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Wednesday 27 August 2008

Reading 2008 Round Up.

What with Carnival, Get Loaded, Work It and The Rinse FM Birthday Bash going on at some point over the Bank Holiday weekend I was seriously contemplating to sell off my Reading ticket in the preceding weeks of the festival.
However I convinced myself that it was most definitely not something that comes around every day. So in that mindset I decided I would draw for the tent and sleeping bag and make my way to Berkshire.
Upon arrival on Thursday afternoon I was shocked to find that so many people had already set up camp before me and I was forced to spend the next few days in White Camp.
For those who haven't been to Reading before this is traditionally known as the “family camp”. The half and hour walk to the festival each day was another major downer.

Regardless of all this I think it is safe to say that I had one of the most superb weekends of all time. The absolute plethora of incredible music I witnessed and the many old friends I managed to link up with made me realise that this is something I would recommend to anyone.

Sadly I only took my 5 mega pixel camera with me for one day so I have decided to use the photos from the BBC to offer my highlights and lowlights from Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Friday:
Dizzee Rascal - Mainstage business for dizzee this time round. He came through with the usual tunes but sadly not much from the earlier albums.
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Queens of The Stone Age - First time to see this band live and what a show they put on. Little Sister was definitely on of my favourites from their set.
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Rage Against The Machine - Sadly only caught the tail-end of their set due to watching another performance which I won't say too much about. Needless to say what I did see was exceptional as you would expect.
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Saturday
Justice - First time seeing them as well. I was definitely blown away by their stage presence and light show. Easily one of the best performances all weekend.
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The Killers - Headlining main stage was exactly what this super band deserved. Hit song one after another was definitely another top performance that I am sure many would agree with.
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Gallows - Due to my amazement at the Killers performance I am gutted to admit that I couldn't stare at the rudeboys and see Frank Carter crowd surf from the stage to the back of the lock-up tent. From what I have heard their performance was second to none.
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Sunday
Pendulum -Never did I see a tent all weekend have as much energy as when Pendulum performed on Sunday afternoon. With all the usual bangers there were mosh pits in every corner. Propane nightmares and Hold Your Colour where unbelievable to experience live.
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Lethal B - Possibly one of my favourite Lethal B performances to date. Just like Pendulum most pits were plentiful. Obviously No and Pow had the crowd going absolutely mental.
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Wiley - Maybe the BIGGEST disappointment all weekend. No dj, simply a band with guitarists, drums and bass, a female vocalist and some other guy. The set consisted of brand new songs that had a distinct RNB vibe to them. Clearly not what people had come to expect. Oh a 5 second version of 'what you call it' is the only remotely grime aspect of his set. Shame really.
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Hold tight my friends' band Flash Guns who played on Friday at The BBC Introducing Stage. If it's your cup of tea please go and check them out. All the very best for them in the next few months!

My apologies for the excessivly long post. I guess I am making up for lost time.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Big it Greg! I am pissed about missing Rage!

Anonymous said...

Aw reading was awesome this year. I thought Avenged Sevenfold were shit this year to be honest.
But the Killer's were pretty good.
And Alexisonfire killed it.