Reading Festival Review 2004 by shalfordgooner.
After the disapointment of being unable to attend Reading festival 2003, i finally made my first visit to the sacred grounds that is Little Johns Farm. Arriving at the site at about 11 o'clock thursday morning we made our way towards Green Camp, which was possibly the biggest mistake of the weekend. As many of you who camped in or visited Green will tell you, it was more like a pond on Thursday than a field. however as I had vastly overpacked, it was good enough. Thursday night was as expected quite uneventfull.
Woke up early Friday morning and i braved the toilets for the first time. They werent too bad. After a long wait trying to get into the arena me and my mate made our way to the main stage to catch Goldie Lookin Chain. The act seemed good for the first 10 minuites but however the joke quickly became unfunny. If I ever have to listen to Guns Dont Kill People again i will commit suicide. After half hour of walking around checking out whats what i returned to my tent to start the days drinking. I returned to main stage just as Reel Big Fish were closing. i felt this was very bad timing as i cannot stand RBF. Hundred Reasons were next. A good solid performance by them, but nothing special. I wasnt actually looking foward to Jurrasic 5 but I stayed to watch as the Distillers were on next. I was very suprised as to just how good J5 are, but the Distillers were a huge disapointment for me personally. After missing their set at Download i ! was hoping for a good performance. I found them to be very bland and uneventfull. Their music was quite good with them playing favorites like Drain the Blood and Die on a Rope. But for god sake Brody, cheer up you miserable bitch. After another trip for drinks I missed the Hives but I returned for Ash. Ash put on a very solid performance with even Har Mar Superstar making a apperance. Next on were the band I was waiting all day to see. They were of course the Offspring. I cant understand why they were on before the Darkness. A good solid performance by the Offspring, nothing spectacular but they played live favorites such as Come Out and Play, The Kids Arnt Allright and Self Esteem. Now I was only 3 rows from the front. Time for our first main event. The Darkness opened upwith a storming version of Black Shuck. Their solid set included all songs that you would expect to hear from the band and a couple of new songs from the forcomeing album. The highlight of the the set for m! e was a brilliant version of radioheads, Street spirit. Overall a very good performance by the Darkness which showed they are maturing as musicians and the joke act is disaperring. After this i crammed myself into the comedy tent to watch Dirty Sanchez. The less said the better about this.
Saturday was a complete nightmare for me. After watching Razorlight on the main stge (God they suck) and Har Mar Superstar in the radio one stage i left my mates to go to the toilet and bvack to the tent for a drink and some muchies. However disaster struck. I had lost all my phone batteries. After trudging through the arena for a while looking for them i made my way down to the nearest phone box. Except it wasnt working, so i walked all the way into reding town center to call from their. Being unable to get hold of my freind i dragged my arse back to the festival site. Now you would trhink that an event the stature of Reading would have a pay phone. the fuck it didnt. After another half an hour of dragging myself round the site searching i made my way to the Radio One stage to watch MC5. Aftern they had finished their great performance i was just about to leave the tent and go for anouther walk and FUCK ME i walk straight into my missing mates. We stayed to w! atch Dizzee Rascle (Who like J5 i wasnt looking foward too but i really enjoyed). Now for the band who for me were the biggest draw of the weekend Funeral For A Freind. And stone me did they deliver. A masterfullset by the welshmen who are surely set for superstardom soon.
Sunday and i had to walk to the town center for the the toilet. I admite, i am a pussy when it comes to dirty toilets. This ment that i missed Minus's opening set, which i was quite looking foward to. Sat down in frount of the big screen towards the end of Thrices set. Now for the Rasmus. now I hate the Rasmus, but i never expected them to get a reception of Daphny & Celecst proportions. After the rasmus had finished, i went to the Radio One Stage to watch Dogs Die in Hot Cars (Not litterally but it would be amusing!! Joking). Back to the main stage in time to catch the end of the Dropkick Murphys. Mad my way into the crowd for the Streets. i cant say im a huge Streets fan but they did put on a very good performance. Time for the Lostprophets. They but on a brilliant performance, including the highlight in my view, The fake Sound of Progress. Placebo now, and a very solid greatist hits performance by Moloko and the boys. now for a choice, get a good view o! f 50 cent, or get hit by 10,000 bottles. A no brainer in my view and we moved aside. Hope MF were watching that performance and made a mental note not to book any hip hop 'gangsters' for a slot like that again. Now the final band. Green Day did not disapoint. They ended the festival perfectly with the words "Its something unpredictable but in the end its right, i hope you had the time of your life." I certanly did. Thank you reading I'll see you next year.
