Caleb Slams Reading Crowd

[Tomleeds]

Well its certainly true in Pearl Jam's case. Anyone who was at Pearl Jam's headline set in 2007 knows it was a special moment in the history of Reading and Pearl Jam.

The others i'm guessing, but i know i'm right (Grohl and Homme say its the best festival crowd in the world, that's fact). Its all about Reading for the bands. Its older, larger, more famous, more history. Did Nirvana give one of the greatest festival performances of all time at Leeds? No! Because it didn't exist. It was only created as a marketing gimmick for mean fiddler and Carling. And i bet you KoL wouldn't have cared as much if they had nailed their Reading performance but messed up their Leeds gig.

To be honest though i think the difference is when the Reading crowd gives love then there's little to rival it (e.g. bringing Vedder to tears), but they're also not scared to tell a band when they're crap or plain old not wanted. Leeds just sat back and left fifty cents feed them his pathetic gangster rap. Reading pelted him with hate until he got off their stage.

A band has to earn the respect of the crowd at Reading. There's only one group in charge at Reading as KoL found out on Friday, and that's the punters, and that's how it should be.

(BTW, i've been to both Leeds and Reading, Leeds is great but there's no mistaking which one the bands care more about)

[pink_triangle]

I think the crowds are different but I wouldnt say one is better than the other. Reading fans tend to like heavier music than the leeds audience. I would also say reading has more music geeks there where as leeds fans maybe dont take music so seriously. As I said I wouldnt say either groups are better but just looking for different things from music.

[kev1664]

For the people saying the Reading crowd was shit... get a grip. I was a Kings fan before the festival and now i'm lacking any time for them. The sound didn't carry at all and i could just make out what Caleb was singing. The songs were slow and lacked enthusiasm. They were boring and expected the crowd to bow down to them when Caleb was clearly on a rant from the beginning.

Arctics and Radiohead blew them out of the water.

At least Alex Turner was having a good time up there.

[Charmer]

God, I can't believe you said that! I have never seen a more boring performance from a frontman in my life as I did for the Arctics at Leeds. Yes musically they were great, but there was no banter at all from Alex Turner apart from one "I'd like to thank you from the bottom of my heart"

Although I like the Arctics, I doubt I'd be going to see another live gig from them anytime soon.

I'm not a radiohead fan, but from what I've heard they were very good and put on a good show.

I did go to see the KOL at leeds and I thought there performace was excellent, and to be fair eveyone knows that there older stuff is better than there newer stuff, but I would definately be seeing these again!

[5co77ie]

God, I can't believe you said that! I have never seen a more boring performance from a frontman in my life as I did for the Arctics at Leeds. Yes musically they were great, but there was no banter at all from Alex Turner apart from one "I'd like to thank you from the bottom of my heart"

[JakusMaximus]

I'm happy because i saw Faith no more, i was right by the front surrounded by people who knew all the words and it really felt like i was seeing something special.

It's rare to hear such a small crowd sing so loudly and FNM were feeding off the appreciation and played a stormer set, i can't believe a band like KOL would be so disrespectful to their fans - Even if alot of people were only their to see Sex is on fire (Digging your own grave?) I'm sure there were alot of true KOL fans and that's simply no way to talk to them - grow the f**k up.

[JBarbour]

who do some of you people think you are? lords of music, music executives, even mtv or bbc radio bosses? why do you think you have the best taste in music in the world. face facts everyone has different taste. you can't decide what other people should like just because you like it. music would be boring if everyone had same taste. instead of sounding incredible arrogant at least say IN MY OPINION. anyway back to point the crowd may not have been into kings of leon, the crowd didn't seem to know the older songs. from what I watched on bbc anyway. I was at leeds and I thought they put on amazing set. I've wanted to see kol for about 5 years. the crowd were amazing and kol seemed to agree by praising the crowd and bad mouthing reading. some bands will have better experiences at leeds, some at reading. I would of quite happily gone to fnm as well. no good just saying a band is just shit or too mainstream. what the hell does too mainstream evenmean? just cos they got a few songs on radio. I hate people who won't listen to a band because they have become 'too mainstream/commercial' if you like the music listen to it and don't be a cock about it.

