Festival Republic - Reading Festival 2008

So this years Reading and Leeds festivals have been and gone in a blaze of cross-genre musical glory.  Often cited as the festival for true music lovers its prominence in terms of support, acts, rioting and diversity makes it a must-go for anyone who wants to experience 3 days of unadulterated music, beer and more often than not sunshine.

This year James Hoste attended the August Bank Holiday event to witness the legends of rock Rage Against The Machine do battle with Metallica, The Killers, Queens of The Stone Age and the amazing line up incorporating electro, indie and punk that graced the other stages and arenas. Good times! 

This is his review of the weekend –

Day 1 - Friday 22^nd August:

We were expecting big things from the Friday at this year's Reading Festival, mainly due to the fact that Rage would be tearing the place apart on the main stage for the first time since, well, since they played their last UK gig here, eight years ago.

To keep us going in the meantime, however, we thought it would be for the best to take our minds off it and watch some of the other attractions the arena had to offer.

First up on the menu was Southend’s These New Puritans on the Festival Republic stage, who tore through a set, compiled mainly from their debut record released earlier this year. Instant classics such as ‘Elvis’ and ‘En Papier’ got those in the know bouncing to their taught and angular electro post-punk with delight while everyone else just seems a little confused by the cacophony.

Next we caught a little bit of Dizzee Rascal hyping the main stage crowd by dropping straight into ‘He’s Just A Rascal’ getting the field moving early on. Unfortunately we had to move on elsewhere then to catch the next bands on the agenda.

Later on Friendly Fires got the ball rolling for an evening of synth-laden indie-pop/jerky punk that’s oh so ‘of-the-moment’. Luckily they have the tracks to back it up and a set including singles ‘Photobooth’ as well as Jamie Principal and Frankie Knuckles classic, ‘Your Love’ was a delight to behold and culminated in what seemed like an entire carnival on stage with endless confetti being fired out into the crowd. All adding to the Friendly Fires experience and a very good thing!

Next up was French band, The Teenagers who answered the questions as to whether they’re trend-following scenesters or a genuine pop act.  They proved wholeheartedly they are the latter by reeling out an array of tunes from their recent debut ‘Reality Check’ and hyping an ecstatic crowd who fully lost-it when underground electro-hit and raunchy classic in the making, ‘Homecoming’, was doled out.  Perfect pop music for a sunny afternoon in a big green field.

Next on were Castle Donnington’s Late Of The Pier, who, fresh of the back of releasing the most hyped debut record of the year, are evidently going to be this year’s must see band. With the tent packed to the rafters and splitting at the scenes, LOTP proceed with a familiar set that never gets stale and everyone promptly went bananas to big single ‘Space And The Woods’ not stopping for love nor money. This was a flawless set from a band that is only going to go through the stratosphere.  THE band to say you saw, even if you were asleep back in camp.

Black hoods, arms behind backs and orange jumpsuits. That is the sight that finally greeted us, eight years almost to the day since Rage Against The Machine last visited Reading.

What proceeded to unfold was nothing less than a master class in how to play a live show that names such as Daft Punk could learn from. Dropping straight into ‘Bombtrack’, statement made, they swiftly ditched the outfits and ploughed into a set so full of hits it was hard to believe that they stem from only three albums. None-the-less, this is the case, and it is easily enough to justify their reformation to any naysayers, sceptical that Rage may have sold out their values in search for a quick buck. No, seemingly, they have something new to say that demands the appropriate platform from which to deliver it. For which the background of tracks like ‘Know Your Enemy’, ‘Sleep Now In The Fire’, ‘Bulls On Parade’ and, of course, ‘Killing In The Name’ are absolutely perfect.

With the sublime addition of ‘Ashes In The Fall’ in the set, not a huge track of theirs, but played so well it reduced various members of the crowd to tears with the pure emotional power of the band. We didn’t quite have the words to express how stunning this set truly was at the time, suffice to say it’s not often a band can reduce grown men to weeping quietly but openly in a field. All that really needs to be said is that this is band that went away and have returned in better form than ever. Spurn this comeback and you’ll only be hurting yourself.

