Post by bullmaster on Sept 3, 2004 20:10:02 GMT -5
This year was my fourth reading in a row and it seems as though each year as soon as i step of the train from the mighty journey form Scotland that i have never left. Reading is now engraved in my soul. My spiritual home of rock!
I felt This year was slightly different atmosphere wise. It was still amazing but due to the weather i believe it may have put a bit of a downer on some people's spirits.
we arrived at the site about 3pm on Wednesday afternoon and although we know they wouldn’t let us in till around six we thought we'd try our luck. i enquired to one of the security staff to when we would be allowed entry and he said that it may be as late as 7 or 8 as they were waiting to see if the state of the ground improved. A bad mistake I feel cause the weather at this point was rather sunny with the occasional shower but all in all rather nice. As the time to let us in slowly came round the heavens opened up a a torrential downpour began. now I don’t mean to moan but if they had let us in earlier we wouldn’t of had to erect our tent in the pissing down conditions we did.
Anyhoo once in we heading to our usual area of green camp to find it a veritable bog of eternal stench but once we found a dry'ish patch we set up reading 2004 had began i got a fine pair of wellies and the reading mood was enhanced( god bless dry feet in warm wellies)
Wednesday night was fun not as many random wonderings taking place due to the large amount of un-solid ground but we managed to hook up with about 60 or so random who went on a mission to get more randoms to join us in a journey to meet people. was a fun expedition with the nice chant of "slipy" being used which seemed rather apt.
Thursday was it usual drunken mess of a night not much was committed to memory apart form one of the dudes in our party nearly falling head first into the fire.
upon Friday morning one was as ruff as a biscuit (a hob nob not a rich tea) but we headed into the arena to catch some music.
first band i saw was Goldie looking chain well the last few songs they were really amusing but didn’t see much more to pass on anything more insightful.
next up i saw the pink grease over on the carling tent now these boys know how to put on a show. it was like they were the created by dr frankenfurter as a house band for the rocky horror picture show. classic tunes and a nice receptive crowd i implore you cats to check them out. after the pink grease i ran quickly as tera diablo were on next Scottish semi metal act who i didn’t want the misfortune of seeing again i think i even warned some of the crowd to run away.
after the pink grease i caught glimpses of a few more acts but nothing really took my fancy till the distillers.
I’m a quiet a fan of their stuff but the main reason most of the crowd were watching was basically to perv upon miss dale and the crowd was slightly restless after the main screens didn’t come on till the 3rd or 4th song. i wasn’t overly impressed but they did sound good and any woman who throws away guitars like confetti is ok with me.
the hives were next on the agenda. a really enjoyable set some of the newer stuff seemed a bit same but the witty banter from pelle quite most of the crowd amused.
after the hives it was the return of conquering festival warriors ash. now i saw these cats at t in the park and they were on top form i was expecting that they couldn’t top that. but i was wrong they came on like a hammer through the skull of the reading crowd. ash have to be one of the ultimate festival bands good song lively stage presence and having har mar strip was genius.
i wasn’t planning on staying around for the offspring but i ended up bumping into a few cats so i stuck around I’m quite glad i did as they impressed the pants of me i saw them briefly the last time they played (2002) but this time they held my attention with a mighty greatest hits set.
and finally to the darkness. i had witness the hastened slot filling in for bowie at t in the park and i was really sceptical to weather they could pull it off. all in all they were entreating especially when they fucked up. the light show nearly blinded me but i think that a good thing and the firework made me go all "oooo" and "aaaa" i think this was a good show though I’m really looking forward to them coming back in few years time a few more albums under their belt and a few more battle scars.
and so to Friday night drunken mayhem as always but that another story.
sat was an odd day i was especially attracted to anyone playing apart form Morrissey so i enjoyed the sun in the campsite while I could before heading in the fist act i caught was Razorlight on the main stage. I’m not a big fan but they impressed me with a decent solid show i was at the bar for a fair bit of it but it sounded go to my wayward ear.
i then went to witness har mar superstar in the radio one stage. the sound wasn’t to hot but i think it hard for anyone not to like that little balding fat man.
i caught a few glimpse of ordinary boys and the roots before heading back to catch the mighty Eighties matchbox b line disaster. this is the 3rd year in a row I’ve seen them at reading and each year they reset the levels. they blew me away they should be on the main stage next year to scare some of the safer reading goers.
the libertines were quite good I’ve never had the chance to see them with Pete but they seem pretty funky without him so it juts makes me want check out the full band if they are ever to reconcile.
next up a lifetime highlight not just a festival one.
