Reading Festival Overview

Been a little while since the festival since it was the end of August bank holiday weekend, but somehow I'm only just getting around to writing as I've barely recovered still! And to be honest I'm way too lazy to go in-depth this time. I blog more for me than anything else, so it's just to remember who I saw. Pretty much every band I saw was really good!

I arrived around midday on Thursday & met Marie at the station. We have fairly similar taste in music so we ended up spending a lot of time together. On Thursday evening we ended up going on a big fail pub crawl, for some reason.

Friday
Friday morning didn't start as early as I had planned, but I caught the last half of Andrew O'Neill's History Of Heavy Metal since I missed it at Download. It wasn't as funny as I'd have hoped, by good nonetheless. Neck Deep were next on my list, followed by tagging along with Marie for a bit of a chill outside Lock Up for the of Vant followed by God Damn and The Bots. I then went solo to Main Stage for Panic! At The Disco, All Time Low, and Bastille, before meeting up again at Lock Up for Modern Life Is War and The Bronx.

Highlight of the day for me had to be Limp Bizkit at NME. I even managed to persuade Marie and Greg to join me somehow! Although I did bribe them with the 2 Jager shots I'd smuggled in. I didn't get any photos though since we stood outside the tent for bar and toilet access!

I had intended to see the end of Mumford & Sons since I do like their singles, but ater one song I knew and half of the next song which sounded exactly the same, we bailed and went to see New Found Glory instead. Because Lock Up is easily the best stage, haha!

Saturday
I guess it doesn't mean a lot when the line-up this year was awfully poor, but Saturday was always the stand-out day and I'd probably have just done the one day had that been feasible. And mostly Main Stage!


Babymetal were first up, and I went all-out with my outfit (a red tutu, a black tutu, pleather peplum top, megitsune mask, red lippy...the whole shebang). And they really rocked! I've always loved J-pop, and while it took me a little while to warm to their music (Buono! will always be my favourite...), I really got into them recently. I already picked up a ticket to the Wembley show next year because I want to see them again. And hopefully with friends because I felt awkward being one of only a handful of people who knew more than "Gimme Chocolate!".

After changing into shorts and my Babymetal vest back at camp, it was back to Main Stage for Marmozets. They supported Muse on that surprise tour they did, which is why I was extra-specially annoyed that my dad went without me even though he'd have missed the announcement had I not told him! But hey, I got to see them eventually, and they lived up to expectations. Afterwards I saw Modestep for the third time this year, and it was probably the set I enjoyed most all weekend because their music is just so fun.

It must have been around this point that it started raining. I'm not a fan of Pierce The Veil at all, but I was sat in my poncho and I had a nice dry bit of ground under my butt, so I wasn't going to move. Alexisonfire rocked, and was much better than the time I saw them when I was 15 because I didn't get a split lip this time. I had intended to see Pvris at The Pit, but the stage was running madly behind so I had to skip them in favour of Royal Blood, whose set I had missed last time they played Reading.

The Pit running behind wasn't all bad though, as it meant I could sneak down there to catch Atreyu. I was delighted that they played "You Give Love A Bad Name", even if they did play it compeletely out of tune.


Bring Me The Horizon were another of my highlights. They sound really good live, I loved their last album and the singles from their new one. Even if I hate to admit it! I was glad of the rain and my poncho though as Oli Sykes was wearing a Babymetal shirt cut into a vest and a red checked shirt, the same as I was! I had to make a hasty exit during their last song however, as the on-screen graphics were awfully migraine-inducing.

I have obviously gone off of Twin Atlantic as I didn't enjoy their set at NME much. This probably wasn't helped by only vaguely knowing older songs, and the crowd being all children who only knew the new crap. Afterwards I caught the rest of Metallica's set. Objectively they were very good, but it was a little boring as all the songs go on forever and it was cold and too wet to sit down. And naturally they played "Enter Sandman" last, and it was the one song everyone was waiting for. I didn't have the nerve to dance the Macarena to it by myself though...shame on me!

Sunday
We had breakfast in town in the morning which was expensive and disappointing and made me miss Milton Jones. Boo.

