Reading Festival Grade Card: Saturday

Reading Festival is cunningly timed each year to coincide with the release of GCSE and A-Level exam results in the UK. Here at BTA we've put together our grade card for the days we attended. Saturday's candidates were:

Dinosaur Pile Up, NME/Radio 1 Tent
More a leaf-eating Stegosaurus than the carnivorous T-Rex they aspire to be. For this lowest common denominator Nirvana-Vines rock, we're drawn more to the Subways' records.
Grade - D

Delphic, NME/Radio 1 Tent
BTA abandoned their Field Day performance at the dance tent last month due to immense frustration at stretching out one song for half their set. Thankfully, here they're much slicker, playing reasonable length songs much more palatable on the ears and suited to the occasion. "Counterpoint", with it's compelling mash of synths, bleeps and guitars, provides today's first shot of euphoria.
Grade B

Baddies, Festival Republic Tent
Score highly for their frontman setting what we're convinced is a new trend of "indie robot guitar dancing" whilst holding a perpetually surprised expression. Key tracks like "Battleships" sound like Klaxons B-sides. Disposable and liable to grate over time but ideal festival fodder.
Grade - B

Metric, NME/Radio 1 Tent
Draw heavily on latest LP "Fantasies", a few songs in Emily Haines proclaims her desire to "share the love" without a hint of irony and we're instantly smitten. The purity and sincerity of their new romantic pop charm is contagious and we swoon in unison with the crowd. What live music is for.
Grade - A*

Patrick Wolf, NME/Radio 1 Tent
Bounding on stage wearing truly absurd blonde hair extensions and the first of 2 outfits (a black and white union jack jumpsuit), we're exposed to this afternoon, it's easy to understand how the narcissism and Bowie obsession can overshadow the music. All wholly unnecessary when you can write excellent chamber folk songs with beauitfiul violin arrangements, such as on "Hard Times" and "The Magic Position".
Grade - B

Them Crooked Vultures, NME/Radio 1 Tent
After their appearance at Leeds yesterday, the rammed tent is pretty clear what's about to happen at this supposedly "secret" performance, featuring Josh Homme, Dave Grohl & John Paul Jones and a fat bald guy who everyone amusingly ignores for the entire show. They proceed to play sludgy, blissed-out stoner rock which we find it hard to relate to on first listen and focus on admiring the musicianship on display. Most memorable for the hero worship accorded to Dave Grohl, when he repeatably poured water over his head and shook his locks pretending to star in a shampoo advert.
Grade - A

Rival Schools, Lock-Up Tent
Hold a special place in our heart as United by Fate album soundtracked our university years, and that forms the basis of this hit-laden reunion set. "Used for Glue" remains the melodic hardcore band's key song. They throw in a cover of "Wonderwall to celebrate Oasis's recent demise, cut abruptly short due to the crowd's lack of support.
Grade - A*

Maccabees, NME/Radio 1 Tent
Far too polished and soulless live, and play too much of their inferior debut. "No Kind Words" & "Love You Better" just about scrape a respectable mark.
Grade - C

White Lies, NME/Radio 1 Stage
"To Lose my life..." has completed it's gestation period and the band are the most assured BTA has seen them. The appeal of Unfinished Business & Death has not faded over time & remain their highlights.
Grade - A

Artic Monkeys, Main Stage
Open their headline performance with new album track "My Propeller" followed by a Nick Cave cover. We have to admire the testes these boys have grown in the arid desert confines. A world away from their Glastonbury performance where Alex kept nervously addressing the crowd as "ladies & gentelmen"; here there is minimal acknowledgment of the field. Combined with pathetic sounds levels that plagued the main stage for the 2nd year running, the people respond in kind. Having diligently swatted up on Humbug in the few days since it's release, we can enjoy the predominantly slow-burning material on offer. We're still left with an overriding feeling that Turner is most effective when he portrays vivid images of recognisable characters such as on "When the Sun Comes Down" and "Fluorescent Adolescent", on his earlier pursuits.
Grade - B

Saturday Playlist
1. Rival Schools - User for Glue
2. Baddies - Battleships
3. Metric - Golds Guns Girls
4. Delphic - Counterpoint
5. White Lies - Unfinished Business
6. Arctic Monkeys - Secret Door
7. Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position

Festival Season: Reading Review - Day 2

With Britain’s astonishing success in the Beijing Olympics, I am similarly inspired in my continued attempt to set the world record for greatest number of brilliant bands witnessed over a 3 day period. But before the 2^nd lap of my musical marathon can begin, I need to traverse a scheduling hurdle as BTA darlings Collapsing Cities and Bombay Bicycle Club both vie to kick off the day.

Based on their impressive consistency, I plump for BBC. Still too young to legally buy alcohol or vote, these teenagers are disgustingly talented. Julian Casablancas would give his shiny new Converse shoes to sing songs as catchy as ‘Open House’ or ‘Evening / Morning’ when the Strokes’ fourth album finally emerges. At least they look pre-pubescent on stage, as if they’re playing to friends in their dad’s basement. Surely future headliners.