Morrissey! as the chords for how soon is now struck up my whole body was lost in a wave of pleasure he wooed the crowd and looked as though he was loving every minute of it. nice mix of the old and the new
in my opinion Morrissey should have headlined i only caught a bit of the white stripes but they seem more over hyped than ever they're limit should be heading a smaller stage like radio 1 instead of the big beast.
i went of and caught a bit of mondo generator was really good if a bit raw but I’m glad i stuck around as mark laugningan was fucking amazing the power in that mans voice can make a mans pants go brown. The set was running late and just as nick olivera joined him on stage they got told to come of stage this would have been about 11.45 they didn’t take it to well amps were kicked over guitars thrown down but it made a nice end to something that had a fair amount of tension behind it.
and so into drunken madness once again in hope of awakening and seeing some bands on the final night.
the first band I went to see was the rasmus.
not as i like the music . but as the rumbling of discontent has been growing since Wednesday when I arrived. apparently they got bottled when they were doing a signing session to. but what I witnessed on the main stage was classic 6mins of pure bottling and the dude with the burn the rasmus sign encapsulate the whole mood of the crowd. there was a sobering moment though when i saw 3 little girls all in rasmus t shirts all nearly in tears. i can only hope they went on to witness some decent bands and improve there musical appreciation beyond bland Finnish pop.
i caught a bit of the dropkick Murphys they were quite good but i thought the sound was pretty band and was soon lured to the bar.
after drinking a fair amount i caught a bit of placebo who were good not my bag though really.
i saw the stills a really impressive band form Canada who suffered like many form bad sound on the radio 1 stage
Radio 4 were next up on the dance tent. donno why on the dance they were as they would have fitted in easily to the radio 1 or main stage especially after dues pulling out . anyway they were really good got the corwd dancing like a motherfucker and were one of the festival highlights for me.
then onto witness anther beauty performing at the festival miss Melissa auf der maur. im quite a fan of her album and the show was good in all though at the beginning it was hard to hear the lady’s voice with chants of "mic up" being shouted till the sound improved half way through the set was really good. she played the first song she ever wrote to which was pretty sweet her solo with her bass
I’m glad i went to see auf der maur as they were kick ass but i missed the special of 50 cent's stage exit but hey you cant have everything.
then final band of the night nae the festival green day came on and it was entrainment form start to finish allot better than when i first saw them in 2001 a nice end to a really good weekend and since they came on early meant i got a chance to catch the last 30mins of supergrass who were on top form as always they should have been on the main stage in 50cents place if mean fiddler had used there minds for a change.
all in all a very good weekend if a little moist but it fun when we are all old and grey we can speak of how we survived the wettest reading festival in 10 years!
keep rocking in the free world my children till next year!
I felt This year was slightly different atmosphere wise. It was still amazing but due to the weather i believe it may have put a bit of a downer on some people's spirits.
we arrived at the site about 3pm on Wednesday afternoon and although we know they wouldn’t let us in till around six we thought we'd try our luck. i enquired to one of the security staff to when we would be allowed entry and he said that it may be as late as 7 or 8 as they were waiting to see if the state of the ground improved. A bad mistake I feel cause the weather at this point was rather sunny with the occasional shower but all in all rather nice. As the time to let us in slowly came round the heavens opened up a a torrential downpour began. now I don’t mean to moan but if they had let us in earlier we wouldn’t of had to erect our tent in the pissing down conditions we did.
Anyhoo once in we heading to our usual area of green camp to find it a veritable bog of eternal stench but once we found a dry'ish patch we set up reading 2004 had began i got a fine pair of wellies and the reading mood was enhanced( god bless dry feet in warm wellies)
Wednesday night was fun not as many random wonderings taking place due to the large amount of un-solid ground but we managed to hook up with about 60 or so random who went on a mission to get more randoms to join us in a journey to meet people. was a fun expedition with the nice chant of "slipy" being used which seemed rather apt.
Thursday was it usual drunken mess of a night not much was committed to memory apart form one of the dudes in our party nearly falling head first into the fire.
upon Friday morning one was as ruff as a biscuit (a hob nob not a rich tea) but we headed into the arena to catch some music.
first band i saw was Goldie looking chain well the last few songs they were really amusing but didn’t see much more to pass on anything more insightful.
next up i saw the pink grease over on the carling tent now these boys know how to put on a show. it was like they were the created by dr frankenfurter as a house band for the rocky horror picture show. classic tunes and a nice receptive crowd i implore you cats to check them out. after the pink grease i ran quickly as tera diablo were on next Scottish semi metal act who i didn’t want the misfortune of seeing again i think i even warned some of the crowd to run away.
after the pink grease i caught glimpses of a few more acts but nothing really took my fancy till the distillers.
