Saturday At Reading Festival- What Went Down.

Whilst we've all been slowly starting to see the last embers of the British summer seep away, collectively the ultimate teenage up-thrall of a festival has left me battered and bruised, with something huge to talk about....

It must have been those few months before Glastonbury Festival, where I was pondering over the array of rather bleak head-liners and how those especially such as Reading have bled their list of suitable big bands dry.I moaned and moaned of how festivals could be so stubborn to get doshing out the same numbers. No band can live on the John Peel stage/ NME forever. So now, after saying that basically saying nothing will ever ever beat Glastonbury and weeks following and research/headbanging/mosh pits finito I can now talk you through my day and exactly how heading to one of the most renowned festivals on the globe lead me to have my suspicions of this music generation either changed, stuffed under the carpet forever or made into a 100% reality. Thus it has given birth to our new headliners. 

Reading, in my view, is placed at the infinitive perfect date; It's mere hours before us lot will be dragging and kicking ourselves back to the desk. The last of many weekends

waking up in a pile of glow sticks and beer bottles. Hence this time round with a rather overwhelming flow of raw, gnarly bands just itching at their veins to be back in a crowd that will frankly happily brake their necks backwards to see them. There seems to have been a swoop, or resurgence let's say, from 2013. Perhaps one of Reading and Leeds most golden line ups for new music. Now these bands either on their second album or on their hype hooting debut after countless singles  are all back to show off the medals that have been sweat oozingly earned over the years.

So long to the oldies who have dragged us through the past 5 years of main stage stragglers. Your game is up.

Happy Daggers

Onwards I head to the BBC introducing stage, for such a godly hour after the first day of a most brutal bollocking ( See @spottedatReadingFestival on Twitter, need I say more) . Wobbling out of the amps and over the audience is the sound of Happy Daggers. A Leeds based quintet manage to at least draw a slob of fatigue from gawping pupils and make limbs do basic moves. Their sound instinctively is reminiscent of Jungle in some areas. They jazz up groovy hooks in 'Salem'  with coos and hoots to make an even more soulful indulgence. Vocals are short and snappy as the set flows with a clean cut, tight aesthetic. They allow guitars to dribble over their energy in a cosy, rawer feeling during 'Closer' . Imagine if some jangly indie band and Jungle joined forces to make a northern super group melting soul licks and riffs. Definitely worth a listen for sodden bodies alike.

8/10

Baby Metal

Yes really, no tuts or rolling eyes please. If you are unaware of the magic that makes this terrifying trio of tutu wearing, teenage Japanese metal warriors then do indulge. If the bookers of Reading had to choose any band to open for Metallica, this had to be the 12.30pm showstopper. These three girls have gained international fame from dancing around on the stage, scaring everyone shitless whilst shouting scratchy words to do with things like wanting some chocolate. Radio 1's Huw Stephens runs around the stage like he's about to wet himself with excitement. This band are the same age as me, but as they slow march onto the stage and make the world famous Baby Metal hand sign ( like the rock hand sign, except you make it look like a fox) they have beckoned a good 20,000 people to come and take a look. Now when I say people could take the mick, they don't. At first yes, people are smirking but by the time the three male

skeletons behind the band start storming out the metal chords chaos erupts left right and centre. Tunes such as 'Megitsune' have people pouring into circle pits, myself included. But with regards to the sound, it really is worth all the fairy winged attention that has been dominating metal news.  The three try not to give away their satisfaction to the crowd, fierce nasty Japanese girl samurai character MUST be maintained at all times! but you see in their performance that the excitement is driving them to further surreal dancing and bass metal crescendos during 'Road of Resistance' . Of course it is only when 'Gimme Chocolate' blasts out, that we all realise Baby Metal beat Metallica hands down on that day.

8/10

FIDLAR

Staying at the main stage was key. For it was that the Los Angeles band, fresh from a whole summer of not just 'Wake, Bake, Skate' but indeed headlining the likes of Bugerama Festival in California and releasing their ever more ravenous single '40oz On Repeat' were to grace the lunchtime slot. A second album, 'Too' is also on the brink of release. So this Reading gig was to be a surf punk freak show of everything they could dare to give away

