Reading Festival - Day Three

OF all the headliners at Reading, Blink-182 was the one I was least bothered with - but they turned out to be the best of the bunch.

Blink-182's Mark Hoppus...pic by Jen O'Neil

But before we get there, I have to moan. 

RealSoundsOK has a bit of a lay in Sunday morning before packing up the tent and gathering all the stuff together ready to take back to the car, which was parked a short boat ride away. This in itself is unusual. At festivals in the past - V Festival and Sonisphere for example - I have never been more than five minutes stroll from the motor. Having to take any sort of transport to get there is alien and impractical.

This is compounded when we get dodgy directions to the boat from a security guard, end up in no man's land between the landing point and car park and it takes us 45 minutes walking with all our stuff to get back to the car. There's a half hour wait for the boat back too.

And so this unhappy blogger missed The Story So Far and Tonight Alive on the Main stage. Grrrr.

Back to the music and it was going to take something special to get me back in a good mood. Young Guns didn't do it. They were alright - and Bones is still a great track - but there wasn't enough there to get me excited.

Papa Roach did perk things up though. The nu-metal survivors - although in frontman Jacoby Shaddix looks like he barely made it - kick things off with Infest and them ramp it up with Between Angels And Insects. They're having fun and even though Shaddix seems a little distracted by the female contingent in the crowd, they're on point. Favourites like Kick In The Teeth and Getting Away With Murder go down well and there was no way they could end with anything other than Last Resort.

And so RealSoundsOK is back on the up and we're taken even higher by our next on the Main stage, A Day To Remember. And if you want some praise, here goes. This may just be my favourite performance in 15 years of covering festivals.

Papa Roach's Jacoby Shaddix meets the crowd...pic by Jen O'Neil

If Papa Roach were having fun, these guys were in ecstasy. The crowd interaction - including singer Jeremy McKinnon climbing into a giant, inflatable ball and running across the crowd - was superb and they delivered their songs with aplomb. Great stufff. I can't wait to watch it back again.

And from the sublime we went to the, well, a bit shit frankly.

You Me At Six were one of my "must-see" bands ahead of the festival, but it just didn't seem to happen. There was something missing. A spark? Charisma? Sincerity? I don't quite put my finger on it. But it seemed others picked up on it too. Yes there were lots of people dancing, cheering and singing along near the front, but even frontman Josh Franceschi seemed overly desperate as he constantly appealed for Reading to "make some noise" and pleaded for crowd surfers.

Maybe the youthful crowd was too tired after two or three days of hardcore partying, but even the band's delivery of Bite My Tongue - a song I think is superb - seemed lacklustre. The whole thing was a real let down.

But the saving grace for Reading for me was Blink-182.

For the purposes of full disclosure, I have to admit I had left before they took to the stage. A three-hour drive home and a return to the day job the next morning meant I couldn't stay.

It really was A Day To Remember...pic by Jen O'Neil

However, I have watched the set on TV since and I'm gutted I wasn't there. Hampered by poor sound to begin with - a recurring problem on the Main stage all weekend - they quickly got into their groove with Feeling This, What's My Age Again? and Rock Show.

Their shtick is so simple. Three guys - guitar, bass, drums - with a puerile sense of humour bashing out three-minute songs. But their act is so polished, they know each other so well, and they are all musically talented beyond their mirth that it is a joy to watch them.

And their charm meant that even when they were sharing in-jokes, you didn't feel out the loop.

They may not be the greatest singers, but they make incredibly good pop-punk songs and deliver them with real fun, verve and vigour. A fitting way to end the festival.

Reading Festival - Day Two

Indie rock king Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys...pic by Sidney Bernstein

EVEN from first thing in the morning, there is a sense of expectation and excitement in the air with the Arctic Monkeys waiting for us at the end of the day.

But that's still some time away. The day for RealSoundsOK starts with a touch of Tea Street Band in the Dance Tent before heading to Lonely The Brave on the NME stage.

Like Twin Atlantic yesterday, it's a tight little set that gears you up for a day of music without really getting you over-excited. I was, perhaps, put out by vocalist David Jakes taking up position at the rear of the stage by the drums rather than near the front. A band needs a leader, doesn't it?

My disappointment was not helped by a "quick" jaunt back to the car that took the best part of an hour and saw us miss Royal Blood. 

Lower Than Atlantis rocked it...pic by Joshua Halling

However, RealSoundsOK was back on site in time to catch Lower Than Atlantis deliver an absorbing set. Kicking off with If The World Was To End, they also performed favourites like (Motor)Way Of Life and Deadliest Catch alongside new tracks English Kids In America and Here We Go for the finale. Great stuff.