After being listed in NME’s must-see new bands at this year’s fest I decide to give Lovvers a chance to impress. Which they singularly fail to do, coming across like Andrew W.K. minus ‘Party Hard’. They at least finish 10 minutes early, providing ample opportunity to secure a choice spot in the newly enlarged Alternative Tent for Jeffrey Lewis & The Jitters. Jeff has compared choosing his setlist to a game of chess, based on the audience’s reaction to each song. In which case it’s checkmate after the first song, a spine tingling ‘I Ain’t Thick It’s Just A Trick’, one of 3 Crass covers the master storyteller plays for us. One of the real treasures of the weekend.

Over from probably the least to the most mainstream act on the site next for Santogold. Her painfully out of tune vocals live demonstrate why she needs the production levels on her eponymous debut record and there’s an overload of bass emitting from the speakers. The tunes just about fight their way through and the heavily choreographed dancers make a welcome distraction and bring some variety to the standard indie rock fare on offer.

I scamper across to the Festival Republic stage next to catch a few songs of a band getting the UK music press very excited. Twisted Wheel are yet another northern guitar band boasting an arrogance-fuelled swagger, who always seem to carve a special place in British hearts (aka The Enemy, Oasis, Kasabian etc). They allay my initial fear of another The Twang by proving in ‘Strife’ and ‘You Stole the Sun’ they have 2 songs containing a lyrical intelligence and relevance the Brummie band never realised. Fully expect to see them on the main stage next summer.

Mid afternoon on Saturday may seem a strange time for an 80s indie disco but bizarre scheduling decisions are not about to derail the Mystery Jets party train. Still wearing the outfits from their ‘Two Doors Down’ MTV friendly video, they draw heavily from their vastly superior 2^nd album to deliver a set of unashamedly 80s pop tunes, like ‘Half in Love with Elizabeth’. Taking away 1 point for once again being without indie folk goddess Laura Marling, they are your typical 7/10 band.

Which makes Los Campesinos a 9.5/10 and proud recipients of the award for best band of the weekend. The set list is sublime, especially as they play 'The International Tweexcore Underground’, sadly omitted from their debut LP. The between song banter also impresses; “I’ve waited 6 months to play a gig with no Ting Tings fans!” As is the crowd's reaction who reach such height with their bouncing I’m sure someone’s snuck in a trampoline beneath their feet. I now appreciate why the reaction in some quarters to their debut was muted; as even though it’s chocked full of indie twee gems, ‘Hold on Now, Youngster’ doesn’t come near to capturing their youthful exuberance and charm.

Moving back into new band research mode now to see Fangs on the BBC Introducing stage. They play dirty glam dance rock and ‘Panic Attack’ and ‘SICKO’ are definitely capable of slaying the indie club dance floors this year. Which of course Black Kids have been doing for many months. They pick up the 80s party baton from Mystery Jets and the masses respond in style with some John Travolta style dance moves.

Thankfully I chose them over the start of The Raconteurs, whose set is sabotaged by the pitiful main stage sound, which I’ve read apparently fell victim to the great British weather. Jack White doesn’t exactly help matters by spending far too much of the set playing ridiculously long guitar solos. Ok Jack, I get it, you’re one of the best guitar players alive today but that doesn’t excuse this kind of musical masturbation.

And the main stage is our home for the remainder of the evening. Bloc Party leader Kele reminds us this is their only festival performance of the summer and they’re clearly relishing the moment, grinning like Cheshire cats. Coming back on to play a storming ‘She’s Hearing Voices’ as an encore, the general mood of the crowd is summed up by one girl’s reaction, “It feels like we’ve just seen the headliners”.

The actual headliners are The Killers, who bring their Las Vegas style (and light show) to Reading. They bizarrely follow up an opening ‘Somebody Tells Me’ by playing a sudo encore at the beginning with a new song and a forgettable Joy Division cover and immediately start to lose the crowd. It’s turned around in style with the usual hits and by the end of traditional closer ‘All These Things That I’ve Done’ the crowd is left wanting and expecting more, at least in part as they finish 15 minutes early. Brendan Flowers is known as a resolute perfectionist, and I’m left with the sense that given the sound issues he was too frustrated to continue.

At least I won’t be bemoaning the sound levels tomorrow as I’ll be in the tents staying well clear or the main stage's heavy and comedy rock artists…

Bombay Bicycle Club - Evening / Morning
Twisted Wheel – You Stole The Sun (Clean Edit)
Fangs - Panic Attack (Radio Edit)
Jeffrey Lewis – I Ain’t Thick It’s Just A Trick
Low Campesinos - The International Tweexcore Underground

G.R.O.