Day 2 – Saturday 23^rd August:

Opening up the day on the Alternative Stage was George Pringle who, at twelve in the afternoon, had the un-enviable task of trying to get the best out of a bunch of stragglers who had probably been drunk in a field for approximately two days. Fortunately for all, her individual mix of lo-fi electro had streams of consciousness layered on top. The very laid back crowd lapped up the gentle beats, basking in the beauty of her voice when she dropped into to full blown singing, as opposed to her usual spoken word style. Music this interesting needs to be heard and, while it might have gone over the heads of your average Joe, anyone with a vested interest in refreshing and inventive music should be keeping an eye on this young lady.

Fucked Up did nothing less than grab the stage by the throat and absolutely tore it apart with their brand of Black Flag inspired old school hardcore punk. Vocalist Pink Eyes was, as per usual, shirtless, vast and right in the faces of the crowd, handing them the microphone to scream the key lyrics of the songs for themselves. The set, comprising mostly of tracks from their last album, ‘Hidden World’, stormed the tent and caused wave upon wave of crowdsurfers to float across the top of the mosh pit with Pink Eyes even catching half of them himself, and ending up with a sweaty human hat at one point! They left us with a closing salvo of ‘Crusades’, ‘David Comes To Life’ and a track from their, as of yet, unreleased new album.  We left damaged, damp and incredibly happy, arm in arm with Pink Eyes who took it upon himself to leave, not with his band, but with the rest of us having clambered over the barrier for some post-set banter.

Justice stepped onto stage behind their traditional wall of Marshall amps along with their signature brightly lit cross and dropped straight into album opener, ‘Genesis’. The crowd promptly went completely mental and continued in that fashion for the next forty minutes. The likes of ‘D.A.N.C.E.’, ‘DVNO’ and the ‘Never Be Alone Again’ remix completely floored us in their majesty and kept us nigh on as happy as Rage Against the Machine did on Friday. And that is saying something.

Playing surprisingly early on in the day for a band who have just released their acclaimed second album and so, correspondingly, Mystery Jets packed out the NME/Radio 1 tent at four the afternoon with a set of classics and new material form the aforementioned new record. Songs such as ‘Hideaway’ ‘Young Love’ and ‘Two Doors Down’ had thousands upon thousands of hands in the air singing along to their perfect pop choruses, regardless of the fact that the album was only released a couple of months ago, testament to their ability to write sublime pop hooks whilst retaining their indie credibility. The best reaction was, of course, saved for the HUGE old single, ‘You Can’t Fool Me Dennis’ which, despite being played early on, more or less incited an afternoon riot.  Without a doubt, these boys will soon be back headlining this tent.

Day 3 – Sunday 24^th August:

The least enviable task of the weekend, that of opening the Dance Stage at a festival comprised mainly of rock, metal and indie fans on the final day of the weekend, was left to French electro duo The Shoes. They hit the stage and dropped straight into their blissed out remix of Primary 1’s ‘Hold Me Down’, which seemed the right choice going by the weary expressions on the faces of the few people who made it down at that ungodly time in the afternoon.  This eased them in before they started to up the tempo with blistering live reconstructions of their songs, in particular recent debut single, ‘Knock Out’ sounded particularly fantastic. They even managed to get the weary souls at the front dancing, singing along and generally created a fun atmosphere, leaving us all wanting more as well as expecting big things from the duo. Justice… watch your backs.

The Death Set was a wholly different proposition. These guys always mean business and, luckily, they seem to be in the business of making party starting, thrashy electro-punk tracks that are fast enough to tear off you’re face and funky enough to make your hips shake at the same time.  They took to the stage and made sure we were all aware of their intention to turn the tent into an early afternoon party.  Immediately they dropped into their customary intro which mixed up The Jackson 5 and Salt n’ Pepa before bouncing straight into ‘Impossible’ encouraging hips and fists to start shaking as heads were banging and all inhibitions rolled away. They continued to thrash out tracks from their two EPs and debut album to an excitable crowd, in amongst shouts of, “Motherf*cking Death Set!”, before the guitarist smashed his guitar on stage and frontman Johnny Siera, failing at first to do the same, set his own guitar alight before repeatedly dashing the aflamed instrument against the stage until it’s remnants were scattered and the whole marvellous ordeal was over as abruptly as it had began.

