Brilliant Bizzle returns to Reading Festival

The grime star is the best of the afternoon

Daniel Fahey, Alex Fahey, Alison Kerry, Dean Samways - 30 August 2009

The rapper, who has stepped up from his previous Lock Up Tent performances was quick to get the Reading/Leeds argument going.

“I’m going to be honest,” the rapper said, “Leeds are just winning,” before he launched into ‘Bizzle Bizzle’.

“Congratulations,” he told the crowd, “you’re in the tent and you’re going to witness the best fucking set of the festival,” and he wasn’t far wrong dropping newbie ‘Go Hard’, alongside classics like ‘(Pow) Forward’ and mixes of Nivana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and ‘Jump Around’ by House Of Pain.

“You are much better than Leeds,” Bizzle finally conceded at the end of his set, “thank you.”

Also in the Radio 1/NME Stage, Metronomy won over the crowd with their dance beats and disco basslines.

“We’ve heard bands have been rude to you,” said singer Joseph Mount, “it’s nice to have you all hear.”

‘I Have A Thing For You’ and ‘Heartbreaker’ are the crowd pleasers in the set, with a large crowd enjoying every second.

The crowds came running for The View on the main stage. Organisers seemed to have sorted last night’s sound issues ahead of Radiohead as well, with the band pounding out the hits.

“They’re the biggest tits I’ve seen at a festival,” declares bassist Keiren Webster before a hectic ‘5Rebeccas’ with the band on great form.

Webster took over from Falconer for ‘One Off Pretender’ before they got a circle pit kicking up dust for ‘Same Jeans’, which was played back to back with ‘Superstar Tradesman’.

Deadlmau5 took to the Dance Tent in his trademark mouse mask and the crowd was spilling outside for his early afternoon set.

However, the DJ’s unexceptional techno proved unremarkable with his mask the main talking point of the set.

Lethal Bizzle’s dispersing crowd is replaced by a large army for Frank Turner in the Radio 1/NME Tent with ‘Reasons Not To Be An Idiot’ getting a great response.

Turner’s purely acoustic guitar is enjoyed more when the band bolsters ‘Long Live The Queen’, but ‘The Road’ and a solo rendition of ‘The Real Damage’ prove highlights.

On the Festival Republic stage, Magistrates were doing their best Prince-like impression with ‘Make This Work’ proving their biggest hit for the crowd.

There was no mistaking Das Pop in the Dance Tent earlier - the group had brought some balloons along with them that spell out their name.

It didn’t take long for them to win over the crowd with their inoffensive festival fun, but during their second song the power failed. Undeterred singer Bent Van Looy took out a cow bell, while the drummer hammered along as well for an impromptu freestyle.

When the sound didn’t return after ten minutes, the were forced to leave the stage, but they were able to return for the last 15 minutes of their set.

Staring with possibly the smallest Reading crowd since the festival started, The Living End took a while to get going on the main stage.

‘Who’s Gonna Save Us’ has a couple of people phoning their mates to listen, while ‘Prisoner Of Society’ gets a circle pit started before ‘White Noise’ and ‘West End Riots’ turn their set around completely.

Coming across all Kraftwerk, dressed in crisp, red shirts, In Case Of Fire opened with ‘The Cleansing’.

The trio were met with an enthusiastic, but small audience. Singer Steven Robinson was a bit sceptic of the turn out saying, “how many have actually heard of us before?” but with a flurry of cheers, he was dumbfounded, “Wow! That’s more than expected.”

‘Enemies’ and ‘Parallels’ were the two stand out tracks of the set however, as the Northern Irish group left fans wanting more.

Largely ignoring their debut album, Noah and the Whale instead used their slot on the main stage to showcase their recently released ‘The First Days Of Spring’.

Single ‘Blue Skies’ proved sublime but the group didn’t seem to have time for the likes of ‘5 More Years’ with the sun and the crowd staying as stubborn as one another.

In the Dance Tent, grime youngster Chipmunk had the crowd, but Reading doesn’t seem like the right festival for him.

The rapper plugged his new single ‘Ups A Daisy’ as much as he did his upcoming album – which is “out in October,” – as he let’s the crowd know.

Despite the numbers watching him, the set is unremarkable with a cover of DJ Ironik’s ‘Tiny Dancer’ lacking the soul of Elton John’s original.

Braodway Cells were first in charge of blowing away Saturday night’s hangovers as a rather small crowd that emerged from their tents to watch them open the Radio 1/NME Stage.

One of the buzz bands of the moment, 3Oh!3 drew a large crowd in the Dance Tent, with ‘Star Attack’ proving their big number.

Remarkably, for it being 1pm in the afternoon, the hoards that have made it inside are bouncing along like they’re the headline show before hit ‘Don’t Trust Her’ is sung straight back at the crowd.

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