inside of 40 minutes. Opening with '     ' it was a bit of a surprise compared to the expected 'Cheep Beer' or ' No Waves' but still FIDLAR prove why they're now onto headlining festivals and can get 20,000 people singing about ( lead singer) Zach's favourite drugs. What really shook me in the performance, wasn't when i was stuck on the floor in the mosh pit no, but upon the ultimate anthemic tune of new 'West Coast'. They tear into the stage on every slam of every verse but keep that California cool that puts them in that comfy midriff between thrash and cum-punk. The floaty chorus of 'ahhhh ahhh's contrastingly gets my section of the crowd throttling it out of their throats (appropriately)  "I don't wanna go back homeee" . Of course when 'Cheep beer' does ring about a wall of death opens up with people screaming across the circle "I! Drink! Cheep! Beer! So! What! Fuck! You!" before we all run in . For me their material is just so so moreish, the band are extravagant in mess and we all end up crying to one another "Because every body's got somebody! Everybody, but me!" during '40oz' . But it is 'Cocaine' near the finale of the set that sets us all on fire. Perhaps it is the driving basline and cymbal crash that leads us into a narcotic frenzy of some sort; sweat mixed with adrenaline and some illegal stuff being shed nearby. But all in all, we can only blame our insanity on the band itself. For FIDLAR have again completely showed up all those metal-heads sitting miserably waiting for Alexisonfire or similar. I think I nearly dislocated my shoulder. Get them on a night slot next year. 

9/10

Foals

The not-so-secret-set has suddenly opened with a roar at the Radio 1/NME stage within 10 minutes of me arriving. Two supreme albums in, with 'Holy Fir'e being rung out to the masses in their most tremendous set to date back on the Main Stage in 2013. Yannis and co return, stating it's been six years since they've played this very tent. Another

massive concern for celebration alongside the fact that they belt out with the very song that I could listen to more than FIDLAR do '40oz On Repeat' in literal terms. It is obviously 'My Number'. But what is it that makes them clearly unique to the rest of Reading? well first of all it is the mix between math, indie and hard set rock that set them on a level which I can't even relate to any other sound. Just when the sound can't get any more cultivating they drop into the month old single, 'Mountain At My Gate' . Everyone joins in on a mass sit-in,  before standing up is obligatory with a mass strobe show into the ultimate climax seething from Yannis's vocal chords. There is barely a time to rest as the familiar fiddly riff of 'Inhaler' sends everyone crashing into an inferno. We all want to smash our bodies

as close as we can manage to the band. I feel like I'm in the throat of Yannis's slightly croaked vocals. Oddly this makes it even more ferocious. I always marvel at Foals's drummer Jack Bevan. He kicks up such an impressive fury and gets my 'drummer of the day' . They return to two golden oldies of 'Spanish Sahara' and 'Red Socks Purgie' insisting another sit in before 'What Went Down' terrifies every ear down to the bone. The band drive and drive before reaching Yannis's slowly shattering "When I see a man, I see a lion/You're the apple of my eye, of my eye!" . The strings have been tightened so high for 2015, now is the time for explosion.

9/10

Slaves

So this is where I get to write nasty. Not because it's fun ( although it usually is) but as I actually need to. Every butsniffing UK music press company has not stopped yakking on this year about the Tumbridge Wells duo.I stay in the tent mainly because of this 'necessary' hype and also due to the fact that I had no idea that Wolf Alice were doing a secret set at the BBC introducing stage. Radio 1 are practically up their arse as are Q and NME. The duo waltz on stage and thump into 'Are You Satisfied' . Immediately the mistake of taking to the front of this gig is present. The two really just act like to chimps

smacking their instruments silly. I now know why Sleaford Mods hate them. The crowd are beyond the annoying football fan type and an inflatable manta ray was pointlessly floating about because they did not even bother to play the only one worth singing along to ('Feed The Manta Ray). The riffs and beats stayed much the same and only resonated banging your head against hard, crusty brick wall since most of the songs were the more unheard of on their album. The yell along single, 'Wake Up London' wasn't even as inventive as it is on record. Of course they have a strong fan base, but how damn long can you keep singing to something that sounds exactly the same as the last 6 songs before that. If anyone calls them a bloody Punk band ever again I will stop writing about Punk because that would mean the genre is humiliatingly destroyed.

5/10

Blossoms

Once out of that hell hole I am glad to see another upcoming band to bring something vitalising to my pallet. A tasteful Manc band stroll up to produce some woozy indie psychedelic sounds which keeps on the pretty side of trippy. They have since finished a tour with Gaz Coombes hence their audience is of a great variety ( yes, my Gaz groupie art teacher did recommend them to me). Their sound does dip into a bit of psychy cheese during 'Blow' on the odd occasion but it gives you enough to absorb a deep emotive from. Tracks such as 'Cut Me And I'll Bleed' set them aside from past bands such as

Temples who's live performances stay in the gutter a bit. Before you know it a slam of a guitar keyboard solo follows a mellow  echo boom of vocals. It's a set highlight and really graces the tent in a blitz of haze galore. Now is the time to smoke weed, although security guards try their best to stop it. The main pleasure I got from their set was that Blossoms travel from the two opposite sided of psychedelia, which is pretty hard to find. They fuzz in all sorts of unpredictable elements and certainly have the northern soul of creativity.Some riffs and combinations drifting over to Kasabian's more hallucinogenic Blossoms may be in need of some more 'hit material' but no doubt are ones to catch in the next 6 months, a sound and character that definitely have promise to build through the next few line ups. 

