Lineup 2015

[rivalschools.price]

I'm probably just being naive but what does that chant have to do with date rape?

Did anybody find this out? What on earth was he on about?

[devilman]

Leeds was a great weekend for me. Despite the steward at the brown gate not knowing that camper vans had to go that way and trying to send me via yellow gate and see tickets not sending me my van ticket in time, the transition from A1M to pitched and drinking on thursday evening was perfect. The camper van head honcho remembered me from 2013 so faffing around with a box office visit was replaced with common sense and banter. By the time Pulled apart by horses were on we were pretty smashed and my pal even managed his first ever mosh pit! They were much better than I remember.

Fri

Moose blood - 8 Rammed and great.

Turbo Wolf - 8 My new favourite front man. Total surprise and very entertaining.

Frank Carter - 7 Too angry for me generally but still a good experience. Well done to the stage diver who got the T shirt. Incredibly risky. Singing from the middle of the pit with a cabled mic is pretty impressive too.

Beartooth - 6 No connection for me but seemed capable enough.

We are the Ocean - 9 Brilliant sound and energy. Too short a set.

Kendrick Lamar - 7 Surprisingly good from what I saw.

Libertines - 7 Put my junkie hate to one side and gave Doherty a chance. They were good for the few songs i saw before going to....

Frank Turner - they tell me I was there but I don't remember it. Apparently I was pissed off about there being too many hipsters and too many people sitting down. His music is instantly forgettable though

Refused - 8 Not my bag but some of it was great. Rocked out with We are the Ocean for the last song, they were really into it and knew every word!

 

Sat

Hunter and the Bear - 8 Best I've seen them. Really good.

Campsite session......10/10 whoops

Don Broco - 5 Bit of a let down, I had built them up a bit but they were a bit pish. Might have been the NME tent sound so I'll give them another chance.

All time Low - 6 Also disappointing after being really impressed last time I saw them.

Bastille - 7 Pretty good.

Prides - 7 I think. Things were a bit blurry by now.

Always - 4 Pointless soft noise.

Limp Bizkit - 9 Sound was shite inside but great outside by the screen. Really enjoyed the RATM cover again. Jumped around like a loon.

Knife Party - 4 Pretty lights but really disappointing. Bring back Pendulum ASAP.

New Found Glory - 7 Not sure they deserved the headline slot but they were solid enough.

 

Sun

Babymetal - 7 It is what it is and it is entertaining. Good start. Got my dance moves for the rest of the year dialled in now

FIDLAR - 8 Good band this, might even buy an album now.

Marmozets - 10 wasn't expecting to be blown away but WOW. Had one of those festival "moments" during their set. Will be checking them out. The Iron Man Sabbath tribute thing was pretty cool too.

Campsite session 10/10 whoops again but what you supposed to do when it's so nice?

Wolf Alice - 6 Was really looking forward to this but it just seemed weak. Again the NME sound might be to blame.

Royal Blood - 8 but they were a 10 in Barras so have maybe peaked They seemed relaxed and at home on main.

Seether - 10. Came out guns blazing and never let up until the end of their pathetically short set. Brilliant.Best I've seen them I think.

Gojira - 6 Bit shouty for me but seemed solid enough.

Ghost - 10 Fuck yes. Everything about it was ace.

Meh tallica - 9. Got bored at times and yet at others was pure brilliance. They set the bar so high that sometimes they fail to reach their own standards but they're still the daddies.

[thewayiam]

If anyone can pass on or Pm me what I need for the presale tomorrow of The Libs that'd be great. I've signed up but have no email or code. Thanks

[sjseabass]

Dissing Alvvays is too far man, too far

[devilman]

Dissing Alvvays is too far man, too far

 

Soz. Just didn't get them and it seemed that most of the pretty sparse crowd there didn't either. Maybe I'm missing something. It wouldn't be the first time. They are like Lush turned into in the 90s when they turned shit.

[the wonderwhy]

If anyone can pass on or Pm me what I need for the presale tomorrow of The Libs that'd be great. I've signed up but have no email or code. Thanks

 

They haven't sent anything out yet 

[Gucci Piggy]

Go Donny Dome you fannies. Screw London. Donny.

