Sunday 24 August 2008

Reading Festival 2008: Saturday

So I trundled along to Reading this weekend on a day ticket, mainly to see Bloc Party & The Killers. The weather was actually pretty good, there was only a mild sprinkling of rain during Bloc Party and by then I was crammed so close to other people it didn't really matter!
The first time I went to Reading was the year Kurt Cobain died (and the brilliantly shambolic Hole performance) when I was 14- I'm now TWICE as old as that (and I actually felt it looking at some of this crowd). I think my festival days may be drawing to a close, and certainly whole weekends are. I'm SUCH a baby. Having said that, I really enjoyed the day.
The first thing that struck me about Reading was; it stinks and you don't get used to it. So it's best to drink as much as possible. I also got some serious sunburn, despite it being cloudy.
But yeah, the bands. Editors: they all sound like Munich, don't they. I like Munich, but I don't want to hear 12 variations of it. Cheer up, mate. We are Scientists... one good album, but they forgot to write any tunes for the second album. They are always good for a bit of sarcastic banter though.
The Raconteurs: if they were half as good as Jack White's enormous ego, they'd be amazing. I thought Jack White looked fat, and I could see his knob through his revolting polyester trousers. Gross.
Bloc Party though, really were amazing, young, energetic, and, oh, the tunes. Opening with Mercury was brilliant; I was right in the thick of it and there was a brilliant atmosphere. I don't normally enjoy getting shoved around and I have major claustrophobia issues, but there was a good feeling in the air. Kele looked great too; really beefy! I liked his weedy look too, but he looked powerful in stage on Saturday. I downloaded Intimacy this week and enjoyed the dance sound but thought it sounded a little like Bloc Party By Numbers (and what's with the one that sounds like Block Rocking Beats)? But live it was spot on (and they only played two off it!) In fact the setlist was pretty much a dream; loads of oldies, Two more Years, The Prayer, Flux, Banquet, This Modern Love (which moved me to tears)... I could say more, but you get the general idea. It was a lesson in crowd-pleasing that Steven Patrick could do well to follow. When he jumped in the crowd at the end it was ace too, as he was right near us! I heard their set described as 'career-defining' on BBC3 today, and you know what, I think it was. It was just wonderful; confident, progressive and fun.
Then... The Killers! In between I became a sitting duck in the cross-hairs of a water fight with the cups of water security were handing out (for people to DRINK, not empty over my Iphone when I'm trying to hook up with JOTV!) but it was all good-humoured. I thought The Killers were great, but nothing could beat when I saw them at Wembley Arena, they were just perfect that night. The setlist wasn't quite as good here, and I didn't think much to the new song. (By the way, Brandon, so glad you shaved off the moustache, but what's with those TEETH? Did you go to Tom Cruise's dentist? Urgh!) but I enjoyed Tranquillize and you know, all the usuals. My feet started to hurt toward the end though and I had to have a little sit-down when Mr Brightside was on. (old age!)
All in all, WELL worth it, if only for Bloc Party. I could marry Kele if he wasn't gay.
Why are they ALWAYS gay?!
Oh, and we got the last rain home, just in time. Always a winner.

1 comment:

Red said...

Watched some of the coverage on the BBC, and I thought it was mostly shite. I don't like Jack Penate, the Music or Santogold, and that's pretty much all they kept showing. With three screens available, you'd think there'd be some variety, eh?

Quite enjoyed what I saw of QOTSA, very pumping and driving; Tenacious D were embarrassing, just a couple of old overweight twats; Editors... meh, not my thing. Conor... I had it on for about seven minutes before I started to itch.

Was watching most of Sunday to catch Avenged Sevenfold, only to find out later that they had cancelled. Boo hiss!