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Europe » United Kingdom » England » Berkshire » Reading
August 26th 2008
Published: August 26th 2008
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What a weekend! Has to be up there as one of the best things I have done so far on our trip and by far one of the best festivals I have EVER been to! Where to start... well I headed off early Friday morning got the train to Reading and met up with Rick who was coming in from further up North, just outside London. Reading was packed already with people of all ages unloading from the train with back packs and tents for what was sure to be one of the best weekends of the year.
The weather wasn't looking too promising when I left London, overcast and a slight sprinkle in the air...but I guess that's just London at any time of the year. Much of the same out in Reading however as we approached the grounds we could see a crack of sunlight just trying to break through... we were in luck! The clouds eventually cleared, be it only for a few hours but hey that's better than rain and clouds!
We headed into the grounds along with 1000's of others amped and ready to party. The floor was pretty much moosh and mud by the time
No place like home... No place like home... No place like home...

Our camp site for the next 3 days
we got there buying wellies was defiantly a wise choice and seemed to be the norm there with all sorts of colours and styles making my £8 Primark ones look boring! Poor Rick with his huge feel got the biggest size he could find and ended up having to take them off once we hit the camp site.
The camp grounds opened for early bird ticket holders on the Wednesday then the rest getting there Thursday if they could get the time off work. I decided not to get there early being that I didn't want to camp any more than I had too, and no bands actually started till the Friday anyway? But people had piled in as early as possible to get the best spots, as close to the grounds as possible and as far away from the muddy spots and festy smell of the rank toilets as possible! Even after just 1-2 nights the smell coming out of those things was enough to nearly make you turn around! Bleh! After about a 30-40 min walk we finally found the rest of the crew who had arrived the night before, got ourselves a nice little spot, short walking distance from the festival, close to the toilets but not so close you could smell them, and also on the edge of the tree border to the other camp site so we weren't walking through a maze of similar looking tents.
After getting settled and downing the first few drinks to get started it was time to map out the days sets and where we had to get to first! First band on my list were Anti Flag then Taking Back Sunday (YAY) so we got in there early just in case it started to pack out. Anti Flag kicked off the festivities for the weekend, don’t know why they had such an early slot but wasn’t complaining. Also out of all bands they got 2 sets? One first off on the main stage then later that day on the lock up stage. Get Cape. Wear Cape, Fly. followed them, this guy has some really good tunes from them/him nothing hard core or anything more relaxed chilled out acoustic indie tunes with some brass instruments chucked in as well. Such a bizarre name I had to Google where it came from and apparently it was a cheat move for the Batman Game. Def recommend looking them up and having a listen. www.myspace.com/getcapewearcapefly
Then another early spot for Taking Back Sunday who came on at 2pm, would of expected a bit higher in the time slots but still super excited to see them finally! Played a great set, sound wasn't too great some of the guys who stayed back a bit complaining of it not being loud enough, but me and a couple of others go right in there so was fine for me, plus I think I drained out some of the noise with my signing along :P One of the better back drops for the festival also, not alot of bands really having there's up which was a little disappointing?
We chilled for a bit between sets while Dizzee Rascal, Serj Tankian (System of a Down Lead Man) Biffy Clyro, and The Fratellies and took in the sites, and by sites I mean the copious amounts of men in dresses, super hero outfits, old wedding dresses, too tu's, fairy wings, moe hawks, gimps, space suits, face paint, near naked people even in the cold, (spot the cold aussie a mile away) cartoon characters, and crazy wellies and combat boots
Anti Flag Anti Flag Anti Flag

First Set
as far as the eye could see! There was a cup trade going where you if you collected the Tuborg (yep never heard of it either) beer cups that sponsored the event you would get 10p in return this soon became a competition for kids and even stingy adults at the event to see who could get the biggest stack, I took one photo at the beginning (below) and that wasn't even near the amount we saw that people had by day 3! Good way of recycling though, whether they actually re-used the cups I don't know as some got pretty manky after people stepping on them all day.
Later came the 2nd set from Anti Flag which I had to go catch again, Less Than Jake were meant follow but something happened so Pennywise came on early. Stuck round for a bit, but got a bit repetitive for me, being that I have already seen them like 3-4 times… not much new to see, still rocked the place though. By this time it was FREEZING so me and Rick went and caught the last few song of Queens of the Stone Age. Again waaaaayyyy too cold to pay much
Pit crew!Pit crew!Pit crew!

