Reading Festival - Sunday
26 August 2007


NOTE: The photos with this review were taken by Dave on his compact camera from the crowd. Some of the Smashing Pumpkins shots are photos of the big screen.

Outside of wearing my Rockers Digest hat, I attended the Sunday of Reading Festival. Traditionally the "rock" day of Reading, whilst there was no band as full-on-metallic as Slayer who I saw here last year, it still made for a fun day out. This was aided no end by the continual sunshine, which has been a bit of a rare thing this summer and was a godsend to the festival organisers who had found large areas of the campsite under water when they arrived to set up a few weeks prior. A few people have asked me how the day was, so I decided to put pen to paper and throw together an unplanned review.

Arriving at the site, we had little interest in the lightweight hip-hop act Gym Class Heroes who were opening the mainstage, so we went for a general wander. By the time we got back with much needed cool drinks, Hellogoodbye were on and were equally not to our tastes.

What was the Dance Tent last year on the Sunday, this year was the Lock Up stage, sponsored by Mike Davies` Radio 1 Punk Show, which used to go by that name. A packed tent was emptying after ska-punks Sonic Boom Six as we made our way in for Municipal Waste.

Amazingly this was my first encounter with the Virginian thrashers and they managed to live up to my expectations from everything I`d heard of their live performances. It didn`t take long for a circle pit to open around the central pole of the tent, as Municipal Waste sped through each crossover tune. Unfortunately, the guitar of Ryan Waste was barely audible for most of the set, but the sheer energy of the band carried the show. Ryan Waste and frontman Tony "Guardrail" Foresta were like Beavis & Butthead as they sniggered and joked between songs.

The famed beer bong was produced before The Inhebriator and a punk stood side-stage was the lucky recipient. We got three versions of I Want To Kill The President, one normal, one fast and one highly comical rap version with the entire band finishing with arms folded. A wall of death was ordered and reciprocated followed by much pit mayhem. There were clear signs warning of ejection for crowd surfing, which probably explained the non-appearance of boogie boards, though a few daring souls did make their way up and over the barrier and it was pleasing to see the security letting them back in.

Whilst not blessed with a good sound, Municipal Waste were a complete riot and left those who saw them grinning from ear to ear. The large crowd around the merchandise stall was noted afterwards.

Municipal Waste set list included:
Headbanger Face Rip / The Inebriator / Sadistic Magician / Beer Pressure / Terror Shark / Thrashing Of The Christ / Bangover / I Want To Kill The President (regular) / I Want To Kill The President (fast) / I Want To Kill The President (rap) / Thrashings My Business... And Business Is Good / Boner City / Unleash The Bastards

Remaining in the Lock-Up tent, Ignite were up next. I`d seen these guys a couple of times before as support at hardcore shows and based on those performances and their latest album, Our Darkest Days, was keen to check them out again. Ignite hail from Orange County, California and the underlying melodic punk sound therefore comes as no surprise. However, Ignite possess some additional muscle and a socially aware vision. Hence, early props to Agnostic Front and Madball by frontman Zoli Teglas made sense, despite those bands occupying a more harsh musical territory.

Bleeding wraps up neatly all the band`s strengths. Speedy punk guitars give was to irresistibly bouncy riffing with Teglas` vocals soaring over the top, possessing massive hooks. The power and clarity of Teglas` vocals are a revelation and he didn`t miss a note throughout the set. The gang vocals of Who Sold Out Now take us back to 2000`s A Place Called Home and Ignite also include their take on U2`s Sunday Bloody Sunday. To be honest, such was the strength of their own material, the cover was probably the weakest song in the set, though it was a wise choice in throwing out some familiarity to those new to the band.

Ignite set list included:
Poverty For All / Who Sold Out Now / Bleeding / Fear Is Our Tradition / Let It Burn / Sunday Bloody Sunday

Having surprised myself in discovering I liked a few songs by The Used on their latest album I was hugely disappointed by their set over on the main stage. Frontman Bert McCracken completely overshadows the rest of his band in the press and the same was true of the live show. The Bird & The Worm sounded horrendous and was simply a prelude to McCracken`s foul mouth. In fact at times it seemed the songs were a distraction to McCracken. On the flipside, to be fair, he did have a grip on the faithful down the front and invoked the first mainstage wall of death of the day. The fact that he had promised some "really heavy shit" was a bit bemusing given the lightweight nature of the music to which the fans were throwing themselves into each other.

The Used set list included:
The Bird & The Worm / Liar Liar / Pretty Handsome Awkward / Hospital / A Box Full Of Sharp Objects

The sadly lacking guitar sound had not been rectified in the Lock Up tent as Canada`s Cancer Bats took the stage. The very hairy, Testament t-shirt wearing Scott Middleton seemed to be doing a lot of work on his axe to little results through the P.A. All this left was a lot of percussion and the one dimensional shouting of Liam Cormier. The energy of Cancer Bats could not be criticised, however the lacking sound caused my early exit.

Cancer Bats set list included:
Grenades / Firecrack This

I`ve never got my head around Funeral For A Friend finding them inoffensive, but without much to hold my attention. Their enjoyable performance on the mainstage was therefore a bit of a surprise. Part of the appeal was the genuine approach of frontman Matthew Davies-Kreye, which was the polar opposite of Bert McCracken. Amusing and honest, Davies-Kreye broke down the barrier between crowd and band and helped win many over.