I’m a quiet a fan of their stuff but the main reason most of the crowd were watching was basically to perv upon miss dale and the crowd was slightly restless after the main screens didn’t come on till the 3rd or 4th song. i wasn’t overly impressed but they did sound good and any woman who throws away guitars like confetti is ok with me.
the hives were next on the agenda. a really enjoyable set some of the newer stuff seemed a bit same but the witty banter from pelle quite most of the crowd amused.
after the hives it was the return of conquering festival warriors ash. now i saw these cats at t in the park and they were on top form i was expecting that they couldn’t top that. but i was wrong they came on like a hammer through the skull of the reading crowd. ash have to be one of the ultimate festival bands good song lively stage presence and having har mar strip was genius.
i wasn’t planning on staying around for the offspring but i ended up bumping into a few cats so i stuck around I’m quite glad i did as they impressed the pants of me i saw them briefly the last time they played (2002) but this time they held my attention with a mighty greatest hits set.
and finally to the darkness. i had witness the hastened slot filling in for bowie at t in the park and i was really sceptical to weather they could pull it off. all in all they were entreating especially when they fucked up. the light show nearly blinded me but i think that a good thing and the firework made me go all "oooo" and "aaaa" i think this was a good show though I’m really looking forward to them coming back in few years time a few more albums under their belt and a few more battle scars.
and so to Friday night drunken mayhem as always but that another story.
sat was an odd day i was especially attracted to anyone playing apart form Morrissey so i enjoyed the sun in the campsite while I could before heading in the fist act i caught was Razorlight on the main stage. I’m not a big fan but they impressed me with a decent solid show i was at the bar for a fair bit of it but it sounded go to my wayward ear.
i then went to witness har mar superstar in the radio one stage. the sound wasn’t to hot but i think it hard for anyone not to like that little balding fat man.
i caught a few glimpse of ordinary boys and the roots before heading back to catch the mighty Eighties matchbox b line disaster. this is the 3rd year in a row I’ve seen them at reading and each year they reset the levels. they blew me away they should be on the main stage next year to scare some of the safer reading goers.
the libertines were quite good I’ve never had the chance to see them with Pete but they seem pretty funky without him so it juts makes me want check out the full band if they are ever to reconcile.
next up a lifetime highlight not just a festival one.
Morrissey! as the chords for how soon is now struck up my whole body was lost in a wave of pleasure he wooed the crowd and looked as though he was loving every minute of it. nice mix of the old and the new
in my opinion Morrissey should have headlined i only caught a bit of the white stripes but they seem more over hyped than ever they're limit should be heading a smaller stage like radio 1 instead of the big beast.
i went of and caught a bit of mondo generator was really good if a bit raw but I’m glad i stuck around as mark laugningan was fucking amazing the power in that mans voice can make a mans pants go brown. The set was running late and just as nick olivera joined him on stage they got told to come of stage this would have been about 11.45 they didn’t take it to well amps were kicked over guitars thrown down but it made a nice end to something that had a fair amount of tension behind it.
and so into drunken madness once again in hope of awakening and seeing some bands on the final night.
the first band I went to see was the rasmus.
not as i like the music . but as the rumbling of discontent has been growing since Wednesday when I arrived. apparently they got bottled when they were doing a signing session to. but what I witnessed on the main stage was classic 6mins of pure bottling and the dude with the burn the rasmus sign encapsulate the whole mood of the crowd. there was a sobering moment though when i saw 3 little girls all in rasmus t shirts all nearly in tears. i can only hope they went on to witness some decent bands and improve there musical appreciation beyond bland Finnish pop.
i caught a bit of the dropkick Murphys they were quite good but i thought the sound was pretty band and was soon lured to the bar.
after drinking a fair amount i caught a bit of placebo who were good not my bag though really.
i saw the stills a really impressive band form Canada who suffered like many form bad sound on the radio 1 stage
Radio 4 were next up on the dance tent. donno why on the dance they were as they would have fitted in easily to the radio 1 or main stage especially after dues pulling out . anyway they were really good got the corwd dancing like a motherfucker and were one of the festival highlights for me.
then onto witness anther beauty performing at the festival miss Melissa auf der maur. im quite a fan of her album and the show was good in all though at the beginning it was hard to hear the lady’s voice with chants of "mic up" being shouted till the sound improved half way through the set was really good. she played the first song she ever wrote to which was pretty sweet her solo with her bass
I’m glad i went to see auf der maur as they were kick ass but i missed the special of 50 cent's stage exit but hey you cant have everything.
then final band of the night nae the festival green day came on and it was entrainment form start to finish allot better than when i first saw them in 2001 a nice end to a really good weekend and since they came on early meant i got a chance to catch the last 30mins of supergrass who were on top form as always they should have been on the main stage in 50cents place if mean fiddler had used there minds for a change.
all in all a very good weekend if a little moist but it fun when we are all old and grey we can speak of how we survived the wettest reading festival in 10 years!
keep rocking in the free world my children till next year!