Anti-Flag
I'm not much of a fan of Anti-Flag, but seeing as they opened the whole festival and I had some friends who wanted to see them I ended up tagging along to see them, but I soon regretted this decision. All the songs sounded the same and there is only so many times you can hear about how Bush is a bad man before ones patience wears thin...
Blackhole
I've seen Blackhole a few times now as a support, and every time I have always found them entertaining, so made my first trip to the Lock Up Stage where they played their arses off. Although despite playing well and being entertaining, I couldn't help but feel that the frontman is trying a bit too hard to imitate his older brother (one Frank Carter of Gallows fame), who happens to pop up for the last song. A highlight of the day.
Taking Back Sunday
Although a bit of a guilty pleasure, I really, really love TBS. They have a few songs which I'd put in my all time favourites, but on friday they were absolutely fucking abysmal. Aside from having one of the worst sounds all weekend, frontman Adam really needs to lay off the coke and Ray-Bans, stop loving himself so much and get on with the music. He was embarrassingly awful to watch, but they played A Decade Under the Influence, so all was not lost I suppose...
Dizzee Rascal
I've seen Dizzee three times already and he has always been totally amazing, but that was always in small, indoor venues. There was no way he was going to work his magic outdoors in front of tens of thousands of people, I thought. How wrong could I be. Definatly one of the best performances all weekend. Every single person I could see was going mental for him, and understandably so. Not one complaint from me.
Serj Tankian
As a massive SOAD fan, I was expecting a lot from Serj, especially after seeing how amazing Dizzee just was and thankfully he was also absolutely fantastic. After Anti-Flag I thought I had had enough of Bush-baiting, but Serj was able to do it whilst being funny and entertaining. His backing band were tight and looked cool and I found his whole set real good fun and the crowd seemed to love it too, so happy faces all about.
Biffy Clyro
After being really close to the front in the middle for the last three bands, I took it a lot easier and moved back for Biffy, a band who I don't mind but don't get what all the fuss is about. I used to hear about who immense they are live, but every time I've seen them they were very standard, nothing to write home about, and this was no exception.
One Night Only
Biffy got pretty damn dull, so I walked about a bit and saw who was on and eventually just ended up sitting outside the NME tent and saw a few One Night Only songs. God knows why though, they really are a fucking joke. Terrible, terrible, terrible.
Tiger Army
I would never have heard this band were it not for the festival, I did some YouTube research of bands playing before I came and automatically fell in love with Tiger Army. They have a fantastic sound which has a mix of genres within and I'm really damn glad I saw them. Although it was their bassists first show in 7 years where he didn't use a double bass, they still played damn good and I love the frontman's voice. I will be purchasing some albums v.soon.
MGMT
My girlfriend really wanted to see these two, who I was never much of a fan of anyway, but I'm even less of one now. I thought they were really bloody dire with no stage presence or tunes. So conveniently only 10 minutes into their set a decent band were about to come on elsewhere...
The Fratellis
Well The Fratellis aren't the decent band I was referring to at all, but en route the Festival Republic Stage we walked past the Main Stage just as they were starting
Chelsea Dagger, so we stopped to soak up the shitness and to watch thousands of twats chanting along.The Teenagers
The two previous times I have seen The Teenagers I was always disappointed, but this was easily the best time I have seen them, despite Quentin falling over and security being wankers about them getting people on stage. All their tunes sounded fantastic and to top it off, Dorian had a kick-ass Slipknot t-shirt.
Queens of the Stone Age
I do love QOTSA, but only on record. The three times I've seen them now they have always really sucked ass - especially today. They can play the songs well enough but a teeny bit of stage presence wouldn't go a miss. Also, bloody diabolical sound, but that alone won't excuse such a dud of a performance.
Does It Offend You, Yeah?
I've seen these guys about 10 times now, and they have never failed to impress. Tonight, it being a homecoming show n'all, they seemed to pull out all the stops and it was one of the best times I've seen them yet. Shame I had to rush off early though, but I had a good excuse:
Rage Against the Machine
Talking to random people and looking at band t-shirts, it was clear that RATM are the band everyone was here to see, so the band know as well as everyone else that they can't be anything less than amazing, so good job they were. Starting off with the amazing
Bombtrack in full Guantanamo Bay get up, they went on to do 90 fantastic minutes which everybody was absolutely loving, and rightfully so, Rage owned that Friday night.British Sea Power
Unfortunately due a late start I missed most of BSP's set, but the last little bit I did see was pretty fun. Although the music sounded a bit dull to my ears, I had been informed that they were fun live and that they were, with general madness from all the members, shame they couldn't represent the madness with their music.
