Reading Festival: 11 bands you shouldn't have missed!
And one that you really should have...
Photographer:Sara Bowrey
Mumford and Sons – 9.5/10
It’s
not as if many of you miss this momentous coming of age. The NME/Radio 1 is heaving with bodies, leaving the screens outside
to assist in wowing the thousands that didn’t make it in early enough. A sweaty Marcus Mumford is, naturally, the
jewel in the crown as he swaps instruments throughout. Their real mettle, though, comes from their ability to craft brilliant
pop-folk songs and ‘Little Lion Man’ gives the set a momentous high as ‘Sign No More’ sounds even
more rousing than it does on record. Give them a year and they’ll be on the main stage.
The Libertines – 9/10
This is what Reading is about: the exclusive shows,
the ability to wave cheques in front of defunct bands to get them to play just one more time. This Libertines showing should
have never been this good, this tight – it isn’t how they became so popular live. There is no trademark cheek
from Doherty, no onstage fights but there is an hour of brilliant garage rock sounding timeless. ‘What A Waster’
is modern punk at its best as break up songs ‘Music When The Lights Go Out’ and ‘Can’t Stand Me
Now’ seem to bring lead duo Dothery and Barat romantically back together. The front row collapses during ‘Time
For Heroes’ and there is bowing, kissing and playful banter at the end after ‘I Get Along’. With the band
so harmonious live, surely more shows will follow.
Dizzee
Rascal – 9/10
Drawing an unashamedly huge crowd, one the headliners would blush at, Dizzee Rascal
is the act that just won’t stop giving. A mash up of Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ with his
own ‘Stand Up Tall’ is an easy way of winning over the rocks fans but it’s ‘Dance With Me’,
‘Holiday’ and ‘Bonkers’ that really fuel the party fire. He leaves much of his early work alone,
but ‘Jus A Rascal’ gives us a reminder of his more primitive pedigree before he and Calvin Harris joined forces.
Having a live band pretty much seals the deal today and he even manages an encore of ‘Bonkers’ just for good
measure.
Queens Of The Stone Age –
9/10
Like most of the best things in life, Queens Of The Stone Age are addictive which is why opening with ‘Feel Good
Hit of the Summer’ works on so many levels - showing that you don't need to open with your latest single to get
the crowd moving. Blasting into ‘Lost Art of Keeping a Secret’, it gives the hardcore fans hope that they'll
play their second album ‘Rated R’ in full but it isn't to be. However it's the kind of disappointment
you get when you realise you've run out of drinking money to stumble upon a free backstage bar.
Encouraging
the crowd to dance, Josh and company played the intro to ‘Misfit Love’ longer than most other bands would dare
play a single track and boy did it work. This is what Reading Festival needs, a rock 'n' roll band that loves what
they're doing, plays proper music and knows how keep the crowd in the palm of their hand. Closing with ‘A Song
For the Dead’ is simply genius. Without doubt, they are the quintessential Reading Festival band. The only downside
is the fact they didn't headline.
Yuck – 8/10
Despite being on the fingertips of most of blogosphere, the South London band Yuck, draw a slightly modest crowd for their
sterling Saturday Festival Republic tent performance.
Those who are in attendance are treated to a show that
proves grunge needed to take a 15 year hiatus in order to sound this fresh again. The guitar work of Daniel Blumberg offers
a wall of sound to pitch his fragile vocals against, while the inclusion of his kid sister for a staring role during 'Torture'
demonstrates that shoegaze is a delight without the need for those pesky earplugs.
Despite the band being in their
infancy, in every sense of the word, this mature, focused and tight set suggests much larger things for the four-piece are
to come - except the drummers afro, we're not sure it's humanly possible to grow it any larger!
Foxy Shazam – 10/10
On honest reflection, VF stumble
across Foxy Shazam
as we swoop into the Festival Republic stage while we have a ten-minute gap to fill during NME stage changeovers.
Little do we know that such an abundance of energy await in the form of Cincinnati band Foxy Shazam. Fronted by a leggings
and leather clad Eric Sean Nally, the band tick off every hair rock cliché in existence. From the masking tape-labelled
guitar - 'Big In Japan' - to the gantry climbing antics of the frontman, the band are fantastic for it.
They gyrate, pose and swallow lit cigarettes to the soundtrack of 'Smoking Kills', 'Julian' (about a boy
they met at Disneyland) and 'All I Needed Is You', which, if you believe Nally, was co-written by Biffy Clyro, "whilst
in the back of a pick-up truck doing 90 mph." We don't, but love.
Gallows – 8/10
If only you could grab the energy this band pump out and share it amongst the other acts at Reading, we'd have the whole place moving up and down like the lock-up tent, their secret set under the name of "The Rats".
Human pyramids galore, probably the largest mosh pit that the arena has seen, Frank Carter crowd-surfing from the front of the stage to the sound desk, and all this combined with the furious punk sound that the London band shred out make this an unforgettable set for hardcore fans and novices alike.
You don't need all your five senses for this one, as long as you have the use of one, you know this is something special. Adapting ‘London is the Reason; to ‘Reading is the Reason’, brutally finishing with ‘In the Belly of the Shark’ and ‘Orchestra Of Wolves’ only serve to provide fuel to the fire that is a Gallows gig.
Pure. Simple. Brilliant. The definition of organised chaos.
Sub Focus – 9.5/10
Even the most hardened of rock festivals need some light dance relief and Sub Focus provides just that and much more with a monstrous DJ set in the Dance Tent on Sunday. Well, it isn’t exactly light, more a frenzy of brilliance.
Much of its his own work and the thousands that clamber the tent poles, fling beer everywhere like it’s 10p a pop and generally throw their limbs around as if they’re trying to lose them, love every sweaty minute of it.
With a little help from an MC, the drum n bass star throws together a remix of Rusko’s ‘Hold On’ along with his own ‘Splash’ as well as a cut of disco in the way of Tensnake’s ‘Coma Cat’ as the tent’s soundmen must be worrying that the whole place is going to collapse. Brilliant.
Weezer – 10/10
Anyone doubting that Weezer pull off the greatest set this year at Reading Festival are clearly in another county.
Not only do we get Weezer but Josh Freese playing on drums throughout the set which frees up drummer Pat Wilson, which in turn, frees up Rivers to do everything from fist-bump crowd members, jump on trampolines, sing and look like Lady Gaga. Even a cover of ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ by Wheatus is received warmly by the huge crowd.
At one point Rivers tells us that, "This used to be called Reading Rock Festival" and what Weezer provide is some proper rock.
Finishing off with the anthemic ‘Buddy Holly’, the band provide a masterclass others can learn from – amazing.
Blink 182 – 10/10
A decade earlier it was their youthful exuberance, ferocious drumming and dirty minded humour that propelled the power chord punks into the mainstream.
At this year’s Reading, to the delight of the weekend’s largest crowd, the humour remained intact: ‘song climaxes and your mama’ being about the base level. The energetic arms of Travis Barker showed no sign of slowing up and despite their stage persona, pure professionalism shone throughout the set.
Favourable comparisons over Leeds win over the crowd, jokes aimed at Guns N’ Roses but ultimately at the expense of Tom DeLonge, keep them high-spirited but it is the back catalogue of American punk karaoke classics such as ‘What’s My Age Again’, ‘Girl At The Rock Show’ and ‘All The Small Things’ that win the band the headliner of the weekend award.
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