7/10

Wolf Alice 

Now, I could easily write a 2000 word review for this gig. But oh wow how must I make this the most tightly packed and best quality review I have written in a long time; here it goes. 

Why is it that every music company that spans over rock music on Planet Earth has tastelessly labelled Wolf Alice, a London foursome as the 'next big thing'. I could not agree more, but this is come to think about it, all too vague for every brilliantly layered and constructed masterpiece that year upon year Wolf Alice have carefully and ever so beautifully conquered. I'm sorry, but the 'next big thing' label is just not good enough. It

so, that Ellie Rowsell sneaks up stage with her Spice Girls t shirt. What she may not realise is that we all gawp at her alike she would've at her favourite heroins at such a time. But it is to be said that the whole band have come far more to grips with who they are. Not polished, not compromised. They are at the mercy of the audience and now have no sign whatsoever of fragility. As I said back in April, it is an admirable thing to do stating with the very songs that got Wolf Alice here in the first place, they continue to lure us in as if they already have a bank of classics. 'Fluffy' pounds out of their souls and straight into the heart of the crowd, it rings and roars and tumbles so deep  as Ellie reaches the climatic "Sixteen! So Sweet"  with an apocalyptic scream, we teens all cry with her at such a hell raising opening. Have I been asleep all summer? I wonder. There isn't even a second to lose between each song. It is an inevitable clamber for survival upon the tumbling of Joff Oddie and Ellies' supreme guitar squall during 'She', sweatily and suitably shouting the lyric straight back in her face, "It's so easy to rebel/ And then celebrate myself/ I wish I was like you ( she knows she knows)" . At this point the tent is already beyond boiling point. There is no turning back. Hell has never looked so stunning. At at good timing too, for it is now that the band are at their most personal with material from their rocketing debut album, 'My Love Is Cool'. And although they have given themselves to the thousands here, this is at their most personal and protective state through 'Your Love's Whore.' So why is it that I am still giving them the album of this year? with the sound of a decade and ultimately and most significantly the band of this generation? no one I felt has actually picked up on the definite, exact answer. 




Theo, Joel, Joff and Ellie collaborate like no band ever has before. They marvel and gawp with each other, sway, step and headbang in harmony, there's not a single force I can see that would ever unearth this on-stage relationship. One of the highlights of the whole set is now ruffling its feathers into action. 'You're A Germ' sends us scratching in the mosh pit ready to fire, whilst Ellie crawls around in her elegantly,grungy slime verses before launching onto the count to 7. This is repeated three times over just in case you forgot to fling your limbs in mid- air and screech 'You're a germ and a fucker as well!" . And yes! joining in for the ear piercing screams and hysterical laughs at the end.  

Band and crowd are now on a narcotic that may have never of been known to man. I still don't know what it was. But it has seeped from their instruments and right into our veins. This is a set that could resurrect. A sense of romance and euphoria hit the crowd with '90 Mile Beach' and 'The Wonderwhy.' ; wall of deaths seem to now become an open space for twirling and dancing with one another. It is the only gig of the day that has brought so many together, but by the time 'Lisbon' 's chorus fuzzes with mass overdrive and reverb, all sound multiplies into the even heavier 'Storms' . Gleaming under the limelights before

shouting "Who are you friends? your friends? your friends?" . All 14 to 20 something year olds are in awe. This band defines confusion, complexity and curiosity. Surely this is why we are here in this tent too? You almost find a long lasting friendship in Ellie during 'Bros' ,  "Stick it out together like we always do/oh there's no one, there's no one quiet like you" the one tune we are all so hopelessly head over heels in love with. The band are in a true trance, Theo stands, his blonde hair spiked like the goosebumps up everyone's necks. They take it in at noticeable moments and flush it out finally without stopping for a breathe with the strut soaring 'Giant Peach' followed by 'Moaning Lisa' . The heaviest and most joyous of their work. Another frenzy in the crowd pours into an adoring anarchy. Two words that surely wouldn't go together? The world has woken up to what this band are. Festival season up, until next time Ellie is in the crowd, soaked in sweat as we all are. This is a band who will only ever be owned by the love and insanity of their own lovesick people. This is the bang of 2015. 