[Gucci Piggy]

Also thought Muppetmark got 32 A*s in his A-levels and was off to Harvard or something

[thewayiam]

They haven't sent anything out yet

Ah, thought we'd have it by now.

[jonodillieono]

Also thought Muppetmark got 32 A*s in his A-levels and was off to Harvard or something

All that money spent in boarding school only to end up in a city only known for being the shitter side of the war of the roses

[Lumz]

Who were the band that were stood outside the Lock up meeting fans on Sunday?

 

That was Bury Tomorrow, they were walking round the site on Saturday too meeting fans

[justanothername]

Managed to get my BMTH tickets without any hassle this morning, heck I was trying to find my debit card during my order and it was still fine

[mrtourette]

That doesn't beat the walking around Tesco buying newspapers story.

[Gucci Piggy]

Cheers tourette

[mrtourette]

You are the master at that sort of thing.

[justanothername]

Anyone get tickets for The Libertines? I was in the queue for ages and then I finally got through after 20 min

[mrtourette]

Did anything mildly uninteresting happen whilst you were waiting those 20 minutes? You need to compete with looking for debit card and buying newspapers here.

[the wonderwhy]

Didn't bother. Gonna wait for the arena tour.

[thewayiam]

No one I know cares anymore so whilst I could get them easy, no point my side. Names are printed on them so can't buy on a hope

[charley]

Gonna preface this by saying I'm old and out of touch with a load of these bands so I was going to a good deal of these shows having not heard the band or only a couple of tunes. I am however a  veteran of Reading from back in the nineties so was keen to see how it had changed over the years.

Friday
Mariachi El Bronx
Seemed a fun way to kick off the proceeedings 6/10
Neck Deep
Decent, i'd checked them out a bit beforehand and thought they were good but ultimately for me they were 'A' without the tunes. 6/10
Drenge
Not too bad but a band that dont really have anything stand out 6/10
Parma Violets
Really liked these, I knew a fair few of their tunes and they seemed to be very Libertines influenced but a good singalong all the same 8/10
Skinny Lister
I'd heard good things and listened to them a fair bit, not disappointed, very good atmosphere and you can't not like a crowd surfing Double Bass player, they even had Sean McGowan roadieing for them (liked him to have been playing really) 9/10
Misty Miller
Really good young singer, very Juliana Hatfield to my ears which is avery good thing, her song Best Friend was one of the stand out performances of the weekend 8/10
Peace
Great crowd great atmosphere 8/10
Hannah Wants
My mate wanted to go, not my thing, just your average club DJ playing 90's tunes 4/10
Limp Bizkit
Saw a bit, a good throwback to rock clubs in the 90's 7/10
Knife Party
Pretty full in the tent, you'd need to be pretty miserable bastard to not enjoy seeing them 8/10

Saturday
Babymetal
How could anyone not love them? Ace start to the day 9/10
Fidlar
Really good, didnt know them beforehand, i'd imagine they have listened to a lot of Pavement albums 8/10
Foals
I don't get them at all...My mate was really looking forward to them, we both expected the tent to be rammed to capacity and jumping... half empty tent, those that turned up seemed to enjoy it, they are very average to me and no where near the quality for a headliner that they seem to be touted as. 4/10
Slaves
Much busier tent than for Foals, thought they were ok (they are very very close to being utter shite) but just about have the tunes and charisma to pull it off. Hints of Carter USM to the live show I thought, cant see them ever being bigger than they are currently 6/10
Circa Waves
Good tunes, decent atmosphere 7/10
Wolf Alice
Really good, seemed to live up to the hype they are currently getting 8/10
Catfish
Great band whose set is getting a little tired now as they have played everywhere for a couple of years now 8/10
Royal Blood
Bit disappointed really, i've seen them before and the set is pretty much identical to where it was a year ago, they need to go away and rethink/develop a bit, the new tune sounded exactly like the old ones and they are a band in bad need of some variety. They clearly have the talent but just need some time i think. 6/10
Ash
What can you say about Ash??? Way more hits than any other band on the bill and I would have thought mainstage mid afternoon slot would be a great singalong for all. They were amazing as they always are, didnt seem bothered being down on the smaller stage and just smashed it anyway. 10/10 Best band of weekend.
Wombats
Tried but couldn't get in the tent, it was raining so went elsewhere, the bit we did see sounded good. (wrong stage for them)
Twin Atlantic
No prior knowledge of thes lot but they were great, ace atmosphere and tunes. 9/10

