Friday festival fever
Richard Cutcher • Published 27 Aug 2011 01:30
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My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way.
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BRIAN MAY added the star factor to an otherwise underwhelming My Chemical Romance headline performance as Reading Festival kicked off with an eclectic mix of bands.
The Queen legend joined the New Jersey band on-stage for their encore which began with a rendition of We Will Rock You before closing on crowd pleaser Welcome To The Black Parade.
Between spitting, swearing and licking the microphone My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way shared his wisdom on the England Riots by telling the crowd to sing if they're angry rather than set things on fire.
Set opener Na Na Na and I'm Not Okay went down particularly well amid a flurry of large balloons and fireworks in a set that otherwise lacked genuine character.
The Queen theme had begun earlier in the day when Noah and the Whale entered onto the NME/Radio One stage to a unique instrumental rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody which had the crowd in raptures.
It was not until later in the set when Tonight's The Kind Of Night, Five Years Time and closing number L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N that the band returned the crowd to their frenzied state, although the latter was certainly the sing-a-long song of the night.
White Lies - a band who frequented Reading Festival regularly as teenagers - followed Noah in the NME/Radio One tent and the atmosphere went up a notch.
Fairwell To The Fairground, Strangers and Bigger Than Us are a great match for the festival and work perfectly in the dark tent, with the lighting able to take full effect.
The Vaccines were another crowd pleaser in the NME tent and frontman Justin Young's statement pre-show: "If you give it everything we'll certainly give it everything we've got," went down well with an expectant crowd.
The Offspring proved again the festival is not only for 'of-the-moment' bands and there was a large range of ages taking in a set packed-full of nineties classics which drew which looked to be the biggest crowd of the day.
Roxy Harpham, 17, was at the festival for the third time with six friends from The Abbey School, in Caversham, and said: "I had an early bird ticket so have been camping since Wednesday and it is amazing. It is always amazing!"
Will Wainewright, 22, had travelled down from London to camp for the weekend and said: "I thought Offspring were excellent and White Lies were probably my favourite act of the day. Noah and the Whale took a while to get going but by the end they really turned it on. Bring on tomorrow!"
This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 27 Aug 11
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