We saw some of The Hives as well as Foster The People and Imagine Dragons, none of whom managed to impress enough to make me want to see them again. And I'm gutted I made the decision to see some of these over Don Broco, whose performance - on replay - trumped them all. Sorry guys.

Another tough choice came later on as we decided against watching new kid on the block Jake Bugg (who earlier did a secret acoustic set on the BBC Introducing Stage) in favour of Bombay Bicycle Club. It was the right decision.

For me, Bugg's sound is not original. Too many of his tracks "sounds a bit like...". Bombay Bicycle Club sounded different - with a vibe and sense of fun from their indie rock that had been missing from too many of the bands today.

And, rightly, the NME tent was packed out for them - a cracking feat when the child prodigy was up against them on the Main stage.

The Hives...pic by Sidney Bernstein

Enthusiasm returned, it was over to the Main stage for the Arctic Monkeys. I've always been put out by the fact so many people tell me I have to like AM. And to spite them, I don't own any of their albums.

They are - however - purveyors of superb, British rock n roll music and in Alex Turner - who is slowly turning into The Fonz - they have one of the suavest frontmen in music today.

Starting with Do I Wanna Know?, the Sheffield lads performed a whopping 20-song set as they wound down their UK tour of their album AM.

Dancing Shoes, Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair, Crying Lightning, I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, When The Sun Goes Down were all included in a triumphant performance before an encore of One For The Road, Snap Out Of It and R U Mine?

British indie rock music at its best. Smooth, cocky and sounding superb.

Reading Festival - Day One

Paramore's Hayley Williams..pic by Marc Sethi

IT'S not often you get joint headliners so different from one another as we did on Friday night.

Paramore were up first - upbeat, young, fresh, vibrant. Then it was Queens of the Stone Age - slower, older, cooler and more laid back.

But it worked.

Delayed by motorway traffic and the nonsense of having to park a half hour's march (at best) away from the festival site, RealSoundsOK arrives too late to see Mallory Knox on the NME stage- the first 'must see' band of the weekend.

The wonders of modern technology have now allowed me to watch a cracking set. But it would've been great to be there. And so our first band of the day are Twin Atlantic, who do just the job of getting me back in the mood with poppy-rock offerings.

We also took in a bit of Jimmy Eat World on the Main stage, but not enough to write home (or to you) about. 

We're back there soon enough though for Enter Shikari who are an early highlight. Although the setlist was missing a few of my personal favourites, the likes of Sorry, You're Not A Winner had the crowd bouncing.

There were a few confused faces as frontman Rou Reynolds later paid tribute to the NHS - mainly among those who miss the band's political messages in song - but the band were very well received.

Enter Shikari's Rou takes a jump...pic by Joshua Halling

But after a highlight came something of a lowlight. Aside from A-punk and Holiday, I don't know many Vampire Weekend tracks but was open to hearing a much-praised band. However, as much as I wanted to like them, the music was just too laid back and - to be honest - I got bored.

And so I was looking forward to being geed up by pop-rockers Paramore at the business end of the day. Having seen them play at Wembley Arena a few months before, I knew what to expect - and they delivered, despite the sounds troubles thrown at them.

Kicking off with the incredibly girly Still Into You, they followed with classics like That's What You Get, Ignorance and Decode before the troubles set in. About to slow things down, Hayley Williams' mic went midway through one of her passionate speeches to fans. 

She looked miffed as the boos rang out - against the silence, not her - before she was informed of the cut.

Long story short, she was handed the only working mic and began to sing The Only Exception to all intents and purposes a cappella. She was accompanied by acoustic guitar and bass, which the crowd only started to hear halfway through the track. The drums and other guitars coming in late on actually made for a perfectly framed performance and the whole experience showed what a class frontwoman Williams is.

With the sound back up, albeit substandard, they continued with the likes of Brick By Boring Brick, Misery Business (with fan help as per) before finishing with Proof and Aint It Fun.

There were no such problems for Queens Of The Stone Age - even if the start was a little underwhelming.

Queens Of The Stone Age close the day...pic by Marc Sethi

They kicked off with You Think I Ain't Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire, a track screamed brilliantly on their Songs For The Deaf album by former bassist Nick Oliveri. But the track sounded gound, the vocals didn't transfer well to Josh Homme's mumbled style.

