Before the IOW Festival was brought back to life then instantly killed again with the pathetic organization behind it. Before Richard Branson nearly killed himself in a ruddy great balloon, let alone dreamt up a festival and years before mobile phones dominated our Summer festivals there was always activity in Reading over the August Bank Holiday. The Reading festival is one of the most well established music weekends in the UK. Over the years there's been dramatic changes. The two most significant have been the second site in Leeds and the sponsorship deal snapped up by Carling Larger. One thing hasn't changed, the three days guarantee the best music around and even though this is only our second ever review thanks to ABLE2UK's annual September facelift we our putting our new look on hold. How can we not cover one of the most popular festivals of the year?
FRIDAY
Our reviews for each day will start in one of the three sponsored VIP marquees located in the guest area. It would make sense to kick off this weekends proceeding in the Carling tent. For those who are missing a football game over the weekend a table footie match could be a reasonable substitute. Bands who have been playing in the main arena will pop in at spasmodic interviews over the next three days to DJ and the bar will have bacon sarnies after midnight to ensure tents won't be keeping empty tummies dry. Activities in the outside world will be documented in the papers scattered around the bar and the entertainment pages will inform us that celebrities such as Daniel Radcliffe, Kelly Osbourne and Peaches Geldof have been in our company for the next few days.
Away from the VIP's the first act we caught wasn't music related at all. Over the Summer Friday evenings for some of us have meant slumping in front of our telly watching Alan Carr career jet off to celebrity stardom land on The Friday Night Project. While the last program in the current series is being aired tonight we are treated to the real McCoy. Alan Carr is on the comedy stage telling us hilarious tales about supermarkets, coming out and esplanades from the TV show. Carr used to be the warm up bloke on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, now he his a past guest!
Time for some bands? OK if you insist,
Fall Out Boy
When Pete Wentz took a step out of the shadow from the music industry and decided to form a band he was confronted with mixed reviews. Split in two the public either loved them or wished the band would fold immediately. With fans raving or raging equally either side of the fence the future could had looked ominous. 'Could' because one of their followers was a certain Jay Z who gave the band the full credit they deserve. With this being one of their few UK festival appearances the band seemed as if they had been kept in a Greyhound starting box and as soon as the latch was unleashed they furiously attacked the main stage today. With two hits already, 'Sugar We're Goin' Down' & 'Dance, Dance' they were a gem to watch and didn't seem to take themselves too seriously, which made this set very important indeed!
Kiaser Chiefs
Hang on a sec, call the Freud squad and give them the address for the guy who designs the Mean Fiddler website. The promoters of the Carling Weekend sell Kaiser Chief's presence as their only UK festival this year. We didn't take that many drugs at T to verify this is a load of all rubbish. Playing in front of a large K and C and snatching our thoughts for a good Kentucky Fried Chicken joke Ricky gave it his all. With the crowd banter being conducted by a flashing 'K' uniting the field to chant 'Kaiser' and then the flashing 'C' - well, you get the picture, the band didn't fail to disappoint. Even though we were reporting from Reading we could highly anticipate a even more ecstatic crowd the following night as the played in their home town at the Leeds site.The band are spending the Winter nights working on a second album and it has to be said, we are waiting to here the developments.
Franz Ferdinand? Nope, Primal Scream!
You know you've made the right decision to dismiss the main stage headliner for Primal Scream when even one of the organizers slags off Franz! The Scream are certainly no strangers to this years festivals and closed the NME/ Radio 1 stage in style. We caught up with the band in their dressing room s backstage at they were all in high spirits. Bobby didn't seemed too mashed as you'd expect and Mani was exchanging compliments with Dizzee Rascal who had just left the stage. Primal Scream played a stormer of a set which celebrated their 20th year as a band. The setlist could have been written on the cover of a 'Best Of..' album and the tent was nearly over cramming to it's capacity. If you couldn't purchase a ticket or was a foolish Scot backing your home-band a few meters away make sure you don't miss the band when they start their winter tour!
Other bands who played in Reading today included Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Subways, The Vines and a whole load of bands you've probably never heard of playing in the Carling Tent.
SATURDAY
Out of all the bands
playing this weekend most of the heavyweights were signed to Warners.
To celebrate their invasion the record label had a VIP tent in the guest
area. Although fairly quiet on other days, Saturday was the main celebration
to tie-in with today's headline act, Muse.