So my day ended up starting quite late with Against Me!, and it was nice to see a decent punk band on Main Stage. The Gaslight Anthem followed there, before The Pit brought us Turbowolf, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, and Beartooth. After a wander around the clothing stalls, we stopped by Festival Republic for the end of We Are The Ocean before Manchester Orchestra (who are in fact, not an orchestra at all). A short jaunt to The Pit for Cancer Bats and a search for food filled our time before the headliner of our night.


Who was of course, Frank Turner. To be honest I was pretty disappointed. I really enojoyed his solo set at Bristol, but solo sets just don't work in such a bit place. You can't really dance around to acoustic music, and at once point The Libertines were drowning him out from the Main Stage. I also had a woman behind me with a baby strapped to her front, and she kept jabbing me with her baby. I mean, seriously? I ended up joining Marie outside after a while as I got too hot and the crowd were so ignorant about any of his older songs which annoyed me a bit! But I guess a bit of an acoustic old favourite was really the perfect wind down at the end of the weekend.

Overall... I didn't enjoy the festival much. I always knew the line-up would be weak, but I just couldn't afford enough alcohol to get any more enjoyment out of it! And I ended up sitting through most of the sets to preserve energy that I then didn't need for Frank Turner. The weekend needed more drinking and dancing!

But I did have a good time, I enjoyed getting to know old camp-mates better, and I wish I could see them all more than once a year. It's just the expense that makes me cry. But at least my train back home wasn't affected by the strikes, I guess, as that would have put a huge dampener on things!

Giant Reading Festival 2014 Post

I suddenly realise that I never got around to writing up Glastonbury, so I'm going to try to write a quick Reading post before I end up never doing that either. I'll do a separate post about Camp Loner probably as I don't want to be too image heavy right now. My full album from the weekend can be found HERE, although my decade old camera is definitely on its last legs by now!


This year was my fourth Reading, and as usual I camped with Camp Loner (the best people ever). I ended up getting the Thursday off work so I could get there as early as possible, and the buses in Reading were much better this year. I hardly had to walk which was a blessing as my trolley broke, and once at the gates I got straight through without having to go through the windy barriers. Result! I even managed to put my tent up without help this time! Then proceeded to get too drunk & was sick outside my tent...

Friday

By some miracle I avoided a hangover, and first act on Friday was Gerard Way. I think a lot of people were disappointed, but it was everything I expected really. Kinda like MCR but not as good, and nobody really knew any songs. Afterwards I dashed off and left my friends as I wanted to catch the end of Hacktivist where I managed to catch some of their best songs, which was lucky. Rou even joined them on stage at one point! I stuck around for the Japanese band Crossfaith who blew my face off, Blood Red Shoes who were awesome and chill, and Deaf Havana who I enjoyed a lot more this time since I know them a bit better now. Then it was time to inch forward for...


Jimmy Eat World! Unfortunately this meant missing Twin Atlantic but I have no regrets as they were brilliant as always with a great setlist, which included Authority Song which is one of the funnest to sing along to (it features in my kitchen playlist when I cook every time haha). The crowd reaction was pretty good too. I had wanted to try to get right to the front but it was too busy to risk getting stuck in the middle! Because next was...


Enter Shikari! Which sucked a lot more than I'd hoped. I'd pretty much only bought my ticket to see them. I got crushed against the barrier at the back of the inner circle, could barely breathe, almost got my arm and ribs broken...no bueno. I had to get pulled out after 2 songs and I was really upset about it! I ended up able to see pretty badly at the side where I still had to dodge circle pits, and they didn't even play Zzzonked =[ not that they didn't sound utterly brilliant, I was just a bit bummed out and was the wrong side of the stage to see Rory C's shenanigans. BLAH.

After all that pain I went to see Warpaint for a much needed chill out session, and if you haven't seen them you really should as they always kill it. And then...


