Festival Review: Reading, Oh Reading. How I Love You Reading.

Reading Festival, 2011

Reading Festival is an absolute delight. I put my hand to my forehead and swoon. I wrote this gushingly two months ago and forgot to make it live. What a delight to read it through and relive the memory!


I spent the Friday and Saturday in a state of permanent glee. The punters were 100% up for the live music experience. Yes, my kind of reveller. To smile and dance in unison with thousands of other music lovers is pure gold. The Sunday line-up encouraged dull day trippers. Many of the cool and groovy appeared to disappear, but Friday and Saturday were SO good, Sunday didn’t really matter.

Okay, perhaps I was fortunate in my experience of inappropriate piss related incidents. I hear some was thrown around the Main Stage, scenting victims distastefully. Yeah, I did see a grown-man pissing into a bottle, but he assured me it was for convenience rather than throwing. I sauntered by two young men communally pissing in a busy walkway. As amusingly disgusting as it was, only the ground was soaked. I think the sticky fluid that hit my head was beer. Or was it?

For me Reading 2011 was an amazing bop-a-thon; a place where I could exist amongst people like me. Reading Festival is all about the music and, in that, it doesn’t change. The age old formula, with few alterations (bigger stages, better equipment and more toilets, reassuringly in the same geographical format), goes on pleasing generation after generation, and you can easily pop into town for pop. You can also easily pop into town to eat, sleep and shit. There are a lot of benefits to the urban festival. I was utterly enthralled.

As a great lover of teenage dramas like Freaks and Geeks, My So Called Life and Skins, perhaps I am destined to thoroughly enjoy being around each new generation that bubbles up, with their youthful admiration of music and full throttle attitude. To enjoy is to engage, and to engage is to enjoy. At Reading Festival we danced, we laughed and we sang. We all contributed to the making the festival a gloriously radiant one. My thanks go out to all that did their bit. Your efforts transformed me into a very happy bouncing bunny. Boing, Boing!

Rating system (from very best to very worst):
Fucking Awesome, Ear Candy, Thumbs Up, Not for Me Thanks, Hideously Awful


*** Friday 26th August, 2011 ***

Islet
Festival Republic Stage
Thumbs Up (6/10)
Islet offered an enthusiastic start to the festival, with shouting, yelping, and the swapping of roles. Beats galore and some experimental soundscapes made this worth a watch. I would like to suggest not jumping up and down and singing at the same time; it kinda ruins the vocals.

Does It Offend You, Yeah?
Dance Stage
Ear Candy (8/10)
The locals were brilliant and the crowd went wild. A bulging bouncy tent made this the first boogie of the event. Inviting your 14 year old sister on stage to sing is a risky move, but they got away with it. They had the crowd by its energetic balls.

Royal Bangs
Festival Republic Stage
Thumbs Up (5/10)
Inoffensive indie rock lacking gusto sums this up.

Crystal Fighters
Dance Stage
Fucking Awesome (10/10)
Crystal Fighters clashed with another brilliant act at every single festival we shared some space at this year. This time I prioritised them and was aptly rewarded with a tropical dance frenzy. Amazing! They played a series of absolutely amazing tunes.

Metronomy
NME Stage
Ear Candy (6/10)
We liked the white light badges, and since the event, one has mysteriously appeared in my home. This was a well delivered set of slightly cheery pop.

The Vaccines
NME Stage
Ear Candy (8/10)
I love The Vaccines, but the sound was well quiet. This was my least favourite The Vaccines set of the year. I wanted a communal leap to some short sharp tunes. Instead, I lightly jumped, as if to will it to be better, while the odd person allowed their head to nod. The band had stage presence, and I’m not knocking them, but the sound and crowd were limp.

Simian Mobile Disco
Dance Stage
Ear Candy (7/10)
I really enjoyed this until the last few tracks. It drifted into low rent pop. Stick to the banging tunes boys.

Digitalism
Dance Stage
Ear Candy (7/10)
This really packed a punch for a two-man show. I am going to liken it to Hot Chip, with more accessible vocals.

Unkle Sounds
Dance Stage
Ear Candy (8/10)
A magical journey of warm beatsy trance and visuals. Captivating.


*** Saturday 27th August, 2011 ***

The Joy Formidable
Main Stage
Fucking Awesome (9/10)
The Joy Formidable were a little self-conscious and back on form. They were tight, they were entertaining, and - most pleasingly - the set featured less masturbatory guitar frenzies than in recent times.

