It’s hard not to enjoy Reading Festival.
It’s the best alternative music festival in the country and we happen to think that it’s worth the hype.
If you weren’t there, we’re sorry to say that you majorly missed out. However, what you haven’t missed out on is the joy of reading a beautiful prose review of this special weekend; one that’s packed full of thoughtful musings, minute details, and intelligent observations, and that’s undeniably going to inspire a veritable plethora of intriguing ideas of your own.
Anyway, that’s enough about the Guardian‘s review. Here’s what we thought.
Fred again…
A little-known electronic artist named Fred again.. took to the main stage on Saturday night for his debut UK festival headline performance. And, to the surprise of precisely nobody, it was Quite The Moment.
If any more bangers rained down on the fields of Reading during the 31-year-old’s set, you’d be forgiven for thinking that there’d been an explosion at a local butchers’. But ultimately, it was an unexpectedly emotional blast-through of Marea (we’ve lost dancing) that stole the show. Maybe it’s our old age talking – or maybe it was the plentiful reserves of cider that were readily available from the festival’s bars throughout the day – but in that moment, as we remembered a time in our recent histories when we were unable to gather like this, it was quite hard not to feel fairly overcome by the whole experience. If Fred again.. is the new de facto king of British dance, then long may he reign.
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Liam Gallagher
Nobody can ever accuse Britain’s resident rock ‘n’ roll star of not knowing exactly what the people want. And, by choosing to use his Reading headline set to rattle through the entirety of his old band’s debut long-player, Definitely Maybe, followed by a set of Oasis classics and b-sides, he might have just caused a few heads to explode somewhere within the confines of Richfield Avenue on the Sunday night of Reading Festival.
The likes of Live Forever, Supersonic, and Cigarettes & Alcohol still sound as epic today as they (probably) did on the day they were written; but, on the night, it’s Slide Away that steals the show. We once overheard a rather impassioned man in a pub claiming that it’s one of the all-time great love songs – and, as seventy thousand people belt each word with every fibre of their being as Gallagher closes the festival on the Sunday night, we might have just been convinced.
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Blink-182
While on the topic of great love stories, let’s give a warm welcome to messrs Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge, and Travis Barker. The three original members of Blink-182 reformed (nearly) two years ago for a barnstorming reunion tour and a genuinely fantastic new album; and on the Friday night, they brought it to Reading for a closing set that a reviewer less opposed to cliché may well describe as historic.
But when you’ve spent a career penning anthems like I Miss You, All The Small Things, and What’s My Age Again?, you’ve earned the right to be described as historic. And legendary. And fun, euphoric, almost deliriously entertaining, and every other superlative that we could use to define Blink-182’s Reading Festival headline set.
Sure, the on-stage humour might occasionally border on the obscene, and the vocal performances may sometimes leave a little to be desired – but when you’re able to close your set with a version of Dammit that pumps with so much angsty vitriol that it threatens to melt the faces of everybody in attendance, who really gives a damn?
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Fontaines D.C.
The Dubliners are enjoying something of a surge in appeal this year – a surge that, coincidentally, coincides almost perfectly with them becoming one of the best bands in the world. It’s funny how these things work out, isn’t it?
Here’s The Thing, Favourite, Boys In The Better Land, and I Love You are duly blasted out, but it’s Starburster that steals the show. Not only is it the best song from Fontaines D.C.’s brand-new album, Romance, but it’s also the best song that they’ve ever written. In fact, scrap that – it might just be the song of the year. Intimate vocals and chaotic instrumentals combine to create a piece that’s loosely reminiscent of a migraine in a neon jungle. It’s unique, and pressing, and stubbornly refusing to be ignored – in short, it’s Fontaines D.C..
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Lana Del Rey
The 39-year-old American multi-hyphenate rarely ventures over to these shores; so, when she does, you know she’s going to put on a show. And that, dear reader, is precisely what Lana Del Rey does.
When your songs are as strong as Del Rey’s, you might not need to rely on meticulously orchestrated stagecraft. But, having said that, we’re quite glad that she does. This is performance with a capital P, and one that’s backed by a catalogue of songs that are as arrestingly enthralling as they are intricately beautiful. Del Rey’s voice, too, is an instrument in itself; sometimes drowned out by electronic beats, yet sometimes still soaring and breaking through the Reading skies, it’s little wonder that she’s drawn the most attentively immersed crowd of the weekend so far. She’s a contemporary icon, dear reader – and after her headline set on the Saturday night of Reading Festival 2024, there’s no doubt in the minds of anyone in attendance as to why.
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Barry Can’t Swim
If peak-time dancefloor vibes are what you’re craving on a Saturday afternoon in Berkshire, then Scottish electro-master Barry Can’t Swim is the man for you. Four to the floor beats meet melodic synths and the kind of radio-friendly dance music that even your most cantankerous family member would have to admit ‘is actually quite good, really’. Bliss.
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Wunderhorse
We defy anybody to hear this live and not be somewhat blown away. Seriously. They’re that good.
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Paris Paloma
Mark our words: she’s going to be huge.
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Hak Baker
Social anxiety fears Hak Baker. It’s early evening on the Sunday of Reading and somehow the London-based raconteur has managed to spark what appears to be a miniature riot in the festival’s Festival Republic Stage. He’s loud, he’s brash, and he’s almost excessively charming; resist him at your peril.
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