Reading Festival is the highlight of the summer for thousands of people, has been for decades, and the very stature of the event made it more difficult to ignore murmurs circulating around the site that it “isn’t what it used to be”.
Festivals like Reading were, and are, loved by so many due to the sheer volume and diversity of bands that they are able to pull in from all over the world. But, it has to be said that the clientele has changed. A quick walk through the crowd turns up plenty of people more concerned with where their next pint is coming from than what tent they should be running to so they can say “I was there when...”.
Fortunately, for every person with their back to the bands while checking that their neon face paint wasn’t smudged, there were 10 facing the stage and singing until their lungs hurt.
Friday’s festivities were, in no uncertain terms, the weekend’s finest. Gerard Way made his ‘global debut’ to open the NME/BBC Radio 1 Stage and, although the applause was genuine and the excitement audible, it was surprising to see the tent a quarter empty.
His solo stuff has the catchy hooks of My Chemical Romance mixed with more considered and mature compositions, but it’s quite evident that Way isn’t straying all that far from what he knows. Why would he?
Jimmy Eat World have earned their festival favourites tag and their first set of the day was packed with classics, from Salt Sweat Sugar to The Middle. There was a perfect, almost euphoric, festival vibe that resonated around the Main Stage during their performance. Later in the day they topped the bill at The Lock Up Stage, running through ‘Futures’ in full as the crowd spilled five deep outside the tent.
Brody Dalle preceded that headline performance with an outstanding set that blended tracks from her new album, ‘Diploid Love’, with some old Distillers tunes for good measure, including airings for Sick Of It All and Dismantle Me.
Over at the Main Stage, Vampire Weekend tackled the early evening slot and managed only an underwhelming showing. Everyone danced and sang to the odd hit, but aside from that the crowd remained as flat as the beer.
Co-headliners Paramore displayed the usual polish as they ran through their mega-selling pop-punk, while Hayley Williams gracefully dealt with a sound malfunction by rolling out an a capella rendition of The Only Exception. But, as impressive as they were and despite the beautiful confetti shower - which littered the field for days - they had nothing on their fellow headliners Queens Of The Stone Age.
Queens Of The Stone Age (Reading Festival/Marc Sethi)
The band are simply rock ’n’ roll royalty, as acknowledged by many other artists who shared the Main Stage. Josh Homme dipped into their back catalogue for ‘Rated R’ crowd pleasers The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret and Feel Good Hit Of The Summer and the reaction was electric. As a band, they have a presence that commands respect and, when coupled with a set as impressive as this one, it’s easy to see why.
In comparison, the Saturday night headliners, Arctic Monkeys, were a damp squib. Alex Turner’s snake hips were as pleasing on the eye as ever, but there simply wasn’t anywhere near enough beer in the arena to make their send off for ‘AM’ interesting.
Rewind a few hours, to the second band of the day on the Main Stage, and you had a winner, though. Pulled Apart By Horses are ones to keep an eye on as, with the release of their third album, ‘Blood’, they are set for bigger and better things soon. Previously, they had turned out on the BBC Introducing Stage at Reading and on this occasion admitted that they couldn’t believe how far they’d come.
Sunday turned up a very mixed bag. Young Guns took to the Main Stage and, although obviously enjoying themselves as the crowd loved every second, it’s hard to see exactly what sets them apart from the pop-rock legions. The same is true of You Me At Six. Although they seem to be very nice and are certainly good musicians, they’re not breaking any moulds. But, this Reading crowd was packed with their target demographic and the applause was rapturous when All Time Low singer Alex Gaskarth joined them on stage prior to a joint arena tour next year.
Gerard Way (Reading Festival/Alex de Mora)
Papa Roach rolled up for an early afternoon slot on the Main Stage and, despite a heavy dose of nostalgia, it was hard to avoid the thought that it might be time they called it a day. The songs just don’t have the same impact a decade on and Jacoby Shaddix’s brief, but very audible, complaints about the monitors didn’t go down well either.
Baby Godzilla played a ‘no holds barred’ set at the Lock Up Stage and brought with them their well renowned, physical stage show, while Every Time I Die also brought their A game to the same stage later in the day. It was apparent from the second that Keith Buckley walked out conducting the Star Wars theme that it was going to be a gig to remember.
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis were charged with providing the penultimate Main Stage set of the weekend and the duo and did well to get the crowd energised with a set heavy on the hits, including a big singalong to Thrift Shop.
By that point, the expectant audience was ready and waiting for Blink 182, who are festival veterans. It showed. They played the crowd like a fiddle and there wasn’t one person in that field that managed to avoid singing along. Their set started off at such a pace, with What’s My Age Again, Feeling This and Rock Show introduced early doors, that it was perplexing to think of how they were going to keep it up. But they did. The trio cranked out hit after hit, reminding us of songs long forgotten but always enjoyed amid the relentless toilet jokes. Long live Blink 182.
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