Sunday
Lonely The Brave
Utterly unmemorable 4/10
Against Me
Really good, never heard them before but they were much poppier than i had imagined, sounded like Senseless Things or Wildhearts (which is a good thing) 8/10
Gaslight
Other people have said they missed out loads of their better songs, but as i only knew a couple it didnt worry me, decent 7/10
Cribs
The first mainstage band all weekend i'd seen really having fun, loads of singalongs for the crowd 8/10
Maccabees
A fair bit heavier than i'd thought they would be but great, again they having a lot of fun and a real atmosphere was growing around the mainstage 8/10
Jamie T
Brilliant, great set, all the hits everyone loving it, dancing about like loons etc. 9/10
Kendrick
A disaster of a booking as far as im concerned (not his fault). I'm sure his show was fine (i didnt see much of it) and there was a big crowd who seemed to love it but the previous bands would have been the perfect warm up for The Libs and he just changed the crowd entirely and the atmosphere was gone. (would've worked better if he'd headlined)
Manchester Orchestra
They are amazing, didn't really play my faves at all but what a band. 9/10
Libs
Really small crowd for a headliner (see above which didnt help) but i thought they were amazing. All the tunes, all the camaraderie, i had a great dance and singalong. 9/10

In summary I was pretty surprised how quiet the whole festival was, only Saturday was busy, the other days felt really quiet, you could easily get to the front for bands and as such i thought the atmosphere was lacking. This was very evident on the mainstage which, with the possible exception of Metallica who i glanced at (and was instantly bored by) was very quiet. This is in contrast to when i used to go (all through the nineties and the odd one since) where the mainstage was rammed for the last three or four bands with a massive atmosphere.

 

The campsite was a mess as ever, the toilets oustide the arena are terrible compared to how they used to be. It was also very quiet i thought (i was in purple). Which meant i actually got a pretty good night's sleep, which i wasnt expecting. I think they could do a lot more maintenence as the festival went on to combat the swamps which were appearing, just get a truck and a shit load of bark chippings on it and it would be sorted.
 

[thewayiam]

Didn't bother. Gonna wait for the arena tour.

 

This will be better than an arena tour, I wanted it for intimacy and at just over £30, anyway I know has seen them plenty and it kind of done now. I shouldn't be spending myself. 

[Bisque]

BMTH look incredible in the dark on iPlayer! I would be in my own little worldsinging along to Sempiternal & going nuts during Activist.

Think their 2013 set is better though.

[Andre91]

I'm still bothered that they dropped Chelsea Smile at Leeds

[Chavmeisterdeluxe]

I'm still bothered that they dropped Chelsea Smile at Leeds

It provided me with a few minutes to nip to the bar so I appreciated it.

[FakeEmpire]

Quick sum of who I saw.

 

Friday

Mariachi El Bronx - Nice start to the day, particularly with the unexpectedly sunny weather.  30 mins was about all I needed though.  6/10
Hunter & The Bear - Really did not enjoy this, dreary, safe sub-Mumford stuff.  1/10
Drenge - My first time seeing them and I think they'd have been much better off in a tent. Oddly paced setlist as well but still enjoyable. 6/10

Bugzy Malone - 1Xtra tent was absolutely rammed.  He showed potential but didn't play a single track in full or command the stage.  3/10

Skinny Lister - Great vibes in the Lockup for these guys even with a lot of people expecting The Smith Street Band.  9/10

Misty Miller - Solid stuff but an almost empty tent and not as captivating as she is without the band. 6/10

Swim Deep - Thought they were average in the Festival Republic tent a couple of years ago and I heard some bad things about their Glastonbury set this year but this was something of a revelation.  New tracks sounded fantastic in that tent - great set. 9/10