The prospect of reviewing a Holy Fuck show is a little daunting.  They are one of those bands whose music is so layered and complex, drawing from a range of influences so wide that it’s a hard task to know where to begin. The best place seems to be to simply state that they are and were entirely spellbinding.

Drawing their set from last year’s simply stunning debut long player, the majority of the crowd stood stock still in awed admiration as the band moulded sounds together into the beautiful, twisted electronica they have been producing for years. Building to a climax, they drew the show to a close with ‘Lovely Allen’, a track so majestic it felt as if the band and audience alike may just float off into the heavens at any moment.

Holy Fuck were, today, simply inspirational.

Crystal Castles entered amidst a hailstorm of cheering, appearing mysteriously out of a cloud of smoke and waves of reverb and bass. At this point they already appeared to have the crowd eating out of the palms of their hands and we started to wonder if this would render the rest of the set somewhat moot.

We could not have been more wrong as, over the course of the next half hour, Crystal Castles went on to justify every single ounce of praise that has ever been heaped upon them. The music remains dark, menacing and atmospheric whilst being simultaneously euphoric at the same time.

A strange combination, and when coupled with vocalist Alice Glass staring out from beneath her fringe with eyes that suggest hints of controlled derangement soon to be unleashed, the whole affair became truly life-affirming and songs such as ‘Air War’, ‘Loving and Caring’, ‘Crimewave’ and ‘Knights’ felt more like anthems for a generation’s war on the mundane rather than mere 8-bit electro tunes. Possibly the one band of the weekend to make sure you see after the festival and as soon as you had left the festival grounds.

These Montreal-ites entered the stage to chants ripped straight from the somewhat epic minute opener of last year’s ‘Fancy Footwork’ album as hordes of people bellowed out, “Chromeo-oh-oh!” until the band stepped up and belted out a ‘best of’ set compiling every last classic funk filled track from their two albums and the crowd lapped up every second.

The whole affair had a much more slick and laid back vibe to it after the deranged chaos of the Canadians who took to the stage previously. This is not to say that they went any less brilliantly though, a fact testified by the band having to physically stop playing in the middle of ‘Mama’s Boy’ when the chants become so loud the music itself was drowned out.

Couple that with their cover of Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ and you have a recipe for the most fun set of the weekend, though The Death Set came a close second.

Simian Mobile Disco entered and played in a manner similar to that of Crystal Castles, mysteriously draped in smoke, rendering them almost invisible for much of the set.

This, however, only added to the atmosphere of their acid house and techno infused brand of electro as opener ‘Sleep Deprivation’ crept in slowly, before the bass slammed in and the entire tent began to bounce in unison. Needless to say that single line sums up the rest of the set, as Simian Mobile Disco blasted out tune after tune with dancefloor-devastating timing.

Judging by the quality of their tunes, this set justifies buying the new album as soon as it hits the shelves, as the closing barrage of ‘I Believe’ reverberated around our skulls.

Bounding straight into their opening track with all the subtlety of a horses hoof to the chest, maximal Kings Digitalism proceeded to pound us further and further into the ground with a perfect display of how to perform live electro.

Hyping the crowd, including hook laden synths, memorable vocals and, of course, a cover of The Cure’s ‘Fire In Cairo’ that feasibly warrants the term “genius”, Digitalism have got this down to a fine art. As the set reached it's climax at the peak of ‘Zdarlight’s’ build up there were more hands raised from grinning bodies than you could ever expect in a tent that was so hot it al most threatened to melt on us which, and trust me here, was most definitely a good thing. Now, just had to find that elusive main stage, as there was a rumour Metallica might be playing…

Reviewed by James Hoste