But that feeling of disappointed was soon smashed away as Homme came up trumps with No One Knows, My God Is The Sun and Burn The Witch.

While Homme's fan interaction wasn't a patch on the talky Hayley Williams before him, the bands superb catalogue made up for it. Little Sister, Feel Good Hit Of The Summer, The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret, I Sat By The Ocean and Make It Wit Chu all followed before they finished with Go With The Flow and Songs For The Dead. What a finish to the day.

MCR's Gerard Way among 50 more acts for Reading and Leeds

THE backstage areas at Reading and Leeds Festivals are going to be rammed this year - the organisers have just added another 50 acts to an already bulging bill.

Topping the list of new additions is former My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way performing his first ever solo UK show.

And ensuring there is lots for every musical taste on the line-up, hip-hop heavyweight Schoolboy Q has signed up along with Maverick Sabre, as have Aussie thrash-pop duo DZ Deathrays and screamo titans La Dispute.

Sigma, Indiana, We Came As Romans, Brutality Will Prevail, We Are Scientists and Little Matador are also among the gazillion new additions that are too many to list here.

But if you do want the full list - as well as how to get any of the remaining tickets - head over to readingfestival.com or leedsfestival.com now. Now dammit!

New video ahead of summer album from The Orwells

US rockers The Orwells have released a video for Let It Burn ahead of the launch on album Disgraceland on June 2nd through Canvasback/Atlantic Records.

The album - recorded at studios in London, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Woodstock last year - tells the story of the Chicago band escaping the confines of their home town and thei own expectations of themselves.

It follows 2012 debut Remember When, recorded in the basement at guitarist Matt O'Keefe's parents' house. He along with bassist Grant Brinner, his drummer brother Henry, guitarist Dominic Corso and his cousin, singer Mario Cuomo, had been playing together since their early teens. 

O'Keefe told RealSoundsOK: "We were hoping eventually something would happen and it would become serious.

“We were like, ‘We love writing songs, so let’s just keep doing it.’ When we were writing those early songs, the goal was just to make all the other bands in our high school jealous.

"You make good music, say what you wanna say and have a good time - that was what we were shooting for,” O’Keefe adds. “But now that we’re a little older, the goal is bringing rock & roll back to everybody’s car speakers. Sometimes you get afraid to go to the highest point you can, at the price of being called sell-outs or whatever. 

"But we say fuck that, if we can get every single kid playing rock and roll music in their parents’ car stereos, that’s what we wanna do."

The Orwells are also touring the UK in June with dates in Liverpool, Edinburgh, Nottingham, London and Manchester, as well as this year's Reading and Leeds Festivals.

For more informatio, check out theorwells.com

50 acts added to Reading and Leeds Fesitval

THE cool bods behind Reading and Leeds Festivals have added a whopping 50 more acts to this year's line-up including the likes of Papa Roach, Young Guns, Tonight Alive, The Story So Far and The Horrors.

The August bank holiday event will be headlined by Queens of the Stone Age, Paramore, Arctic Monkeys and Blink 182 along with a supporting cast including Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, You Me At Six, Jake Bugg and many more.

Roach are part of a selection of bands completing the main stage bill along with Blood Red Shoes, Crossfaith, Dry The River, Pulled Apart By Horses, Gnarwolves, Young Guns, Tonight Alive and The Story So Far.

Over on the NME/Radio 1 Stage - headlined by Courteeners, Bombay Bicycle Club and Disclosure - Twin Atlantic have been added, along with Mallory Knox, Lonely The Brave, The Horrors, The Kooks and Twin Shadow.

Brody Dalle, Mongol Horde and Architects join Jimmy Eat World on the Lock Up Stage, while Band of Skulls, Palma Violets and Augustines have been announced as headliners of the Festival Republic Stage.

Also appearing across the weekend will be A Wilhelm Scream, Baby Godzilla, Bear Hands, Bipolar Sunshine, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Darlia, Dave Hause, Every Time I Die, Hudson Taylor, Marika Hackman, Mayday Parade, Meridian Dan, P Money, PUP, Slaves, The Districts, The Flatliners, The Front Bottoms, The Orwells, The Skints, The Wonder Years, Touché Amoré and Wovenwar.

For more information visit http://www.readingfestival.com/

QOTSA and Paramore to co-headline at Reading and Leeds

Queens Of The Stone Age

READING and Leeds Festival bods have announced their final headliner - and there's two of them.

Queens Of The Stone Age and Paramore will co-headline the main stages - with the latter making their only UK performance of 2014.