Bear's Den - Great crowd, far too short a set, emotional stuff.  Have bands this high up the FR tent always had just 30 mins? Crazy.  9/10

Prides - Their album is piss poor but the gig was fun enough.  5/10

Alvvays - Excellent.  Was expecting the crowd to be similar to when I saw The Like in the FR tent a few years back but the crowd seemed far more familiar with Alvvays' (awesome) album. 9/10

Mumford & Sons - they smashed it. Passionate and intense - two words I would never usually associate with Mumford.  Marcus has become a great frontman and he felt every word.  9/10

 

Saturday

Hunck - Didn't think much of these.  3/10

Babymetal - Loved it, just great fun and totally captivating.  Set was the right length.  7/10

FIDLAR - Better on the NME Stage a couple of years ago, crowd a bit lifeless on the main stage but they're sounding great.  7/10

Foals - One of the UK's finest bands and they're absolutely ready to headline.  Tent not as busy as expected but I think that's largely because there was no "TBA" in the guides and your average Reading-goer isn't as observant as an efester.  I was expecting just half an hour of new stuff so that mini Greatest Hits set was a great surprise.  9/10

Slaves - Great but, having seen them twice already, it was a bit predictable. Also - where was Feed The Mantary? 7/10

Spector - Amazing how quickly their popularity has dropped - it was so much busier for them 3 years ago despite the fact they are clearly MUCH better now.  8/10

Circa Waves - Standard Radio 1 fodder but lively set, majority knew every track. 8/10

Royal Blood - the rockstar posing was a bit annoying and they've become VERY stadium.  It's to be expected though given the stages they're now playing.  Huge crowd and they pulled it off well given they only have 45 mins of material.  7/10

Catfish and the Bottlemen - They get a LOT of criticism but those are solid tunes.  I'm sure they'll end up going the same way as The Kooks et al but for now, this felt like a great festival moment.  Biggest crowd I saw in the NME tent this weekend.  9/10

Lucy Rose - She cut out a few of her popular but slower moments; presumably because she was playing to a Saturday night crowd before The Wombats but she was great.  8/10

The Wombats - Absolute chaos.  As the only indie option of the evening, it was always going to be rammed but I'm pleased that everyone was there to have a good time.  New tracks got as good a reaction as the older stuff which is so rare these days.  9/10

 

Sunday

The Sherlocks - The Courteeners/Arctic Monkeys similarities are embarrassing but there's a couple of good tunes in there.  4/10

The Skints - Enjoyed this more than I expected to, really tight live band, easy to get into whatever your musical preference.  7/10

Shura - Smallest crowd I've ever seen in the NME Tent - she should have been FR really.  Played well, good tunes. 7/10

Ghostpoet - Small, uninterest crowd.  Lost of chatters/posers.  For those paying attention, he was good but struggled to keep the attention of the casuals. 6/10

The Gaslight Anthem - Love this band  and was excited to give them a proper send off but they were so uninterested in being there.  Opened poorly and the setlist wasn't much more appropriate from there until the last few tracks.  Biggest disappointment of the weekend.  4/10

Kwabs - Great voice, tight band.  A nice soulful touch to the Sunday which is hard to find at Reading. He was billed for 40 mins but played less than 25 - what happened there?  6/10

The Maccabees - Crazy that they only had 50 mins but it was an excellent 50 mins.   They're probably on a par with Foals popularity/success wise so hopefully they'll creep further up the bill.  9/10

Jamie T - Crowd a lot tamer than expected.  He opened with Operation and very few people seemed to know it.  Last 4 or 5 tracks went off though.  9/10

Kendrick Lamar - HUGE crowd.  Everyone around me was into every word of every track.  He absolutely nailed it.  Where did the Seven Nation Army chant come from?  10/10

The Libertines - The crowd was half the size and had about 10% of the energy of 2010's.  Has the novelty warn of?  After Hyde Park, it was nice to see them under less chaotic circumstances.  Still suitably shambolic live.  Credit to Pete's vocals on You're My Waterloo. Perfect end to the weekend for me but I can understand why it wouldn't convert non-fans.  10/10