Yuck
NME Stage
Fucking Awesome (9/10)
Lovely melodic jangling, with some gorgeous sentiment thrown in for good measure.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
NME Stage
Fucking Awesome (9/10)
Great stage presence, endearing theatrics and a lot of audience engagement. Time limitations considered, a bit less banter and a few more tunes would have lovely. All the same, this made me feel very at home.

Grouplove
Festival Republic Stage
Fucking Awesome (9/10)
There was a group, a big group, and there was love. And that was just the audience. Grouplove made the Festival Republic Stage feel like summer. Sean Gadd’s parents must be pleased. They took him to Reading Festival as a boy, and now he’s on the stage.

Mariachi El Bronx
Festival Republic Stage
Thumbs Up (5/10)
A lovely idea and amazing outfits, but the delivery was rather dull. I decided to see The Kills for the third time this year and sauntered away.

The Kills
NME Stage
Fucking Awesome (10/10)
Seriously cool motherfuckers. They make music to disintegrate to, albeit with love. At the end of the show, Alison lifted her hair. That girl hides the most wonderful smile.

Cults
Festival Republic Stage
Thumbs Up (6/10)
I only caught the end, but I enjoyed the indie with a splattering of melodious pop.

Cloud Control
Festival Republic Stage
Thumbs Up (5/10)
Cloud Control delivered indie style pop, but there was a hole where joyful outbursts should live. Perhaps Cloud Control is too high brow for me? A cracking chorus or two and they’d be great.

Bombay Bicycle Club
Festival Republic Stage
Fucking Awesome (10/10)
This performance is already the stuff of legends. The Festival Republic Tent is the biggest tent I have ever been in, and it was full. It more than full, it was absolutely and utterly packed. With barely space to breathe, everyone danced, shared full face grins and had the times of their lives. Most people had no line of sight, could barely hear over the crowd singing, and, yet, went for it anyway. To not go for it would be sacrilege in a space full of such intensely positive energy. I read later that even the band didn’t hear the set. Were they good? Who knows and who cares. It was the best place to be on earth. There was some silly crushing on the way out, but buzzing our heads off, we all made it back into the open air and grinned once more.

King Blues
Lock Up Stage
Fucking Awesome (10/10)
This band make you want to riot for what’s right and what’s fair. They also make you wanna dance. With a crowd that was 100% up for it, I bounced against the system. The system still stands, but it can’t jump as high as me.

The Strokes
Main Stage
Thumbs Up (5/10)
They never were much cop live, and they still aren’t. That said, playing New York City Cops super fast was a stroke of genius. No puns intended. I’m just too lazy to re-word.


*** Sunday 28th August, 2011 ***

Spy Catcher
Lock Up Stage
Thumbs Up (5/10)
This is a rock band, and the bassist is from Gallows. It wasn’t to my taste, but I give them 10/10 for effort. They seemed mighty chuffed to have an audience, so I was glad I went along.

Best Coast
NME Stage
Ear Candy (7/10)
Everything was a bit Sunday morning about this set. The crowd didn’t dance and the surf was a touch too gentle. I wanted more. I blame the audience more than the band.

Little Comets
Festival Republic Stage
Thumbs Up (5/10)
Indie pop with a little bit of jangle. The audience were supportive and this band has something to work towards.

Benjamin Francis Leftwich
Festival Republic Stage
Thumbs Up (6/10)
The first acoustic set of the day. Not as endearing as his Camp Bestival set, but the teenage girls swooned regardless.

Fight Like Apes
Festival Republic Stage
Ear Candy (8/10)
I came away from this set livid. The audience were so unappreciative of this amazing act they should be shot. Yeah, they were waiting for Ed Sheeran, but by standing still, sneering at the band and at the five of us dancing, they drained the festival spirit out of the room. I would rather the tent was half empty than full of twats. Some of the twats were on the front row staring, completely bemused. Fight Like Apes delivered a great set and the whole room should have fox-trotted.

Elbow
Main Stage
Ear Candy (7/10)
I had nothing better to see and this was surprisingly enjoyable. The crowd interaction was so cheesy I winced, but - that that aside - it was pretty pleasant. Hmm!

Flogging Molly
Festival Republic
Ear Candy (8/10)
This was a folk punk hoot. What a jolly jig we had.

Peter Doherty
Festival Republic Stage
Ear Candy (8/10)
Acoustic Peter – it’s like the stuff of dreams! Not being able to see and standing on tip toes to catch a glimpse is not. If I had a better view (I wasn’t far back, mind), it would have been perfect. For anyone that has ever listened to Pete’s home recordings, and preferred them to some of the shambolic band releases, this was heaven. He rattled through track after track. My lungs filled with illegal indoor cigarette fumes and my back decided tip toes are bad for you.

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