The Subways
After BSP we got a great spot for The Subways, whom I'd wanted to see for a while now, but I was bitterly disappointed. I think supporting the Foo Fighters has gone straight to that Billy lad's head, taking his top off and strutting about doing guitar licks like he was Jimmy Page. It wouldn't be so bad if his band weren't just another pop-rock band. The 'we think were much better than we are' act got old quickly so 4 songs in I abandoned them, but ended up catching the end of their set later, which was even worse than before!
Fucked Up
In contrast, as I moved into the Lock Up to see Fucked Up I once again saw a topless frontman going for it, but this time it actually worked. Unfortunately though, I had wasted too much time at the bloody Subways, but everything I did see of this lot was brilliant, with a great frontman and a nice little package of straight hardcore, my saturday was so far belonging to these guys.
Dirty Pretty Things
DPT's debut was pretty damn good, in my opinion, so back in '06 I saw these guys 4 times, but unfortunately they have fallen into the shit second album trap, so as I watched these guys I lost all respect for them as they forced their new indie-by-numbers bullshit upon everyone. They also did a terrible cover of
In Bloom. White Lies
Because DPT were so bad I went walkies and ended up watching a few songs by yet another band who are trying to sound like Joy Division. Five minutes later I was back watching Carl Barat.
We Are Scientists
A pretty similar story to The Subways one really, a band I've wanted to see for ages but who are a let down. Although their on-stage banter was quite funny, they aren't all that entertaining to watch, so I left early again, but thankfully
Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt is still a fantastic pop song.Los Campesinos!
I had heard a lot about this band, but had never really paid attention to them, but still thought it would be worth checking them out for a few songs, and their a pretty fun little group, I can't see myself ever becoming a big fan of them or anything but their perfectly fine to watch for a bit, pretty entertaining and the Ting Tings jokes were funny...
Louis XIV
I've loved Louis XIV for over three years now, but only ever seen them once, so I was very excited about seeing them again and thankfully they lived up to my expectations. Not only did they look fucking cool but they had a old fashioned rockstar swagger and add a hint of heaviness to their songs which works perfectly. They also got quite a few singalongs in the audience too, which was pleasing to see. Everybody was singing along to
Finding Out True Love Is Blind.Editors
Editors are a fantastic group, and have always impressed me live, so once again I had high expectations. However today I found them distinctly average and a tad dull. I wouldn't say they were bad per sé, but I wouldn't rush to see them again. That said they did get the audience into and have a surprising amount of great anthems for a big crowd.
The Raconteurs
I do love Jack White. It seems to be his thing as The White Stripes have them too, but I really, really like how the roadies are all in nice, all one colour suits with hats. I just think it looks cool, but it was nowhere was great as the bands performance. This being my fourth Raconteurs show, I now know what to expect from one of their gigs, but every single time I'm always blown away with how tight they are. All amazing musicians, I always have something to watch and the songs sound fantastic. Luckily they didn't have the shitty sound so many bands experienced all weekend.
Bloc Party
From past experience I have learnt that Bloc Party do not work on a big stage, but seeing as I love them so, I still saw them but it's fairly safe to say that they were one of the biggest let downs for me. I thought their act was completely lost on me somewhere so big and it wasn't helped by the wankers who I ended up next to in the crowd, so after about 4 songs we all agreed it was bollocks and decided to go and see:
Justice
Who were unfortunately just coming to the end of their set when I got there, but we caught the two last songs which sounded fantastic and had everybody is sight grooving away. I only wish I could have seen more by them though, as they had a great sound and were a lot better than Bloc Party, even for the small amount of songs that we saw.
Bullet for My Valentine
When I first started getting into metal, Bullet were one of my favourite bands, and I still love a lot of their stuff, so I was really glad to see them again. Unfortunatly due to a slow setting up pace I missed about half their set as I had to move away again, but what I did see was all good. They had fire, which is always a good thing! Playing mainly new stuff, Matt Tuck led his boyos really well and got the crowd moving and horns pumping after slagging off all the indie acts that had been on earlier. Meaning I felt a little hypocritical after agreeing with him that I left to go to the Main Stage instead.
The Killers
After the disappointment from Bloc Party just before, what a relief it was how good The Killers were. Probably my two favourite 'indie' bands, I'm glad one of them can pull off a big crowd. I saw The Killers headline V last year and today they were very similar, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Prompting the most singalongs I saw the entire festival, I could clearly see why they have become so massive so quickly. And despite having some other really good bands like the Manics and Gallows on at the same time, the audience was out in force and they went out with a bang leaving a sea of people all singing along to
All These Things That I've Done. My only beef was that they only played about 70 minutes and they should have done 90 like RATM the night before.Bring Me the Horizon
BMTH aren't the most popular band on the bill, and boy do the audience like to remind them, as the first proper bottling I see all weekend commences seconds after they walk onto the stage, and despite me quite liking the band and having seen them before a few times, for the first few songs I thought it was justified. The songs were a bit sloppy and Oli's screaming wasn't up to scratch. They also lost quite a bit of their usual stage presence and once more suffered from bad sound. However, as their performance progressed I found they got better and better and by the end seemed to have won over a lot of the crowd, with the bottling stopping and one of the biggest circle pits all weekend starting.