MORE JIMMY EAT WORLD! I had a hunch they would play Futures in full to mark the 10 year anniversary of its release, and I was correct. The set was so nostalgic for me as it was the first album of theirs I ever bought and it takes me back to being 14. Kill is one of my favourite songs still, and hearing it live was a bit of a dream come true, sad as it is. By the end of the show I had managed to get quite near the front too! I was a bit annoyed that so many people were just standing around and not singing along or dancing...like why did you bother to cram yourself into the little Lock Up tent if you aren't even into them?

I caught the end of Paramore's set after leaving the tent (I was right to not trust the rumours about a secret set in the Lock Up) and they put on a good show and seemed to be surprisingly well-received for the amount of hate they get. It started raining a little so I headed to Metronomy for a bit to warm up before Queens of the Stone Age.


While I'm still not convinced that they are headline material, their set definitely benefitted from the insane light show. They were really very good, much better than at Download last year. I was kinda grumpy and tired and cold though, which was a shame. Straight to bed afterwards!

Saturday

A whole bunch of us went to catch Pulled Apart By Horses after a nice morning at camp. Turns out I knew them better than I had thought, and while they're a little heavy for me I ought to check them out again some time. I stuck around for a bit of Dry The River since I had missed them at Glastonbury, and then caught a bit of Royal Blood as I'd been told that they were good (which they were). I was really tired at this point, so caught All We Are for a second time at the BBC Introducing stage despite originally intending to go see Lower Than Atlantis (who I got drenched seeing last year iirc). The Hives were a bit of a disappointment after being a highlight of Download, I think they only really worked in the charged environment of a small tent and not on the Main Stage. Don Broco were a bit disappointing too but throught no fault of their own; it was just my poor mood and the fact that I could barely hear them as their sound must have been doofed up. After catching the end of Foster The People Gemma & Panda bumped into me so we all sat half asleep and half singing along to Imagine Dragons before I dashed off for...


We Are Scientists. I liked them aaaages ago after buying their first album on a whim, and had been very bummed out when a bunch of my friends saw them at Give It A Name without me when none of them even really knew who they were. They were definitely worth the wait! The crowd went wild whenever they played an oldie, and it was a full on dance party.

I'd intended to cram myself into the dance tent for the Pendulum DJ set, but it was far too loud. So I walked around the little barrier and sat watching Jake Bugg whilst being able to hear both, which was a bit trippy. I got adopted by a group of people at this point and it was nice to just have people to sit with.


I've never been a huge fan of Artic Monkeys, but trust me when I say they were amazing live. I knew pretty much all of the songs somehow and can definitely see how they were headliners.

Sunday
Somehow Sunday ended up being the most fun day of all. I missed a few bands in the morning as camp was just too fun, and then we all had a laugh at Main Stage most of the day. I'm glad I saw Young Guns after missing them at Download through similar camp-related shenanigans, and we all had a hoot at Papa Roach because how can you not? Sleeping With Sirens sounded good for what they were, but I can't stand the singer's whiny little girl voice. A Day To Remember and You Me At Six were good, and I was too lazy to go to other stages and stuck around for Macklemore & Ryan Lewis instead. Everyone was expecting it to be crap, but it was a crazy amount of drunken fun! I don't think anyone didn't enjoy it, even if it wasn't really many people's usual thing.


Then it was finally Möngöl Hörde time! The most fun set of the whole weekend as I could dance about and wave my glow stick around without getting crushed to death, and they're one of the best live bands I've ever seen anyway. I hope they do more shows in future, even if not for a while.


Then I had time to catch the most of Blink 182. I'd heard from a lot of people that they were rubbish live, but those people were big fat liars. They were playing one of my favourite songs (Down) when I got there, and once again I was surpised to find that I knew pretty much every song. I must have listened to them a lot when I was younger and just forgotten about it! It was a great way to end the weekend. I had to get a huge portion of chips and mushy peas afterwards to refuel!

On Monday the rain came. We all got soaked. But at least it held off until then! And I got a lift back so I didn't have to fight with the crowds at the train station in the rain. Win win!

Now the long wait until next year.

Reading Festival

This year was my third Reading festival in a row, and it was probably the best yet! I'll keep this entry short and sweet though, as much as possible.


