Friday 27th until Sunday 29th August 2010 @ Little John’s Farm, Reading
Featuring Performances From: Gogol Bordello, Streetight Manifesto, Delphic, Lostprophets, Guns N Roses, Rolo Tamassi, Hadouken, Dizzee Rascal, The Libertines, Ash, Limp Bizkit, Cypress Hill, Weezer, Paramore, Blink 182

Reading Festival 2010 kicked off, in a true British fashion, with rain and lots of it! Naturally this was never going to dampen spirits though, just tents and summer wardrobes. Having bought some wellies and much needed ponchos, I set out to see as many of the bands I had put a mental ‘tick’ next to and with such a strong line up this year, there was bound to be overlaps and hidden gems.

The festival’s mix of rock, metal, hip-hop and dance was spread over six stages all in one very large field. Friday festival highlights included the crazy gypsy collective, Gogol Bordello, who whipped the crowd into a frenzy with their energetic performance and zany European folk stylings; Streetight Manifesto; Delphic; and Lostprophets, a band I have always wanted to see live. The Welsh pretty boys of metal did not disappoint with a flawless set that made sure the crowd were treated to all the hits.

Disappointment award definitely goes to the king of rock diva’s, Axl Rose, and his faux Guns N Roses. They came on stage over an hour late to an accolade of booes and projectiles, he changed his outfit between every song (your not Kylie, sir!), and the set was full of pointless piano solos and a seven minute James Bond theme intro to a rather weak Live And Let Die.

Saturday and after an early start for Rolo Tamassi and the impressive electro rap-rock faves, Hadouken, I made my way into the sea of people waiting for Dizzee Rascal. Breaking from tradition, there was no DJ Semtex in sight, replaced by a full live band (including four backing singers). Gone are the days when Dizzee performs on top of backing tracks or DJs, he’s now a true showman. It’s also great to see that live hip-hop doesn’t have to be a cut and paste DJ set list. Definite highlight for me was the mash up of Stand Up Tall with Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit. I was stuck between two separate circle pits, one side rapping with Dizzee and the other singing with an imaginary Kurt Cobain.

I stuck around for The Libertines reform, it seems as though they were genuinely happy to be playing with each other again, but ditched headliners, Arcade Fire, to go and watch Ash, a band I have loved for well over a decade! Joined by Russell (Bloc Party) Lissack on guitar, they belted out fan favourites like Kung Fu and Orpheus in one of the best sets of the whole weekend.

Sunday was spent mostly in front of the main stage and in quick succession I watched the surprisingly good Limp Bizkit, the crowd-pleasing Cypress Hill, Weezer (who hadn’t played in the UK for 5 years and made up for it with a superb and energetic show), Paramore (who came on to the biggest screams of the festival), and then finally everything was brought to a close by another historic reformation, this time by Blink 182.

Although not as tight or professional as other bands, they still know how to whip up a crowd though it soon became apparent that they hadn’t practiced some of their more familiar hits as they forgot the words quite frequently. But with the spectacle of a revolving drumkit being played upside down by Travis, many fans didn’t mind filling in the blanks. The highlight of their set was the haunting I Miss You which was a nice change of pace and created a unified sing along for all. Blink 182 were nowhere near the best band of the weekend but the crazy atmosphere it was the perfect way to send everybody off.

www.readingfestival.com

Stu Freeman
Photos by Laura Palmer