Go crazy backwards

I think I may have been unnecessarily harsh on Edith Bowman in my last blog, she put up bravely with an arogant banana eating danish drummer and could tell that cage the elephant had a guitarist, bravo madame. So on with saturday of Reading on TV if anyone is interested, which if they aren't I'm gonna facking do it anyway. Oh and to read these in weekend order you're going to need to scroll down more then go crazy backwards, but that may have just been patronising.

Saturday:
After this evenings viewing if I have to see the Editors or the Racounteurs again I might well go insane and strangle the first person I see that look likes Jack White. From what I could tell both bands were as boring as they normally are, with an extra dollop of that from the Editors. At some point Interpol are going to ask for this poor quality imitation of them to be called off, and those musical knock off nigels will be no more.
But it wasn't all doom and gloom on the saturday with Bloc Party tearing the main stage a new electrolised indie arse. Starting off with new single Mercury, which sounds much better live without so much electronic intrusion, it seems that much of their set was classics or singles, which is quite astounding for a band which hasn't achieved a third album yet. Sticking with an electronic theme, and even working in a bit of Jesus were the electronic gods Justice. Their decks position behind a huge glowing cross they sent the festival a new electrical way a few feet over from where it would normally be housed. Strange that they should be on before Bullet For My Valentine, but they were infinitely more dancable and had slightly less pyrotechnics.
Dirty pretty things performed the same set they have been doing for the past few years as Carl Barat continues to look moody and bored as do a lot of the audience, but then they have just been bludgened around the ears by Welwyn garden cities 'finest' the Subways. It's a shame that I didn't really like their set as they have always put on a good performance whenever I have seen them before, but the mainstage seem to bring out the poor singer in Billy Lunn, who opted to simply shout the lyrics to the song without worrying really about tone, possibly nerves or left over illness but it did not seem to be their finest moment.
However beared and bracered, Seasick Steve put in more than a fine show. Helped by his son he played a collection of his hobo blues on 6,3,2,1 and one string guitars (strangely I can see him working well on sesame street) performing his new single with a member of the audience sitting next to him who look very embarrassed. When he asked though if the audience would make this slow new black keys-esque composition the next big pop song it seemed only fair that they should. Unfortunately the crowd only got the cut down dog house boogie, poor them. Also putting on a great show, but with decidely less dad than seasick steve..or than before, were the Mystery Jets looking as 80s as you like in a pastel ensemble which would put Patrick Swayze to shame. But performing 2 Doors Down, the outfits seemed perfectly apt (A.P.T, thankyou Big Brother for spelling it for me) as the eighties tones drifted out and got the crowd dancing while the cameraman had an affair with the bassists glasses.
Finally the Killers and the Manics closing the day, and if I were there I would of gone for the Manics but probably have regretted missing the Killers. Replete with impressive stage toys and a much tighter set than before, with no sign of the old Killers ways of getting all their rubbish songs out the way first leaving their setlist feeling massively uneven. They closed the festival well and covered everyone in confetti. Whereas the Manics, who seemed to still be in mourning over the loss of Richey (James, ex guitarist) dedicated a lot of the set his way, and left the audience covered in sorrow. Penny Royalty (as the BBC referred to it) however was possibly the best Nirvana cover of the weekend, but then I haven't heard Feeder's version of Breed yet so we shall see.

Anyway that was my TV Reading saturday, roll on the rock day sunday and the thousands of dissapointed 'maggots' who haven't yet heard Slipknot will be absent.

Cheese and Tea,

Chris.

Express an opinion Bowman!

Edith Bowman appears to have the musical knowledge of a small child who has just wondered into a record store, this is what BBC3's coverage of the Reading Festival coverage has taught me. So here's an armchair viewers guide to the Reading and Leeds festival anyway, I could of just called it Reading as so far Leeds coverage has consisted of one song by Cage The Elephant. If you only learn one thing from reading this, and it's highly unlikely you'll learn much else, it's that watching festivals on TV is infinitely worse than actually being there. But then actual festivals never featured a red button...

Friday:
This day has the best chance of being the outstanding day, if only for it's combination of Queens of the Stone Age and Rage Against the Machine. In terms of TV coverage it was probably the most dissapointing, focussing mostly on MGMT and One Night Only with a smattering of Vampire Weekend. Now while Vampire Weekend appear to posses a certain degree of talent, A-Punk being so catchy and jangly that its impossible to remove from your head once you've heard it, but MGMT's schtick seems to be their wacky stage attire, as Electric Feel makes me feel like I'm walking through a supermarket listening to their own personal radio station and the set represented a whole range of instantly forgettable melodies. Apart from this we had Biffy Clyro putting in an enjoyable set comprising mainly of newer material, but that doesn't really matter as the new material is as powerful as their old material if a little more polished. Set opener Saturday Superhouse appearing to destroy most of the crowd.
Highlight of the friday visually was Dizzee rascal, although his set was only really viewable HERE thanks to Mr. Rascals foul mouth. But he certainly got the crowd moving with a lot of Boy in the Corner material, aswell as obviously his current number 1, sans Calvin Harris making a whole fuck-all amount of difference. His interview with Huw Stephens however was much more enjoyable as Huw seems to be so apprehensive even his questionable facial hair is trying to escape, and he can only ask tired questions about a rock festivals reception to Hip-Hop.
The Fratellis must hate Chelsea Dagger, there is no way for them to escape it and for the rest of their career they will be dogged by loutish football chants of it's uber catchy chorus. Still a lot of their material has always been a big sing-a-long from when I first saw them for free a few years ago up until the present day, and the main stage seems the perfect place for this type of behaviour.
Skimming over the Enemy (as I find them an irritating mix of Simple Minds and 90's britpop, minus everything that made those things enjoyable) we were finally treated to some of the Queens of the Stone Age set. As I missed them at Reading a few years ago I was interested to see what they did. However while I was impressed with what they did, a storming solo rendition of the first few verses of Go With The Flow which exploded into Sick, Sick, Sick, the BBC's coverage was not quite as impressive. Choosing to ignore perennial favourite Regular John and showing a rather reserved version of In My Head, get it together Mr. Broadcasting House.
Dissapointment of the day rests with Rage Against The Machine, whose music might well be as important as it was when it was first released but the band themself seem to be decidely less than that. Choosing to not allow filming of their show they are still fighting the evil corporate mechanations of capitalism, which doesn't seem to really worry them so much when accepting world tours in order to pay the bills. Their comeback was certainly not to coincide with any big political movement and their statements live now are tired and not really saying anything (proven by their attempts at satire by entering shows dressed as Guantanamo prisoners, which says what exactly?) It must be depressing when your music has outgrown you. Still I imagine the set was a blinder as their music is still highly enjoyable and would kick up a proverbial crowd shit-storm.

And that was the friday, I'm too finger tired for saturday now and sunday is fast catching up with me so I'll probably slam some more words about later. If you want to watch any of the perfomances go HERE, the BBC are hella efficient at putting the music up on there.

Sun and Trees,

Chris.