Your Reading/Leeds band ratings

[Vieuphoria]

Oh no I thought it was very poignent. Especially after Smith dropped his guard just before and got a little excited before it.

[Gucci Piggy]

Fair enough. I thought it was good, just didn't seem to enjoy it as much as the rest.

[Cydonia_90]

READING FESTIVAL 2012

FRIDAY:

Friends - 6/10: Never heard of them before, but they were okay.

Spector -7/10: Good performance. 'Never Fade Away' at the end was a highlight.

The Hives - 9/10: One of the best bands of the weekend for me. Absolutely mental. Pelle Almqvist is one of the most underrated front men, awesome crowd interaction, awesome atmosphere, just.....awesome! Brilliant set from one of the best live bands out there.

The Blackout - 5/10: Had to recover from The Hives so i sat outside to watch them. Pretty meh.

The Courteeners - 7/10: Not the best of performances, but it was a good singalong nonetheless!

The Cure - 8/10: Only saw them for about 5 or 6 songs. Awesome singalong to 'In Between Days' and 'Just Like Heaven'. Top notch!

The Maccabees - 8/10: Been a fan of these guys for ages so i just had to watch them, and they didn't disappoint. A band that are on top of their game, superb set. Great crowd too.

SATURDAY:

Missed Green Day RAHHHHHHHHHH! Sounded awesome from the campsite though...

Blood Red Shoes - 7/10: Top band. They were the first band that i saw at my first Reading Festival back in 2008, so it was good to see them again!

Twin Atlantic - 6/10: Good set.

OFWGKTA - 2/10: Probably the worst festival set that i've ever seen. A complete mess.

Santigold - 7/10: Great stuff. Really enjoyed her.

Enter Shikari - 7/10: Finally managed to see them after missing them in previous years. Awesome stuff.

The Vaccines - 7/10: Pretty good, but not as good as last year in the NME tent.

Feeder - 8/10: Me and my mates were right at the back, but MY GOD it was awesome.

Kasabian - 8/10: Forgot how brilliant this band are live. Highlights for me were 'Vlad The Impaler' and 'ID' (managed to let out a shriek when they played ID, never thought i'd see that live!). Overall, they pulled it off big-style.

SUNDAY:

Pulled Apart By Horses - 8/10: SO GOOD. Loved the conga at the end. Really think this band has the capabilities of playing much, much higher on the bill in the future.

Band Of Skulls - 8/10: Brilliant, just brilliant. One of the surprises of the weekend for me.

Django Django - 7/10: Great set. Enjoyed a little boogie during 'Default'.

The Gaslight Anthem - 8/10: First time that i've ever seen them live, and i wasn't disappointed. Future headline band if you ask me...

The Joy Formidable - 9/10: WHY DID THIS LOT NOT PLAY HIGHER UP THE BILL?! Cracking band. One of the best (if not, THE BEST) sets of the weekend. Bloody jawdropping.

Kaiser Chiefs - 7/10: Didn't hold out much hope for these guys prior, but they put on a good show. Glad they did the 'Pinball Wizard' cover!

The Black Keys - 8/10: Love these guys. Probably the band that i was most looking forward to this year, and they didn't let me down. Just brilliant!

Foo Fighters - 9/10: Loved EVERY minute of it, especially when they played some of their first album. Never thought i'd see 'I'll Stick Around or 'Alone + Easy Target' live! The speeches from Grohl were a nice touch too. A super way to round off the weekend!

[howlinpete]

Fair enough. I thought it was good, just didn't seem to enjoy it as much as the rest.

[pryce]

enjoying The Hives love

was in switzerland on the sunday watching them headline a small fest

10/10 there as well..... one of the most under rated bands there is. never seen a poor performance from them.

anyway sorry and .. back on topic...

[beau1]

Obviously this is a bit tainted because I can only base it off the TV Footage I saw as I couldn't afford to go: Also a missed a couple of bands on the TV footage so there are some glaring omissions.

Friday

Bombay Bicycle Club - 6/10 - I'm a fan of BBC and I enjoyed them when I saw them last year, however I wasn't impressed with this performance for some reason. Like many bands on the TV, they just seemed to be lacking something. Only shuffle sounded good and engaged with me.

The Maccabees - 8/10 - I don't know The Maccabees too well but I thought they put on a great show. One of the better sounding 'indie' bands that was broadcast.

The Cure - 10/10 - This is obviously biased because I'm a huge Cure fan but I thought they sounded fantastic. I'm used to Robert Smith not talking and not engaging the crowd so that doesn't really bother me. They've always been about the performance and the sound when they play live rather than the interaction and I think they nailed it. I was worried before the show as I thought Reading was an unusual place for them to play but I was pleased by how well some of the songs were received.

A large part of my rating of this performance though is the current lineup of the band. I genuinely think the festivals shows they have been playing this year are their best in 20 years. Recent headline performances I've seen broadcast (Coachella 2009) and in person (Bestival 2011) I wasn't overly impressed with but Reading really was a brilliant performance.

Saturday

Green Day - 8/10 - They sounded good, perhaps a bit too much thrashy and 'fake' punk at times but not bad overall. I'm really not a fan of their new material though but the older stuff still sounds good.

Enter Shikari - 3/10 - I'm sorry I just don't get this band or what the big thing is with them. They sounded shit in 2009 and they still sound shit now. A lot of people do seem to enjoy it...for some reason.

