About a week after I got back from the Lowlands festival withdrawal symptoms began to kick in. I was shaking all the time and gibbering like a mad-man. I couldn't sleep at nights and the voices in my head wanted me to run naked through the streets yelling at people to beware of the pink chocolate-munchers. Yes, there was no doubt about it, I was a classic case. I'd become addicted to live music and going cold turkey was far too dangerous. I needed a hit of decent live rock and I needed it fast. Fortunately Dr James "I taught Pete Doherty everything he knows" Murray was on hand with just the thing: day tickets for the Reading festival. Thanks Doc! I gave the voices in my head their marching orders and prepared to rock...
When we arrived All American Rejects were playing on the main stage. Not bad but we all know that you could go to a punk night at your local pub and see four or five punk bands who are better than this lot. The Rejects played "Dirty Little Secret", "Happy Endings", Play With Me", "On Top of the World" and a bunch of other songs.
Having grabbed a burger and a beer to help fuel the wild excesses of our rock and roll lifestyle we rushed over to the NME/Radio 1 tent to see Monsta favorite Nine Black Alps. Take a look at Sockless Jim's review of their debut album "Everything Is". At Reading the Mancunian rockers won another battle in their war to bring back the glory days of grunge. I'm sure everybody in that tent who wasn't already a true believer was converted by the power of the good old fashioned rock And roll that the Alps were blasting out. They played a mind-blowing set.
With N.B.A.'s songs still ringing in our ears we headed over to the Carling Tent to take a look at up and coming rock band "Arctic Monkeys". I'm going to be honest and admit that I hadn't actually heard of these lads before the gig. Its always easier to enjoy a set if you are familiar with the band's work so I guess it says a lot about the Arctic Monkeys that despite my ignorance I think that this was one of the highlights of the festival. They played "Scummy Man", "Fake Tales of San Francisco", "Mardy Burn", "I Bet That You Look Good on The Dancefloor" and "A Certain Romance". They have already built up a dedicated following. Lots of people in the crowd obviously knew the words even though "Fake Tales of San Francisco" is the only song that the band has actually officially released. NME says that there was a bloke in a gorilla costume crowd surfing during this set. How did I miss that? Look out for "Arctic Monkeys" they are going to be big and they deserve it. They have great songs and they play with passion and style.
After the Arctic Monkeys set I met up with my brother who was at the festival for the weekend. He's at uni in their home town of Sheffield and when I mentioned who I had just seen he told me that he had met them at a party. It's a small world.
Our next move was to return to the NME/Radio 1 tent. The Others were about to launch into their set and we didn't want to miss it. The crowd was surprisingly sparse. I would have thought that The Others had enough of a reputation to draw a decent number of people. Where was everybody? Oh well, it was their loss.
After the Others we decided that it was time to chill for a bit, time to grab a beer and soak in the atmos of England's greatest rock festival. We both needed the break but we couldn't rest for too long. As dedicated music journos we knew that we had a duty to you the reader to chase the story wherever it might lead us. We had to push on regardless of how knackered we were from all the jumping about and regardless of how much we wanted another pint.
Texan teenage punk band "Be Your Own Pet" were about to start up in the Carling tent. The story was calling us so we downed the last bit of our pints and headed over. I am so glad we did. Be Your Own Pet are another up and coming band to look out for. Lead singer Jemina Pearl roared out their songs with the kind of raw energy that is exactly what makes punk great. She moved like a woman possessed. Nobody in the tent could take their eyes off of her. The rest of the band matched her every step of the way. They are all just school kids. How can they be this good?
During their last song Jemina threw up all over the stage. What was that about? Two options spring to mind. It was either a combination of drink, drugs and nerves or it was a deliberate attempt to build up their "punky" image. I think it was probably the first one because they didn't seem like a bunch of posers but I can't be sure and I suppose they are young enough to be forgiven childish stunts. She could of course have been ill for all I know but it was probably drink. Lets hope she feels better.
After Be Your Own Pet we headed over to the main stage to listen to Razorlight. They had been lucky enough to get the perfect slot on the main stage. It was out in the open and the sun was setting. It is hard for a band to play a bad set if they have a sunset in the background. Razorlight don't need Mother Nature's help to sound good so arguably it was a bit wasted on them. Maybe the organizers should have put someone really rubbish in that slot. Razorlight played hit after hit and the vast crowd seemed to love every note and every word of every single one. They played some great songs but I found their set design a bit distracting. They had what looked like a bunch of small fir trees up on the stage. I kept imagining them cornering some poor festival worker and doing an impression of Monty Python's the Knights Who Say Ni, "we demand a shrubbery".
After Razorlight we chilled for a bit. We had a few more pints and we had a look around the merchandise stands. Before long it was time to go and see the infamous Babyshambles. Regular visitors to this site will know that our music man James is a huge fan of this band. I can't see what all the fuss is about. They were rubbish. Joking, joking. Don't kill me. Arrrrrgggghh but no seriously it was actually very easy to see what all the fuss is about. Babyshambles played a fantastic set. It was all very rock and roll. They even threw their instruments into the crowd at the end.
Once the Shambles had finished we rushed over to the main stage to catch some of the Foo Fighters set. We knew that we were going to have to leave before the end if we wanted to catch our train but we were both determined to soak up as much of that Fooy goodness as possible. Dave Grohl got the crowd all worked up by reminding us exactly why we there. We were at Reading because we are "Dirty F**king Rockers" and like him we "love Reading so f**ken much!" They'd splashed out on a quite funky lazer show, which actually worked really well with their music. They were on great form. They played their classic songs with unforgettable verve and panache. It was a fantastic end to our trip.
I loved the Reading Festival. It would have been great to have been there for more of it. If you went to the festival and saw some of the bands we missed please let us know what you thought of them. Any reviews would be gratefully received but if a full review seems too much like hard work you know where the forum is . In 2006 Monsta will definitely be covering the whole weekend. I'm looking forward to it already so watch this space.
See what Jimbo wrote about it...