Funeral For A Friend silence Reading main stage

Band cut out during damp day one of rock weekender

Daniel Fahey, Alison Kerry - 28 August 2009

The band, who were performing on the main stage, suddenly stopped during a rendition of ‘All The Rage’, as the speakers blew.

The sound wasn’t restored for a full five minutes, during which, drummer Ryan Richards tried to rouse support by playing the beat to ‘We Will Rock You’ by Queen.

When the speakers did finally come back on, frontman Matthew Davies-Kreye said it best declaring, “it happens all the time – rain stops play.”

The band were greeted by a heavy downpour during their set which lead to Davies-Kreye saying, “only at a British festival can you have rain and sunshine at the same time.”

The band also played a storming rendition of ‘She Drove Me To Daytime Television’ before huge circle pit opened for ‘The Art Of American Football’.

On the Radio 1/NME Stage, Little Boots had a huge crowd as the weather forced thousands under canvas.

“Reading! Fucking hell, there’s a lot of you,” declared Victoria Hesketh after opener ‘Meddle’, oblivious to the weather outside. The singer held the majority of her audience though, racing through tracks like ‘Remedy’ and ‘Hands’.

Chants of “Streetlights, Streetlights,” greeted the Streetlight Manifesto in the Lock Up Tent earlier in the afternoon. “Is everyone having a mediocre times?” asked singer Tomas Kalnoky to a packed crowd before launching into a set of ska punk.

With the crowd obviously loving every minute, Kalnoky tried his luck saying, “thank you Leeds,” after a number of the tracks, but the light hearted audience were too happy to care.

Fake Problems may’ve started with only a few fans in the Lock Up Tent, but by the end of their show, the arena was brimming with eager eared festival-goers.

Weed smoking ballad ‘Heartless’ gets the crowd going with its bluesy feel, but not as much as their patriotic anthem ‘American Dream’.

Riverboat Gamblers only managed to half fill the Lock Up Tent as well, but it didn’t deter them from putting on a good show even with Mike Wiebe’s left hand wrapped up. Wiebe even risked more injury by twice jumping from the stage onto the tent poles as the Texas group ran through numbers like ‘Catastrophe’.

Alexisonfire treated the main stage audience to some call and response chants during ‘We Are The Sound’ as their crowd quickly swelled.

‘This Could Be Anywhere’ was the set highlight, with the audience singing the chorus for frontman George Petit.

The Flatliners from Toronto were only greeted in the UK with a half full Lock Up Tent, though the group allowed their speed reggae to do the talking. Weed smoking number ‘These Words Are Bullets’ is good before the band finish with ‘Eulogy’.

Over in the NME/Radio 1 Stage, Manchester Orchestra proved the surprise find from many in the tent. “I’ve never heard of them,” Kev from London told VF, “but they’re actually really good.”

The American group were on top form for mesmerising new fans though, as an anthemic ‘Tony The Tiger’ and stunning ‘I’ve Got Friends’ both proved equally spellbinding.

‘Left For Dead’ was the first call for a circle pit all weekend in the Lock Up Tent for Ghost of a Thousand and there was no shortage of participants.

But if wasn’t all rock clichés with singer Tom Lacey as the frontman insisted that the crowd should hug each other and they duly obliged. The group finished with ‘New Toy’with Lacey concluded, “I don’t want you to all be fighting, I want to see hugs.”

Madina Lake were the first main stage band to really get the crowd bouncing with  ‘Stars’ setting the bar for the set as guitarist Mateo Camargo and bassist Matthew Leone spinning in unison.

“You can do anything you want to do to make yourself happy,” bleated singer Nathan Leone, “If you want to climb on top of each other you can do that as well,” he continued, obviously oblivious to the no crowd surfing signs bookmarking the stage.

The band finished with ‘True Love’, with Nathan Leone getting all gushing about the festival. “When I was at Reading, it changed my mind,” he said.

Reading Festival 2009 continues today with performances from Kings Of Leon, The Horrors and Kaiser Chiefs.

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