The announcement comes with a great big bundle of other names added to the bill - and here are some of the highlights.

Trotting out on the Main Stage over the August bank holiday weekend will be Vampire Weekend, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Imagine Dragons, Foster The People, Deaf Havana, Enter Shikari, Jimmy Eat World, The Hives, A Day To Remember and Sleeping With Sirens.

Paramore

Making their R&L debut, Sirens frontman Kellin Quinn said: "We feel very honored to be a part of such a legendary festival - we're playing nothing but the bangers, so come out and yell every word with us! Can't wait to blow the roof off!"

Did no one tell him it's outdoors?

Anyway, over on the NME/Radio 1 Stage, Bombay Bicycle Club return alongside the likes of Chvrches, Clean Bandit, Temples, Drenge, Don Broco and Cage The Elephant.

And across the festival there will be performances from Klaxons, David Rodigan MBE, Lower Than Atlantis, Boys Noize, Danny Brown, Eagulls, The Fat White Family and many more. 

For a full line-up and ticketing details, visit readingfestival.com or leedsfestival.com

Arctic Monkeys join R&L bill

ARCTIC Monkeys have joined Blink-182 as headliners of this year's Reading and Leeds Festivals in August.

The performance will be a festival exclusive for England and Wales from Sheffield's finest.

The R&L organisers have also added a load more names to the bill with the Courteeners, The 1975, You Me At Six and SBTRKT.

Also playing over the August bank holiday weekend will be Warpaint, Netsky, Annie Mac, Royal Blood, Hozier, Architects, Issues, Pusha T and Krept & Konan.

Architects vocalist Sam Carter said: "Reading Festival was a huge part of our musical upbringing and it was the first festival that any of  us attended.

"It’s an honour to be part of such a huge and prestigious festival - August can’t come soon enough!"

For more information - including ticketing details - visit readingfestival.com or leedsfestival.com

Blink-182 to headline Reading and Leeds 2014

BLINK-182 have been announced as the first main stage headliner at next year's Reading and Leeds Festivals.

The performance will be their only UK show and they will be joined on the bill by the likes of Jake Bugg, Disclosure, Metronomy, Of Mice & Men and I Am Legion.

Blink-182's Mark Hoppus said: "I’m stoked to play Reading & Leeds 2014. It’s our fourth time playing the festivals, and we’re very honoured. 

"The new year will see us in the studio preparing new music, getting ready to rock the fine people of the UK. Prepare for the fury."

The festival takes place over the 2014 August bank holiday weekend and for more information visit readingfestival.com or leedsfestival.com

Live shows on way for To Be Frank

PRODUCER, singer and multi-instrumentalist To Be Frank will play a show supporting Deptford Goth on September 27th.

The show takes place at Union Chapel in Islington, London, and will be a perfect setting for Frank's hauntingly moving vocals, stripped back electronic beats and undeniable musicianship.  

He has also been confirmed as one of the emerging artists booked for the BBC Introducing stage at Reading & Leeds Festival from August 23rd to 25th.

To have a listen to To Be Frank's sounds, check out his recent Daytrotter session here.

Pretty Reckless and Don Broco head to Reading and Leeds

DON Broco and The Pretty Reckless are among a new wave of bands added to the line up for this year's Reading and Leeds Festivals.

The two bands will both play the main stage with Bedford's Don Broco performing on the Friday at Leeds and Sunday at Reading, while New Yorkers The Pretty Reckless are at Reading on the Friday and Leeds on the Saturday.

The NME/Radio 1 stage also grows with Night Engine, Darwin Deez, Deaf Havana, Villagers and Wavves joining the bill.

And among those joining the Lock Up/Rock stage are Feed The Rhino, Rat Attack, Sonic Boom Six, Filter and Hackavists.

For full line up and ticketing details visit www.readingfestival.com or www.leedsfestival.com

New additions to Reading and Leeds

A HOST of new acts have been added to the bill for this year's Reading and Leeds Festivals.

Ragga metallers Skindred, Lower Than Atlantis, We Are The In Crowd and Bury Tomorrow all join the line-ups for the Main Stage.

Frightened  Rabbit, FIDLAR, Kodaline, Tribes and AlunaGeorge have meanwhile been added to play the NME/Radio 1 stage.

As well as a host of new artists on the Radio 1 dance stage, details of the New Rock Stage have been announced with Enter Shikari unveiling their alter-ego Shikari Sound System. Funeral For A Friend and Gallows will also play the stage.