Started off meeting a bunch of fellow campers at The Three Guineas just outside the station around midday on Wednesday. We were all Camp Loner folk, only I guess we aren't really loners anymore as we all know each other by now. Camp was great this year, although I missed most of Wednesday evening as I got sick and went to bed at 9.30pm (embarrassing!). On Thursday I finally got to ride on the boat, which was really fun. I also got my drink balance right this year instead of just staying sober all weekend, although I still ate for pretty much the whole camp! Best memory was the in-depth discussion of the Skittles advert where everything the man touches turns to Skittles.

Friday

On Friday a bunch of us went to a arena to catch the end of Skindred, who were awesome. Also caught New Found Glory and Bring Me The Horizon before I wandered off alone to get closer to the stage for Frank Turner.


I think this was my 8th time seeing him now? It was great as always, although I started shouting at people for standing up too soon at the end of Photosynthesis! Crowd was a bunch of n00bs!

I had intended to go see Bastille afterwards, but the NME tent looked pretty crowded so I went to see Kate Nash instead. Her sound seems to be much punkier now, and the photos came out pretty nice!


Caught the end of Deftones (I saw them in 2011). System Of A Down were miles better than I expected and they played all songs that I knew, which was fab.


Afterwards I wandered mostly. I've seen Green Day twice before and while they sound good Billie Joe just drags everything out too much. Bumped into Jesus and sat down for a bit of Skrillex which was grade-A shit, but also hilarious as Sonny's voice is so high-pitched and he looks exactly like Finn from our camp. Turns out I should have caught Crystal Fighters as they sounded great on the way back, but I'd had no idea who they were. Must do more research in future!

Saturday

Went with Laura to go see Mallory Knox as she was friends with them, and stayed for a bit of Lower Than Atlantis at which point the heavens were well and truly open.


Then we headed to Lock-Up where it was dry to catch Crowns on Jas' recommendation and a bit of Anti Vigilante before going to NME for Deaf Havana, who I'd missed on Main Stage last year. I think I stayed for a bit of Modestep, but soon headed off to get near Main Stage for Twin Atlantic.


They were great, as you can probably assume from the fact that I'd seen them live twice before and still went back! Managed to jump around until I ached and ended up being part of a group hug-and-sway for 'Crash Land' with a bunch of random guys!

Headed further back to watch White Lies and Foals who were both great before bumping into some girls I'd met through Jesus the day before, who I stayed with for Tame Impala. Not my kind of music really, but I got turned into a cat (the girls had less then family-friendly slogans scrawled across their foreheads!).


Wandered back with them for a bit of Chase & Status before heading back alone for Jake Bugg and Alt-J. They were really good but some asshole almost cigarette-burned my face which made me panic and my anxiety wouldn't wane, so I went back to camp quite early to avoid the Eminem crowd who all looked like they had several ASBOs each.

Sunday
On Sunday morning I met Sophie at the station before heading to the arena. We stayed at Main Stage all day, seeing We Are The In Crowd and Hadouken! while taking some photos of ourselves!



We moved closer for Don Broco as I really like them and I'd promised to call Bexy during 'Priorities' and wanted to make sure the sound went through my crappy festi-phone.


Moved back for Editors, The Lumineers, and Fall Out Boy before moving closer again during Nine Inch Nails, who were an absolute disappointment as they didn't play either of the songs that I know for unknown reasons. But as they weren't great we managed to get really close to the stage for Biffy Clyro!


A pre-Biffy selfie.



They were soooooo good, and this was time number 6 seeing them live for me. I think it was the best yet as I was so hyped after waiting for them all weekend, although still sad that I had to miss Funeral For A Friend and Shikari Sound System for it. Damn you timetablers and your sucky clashes! But I least I got to jump around and shout lyrics and get shoved by the person behind for being too rowdy...forever winning the 'most enthusiastic' award when it comes to music I really love.

I had such a good weekend and really wasn't ready for it to be over on Monday, although once home I was glad to have a cup of tea and a fantastic BBQ! I just hope I can go next year too if the line-up doesn't get worse than this year (so much hipster and dance stuff, whyyyyy).