Alexisonfire
After a ridiculously long wait for no obvious reason, one of the bands I was most looking forward to seeing came out. I had seen them the week before at the miniscule Barfly, and obviously they weren't as good as then, but they still worked well on such a big stage. The crowd were all obviously very happy to see them and every song sounded good and got a good reaction. There was some funny banter between the guys and overall they played a really enjoyable set.
Plain White T's
I only even saw these guys because I was searching for a lost friend by the main stage but by jove, they suck ass. The worst bottling I have ever seen and if I had a bottle I would have joined in. Really bad.
Black Tide
I don't know whether I like these guys or not. Some parts of their music I think is really good and reminiscent of classic Maiden and Metallica, but other parts I think are very 'stock' as Lars would say. Same went for their live show. They certainly played well and got the crowd into it, but it was also very stereotypical. Saying 'motherfucker' every other word, etc... I dunno if I'd buy an album, but I think I would go see this band at one of their own shows before I made my mind up fully.
Holy Fuck
I heard a lot of good stuff about these fellows, so thought I should check them out. They played extremely well I thought, and their music was really good, so I could understand where all the hype was coming from. However, as a live band they didn't really do much, so while the music was good I quickly got bored and went for a wee stroll. In contrast to Black Tide, I think I would buy an album by them, but not see them at one of their own shows.
Dropkick Murphys
And on this walk, I got to the main stage where I watched the first part of the Dropkick Murphys' set. I'm not at all familiar with their material, so only really checked them out on a whim, but they didn't interest me at all, with a boring live show and their music simply isn't my thing. Although, the bagpipe player was quite entertaining...
Lethal Bizzle
The Dance Tent was completely packed out for Bizzle, and I see why. Having seen him before, I know Bizzle is always a great showman. Very reminiscent of Dizzee's show the other day (although I doubt either of them would be too pleased about that...) he got the whole audience going crazy and dancing along to every song. Bizzle even got into the crowd and there were people scaling the poles of the tent. One of the highlights of the whole weekend without a doubt.
Crystal Castles
After Bizzle, I was already really happy and as the crowd emptied out the Dance Arena we got right to the very front for Crystal Castles, who did what I thought would be undoable and beat Bizzle. Although I don't know that many songs by them, they are amazing live. Alice is a fantastic frontwoman, and although seemed ever so slightly inebriated, put on a fantastic show of crawling about, mounting speaker stacks, playing with spotlights and drinking champagne. And that was only when she wasn't fucking about in the crowd. I shall definitely be buying their album and intend on seeing them again soon.
Feeder
While my girlfriend went to do something me and a friend watched the first few songs by Feeder. They were alright, I quite liked the songs they played and were perfectly fine to watch, but not engrossing enough to keep me there longer than a little bit. So we set off to see Pendulum...
Chromeo
...But failing that (miserably), we ended up seeing Chromeo. I have always liked what I have heard by them but never properly pursued them, and I'm glad that I saw them. They played fantastically and their songs were really groovy and good fun. A good enough live band too, seeing as theirs just the two of them and they have a lot to play between them, they do make quite the effort for the crowd.
Tenacious D
I know a lot of people really like these guys and think their really funny, but I've always been a bit impartial. Admittedly, I've never sought them out or anything, but I've only ever heard two or so songs I've actually liked. Thus, I wasn't really paying too much attention to their show. The bits I did watch seemed a bit samey. That said, they are quite amusing chaps and everybody singing along to
Tribute was great fun!Metallica
By this point I was already making my mind up about the best band of the weekend, having seen a fair amount of great acts. But this year they really did save the best till last. Metallica kicked ASS! Arguably the largest band playing all weekend, they sure as hell knew it. With a gigantic stage set up that dwarfed the stage that made Bring Me The Horizon look so small earlier. Metallica had said before how much they love playing Reading and they sure showed it. Every member was fantastic to watch and every song sounded absolutely amazing. There was fire, explosions, fireworks, the lot. Opening with a thunderous
Creeping Death, they never let up the fantastic showmanship or dipped in quality. The setlist was perfect and included two brilliant new songs. Nothing Else Matters got everybody insight singing. Although they were on stage a little over two hours, as the closing bars of the absolutely amazing extended Seek & Destroy came to a close, there was a great sadness inside of me. But, not only because Metallica were about to stop, but this also meant the end of an absolutely incredible weekend that I shall always remember!Roll on '09!