Festival Season: Reading Review - Day 1

There is only one UK festival which is purely about the music. V Festival is about peddling as much corporate merchandise as can be stuffed in a rucksack in a weekend. Glastonbury and Bestival are more about the vibe. Reading Festival has none of these distractions and only mission is to cram as many incredible bands as humanely possible into a field to play to the most musically educated fans in the country. Quite simply, it has the best line-up of any of the major festivals this year. And here at BTA we bring you the highlights of the 3 days…

We kick off with Future of the Left, recompiled from the flesh and bones of Jarcrew and the much-mourned McLusky. They deliver a potent mix of raw raucous energy, mountainous riffs and the surrealist lyrics I’ve ever heard. They stimulate some impressive moshing for this early in the day, which is only intensified when the band start throwing out candy drumsticks for the masses to fight over.

Steve Lamacq introduces Pete and The Pirates as having produced the best British debut album of the year and it’s pretty hard to challenge that assessment. Having crafted a collection of quintessentially British indie pop songs with an abundance of hooks and melody they are consistently excellent. 'Knots' and 'Mr Understanding' are the standouts of this triumphant homecoming show, evidenced by the sizable crowd I’m confronted with when I turn around at the conclusion of their set

One of the festival’s new inventions this year is the BBC Introducing Stage, setup to showcase some of the bands tipped for greatness over the coming year. I’m here to see Situationists whose Britpop stylings had instantly grabbed my attention. I was a bit concerned that they tread a bit too close to Ordinary Boys territory for my liking but witnessing them live shows just how far off the mark I was, as they are much more angular and closer kins to a Good Shoes or Bloc Party. I’m rather taken with them and will be charting their upward trajectory with interest in the coming weeks/months/years.

One band I was really looking forward to was Be Your Own Pet. 2 albums in and having barely pricked the mainstream’s consciousness they’ve decided to call it a day and play a handful of final shows as a send-off. And now I wish I hadn’t bothered. They arrive totally wasted, announce they haven’t practiced in months, and proceed to make The Libertines’ early gigs look polished in comparison. The highlight is when the lead singer tries to pimp her guitarist out to the audience, which only generates minimal interest from the female contingent of the crowd. Good riddance.

Much more palatable to the ears are iTunes latest pluggers, Florence And the Machine. In a stunning emerald dress, Florence bounces around the stage like an elf with ADHD and is utterly enchanting. 'Kiss with a Fist', which Florence has been at pains to stress is not a song about domestic violence, is a bona fide hit.

I’d experienced Transgressive’s latest signing Esser a couple of weeks before at their summer showcase and since then 'Headlock' has been generating some serious buzz in indie land. All their songs seem to be about social embarrassment. 'Headlock' centres on being bullied; whilst 'Satsified' is about the inability to please a woman and 'Work It Out' laments over general relationship problems. I decide this is the oral equivalent of the genius TV series Peep Show, and thus succeeds in being both marvellous and cringeworthy at the same time.

Ida Maria comes on stage dressed as the female version of Pete Doherty, complete with requisite black top hat, tight leather jacket and dirty black hair. Brought to the public attention primarily through the juvenile 'I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked', it’s tracks like 'Stella', 'Queen of the World' and 'Oh My God' where she’s most endearing.

The Radio 1 tent is heaving by the time Andrew Van Wyngarden of MGMT appears in a truly vile Orange and Blue poncho. 'Time to Pretend' stimulates the first real euphoria of the weekend but amazingly that’s dwarfed by the mass love-in that 'Kids' inspires. Even as we leave the tent the kids are still bellowing out that keyboard riff in tremendous harmony.

Having waited many years to see them live, Queens of the Stone Age are hugely disappointing. Partly as the awful main stage sound makes them sound almost timid but also as they choose to base their set on Era Vulgaris rather than playing the best of set their position as co-headliners warranted. That said, hearing 'No One Knows' live for the first time was awesome and instantly made amends.

Onto the home straight now, and over to the Radio 1 tent for our final 2 bands on the evening. Although unlikely to win any prizes for pushing musical boundaries, with 'Moving to New York' and 'Let’s Dance to Joy Division', The Wombats bring unbridled joy to the tent and leave me with the biggest grin of the day, exactly what a festival band should do.

The evening ends with Babyshambles, and fortunately for the crowd, and the army of paparazzi lined up at the start of the stage, Pete decides to grace us with his presence and take us through a solid set of highlights from their 2 albums. They don’t quite have enough material to pull it off as headliners but there are some real standouts here. Especially 'Down in Albion' where we’re treated to white and red stage lights simulating the St George’s Cross and offer the first really touching moment of the weekend. That’s followed by a rousing 'Fuck Forever' which represents a fitting culmination to the day’s events.

Oh and if you’re eagerly waiting for a review of Rage Against the Machine’s return, all I can tell you was they were loud. Very loud. So loud that I could still hear them 10 minutes down the road after exiting the site…

BBC Radio 1 Reading & Leeds Festival Videos

Future of the Left - Manchasm
Pete and The Pirates - Mr Understanding
Situationists - We Are Weightless
Florence and the Machine - Kiss With A Fist
Esser - Headlock

G.R.O.