Reading Festival: Friday Review
Published 25 Aug 2012 18:30
3 Comments
We review the first day of action at Reading Festival
Future Of The Left opened the NME/Radio One Stage with their loud, intense post-hardcore and Star F****ng Hipsters played hardcore punk in the Lock Up Stage - a great tonic to shake the last bit of sleep from anyone who had crawled out of their tent early enough to catch them.
Scroobius Pip kicked off unexpected moshpits at the Alternative Stage. His intelligent, thought-provoking lyrics, layered with sarcasm and dry wit against a backdrop of thick beats, was enough to get the tent jumping - and his impromptu stage dive caused the security guards on duty some concern!
Despite frontman Alex battling a serious chest infection, Reading band Attention Thieves did their hometown proud with an energetic, riff-packed slot on the BBC Introducing Stage. Afterwards the band told us: "It was quality. It was unbelievable... so many people. It was a massive moment for us."
Alt-J -one of the most hotly-tipped bands of the weekend - played their eclectic electro-indie to a packed tent, with the crowd holding forth in lyric-perfect singalongs - amazing for a band who have only really emerged in the past few months.
The predicted heavy rain showers failed to show, and Bombay Bicycle Club had clear(ish) skies for their set on the Main Stage - even going so far as to lead the crowd in a 'hoedown', against a rather funky light show and backdrop. The band rarely disappoint live, and this gig cemented their place as Reading Festival favourites.
Over at the Lock Up stage, festival stalwarts and punk grandaddies Bouncing Souls put on a disappointing, rather lackluster set ,where their energy-levels, rather than their classic New York skate punk sound letting them down.
Later on, on the same stage, hardcore masters Every Time I Die stirred up frantic mosh pits and provoked the kind of headbanging that you're really going to know about via an achey neck the next day - a stunning set and one of the highlights of the day for this reviewer.
Pop-punksters Paramore had the crowd as putty in their hands on the Main Stage, with their hit single Misery Business sending festival goers sprinting towards the stage to scream along to the Hayley Williams' sassy vocals.
Political punk band Anti Flag returned to Reading for the umpteenth time - and proved why Lock Up Stage booker and Radio One Punk Show DJ Mike Davies continues to ask them back. They've got the tunes, the hooks, the riffs, the fist-in-air lyrics, the punk rock credentials, the banter - and this time round, they had one the of biggest mosh pits this reviewer has ever seen, too. Oh, and they managed to dismantle their drummer's entire kit and reposition in the crowd for their closing song. Impressive stuff.
The Cure, those kings of goth, closed the Main Stage in epic form, with a mesmerising light show against a brooding smoke-filled backdrop. With a rather timid start to the two and a half hour set, the largely teen crowd slowly dripped away... until, that is, the, rather fitting, Friday I'm In Love kicked in. That's not to say it was a bad performance. Anything but. The note-perfect vocals from entrancing frontman Robert Smith against the powerful riffs on anthemic songs kept the crowd alive throughout. Mystery surrounding whether the cult 80s band would play Love Cats built up the tension throughout the atmospheric set. And they did not let fans down, as they let rip with the song as beams of light shone into the starry night.
This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 24 Aug 12
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Simon T.
Unregistered User
Aug 25, 12:23
Report commentMyself and my partner our going later today as Reading Pride are turning out en masse to add a much needed carnival feel to the festival.
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Common Sense
Unregistered User
Aug 26, 10:11
Report commentAlthough I'd say the Cure have had their day they were the best band of the weekend hands down. Which wasn't hard as all the other bands sounded/looked identical.
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Juls
Unregistered User
Aug 26, 21:04
Report commentthe Cure have had their success it s true but their music is still valid. They created a trend in the eighties but also classic tunes. That's it, it was the eighties, when originality was the key.
I am sorry but all these new bands copying spit image what has been already done thirty years ago, I wonder what is the point in doing that.
Nostalgia? I would say marketing.
PS There's no such a song called Spiders in the Cure's discography, the person who wrote this article seems very knowledgeable..
Recommend? Yes 0
No 1
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