The Vaccines - 5/10 - Well...what an enigma this band are. I sort of like them but at the same time can't work out if they are any good or not. Anyway, I wasn't impressed with them live, just seemed very flat sounding and couldn't get near to replicating or beating their studio versions.

Florence and The Machine - 6/10 - Another enigma band. I really liked Florence when she first appeared and even got into her before she was big however she's been overplayed to death now. I didn't really enjoy this performance either, in fact I fell asleep trying to watch it.

The Cribs - 7/10 - Sounded good overall and seemed to put on a good performance. They did fall into the fatal (for me) trap of trying to get the crowd too involved. I don't mind it when bands do it a bit, but I draw the line at not being able to play your instrument properly because you're either in the crowd or clapping.

At the Drive-In - 5/10 - They were certainly energetic but they are one of those bands who are too energetic for their own good which makes the music come across as a too much like they are saying 'we're making a point'. In fact I thought they were less energetic than I thought they would be.

Kasabian - 7/10 - I don't particularly like Kasabian, I thought they put on a decent show and the crowd were certainly into them but I thought they were by far the weakest of the three main headliners. They did surprise me in one way because they were slightly better than I predicted them to be but other than that they are just typical lad rock/Oasis wannabees.

Sunday

Kaiser Chiefs - 6/10 - To be fair they sounded a bit better than the last few times I've seen them on tv, a bit tighter. You can't fault the songs but I just find them an annoying band when they play live. Ricky Wilson still does his knob-head routine too.

Foo Fighters - 8/10 - I'll admit it, I'm not a fan of the Foo Fighters. I find them rather generic and middle of the road. Saying that, they do sound rather good when playing live. I can't take anything away from their performance as it was top notch when they actually played the songs. Now here lies the problem...Dave Grohl. This isn't going to go down well but I wish he would shut up and play the songs. Both The Cure and Foo Fighters played for roughly the same amount of time on their respective nights but it was actually The Cure who played the more actual music due to Dave's speeches and the Foo's insistence on extending every song. To be honest, if it wasn't for those annoying aspects of their set, I'd be giving them a 9 or possibly a 10.

Edited September 2, 2012 by beau1

[Dan R]

Foo Fighters - 8/10 - I'll admit it, I'm not a fan of the Foo Fighters. I find them rather generic and middle of the road. Saying that, they do sound rather good when playing live. I can't take anything away from their performance as it was top notch when they actually played the songs. Now here lies the problem...Dave Grohl. This isn't going to go down well but I wish he would shut up and play the songs. Both The Cure and Foo Fighters played for roughly the same amount of time on their respective nights but it was actually The Cure who played the more actual music due to Dave's speeches and the Foo's insistence on extending every song. To be honest, if it wasn't for those annoying aspects of their set, I'd be giving them a 9 or possibly a 10.

[kaosmark2]

I think it's hard to compare Foo's and The Cure in terms of showmanship. Robert Smith has never seemed particularly comfortable talking to crowds, and prefers to let the music do the talking, which works great for them. With Foo Fighter's though, if they just blasted through the songs for 2 and a half hours then it would feel a bit empty.

The Cure managed to fit in an extra five songs admittedly but Dave managed to make it feel like a very special show

[beau1]

I think it's hard to compare Foo's and The Cure in terms of showmanship. Robert Smith has never seemed particularly comfortable talking to crowds, and prefers to let the music do the talking, which works great for them. With Foo Fighter's though, if they just blasted through the songs for 2 and a half hours then it would feel a bit empty.

The Cure managed to fit in an extra five songs admittedly but Dave managed to make it feel like a very special show

[SpecialAgentKit]

billy talent were a highlight for me

[howlinpete]

I saw Max Raptor, who were like a much less annoying Billy Talent. Very enjoyable

[surfwaves]

Friends-7

Spector-8

Crystal Castles-8

The Courteeners-7

The Cure-7

Grimes-8

The Vaccines-5

The Cribs-8

Kasabian-6

Howler-5

Toy-7

The horrors-8

Also written some reviews for my blog if anyone wanted to read them they are here:

Friends http://www.alternativejukebox.com/2012/08/reading-festival-2012-review-friends.html

Spector http://www.alternativejukebox.com/2012/08/reading-festival-2012-review-spector.html

Crystal Castles http://www.alternativejukebox.com/2012/08/reading-festival-2012-review-crystal.html

The Horrors http://www.alternativejukebox.com/2012/09/reading-festival-2012-review-horrors.html

The Vaccines http://www.alternativejukebox.com/2012/09/reading-festival-2012-review-vaccines.html

The Cribs http://www.alternativejukebox.com/2012/09/reading-festival-2012-review-cribs.html

Grimes http://www.alternativejukebox.com/2012/09/reading-festival-2012-review-grimes.html

Toy http://www.alternativejukebox.com/2012/09/reading-festival-2012-review-toy.html

[curedtc]

Really glad most people seem to like The Cure...Those that don't seem to want a prancy showman with speeches. Robert has never and will never be that. Other than his fantastic dancing haha...

[LondonTom]

Really glad most people seem to like The Cure...Those that don't seem to want a prancy showman with speeches. Robert has never and will never be that. Other than his fantastic dancing haha...

[Bisque]

I reckon Grimes was a good 9/10 just for the set being so weird.