The tent was filled with guests enjoying the free bar. Famous faces included
Kelly Jones, Alex Zane, Edith Bowman, Zane Lowe and even a couple of the
Muse guys made an appearance. If a young budding musician was inspired
by any of the bands over the weekend the PS2 Guitar Hero gave them the
ideal opportunity to practice their skills and then rest their tired feet
on comfy Mexican style sofas. Of course, during the day their wasn't much
time to relax as the lineup was as strong as ever. Here's just a few on
today's bands which we managed to catch,
The Automatic
We all know about 'that song' by now, but we have also speculated The Automatic could be One Hit Wonders. After hearing the band play live throughout the Summer our theory seem ever more distance. Part of the reason is because of Penny's unique hyper active activity, despite the fact behind the scenes he was advised to calm things down. Leaving their 'monster' until last the crowd in the NME/ Radio tent were more than happy to discover the other album tracks, which of course include their NME single of the week, 'Recover'. The final minutes saw a predicted wild heap of fans going ballistic, but backstage straight after the band finished the sight was completely different. Pennie could be seen laying on the grass looking extremely shattered as if he had just completed a marathon. This was one of the funniest sights we saw all weekend and if the band have a well deserved long career we recommend Pennie makes a date in the Priory alongside Docherty, not because we think he's going to have a breakdown. He needs some of Pete's drugs to keep him going!
Feeder
If it's aint broke, don't fix it, so the saying goes and Feeder don't. In fact if we saw a tape all their performances from their past we probably couldn't tell where one ends or starts. There's no surprises or gimmicks just a typical Feeder show. Although this isn't a criticism, far from it as a standard run-of-the-mill performance from these guys is thoroughly entertaining. They have so many hits under their belts the hour just seems to be filled with familiar anthems being sung back at them. Grant is always a showman, well except when he voice packs up and they walk off stage (Brighton 2005). The only glitch we can find in today's performance relates to our earlier reference. Because they play so often, sometimes you don't always see the full inspiration from the band. Feeder are great, but if they want to be with us for another decade they should consider a slight change. Don't ask us what, we are just journalists who are trying to find different words every time Feeder play their repetitive shows and we need some help! Maybe they should play nude next time, or have a clown juggling. Or maybe a live Alligator on stage and stick their heads in it's mouth. RIP Steve Irvine - you bloody fool!
Yeah we have slagged off Steve Irwin, look lets just take a quick break from this review and give you our opinion of the dead Australian shall we? Let's break this down. A middle aged Australian loon decides to make a living by really pissing off and annoying dangerous creatures. When one day one fights bank and kills him. The the whole nation are in shock!
Um, back to our review,
Arctic Monkeys
Once again we managed
to sneak up on stage and joined by Grandma Jo Whiley, who instead of leaving
the festival after her Radio 1 broadcast to go home and see her kids stayed
on to watch the band. In a matter of fact we see her at so many freebies
we would like to take this opportunity to show her child what their mother
actually looks like! So if you are Jo's kid click
here!
From miserable, old, wrinkly women to fresh, new, talent and the Arctic
Monkeys were given a huge welcome from the Reading crowd. Last year they
needed to be upgraded from the Carling Stage thanks to their splattered
press coverage. The Monkey's crew now have customized tracksuits and you
can tell a vast amount of money has been put behind them.
A couple of nights before the band followed in Franz Ferdinand's footsteps
and played a small Reading warm up at the London Forum.
The boys actually seemed a tad nervous and have played better at previous
gigs, but still remain one of the best bands around. Alex Turner is always
a joy to watch. Over in the Carling tent, The Fratellis were playing and
we wouldn't mind betting that in 2007 they could well be 'doing a monkey'
and be right here on the main stage playing just before the main act.
Muse
Although we met
the Warner posse a week late to wangle free tickets for Madonna and had
to part with £120 for her concert at least we were in time to witness
Muse from the best seat in the house! Because of the polytechnics, not
to mention the view of the bands incredible stage set (they had 6 monitors
behind them moving up & down which looked pretty damn cool!) a group
of family and friends were asked to congregate outside the dressing room
enclosure. Never ones to miss an opportunity we managed to mingle in with
the small crowd and were escorted by security to the sound desk which,
not only was slap bang in the middle of the field, but right near the
disabled platform. As well as boasting the crammed packed music-fest weekend
of the Summer the Carling festival can also brag they have the perfect
disabled platform.
Muse gave a show fit for an unfinished Stadium. The fireworks and dramatic
backdrop were only a small element towards the stunning night. Matt Bellamy
is a rock star and with the band starting to embark on a Winter tour this
was a perfect way to wet the UK audience's appetites.
Of course they played all the hits and managed to crown themselves the
kings of the weekend. If you don't have tickets for their forthcoming
tour we suggest you save up and browse through ebay. We would happily
part with an auctioned price of £120 for these. Which of course
we actually don't need to thanks to our friend at Warners - we hope!
