Let's all read this Reading Review - innit.

Reading: second to Glastonbury. And SUGAR PILL sent festival virgin Jenna to investigate the phenomenon of music-worshippers gathering amongst the mud to adorn the kings and queens of indie.

I was a festival virgin, sacrificed to the crowds of Them Crooked Vultures. Someone chucked a watermelon at me. A watermelon. Not cans of drinks or cans of piss – a whole friggin’ watermelon. Apart from the melon incident, for a first-timer at this festival, it was an excellent experience - well except not showering for four days, having barbecue sauce thrown onto my tent in the night and God-forbidden toilets which were more like pits than anything or the time where I was drenched in piss at The Prodigy gig – it was all good fun. Thank God for wet wipes that’s all I’m saying. Enough about the hardships of moi, lets give you the music gossip.

Friday:

Friday’s mainstage during the day wasn’t my thing e.g. no thanks to Fall Out Boy, so it was off to the Radio 1 stage where I caught the last 15 minutes of Dananananaykoyd or however you spell the name. From the sound of it, they sounded tight and the crowds responded positively seeing as they were the first act on. Not much was happening so I checked out the Introducing Stage – look out for 60 Watt Bayonets - think English version of Beth Ditto. The lead singer certainly belted out songs for the 100-strong crowd, making our ears bleed in the process (but in a good way).

Not planning fantastically, I ended up spending too much time in the Alternative Arena listening to some bad stand-up rather than seeing The Temper Trap, The Big Pink and Bombay Bicycle Club – my fault. I did, however, manage to drag my arse down to see Little Boots. I must admit, her music has definitely grown on me and she commanded the stage much better than she did at Glastonbury. Next was Jack Penate, definitely more grown up compared to his image at the time of ‘Spit At Stars.’ Playing the tracks of ‘Tonight’s Today’ and ‘Be the One’ certainly made me reminisce the now-ending summer, and closed with ‘Torn on the Platform’ which made the crowd go wild (at my expense - I think I fell at this point) and didn’t get up until Florence and the Machine. Kicking off with ‘Dog Days Are Over,’ I was kicked to the ground. Luckily my guardian angel/mr pervert pulled me from the ground by wrapping his arm around my thigh. At that point it was time to leave and watch ol’Florence from the outside screen which I was gutted about. Now the cynic comes out of me. I think the main thing about Reading that annoyed me a little was there were a lot of very young teens who didn’t know the proper conduct of going to see a gig e.g. trying to push through a group of people with no space to physically push into therefore causing the ‘domino effect.’ I don’t mind when crowds get a little rough – it happens. But it’s when there’s no space to move and there’s the danger of being crushed – that’s the bad part. It didn’t help with the poor layout of the Radio 1 stage. Anyway, Florence looked amazing, sounded amazing, especially her cover of ‘You’ve Got The Love’ – I just wish I was actually in the crowd, but my welfare came first. Sorry.

Hate me hate me hate me. I missed Friendly Fires (get their album, I advise you) – that was only because I wanted to get prime standing space for the headliners Kings of Leon. So after standing through Kaiser Chiefs (admittedly, were quite good, even though I don’t rate their music particularly great), it was time for the KoL. Interesting. Very interesting. I suppose you heard about their temper tantrum and swearing to the crowds? As I gather, what sparked their rage was people who had only come to see ‘Sex on Fire’ be played and felt the audience weren’t familiar with their older works (which are much better than the rubbish off ‘Only By The Night.’) So they were going to have a frosty reception to, say, ‘Red Morning Light’ and ‘My Party’ purely because the crowd didn’t know them. It was the same where I was standing; no-one knew their older music. I can sympathise with KoL, but didn’t really appreciate being sworn at…or their refusal to my demands for an encore. But I still love them, ‘Because Of The Times’ being my favourite. So I trudged back to my barbecue-sauce-covered tent, stopping to huddle around a fire with drunks and stoners. A good night in my books.