Reading Festival, 2012 - Part Two

In the run-up to Reading Festival rumours had been flying around concerning Green Day. We pretty much knew that they would be playing on the Saturday but we didn't know when until, while sat being bored at camp, we heard 'Welcome To Paradise' blare out from the NME tent. POOP! We had to leg it there, missing several songs (although most of them seem to have been new ones I didn't know).


As you can see, we still got pretty close! Although our view was blocked by one of the tent supports so we could only see a sliver of stage. But still. It's GREEN DAY. And lots of people weren't even allowed into the area surrounding the tent, so we were pretty lucky!


Obviously they were really good, as always. I last saw them back in 2005 and I was not disappointed!

The only problem with seeing Green Day so early in the day is that it's far too much to live up to. Back at Main Stage I caught the end of Los Campesinos! and Blood Red Shoes. I had planned on seeing Pure Love over at NME but I've seen them before so I thought I'd be adventurous!

I did however head over to NME alone to see Twin Atlantic as I'd read in Kerrang! that they're like old-school Biffy Clyro and I stupidly thought I'd love them. LOLNOPE. Would have been okay but some bits they were too much of a rip-off only their riffs were weak and the singer's voice was crappy compared to Simon Neil's. Most people's voices are crappy compared to Simon Neil's. I'll have to give them a fairer chance at a later date, but now the comparison is in my mind I don't think they'll ever win me over.

Rejoined my little group of loners at Main Stage for the utter shite that is OFWGKTA, followed by The Shins. Lost my group during Enter Shikari, who aren't really my thing but I purposely avoided them last year so I thought I'd give them a go.

Went for a wander to find water, circling the NME tent during Billy Talent who sounded pretty awesome and then heading back to Main Stage to catch a bit of The Vaccines who were much less awesome. Should have stayed at NME.

But I'd wanted a decent spot for the next act, Florence and the Machine. Though their pretty back-boards were all I could see really as it was pretty packed.


They were really good, but I didn't enjoy it too much as it rained a lot and I was absolutely freezing! Though nowhere near as cold as I was last year, so just about bearable. Main complaint is that they didn't play Drumming Song which is easily their best song Dx

I stayed where I was for Kasabian, who blew me away. I'd seen them do a short set at Live Earth a few years back and while I vaguely liked their singles I'm not really a fan. But the crowd were amazing and it was a really great show. Probably my surprise highlight of the weekend! I even managed to dry out a little from jumping about. Glad I chose to see them instead of chancing At The Drive-In.


Sunday morning loners! Looking a little worse for wear after all the rain on Saturday. And yeah I guess they'd been drinking for 3 days straight by this point! I decided to join in that morning as it was sunny and nice a few cans of cider seemed to be in order.

Had to go to the arena by myself as couldn't convince anyone else to come with me. As such I missed the first few songs of Of Monsters And Men's set on the NME stage, which is a shame as they're a really good band and even better live.


At least I didn't miss the song 'Little Talks' as it's the only one I know well!

Afterwards I bought a pint of cider as I didn't feel too tipsy after the two cans I'd had and I wanted to have a good amount of alcohol in me for Möngöl Hörde's set just in case it was rough! Caught a bit of Flatliners when I got to the Lock-Up. And then...


Möngöl Hörde! I'd been looking forward to seeing them the most.


And they didn't disappoint. Even though I only went in knowing 4 songs. It seemed pretty tame from where I was, but apparently there was a circle pit and stuff that I totally missed as I didn't want to risk my glasses and I'm a short-ass.


It's a shame this was their last show this year. I'll definitely have to go see them when they tour though. And any sensible person would do the shame *shakes fist threateningly* eheheheh.

With that excitement over I trudged to Main Stage and saw the end of Eagles of Death Metal's set, Gaslight Anthem (who are really good), All Time Low (whose music is good but they're a bunch of immature dickbags). And then Bullet For My Valentine who granted me with my favourite photo of the whole weekend.


SO MUCH WELSH.