Rick, Kurt, Shanks, Simmo, Mel, Me!
attention so we got a warm spot on the floor and huddled waiting for Rage to come on. And worth the wait it was! As they prepared to come out the ringing of prison sirens rang out over the Festival the boys from RATM were lead out on stage in full piece orange jumpsuits and black hoods and proceeded to play there first song “Bombtrack” just as they were, heads covered and all! They played all the fav’s “Killing in the Name”, “Bulls on Parade” and “Sleep Now in the Fire” we stuck round for the first few then had to cut our losses and head back to camp as the cold was just getting the better of us after such a long massive day! All in all a great first day, with even more fun to come!
Camping was defiantly a bit of challenge for me, call my prissy but I like my creature comforts! Comfy bed & pillows, PJ’s, warm blankets and hell just having 4 walls and a roof around me is always a nice perk! But no camping was ok, slept like a log all night which was surprising cause the camp site was quiet noisy when I woke the next day?
Saturday was a bit more of a chilled day, nothing great band or DJ wise till later in the afternoon so we did breakfast and by breakfast I mean lunch as we didn’t move till about 11am. Then proceeded to drink and hang out till about 4pm then eventually wandered over to catch MXPX and Bullet for my Valentine who were really the only 2 bands I wanted to catch that day. The Raconteurs, Bloc Party & The Killers headlined that day, but no real interest in catching them so we just hung out and wandered the festival checking out the stalls till BFMV came on just after 9pm. Let me just state, Bullet are usually a bit heavier for my liking…usually but after the performance they put on that night I am well and truly converted! What an awesome set! Got a nice spot towards the back so I could see the stage and the big screen, as I wasn’t keen to risk my life in the insane pit they had created! They absolutely cranked I was thoroughly impressed by the Welsh boys, and by the noise and energy from the crowd I could tell they were too!
Sunday, the last day, the line up to beat all line ups and the day that would be remembered as the best day EVER! With line ups jumping from Alexisonfire, Plain White T’s, Leathal Bizzle, Chromeo, Digitalism, Hadouken!, The Music, Pendulum, Avenged Sevenfold, Tenacious D and finishing up with Metallica there was not enough time in the day to actually be everywhere and catch everyone so we had to make out choices and stick to them… some unfortunate drop outs were Avenged Sevenfold which I was mighty disappointed in seeing as I didn’t find out till 45 mins before they started so had to re arrange my day! The lead singer had strained his vocal chord. Very unfortunate and they had no one to fill in or replace the band so everyone got bumped back a spot leading up. This along with Slipknot also pulling out a few days before with the drummer breaking his ankle. Why they couldn’t get a replacement I don’t know? Not like anyone would know, I mean they all wear masks? Anyway… this made it a little easier for that spot as Pendulum were meant to be playing at the same time as Slipknot so this made that decision easier and I didn’t have to leave half way through one of the sets…
Alexisonfire started my day off, and what a way to start. They came out pumping I was so excited to see them again as I don’t actually recall seeing them when they came to Soundwave in Perth. That will teach me for drinking so early… Playing majority of songs from Crisis and Watch Out albums they rocked out hard, Singer - George even jumping into the pit with excitement! Wish I was in there for that! Stuck around after for some of Plain White T’s, being that I only really know the Delilah song and that other one I don’t know the name too didn’t really pay too much attention. But was good to catch them live, another decent band I don’t remember from Soundwave, really should listen more!
Hadouken! (yes with an exclamation mark) were up 2 sets before Pendulum so we went to check them out, having not herd of them before we got to Reading I didn't really know what to expect? They really did blow us all away though, awesome beats a very
Tuborg cup compTuborg cup compTuborg cup comp

They ain't got nothin... 10p per cup get a job!
fast Drum & Bass group another one I'll put up there check out www.myspace.com/hadoukenuk
Pendulum defiantly delivered the goods. Awesome to see they have a massive fan base over here too, the NME tent packed out very early, we were lucky we stayed in after Hadouken & The Music to get a good spot. Not that it really mattered cause once they started it was each for there own! The crowd was intense, and for good reason. They put on an amazing show playing alot from there In Silico album and also revving the crowd up with a cover from Prodigy. Couldn't really see much of the stage from where I was but luckily they had a big screen about 3/4 of the way back so could watch from there but really there was no trying to stand still for them cause even if you weren't up for it, you had to jump around and dance along with the crowd! Only downfall to this set was that they didn’t manage to play Tarantula! But all in all still totally kicked ass!
Tenacious D somehow managed to get the opening spot to Metallica. Do not ask me how? I think as more of a comedy act rather than a decent band? Even then I don’t really find Jack Black all that funny…but each to there own I guess? They put on a bit of a comedy show with a giant metal man coming out looking like something from Transformers then of course Satin joined them for the Tribute song (only song I actually new) This then led up to the finale of the weekend, what most people had actually come for (not me but some people) Metallica. The build up was pretty intense as the crowd grew bigger and the stage was set up for what no doubt would be a HUGE performance! And that it was… coming out playing, well I don’t actually know the name but it was something familiar you’ll have to ask Rick what the first song was. I think it might have been “One” or something? Anyway… good stuff playing some of the old stuff that I did know like “Enter Sandman” and that other song… you know how it goes. Of course they got the longest set playing for 2 hours! Mind you most of there songs go for like 7 minutes so not really surprising they had a longer spot! Not that I was complaining (except about the cold again) they did put on a great show, with lots of head banging tunes, fireworks and flames coming from the side of the stage. Even walking off after an hour and pretending that was it… who were they trying to kid?
And that was it… the night came to a close, most people dispersed back to the camp sites to keep drinking, some to go on the rides, some to the silent disco, which is another stage area where you can still carve it up till 3am while dancing round to a local DJ listening in on headphones the organizers gave out. We went back to our tent and built a fire and sat round drinking and talking shit with some other surrounding tents till some ungodly hour, I flaked early as the annoying 19 year old English boys next to us were giving me the shits by talking a lot more crap than any one person should have to listen to. The morning after we pretty much all woke to the smell of smoke, fire engines and someone yelling out “YOUR TENTS ON FIRE!”
My saviours!My saviours!My saviours!

Good old wellies!
we all jumped up to check… well Rick checked ours, I wasn’t getting out of my warm sleeping bag for anything! Of course it wasn’t ours on fire but there were about 5 around us that had slowly started to melt down. The theme seems to be that you buy a cheap tent and when your too lazy to pack up and take home, just burn it all down? Why not eh?
So that about sums up the weekend for me… great times, great bands and freezing English weather!
Enjoy - Peace Out!
Mel xox




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Shanks & Simmo Shanks & Simmo
Shanks & Simmo

Displaying the Reading shirts we all got.


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