a tidal wave of bodies walking full pelt to see Uncle Dave and the boys. As we arrived the band were in the middle of All My Life, which sounded fucking awesome! Uncle Dave then, after the track had ended, declares "I love Reading SO F*CKEN MUUUCH!!! I hate every other festival! They SUUCCKK!!!! Nice one Uncle Dave!!!!!!! The crowd go ballistic!!!! And muster a roar so loud it probably woke up the entire county of Berkshire! Next Up is My Hero! They rock so fucking hard the Foos that you are simply caught in their spell and rock as fucking hard as they do!!!!! Learn To fly is just as good! The Foos at their best!!! The whole crowd start to jump as one, like a huge table cloth beginning shaken before it settles on top of the table! It was amazing! Before you could catch your breath next up is You're Not The One! This is the best yet! Due to time constraints this would have to be the final song that I heard at Reading, the set would go on, but as a last song it was FUCKING AWESOME!!! The last train left at about 11ish and it was about 10:30 so Mr Green and myself decided it was time to go. Though it was a real wrench leaving the site when the Foos were blasting the festival to its fucking foundations!!!
What a day, what festival!! So many bands, so many songs, so much drink, food and girls! It was simply the best date on the Calendar! Next time, next year I will book up for the entire weekend and stay for the duration! Some many bands I didn't get to see, which was a disappointment, but on the plus side I saw BABYSHAMBLES the band I wanted to see for soooooooooo long!!!!!! Sir Pete I salute you! You and the boys were f*cking ace!!! Get that debut album finished and release ASAP! And get the F*CK FOREVER tour sorted out, and have numerous dates in London so I can get a ticket and were my QPR shirt to it!!!!!! (Check it out I've got BABYSHAMBLES printed on the back!!!!)
See you next year READING!! Love ya!!!!!!!!!
(By Jimbo)
See what Beanus wrote about it...