Then were the Kaiser Chiefs, and Or somehow found me so I had company for a bit! But I went on a water run after their set and got stuck away from the stage for The Black Keys (I still don't get how they subheadlined as I'd never heard of them and still don't really have a clue who they are). But it cleared up after they left so I got a good spot for...


FOO FIGHTERS! Who of course put on a really good show, and I didn't even get fed up until right at the end of the 2.5 hour set.


However I was stuck behind the four biggest douchebags I've ever known who were drunk and irritating and smoking weed and threw a cup of cider over my bag and threw several cups of piss on the people in front and started a circle pit for just them that meant I had to be saved by another member of camp who luckily happened to be there -_-


Aaaand the fireworks signal the end of an awesome weekend!

I had planned on staying up that night, but after a few minutes I was told I needed to get laid so I promptly fucked off back to my tent and decided that I hate people.

Monday went pretty smoothly, although I wasn't really ready to go home as I wanted more music! Was nowhere near as tired or sore as last year. Ended up catching the train with Ross because Finn left before I even got up despite saying he'd travel back with me =/

Got back home at around midday, looking rough but in one piece! And boy was I ready for a cup of tea, shower, and some food.


And here's some instagram shots of my wristbands and programme.




And I guess that's it for another year! Although I'll only be going again if the line-up is good, unless people convince to go to Download instead (though I doubt they'll succeed as I don't really like metal and there are unlikely to be bands I like there and I have a feeling the crowds would be rougher).

Reading Festival, 2012 - Part One

Very delayed blogging here, but I've been tired and generally lazy since getting back from Reading!


I had early entry so I got there on the Wednesday. I met Finn (who I know from last year) at the station so we could get the train together (and so he could carry my bag most of the way coz it was heavy and people always assume it's just me being weak so they offer...eheheheh). Walked straight into camp with no queues really, found Camp Loner straight away as it was in the same place as last year, Brad put my tent up for me. No problems. Rest of the day was spent drinking. Too much. I threw vodka over someone for being ignorant and then proceeded to try to start a fight with everyone, but no one would take me on =P So yeah, don't say that asexuality doesn't exist around a drunken me if you don't want your face smashed in!

Thursday was horrible as I only had 3 hours of sleep, woke up drunk, and then had a really bad hangover until late afternoon. Met Sophie at the train station at 4 (although we were opposite sides of the station!), and I ended up getting a bit annoyed as she's a social butterfly and I was super grumpy that day ^_^' But the afternoon was good, met a few more loners from last year and took this photo of the campers under the gazebo.


And this one of Sophie & I!


Friday morning really dragged as we were all just keen to get the festival started! The first band we saw were Future of the Left at about midday in the NME tent. I wasn't convinced, probably would have been better off seeing Deaf Havana. Then we went to Main Stage where we caught the end of Cancer Bats, then Coheed & Cambria, Angels & Airwaves, Crystal Castles (wtf, too much random screeching and the crowd was all girls showing their boobs and one guy who decided to get his dick out have a wank while on someone's shoulders), You Me At Six. I missed most of Bombay Bicyle Club as there was a huge queue for the loo!


Fucking Paramore! Everyone on camp hates them for no apparent reason, but even if you don't like their music they put on a really good show. And I do like their music. So there.


And Hayley Williams' outfit was awesome.

After Paramore Sophie broke down and decided to go back to camp. I thought she'd feel differently about wanting to leave by the morning, but she left in the evening while I was watching The Cure. I felt really bad about making her go back alone and not looking after her, but The Cure were the main reason I went to Reading this year Dx


The Cure were really good, although my attention waned in places as their songs are often too long and they played a few I didn't know (and the set was loooooong). But I've always wanted to see them and they were pretty much the only band left I wanted to see live that I hadn't already seen! And they played my favourite song of theirs too, so yay.



When I got back to camp I went straight to my tent to listen to music until I fell asleep because I don't like socialising with drunk people when I'm sober. Especially non-ace ones because my god do you people talk of nothing but sex or something? SO BORING.

Aaaaand that's it for part one methinks!