AGCS AT READING FESTIVAL: SATURDAY

Somehow, despite drinking throughout Friday and late into the night, I wake up the next day with only a very small hangover, itching to get into the arena and see some bands. Here’s what happened on the Saturday at Reading.

It’s a shame that The Futureheads clash with Everything Everything, and in an ideal world I’d get to see both, but with the two bands both starting and ending their short sets at the same time I have to pick one to see. I decide to go for my new favourite band Everything Everything, probably the highlight of my Latitude Festival, and I’m glad I did. The set they play here may be a truncated one (only six songs?!), but I love every second of it. The band lose points for not ending with the excellent Weights, as they did in Leeds, but with flawless renditions of Tin (The Manhole) and Photoshop Handsome on offer I’m really just picking holes. Their album came out this week, and you should definitely all go out and buy it.

Then it’s over to the main stage to see Mystery Jets, a band I last saw at Sheffield Tramlines Festival, turning in a mediocre set of their shit new songs. If anything this is a worse performance, marking the third time in a row I’ve seen Mystery Jets perform with awful sound, the bass drum so loud it makes the ground reverberate while Blaine’s vocals disappear into the mix. It’s a wholly unsatisfying set, and it’s hard to believe this is the same band I saw on the NME stage in 2006. A massive disappointment.

Luckily, after a quick break for refreshments and anti-Mystery Jets ranting, it’s time for Modest Mouse, who play as close to a greatest hits set at Isaac Brock and co. get. So while we get massive crowd singalong Float On, as well as Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes, Paper Thin Walls and The View, we also get The Whale Song and Here It Comes, the latter almost certainly the weirdest song the main stage crowd will hear all day. There’s no reunion with Johnny Marr, but one suspects this is less to do with any animosity than the fact that Modest Mouse don’t need his appearance. Here’s hoping for a new album soon.

I’ve grown a bit bored with the Maccabees live show, and so it’s off to the alternative stage again to see Milton Jones, who is actually not too bad given my usual hatred of one-liner comedians. Then it’s across to the Festival Republic stage to see Darwin Deez, whose live show I’m still not bored of despite seeing it for the third time. His choreographed dance routines between songs are a simple trick, yet an effective one and I still believe that despite a hit and miss début album Darwin Deez’s songs really shine live. Constellations and Bad Day are both big singalongs in the packed tent, but obviously it’s closer Radar Detector which really gets the crowd going, and it’s a bit of a Reading ‘moment’. 

Next up Dizzee Rascal, with easily the biggest crowd of the weekend, who gets the crowd going despite a largely disinterested performance. Saving the biggest hit’s until last, Dance Wiv Me, Holiday and Bonkers get the entire field, front to back, dancing. However, Dizzee ruins my favourite song of his, Stand Up Tall, by replacing it’s bleeps and clattering drums with Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, quite possibly the worst, most overplayed song of all time. Judge for yourself which is better, the original song or the shitty mash-up.

I really, really don’t like The Libertines, but to clarify this is not the same as disliking their music. I hate the legacy they have been afforded, I hate their deification by zeolot fans, and I hate the tabloid exploits of Pete Doherty. My expectations are slightly confounded, then, when the band are punctual, sound tight, and are generally a bit, well, good. I realise I am genuinely enjoying their set about halfway through, with tracks What Katie Did, Music When The Lights Go Out and Death On The Stairs particular highlights. The entire crowd seems to let out a collective “Aaaaaaaah” when Pete and Carl hug at the end, and you know what, despite my cynicism even I’m a bit moved. An unexpected highlight.

By the time Arcade Fire take to the stage, the crowd is at least half that of Dizzee’s, but with all the ‘modern kids’ watching the terminally awful Pendulum, including most of the dickheads who caused a bad atmosphere during some of the weekend’s sets (throwing bark chippings at each other during a band? FUCK OFF!), the crowd Win Butler and company have are attentive and appreciative. Arcade Fire seem genuinely overwhelmed just to be headlining the festival, and their enthusiasm is infectious. Coupled with this is a blinding set which wisely eschews most of the apocalyptic “Neon Bible” in favour of first album favourites and the choice cuts from “The Suburbs”. We Used To Wait is a particular highlight of the newer material, but theres no denying that it’s songs like Haiti, Rebellion (Lies) and encore closer Wake Up which shine the brightest. They may not have had the biggest crowd but they pulled their headlining slot off with aplomb, and as Win joked, at the very least they were punctual.

Another good day at Reading then, with my obsession with Everything Everything only growing stronger and Modest Mouse doing nothing to persuade me they are anything other than brilliant. Arcade Fire finished the day with a bang, managing to better even their storming 2007 Latitude headlining set, while The Libertines made me reconsider my prejudged opinion of them. Check back tomorrow for the review of the final day.

Jed. x