10/10

Royal Blood

Slightly hungover at this point, I cannot recall the gig in such depthy detail as the previous. However, this still puts no doubt on how Royal Blood are indeed within the leading team of UK bands ready to step up to the plate. In fact in terms of popularity they're topping it. It was a bit of a surreal experience, myself placed much further back

than I'd like to be, but this gave a good perspective of if Royal Blood were to headline, could they hack it? send riveting bass guitar blasts up people's spines with their chart topping singles that are really the chance for a collaborative sing-along. Well I have to tell you the answer is 50/50. Watching it back on TV, Mike and Ben rip up the flanks of the stage as if there's no tomorrow. 'Come On Over' booms over the thousands as does the overflowing bank of hits that they posses. Their grunge rivals, Drenge, labelled them as far too commercial and I analyse this perspective throughout. Watching them absolutely

knock the socks off 'Figure It Out' it's blatant: yes they get a football stadium of people singing but as they gleam onto the crowd the two look as if they have absolutely nothing to loose. No matter how they play it. Throughout their performance this had both good and bad affects. It's a pretty funny affair noticing the two's dilated pupils (wink wink) and often just glare out to the masses, but moving on.... The airing of their newest track, 'Hook, Line & Sinker' makes a gutsy stand against the rest of their records which are often overly consistent with one another.This is more of a kick in the balls in anther direction.  But is it too shiny and sleek? It's a hard one to call so instead we lose our shit throttle our throats to 'Little Monster' , crash into 'Loose Change' and make mosh pits to 'Out of the Black' . Just when I thought they hadn't been very experimental with their set they dump on a Black Sabbath outro to finish with. The mighty figure that makes Ben the drummer leers out into the crowd. People start chanting "He wants to go home!". Whether they do or don't Royal Blood have toured the death out of their debut, the novelty of seeing them live for the first time is great, but a second album is needed to ensure it doesn't wear off along with their dominating presence. 

8/10

Catfish and the Bottlemen

Cramped to the fullest capacity, the atmosphere that has been fruitfully continued throughout the afternoon is now brimming over the top of the tent. Before long, a band who once I had never bothered listening to were now acing every inch and territory of the festival. Around 80% of the crowd's lips move identically to front man, Vann McCanns' . But even being in that last quartile that didn't quite do so, their pace for leading into '

Pacifer' was simply intoxicating. Each instrument bubbles frantically of the next and it all puts into perfect view that these guys are a sensational watch of scruff head indie rock. I over estimated fussy fangirls and fanboys as well as I did of an over producing because the set was quite simply a winner whatever sort of a festival goer you are. And that is a rare ingredient. Spotlights blare in every nook and cranny, McCann yells, " Reading are you with me!" before we all launch ourselves into the prettiest, most gorgeous sound of the night. Everyone generally wants to be here and those best friends who you meet for 5 seconds in the mosh before they disappear forever is so frequent that it sheds a tremendous shot of adrenaline into 'Fallout' . Half the crowd are on shoulders and the rest have their arms up to the ceiling, even if I don't know the words I stop trying to mumble and zone into the quality of how cohesively the band fuse together.Agreed it's all shiny and perfect but then again it's completely scruffy, dragged through the hedges and capsized face-flat. Try imagine this description musically, shattering through your ears. The crowd belong to Catfish effortlessly.


This is my first time seeing them live but there is a sudden, basic instinct of exactly what to do. Why is that? at times in 'Business' McCann is blared out by 20,000 voices so he gives us a moment.  But the one song I do know thrusts straight into momentum, 'Kathleen' recalls the familiar chorus of "I gotta give to you, you give me problems" . The band sure know how to curate a setlist, everyone is haywire and scream straight into 'Homesick, oh wait I know this one too! I'm not sure at which exact point but I do start crying for 10 seconds , perhaps through sheer adrenaline, hormones and climax. An intricate hook so tempting it leads us all in to their trap of a rather yummy chorus, Vann slows down the set to just his voice. A mass clap along embarks and then out bursts 'Cocoon', a more quirkier tune to their collective. The backing hook is rather ambient, similar to that of early Snow Patrol. The light show really does put the cherry on top and from where I'm standing this moment is quite unforgettable when a solo on high reverb resonates around the tent, it is impeccably hard to say goodbye to this set. Ending on the guitar soaring 'Tyrant' they do it with justice. I'm happy to have seen Catfish and the Bottlemen before I won't be climb my way through. 

9/10

With that done and dusted I am now at home contemplating of how timeless some of these sets were. Reading has simply served up a banquet that we, as fans and avid listeners are all willing to feast on, recognition prevailing. Which I'm sure most of these won't be short of. I hope that you're now convinced that the new age of headliners are here... and my article back in February has been completely proven right. See ya next year!!