It didn`t hurt that the rest of the band were pulling their weight, with some very inventive guitar interplay Kris Coombs-Roberts and Darren Smith. Opting to play more of their more muscular earlier material instead of the slicker sounds of Tales Don`t Tell Themselves, was probably a wise move, but also quite surprising. Whilst hardly blowing me away, Funeral For A Friend were a very different proposition than what I had expected.

Funeral For A Friend set list:
This Years Most Open Heartbreak / All The Rage / Roses For The Dead / She Drove Me To Daytime Television / Streetcar / Juneau / Escape Artists Never Die / The Great Wide Open

I won`t go into too much detail about Devendra Banhart whom I caught next, as he doesn`t really fit into the Rockers Digest bracket. The American and his band mix retro rock with indie and World music and provided a moment of chill out in the coolness of the second stage tent. Banhart possesses a hippy spirit and he amusingly asked if anyone has written a new song they would like to share. This resulted in two young ladies from the audience taking the stage to perform, latterly with Banhart`s band jamming along.

Back to the mainstage and the Lostprophets who, believe it or not, I`d seen eight times previously, all around the time of their debut album The Fake Sound Of Progress. Only Shinobi from that album is present today and whilst the sound may have changed the energy of the Lostprophets has not typified by the endless energy of bassist Stuart Richardson who spent the whole set marauding the stage, with still enough in his tanks to attack his bass at the conclusion.

Frontman Ian Watkins is the ringmaster today and even when it seems he`s not going to get the result he wanted, his perseverance with the crowd paid off in the largest bounce along I`d seen and indeed took part in. Last Train Home was a hysterical blur of movement with even the more reserved around me answering the call to jump.

This was a wise greatest hits set from the Lostprophets with the crowd singing their hearts out to the likes of Burn Burn and Rooftops. There was time to throw in a new song, Next Stop Atrocity, which turned out to be the fastest of the set. This was the Lostprophets last show of 2007 as they head off into the studio to record album number four. Today`s performance will have me revisiting albums two and three.

Lostprophets set list:
Everyday Combat / To Hell We Ride / A Town Called Hypocrisy / Can't Catch Tomorrow (Good Shoes Won`t Save You This Time) / Last Summer / Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast) / Next Stop Atrocity / Last Train Home / Burn, Burn / Shinobi vs Dragon Ninja

Nine Inch Nails were undoubtedly the band I was looking forward to the most, however I had wondered whether the claustrophobic nature of their live shows would transfer to an outdoor festival. Trent Rezner was a man of few words today, though he did acknowledge that he had wanted to play Reading for sometime and he certainly didn`t drop the baton.

The opening three numbers provided a slow build-up. With minimal lighting and ever darkening skies they served to set the scene for what was to follow. Throwing Closer in early on in the set surprised, but grabbed the crowd. The performance really kicked into gear as a screen descended at the front of the stage and Rezner appeared with two of his cohorts, playing keyboards each backed by a green fuzz on the screen. As the crescendo of noise generated by the band peaked, the screen switched to a blinding static fuzz with the band silhouettes against it. When the full band returned, they remained behind the screen for Only with Rezner appearing in gaps through the onscreen display to amazing effect.

This very slick performance peaked with Head Like A Hole and at it`s conclusion an amp was deposited into the photo pit, whilst Rezner took out the drum kit. All looked over and fans started to move away until the piano of Hurt suddenly turned everyone on their heals. The version that followed was spine tingling and was an amazing finish to what felt like a headline set.

Nine Inch Nails set list:
Hyperpower! / The Beginning Of The End / Survivalism / March Of The Pigs / Closer / Burn / Gave Up / Me, I'm Not / The Great Destroyer (including Happiness In Slavery excerpt) / Eraser / Only / Wish / Dead Souls / The Hand That Feeds / Head Like A Hole / Hurt

Nine Inch Nails performance was always going to be difficult for the Smashing Pumpkins to follow and that proved the case with no help from the band themselves, who continually took the wind out of their own set every time it got going. To my mind, away from their own headline shows and loyal fans, a festival headline show was the perfect opportunity to remind people of the strength of the Smashing Pumpkins back catalogue and throw in a few new songs to intrigue people to check out the new CD. However, for every hit there was an obscure or unfamiliar number. No doubt the TV coverage seized upon the hits and probably made this performance seem amazing. Truthful, the sound and playing was spot on, but after a day stood out in the sun, it doesn`t take long to loose a tired crowd and this one was by no stretch of the imagination as hooked as they were for Pearl Jam this time last year.

Corgan obviously sensed the wider crowd apathy to the unfamiliar material. After a decidedly lacking reaction to references to "his" new album, Corgan blasted, "This one`s from Zeitgeist, f**kers!" Whereas Doomsday Clock contained the necessary hooks to make its presence felt, Death From Above had no place here at all. Including the star spangled banner in United States seemed lost on many and was another spot of self indulgence. Meanwhile, many of the classics felt rushed. This was one for the die hards and not the type of set that should have been closing Reading 2007. The spoils then to Nine Inch Nails.

Smashing Pumpkins set list:
Superchrist / Tarantula / Doomsday Clock / Today / Drown / Stand Inside Your Love / Zero / United States / Glass & The Ghost Children / Bullet With Butterfly Wings / 1979 (acoustic) / Death From Above / That's The Way (My Love Is) / Tonight, Tonight / Heavy Metal Machine / Cherub Rock

LINKS:
Reading Festival