29th August
This week has been a pleasing throwback to the days of my youth, when bands playing Reading and Leeds would do warm up gigs in London in smaller venues. Tonight, The Gaslight Anthem and Against Me! have a show sandwiched between their festival appearances at Shepherds Bush Empire. My friend James confirmed at the second New Found Glory gig this week that he was attending Reading, with a sense of weary resignation.
I have to admit that I felt too old for it in 2013 at the age of 25 and not purely because I was surrounded by scores of idiot children. The experience is very much like paying for the tasting menu at your local restaurant while your fellow diners insist on spitting in your food. Still, Biffy Clyro on the final night were terrific and I found Eminem's Saturday night headline set to be curiously life affirming. Ending with "Lose Yourself" was especially memorable, its iconic guitar riff pulsating through the night sky.
I've always wanted to see Green Day too, so it was good to tick that off the list. Billie Joe Armstrong had seemingly mistaken himself for Bruce Springsteen based on the amount of pomp and showmanship he indulged in, with an increasingly tedious amount of messing around between and during songs. When they dispensed with that nonsense to play "Dookie" in full though, it was great.
But the festival experience is not one I'm falling over myself to repeat. Give me a full length headline set under a roof followed by a night in my own bed any day.
I have to admit that I felt too old for it in 2013 at the age of 25 and not purely because I was surrounded by scores of idiot children. The experience is very much like paying for the tasting menu at your local restaurant while your fellow diners insist on spitting in your food. Still, Biffy Clyro on the final night were terrific and I found Eminem's Saturday night headline set to be curiously life affirming. Ending with "Lose Yourself" was especially memorable, its iconic guitar riff pulsating through the night sky.
I've always wanted to see Green Day too, so it was good to tick that off the list. Billie Joe Armstrong had seemingly mistaken himself for Bruce Springsteen based on the amount of pomp and showmanship he indulged in, with an increasingly tedious amount of messing around between and during songs. When they dispensed with that nonsense to play "Dookie" in full though, it was great.
But the festival experience is not one I'm falling over myself to repeat. Give me a full length headline set under a roof followed by a night in my own bed any day.
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