Reading Festival 2008

Just like last year heavy rain was forecast for the Reading weekend. Just like last year the Berkshire fields were invaded by a swarm of all style of wellies in anticipation. And just like last year, the rain, in the main, held off. Unlike last year, however, this years headliners proved far worthy of their top billing. In comparison to 2007’s headliners; Friday - Rage Against The Machine ripped Razorlight to shreds; Saturday - The Killers murdered the memory of a hugely disappointing Red Hot Chili Peppers; and Sunday - Metallica gave the festival a send off unfair to expect the Smashing Pumpkins to have matched.

Elsewhere during the precocious music weekend, the myriad of bands and musical styles left the tune hungry masses suitably well fed. Your average home counties town played host to a giant robot and the devil doing battle with Tenacious D. The show-stopping invaders inevitably coming off second best to the squat actor-muso- comedian and his D partner Kyle Gass. The mock rock of Fuck Her Gently, and Tribute, were big smile inducing sing-alongers.

On a smaller scale and hi-tech gimmick free, on the NME stage on Friday afternoon, Nashville’s Be Your Own Pet gave a raucous, shambolic, alcoholically fuelled punk performance. Singer Jemina Pearl snarled, giggled and spat her way through Adventures and Bummer Time with jerky electric shock movements. It was hard to avert your eyes from her animated and charismatic unpredictability. Such youthful ramshackle energy made more sense when it was revealed they were breaking up after their English tour. I’m pleased I caught their festival swansong.

Later in the same venue, New York’s fast rising MGMT continued their summer of successful festival shows (T In the Park, Glastonbury, Rosskilde, Lollapalooza) to a highly charged crowd. Their happy psychedelic indie pop was deliciously ripe for the musical picking. As it grew dark so did the music. Queens of the Stone Age thundered their way through their compact rock-metal sound with Josh Homme’s squaddy stance spearheading the force of No One Knows.

You could cut the intensity with a knife in the build up to RATM’s appearance, and the Californians didn’t disappoint. The foursome appeared, to a backdrop of sirens, standing in a line, in Guantanamo Bay torture chic - orange boiler suits and sinister black hoods. Their own fusion of political rap funk was wrapped up with the legendary Killing In the Name Of. Far from sparking a revolution the crowds filtered away from the main stage chanting 'fuck you I won’t do what you tell me’ in relatively peaceful festival mode.

Despite the low volume and chants of 'turn it up’ from sections of the crowd, The Killers gave a big headline performance with Brandon Flowers strutting the stage with pomp and Las Vegas ceremony. They stormed through their impressive anthemic back catalogue. Mr Brightside and When You Were Young would’ve raised the roof if there had been one. Earlier on the Saturday The Subways proved their growing status with tracks from their Butch Vigg produced second album (All or Nothing) including recent single Alright. The Mystery Jets delighted a very young and tightly packed NME stage with Half In Love With Elizabeth and Two Doors Down among their newest mass crowd pleasers.

Metallica gave the metal heads a rock treat, closing the festival with all guns blazing, fireworks, and Seek and Destroy. Earlier, Miles Kane (Rascals) and Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys) worked their magic. Together as The Last Shadow Puppets, complete with full orchestra, like a Walker Brothers-Coral fusion, the Wirral/Sheffield duo delivered the performance of the weekend. They perfectly captured the 60s spy film-esque atmosphere of their Mercury nominated side project album The Age of the Understatement. When the sound system failed on stage left of the house the suited young lads simply played Calm Like You all over again. Standing Next To Me brought out the biggest sing along. What a shame the song is barely two minutes long - I could’ve sung along to it all night.

The crowds milled around long after the live shows were complete, some huddled around fires, other seeking and finding other kinds of excitement. The silent disco had a long queue that appeared worth the wait to the quiet steppers inside. And as dawn became a reminder of a lack of sleep, it was almost time to reflect on another Reading festival, better than the last, and look ahead to who and what next year will bring.

Rob Barnett, Music News