Saturday:

After getting lost coming back from the toilets (pits) in the early morn, I sat down and planned who I wanted to see that day. The line-up during the day didn’t really interest me as it was mainly crap rock like Fightstar. First on the agenda was Eagles of Death Metal. I was very impressed by them actually, having practically no familiarity with their music. They were a parody and their set was very entertaining. I enjoyed them immensely with a snorter to the left of me, stoner on the right. Patrick Wolf time soon followed. Again, I was impressed, especially with Patrick dancing around the stage and climbing up it. Masses of energy and masses of costume changes = full marks. Surprise act was Them Crooked Vultures. I survived two of their songs (which were pretty awesome) and was literally smuggled out of the crowd before I died. Would have liked to have stuck around for longer but in fear of my life I fled to the bar. Sorry.

Reunited with my friends, it was about time to sit quietly and enjoy the music of Ian Brown. I have a soft spot for him, especially during his times with The Stone Roses. Quite chilling listening to him, enjoyed his set, and did play a couple of Stone Roses songs, and the crowds (mainly middle-agers) were transported back to their Hacienda days. But the highlight of that day, I have to say, is the almighty Prodigy later on that evening. The crowd just erupted when hearing a few bars of the opening of their songs. Absolutely amazing – the only complaint I had was the quality of sound. But I had other things to complain about. Like having piss poured on me. Up next was the Arctic Monkeys – that was strange in the line-up because I would have thought The Prodigy would have been better to close Saturday. But there you go. Hmm the Monkeys. For me, they were the most disappointing of the bands. Their setlist was not the most creative and there were a lot of dips – at one point it was as if they were deliberately trying to make the crowd go to sleep. Their encore was poor – I don’t remember the songs, I think 505 was played but I was so tired at that point I wasn’t concentrating. They did play a lot of their third album songs, but from the sound of it I don’t think I’ll bother reviewing it. Sorry.

Sunday:

Sunday saw much of me trying to get primetime standing for Radiohead for later on that day. The results were unsuccessful and I’ll tell why in a mo. Got there when Vampire Weekend was playing. I really enjoyed their set and the crowd were treated to their new material – looking forward to that next year. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs came on – and that’s when the crowds got mad. Too mad. Crushing mad. Unfortunately I was being crushed to a size 0 so much that I couldn’t concentrate on the set – I was concentrating too much on holding onto my friend (if anything gave, I think I would have died.) So I survived the Yeah Yeah Yeahs but knew I wouldn’t be able to for Bloc Party. I watched them from a safer distance. Alas alas alas what ever happened to Bloc Party? It’s like they’re trying to branch out to cheap House music complete with lasers. Their set was awkward, due Kele’s keep-stopping-telling-a-no

t-very-funny-joke-then-starting-again. Not good. Not good at all.

So I waited patiently for my beloved Radiohead to come on. And I wasn’t disappointed. Not one ounce. They were…how can I describe it? Perfect. Perfect is the correct word and the amount I paid for my ticket I would have happily paid to just see Radiohead. They opened up with ‘Creep,’ attracting all the populists (the same ones who demanded ‘Sex on Fire’ to be played) and then switched to songs from their most recent works of ‘In Rainbows,’ thus driving the populists out like snakes. I wished I had a photograph of my face when I saw people leave. It would have surely been smug. And the smugness grew when I overhead a 40 year-old lager-lout football hooligan shout ‘Radiohead? Who the f**k?’

Their set was beautiful. ‘Reckoner’ was my favourite of the gig – I think I may have been a little teary-eyed at that moment (sorry to share that sentimental thought with you but it had to be said. They’re amazing. Get over it.)

After being satisfied by Radiohead, I walked back to my tent when the carnage began. Reading had a slight burning taste to the air, after seeing tents ablaze and gas canisters thrown into the air like missiles. It was post-apocalyptic anarchy where teenagers ruled the earth – like that Star Trek episode. Poles were brought down, angry stampedes followed, and my head missed a garden chair by inches. And that concludes my Reading review, having put more effort into this than any of my law essays in the past year. Brilliant.

And so Reading came to an end. I enjoyed myself, and have even bought my ticket for next year where I hope to the Music God Muse will be playing.

Jenna

xxx