[hearing_aid]

who do some of you people think you are? lords of music, music executives, even mtv or bbc radio bosses? why do you think you have the best taste in music in the world. face facts everyone has different taste. you can't decide what other people should like just because you like it. music would be boring if everyone had same taste. instead of sounding incredible arrogant at least say IN MY OPINION. anyway back to point the crowd may not have been into kings of leon, the crowd didn't seem to know the older songs. from what I watched on bbc anyway. I was at leeds and I thought they put on amazing set. I've wanted to see kol for about 5 years. the crowd were amazing and kol seemed to agree by praising the crowd and bad mouthing reading. some bands will have better experiences at leeds, some at reading. I would of quite happily gone to fnm as well. no good just saying a band is just shit or too mainstream. what the hell does too mainstream evenmean? just cos they got a few songs on radio. I hate people who won't listen to a band because they have become 'too mainstream/commercial' if you like the music listen to it and don't be a cock about it.

[moshing]

who do some of you people think you are? lords of music, music executives, even mtv or bbc radio bosses? why do you think you have the best taste in music in the world. face facts everyone has different taste. you can't decide what other people should like just because you like it. music would be boring if everyone had same taste. instead of sounding incredible arrogant at least say IN MY OPINION. anyway back to point the crowd may not have been into kings of leon, the crowd didn't seem to know the older songs. from what I watched on bbc anyway. I was at leeds and I thought they put on amazing set. I've wanted to see kol for about 5 years. the crowd were amazing and kol seemed to agree by praising the crowd and bad mouthing reading. some bands will have better experiences at leeds, some at reading. I would of quite happily gone to fnm as well. no good just saying a band is just shit or too mainstream. what the hell does too mainstream evenmean? just cos they got a few songs on radio. I hate people who won't listen to a band because they have become 'too mainstream/commercial' if you like the music listen to it and don't be a cock about it.

[MEGABOWL]

They were excellent at Leeds IMHO. Not too keen on what they did to 'Red Morning Light' but apart from that, very good, carried the crowd with them.

[benissright]

If your bored, like me. You can listen to their performance at reading 07 and reading 09 back to back...the only difference i can tell is the quality in KoL sound...the crowd seem as up for it in both videos.

[ArcticMonkeysUK]

They were without doubt the worst headliners I've ever been unfortunate enough to witness - possibly anywhere! They slowed nearly every track down, said little and turned it into a 'lounge band' set. Oh whatever happened to all their energy?

[howlin_pete]

Just saw the highlights. They start Sex On Fire, crowd laps it up, lead singer shakes his head. Well played sir

[benissright]

You didnt see RHCP in 2007 then? - truly terrible.

I would agree they got the setlist wrong for the festival they shouldnt have played 7 songs from an album that had only been released 4 days earlier - but they are just having a kind of dont give a stuff what people should think we play - we will play what we like kinda thing at the moment.

[KingOfTheRodeo]

Just saw the highlights. They start Sex On Fire, crowd laps it up, lead singer shakes his head. Well played sir

[MEGABOWL]

I noticed that reaction from Caleb when i watched it back and as a KOL fan from the start I completely agree with him. The Reading crowd were absolute balls and even at the front everyone around me literally only knew Sex on Fire and Use Somebody, with the occasional person knowing Charmer or On Call. These Sex on Fire 'fans' really piss me off, however, it's the price you have to pay for (intentionally) becoming more mainstream and releasing a commercial album.

[ArcticMonkeysUK]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgL1MX4XMoI

Heres the part everyone is kicking off at Caleb about. Dont think its quite the go at everyone at reading that somepeople seem to have made it to seem.