Some of the bands we haven't time to cover who played elsewhere at the Reading site today include, Dirty Pretty Things, The Futureheads, The Raconteurs and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.
SUNDAY
Sunday is and always
has been, 'Rock Day' at the Reading Festival. It's also the day where
the poor unemployed students who have signed up to tidy the site are devastated
by the sheer amount of plastic bottles lampooned into the air. Safety
sheltering in the guest area we were queuing outside the Tscali tent to
catch one of their many small sets which have been playing over the weekend.
If your head is still sore from bashing it against a wall because you
missed out on a ticket this year then all isn't lost. Tscali managed to
persuade a handful of acts each day into their small tent and play in
front of a small select audience. In a matter of fact we have their website
open on our monitor right now so we can handily give you a few names of
bands you can watch. Starting from the top of the scrolling window and
working down, the acts are The Subways, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Futureheads,
The Rakes, Funeral For A Friend and We Are Scientists.
This was Tscali's second year at the festival and the company have already
confirmed they will make a welcome appearance in 2007. Later in the evening
when the sessions had finished the tent transformed into a poker room,
which we can't really report on as our knowledge of card games stops at
Snap!
As far as the bands go, we thought we would pick two acts which as diverse
as they come! The first being a fairly new band with a indie feel keeping
the NME young misfits contented and storing up their iPod memory, the
other being rock legends who are so old your Grandparents probably have
them playing on their Gramophones.
Boy Kill Boy
Standing on the
NME/ Radio One stage as confident as David Cameroon on the next Election
night Boy Kill Boy take their mid-evening slot as if they are headlining
the whole damn weekend. They may only have a few singles released so far
from their terrific album, Civilian (Suzie, being the most successful)
but they play each track with such domination you could be forgiven thinking
that you had heard each song for bloody ages.
Boy Kill Boy are one of those great bands who are still seeking that one
hit which will take them to a filled arena tour, but it will come.
What makes this band even more appealing is their down to earth approach
off stage. Their website recently ran a competition for a lucky fan to
have a private Summer gig in their back garden and the lads even recognized
us backstage from other festivals. Even though we have never spoken to
them!
In past reviews from various music events we have reported that we have
missed their act because they clashed with another band. From now on we
must apologize if an act is playing the same time as them, because from
now on we will always be at the front for the next BKB gig. Well, probably
at the side of the stage after this review!
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam are one of those bands who will always be remembered. Luckily Eddie, although a cult rock legend has steered well clear from guns and could well classed as the adult Kurt Cobain. OK, maybe that comparison is a tad unreasonable, but there are similarities. Both have given us a daunting set at the Reading Festival. Both can be identified by the surnames alone and both have managed to become huge stars, despite only a few songs being recognized by those who aren't fans of the bands. The reason we say this is when the opening notes of 'Alive' circle the field towards the end of the night everyone knows what's coming. Of course, the real followers of the band are in rock heaven tonight and with two encores which finally ends with ' Yellow Ledbetter' Eddie gives us an unforgivable reminder to what makes the Carling weekend is all about. Three days of sheer live, great music!
So, that just about wraps up another year at Carling, expect we are forgetting one more band we should focus on. A new inspiring band who kind of teamed up with some very important people in the media industry..
Larrikin Love & ABLE2UK
As the darkness
falls on our Summer activities now is the time where we can look back
over the past few months as a virtual scrapbook. Way back in May we told
you about a fresh new band we caught at 7am in Camden as part of Carling
24. Since then we have seen Larrikin Love at T in the Park and, even though
we didn't cover it, The Lovebox Weekend. Tonight they play the Carling
Stage in front of one of their largest audiences to date.
Once again we have managed stage access, although because of the small
stage we are actually standing on the stage itself towards the back. Satellite
TV viewers pressing the red button we probably be able to identify us.
This certain journalist is standing next to an elder lady who has a beaming
smile and is playing the spoons. At first we are sceptical that this lass
is lost and just stumbled on stage by accident. Why else would you be
watching a band if you were old enough to be their mother?
If the penny hasn't dropped yet I was indeed standing next to Mrs.Larrikin
who is watching her son, Michael prance around the stage hitting a cowbell
with a fake arm attached. On the other side of me is Mike's girlfriend
and a few close friends of the remainder of the band, Coz & Alfie.
We have all been handed gimmick whistles and are dancing our ska socks
off. Towards the end we are all called on stage to dance with the band
and it's our first festival appearance.
So, Kylie - if you are reading this and stuck for a backing band on Sunday
night at Glastonbury drop us a line and we will try to fit you in!
Other acts today included My Chemical Romance who started their set as their new identity of The Black Parade, Maximo Park, The Kooks and Slayer.