[thomasowen]

Well its certainly true in Pearl Jam's case. Anyone who was at Pearl Jam's headline set in 2007 knows it was a special moment in the history of Reading and Pearl Jam.

The others i'm guessing, but i know i'm right (Grohl and Homme say its the best festival crowd in the world, that's fact). Its all about Reading for the bands. Its older, larger, more famous, more history. Did Nirvana give one of the greatest festival performances of all time at Leeds? No! Because it didn't exist. It was only created as a marketing gimmick for mean fiddler and Carling. And i bet you KoL wouldn't have cared as much if they had nailed their Reading performance but messed up their Leeds gig.

To be honest though i think the difference is when the Reading crowd gives love then there's little to rival it (e.g. bringing Vedder to tears), but they're also not scared to tell a band when they're crap or plain old not wanted. Leeds just sat back and left fifty cents feed them his pathetic gangster rap. Reading pelted him with hate until he got off their stage.

A band has to earn the respect of the crowd at Reading. There's only one group in charge at Reading as KoL found out on Friday, and that's the punters, and that's how it should be.

(BTW, i've been to both Leeds and Reading, Leeds is great but there's no mistaking which one the bands care more about)

[Ed209]

Mostly rubbish. I was lucky enough to be at Pearl Jam's Leeds performance and I have both Reading and Leeds on official CD's and Leeds was clearly the better show. Not only the set list as perfect as any PJ concert I have seen but the banter was better, the band seemed happier and it had the honour of being their first uk and festival performance in years.

There is little difference between the two crowds from what I understand although Reading is full of London posh boys (at least that is what several comedians said this year).

The only reason certain bands may prefer Reading is because of the long history (but Leeds was not a marketing gimmick).

[thomasowen]

OK, It is mostly rubbish. Thanks Thomas. (Although Leeds was a Carling/Mean Fiddler marketing gimmick, and although we can't agree on Pearl Jam because neither of us were at both gigs and we're both going to rate the gig we went to, by lowering your argument to the boring London posh boy insult i couldn't really give a rats ass what you think)

[Lewis2804]

I was at kings of leon on the friday of reading. Being quite far back the sound quality was awful, i had to be quiet to hear what he was saying, took a while to figure out what bloody song it was! im not using this as an excuse as i really did not like how they reacted to the crowd and havent listened to them since ive got back. Very dissapointed though as i love this band and heard over the last couple of years of how incredible this band is live...they really wernt this time

[dave_mac]

who do some of you people think you are? lords of music, music executives, even mtv or bbc radio bosses? why do you think you have the best taste in music in the world. face facts everyone has different taste. you can't decide what other people should like just because you like it. music would be boring if everyone had same taste. instead of sounding incredible arrogant at least say IN MY OPINION. anyway back to point the crowd may not have been into kings of leon, the crowd didn't seem to know the older songs. from what I watched on bbc anyway. I was at leeds and I thought they put on amazing set. I've wanted to see kol for about 5 years. the crowd were amazing and kol seemed to agree by praising the crowd and bad mouthing reading. some bands will have better experiences at leeds, some at reading. I would of quite happily gone to fnm as well. no good just saying a band is just shit or too mainstream. what the hell does too mainstream evenmean? just cos they got a few songs on radio. I hate people who won't listen to a band because they have become 'too mainstream/commercial' if you like the music listen to it and don't be a cock about it.

[funkymunkey]

who do some of you people think you are? lords of music, music executives, even mtv or bbc radio bosses?

[Lithium05]

yes. i am all of them. bow down before me, whilst i tell you what to listen to.

just because something's popular doesn't make it good and just because something's good doesn't make it popular. conversely, just because somethings popular doesn't make it bad, and just because something's bad doesn't make it popular.

[dave_mac]

i'm pretty sure if something is unpopular that makes it cool though....right?

and conversely if something is popular than it becomes uncool....right?