Other artists added to the bill across the weekend include Fenech-Soler, Alkaline Trio, King Prawn, And So I Watch You From Afar, Chvrches, British Sea Power, Tim Burgess, Spector, The Jim Jones Review, and loads more.

The festival, which runs across the two sites from 23rd to 25th August is headlined by Green Day, Eminem and Biffy Clyro, with System of a Down, Chase and Status, Nine Inch Nails, Fall Out Boy, Foals and Deftones also due to play.

For a full line up and ticketing details, visit www.readingfestival.com or www.leedsfestival.com

Exciting Willy Moon to drop new album

NOT many artists are described as a hybrid of Cab Calloway, Michael Jackson and The Ramones - so step forward Willy Moon.

The 23-year-old is due to deliver his debut album 'Here's Willy Moon' through Island Records on April 1.

It is was written, recorded and produced all on his own (with a few tracks being produced by Pulp's Steve Mackey), and he doesn't like to waste time with the 12-track record just 29 minutes long.

The London-based New Zealander said: "My album is short like my songs. I always loved the relentlessness and excitement of that first Ramones album and there's something of that spirit in there. I think it will surprise people who've only heard Yeah Yeah, there's some slower, more atmospheric songs on it and one that even last for over three minutes...ha!"

Willy spent last summer playing festivals across Europe, including Cannes film festival and recently made his debut on BBC2’s Later… With Jools Holland, while Apple picked up his Wu-Tang-sampling barnburner ‘Yeah Yeah’ for its latest iPod ad.

The album is available to buy on iTunes here.

He is also heading out on tour on support of the album with the following dates:

05/03 - XOYO - London (Sold Out)

22/03 - O2 Academy - Birmingham

23/03 - ABC 2 – Glasgow

25/03 - Deaf Institute - Manchester
 (Sold Out)
26/03 - The Haunt - Brighton
08/05 - Electric Ballroom – London

Tickets are available here.

And he will also be performing at this year's Isle of Wight Festival in June and Reading & Leeds Festival in August.

Check out his latest track below...

Hildamay Q&A

Your name:

Tom Spencer.

Where are you from?

Sidcup, Kent, England.

Name of band:

Hildamay.

Who else is in your band?

Oliver Jeffs, Sean Keane, Tim Lawrence and Chris Carvel.

How would you describe yourselves?

Adventurous, musical, energetic, outgoing.

Who are your main influences musically?

Anything from the Police to Deftones, we all listen to such a wide variety of music that shows when we write new material.

What do you hope to achieve in music?

We aspire to be able to be in a position where we can keep playing/writing/performing music to a wider audience.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?

Probably being able to head into the studio to record our first full length, or maybe playing Reading & Leeds festival last year. That was rad!

And what’s the moment you want to forget?

I’d say breaking down on our way from Slam Dunk (North to South). We were about an hour away from the venue, broken down in Northampton services on probably the hottest day of the year. At one point it looked unlikely that we would make our stage time, let alone the festival. Luckily we got back on the road and I think made it within 20 minutes before doors. That moment is the sort of stuff that nightmares are made of!

Where can we find out more about your music?

www.facebook.com/hildamay

www.twitter.com/hildamay

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/miles-away/id569676447?ign-mpt=uo%3D2

Check us out on Spotify

Anything else you’d like to say about your band that I forgot to ask?

We will be Touring the UK in March, it will probably be the only UK tour we do this side of the summer so be sure to check us out!
And thanks.

Six new acts added to Reading and Leeds line up

SIX new acts have been confirmed for this year's Reading and Leeds Festival.

Radio 1's Zane Lowe was given the exclusive announcement of Biffy Clyro signing up as headliners for the festival - the only one the Scottish trio will play in the UK this year.

The band recently launched their double-album Opposites.

Festival organisers have also secured two major US bands with both System Of A Down and the newly reformed Fall Out Boy also added to the line up, along with Foals, Jake Bugg and Bring Me The Horizon.

They join a number of other artists confirmed for the festival on August 23-25 including headliner Eminem, Alt-J, Deftones, Boy Better Know and Sub Focus, with more acts yet to come.

Tickets are available from www.readingfestival.com or www.leedsfestival.com

Eminem announcement as Reading and Leeds headliner does not go down well with regulars

A quick look through the previous headliners of Reading and Leeds Festivals tells you one thing – this is essentially a rock festival.

Foo Fighters, Muse, Radiohead, Metallica, Guns n Roses and Iron Maiden are among the acts to have graced that position in recent years.

And so when BBC Radio 1’s Zane Lowe announced on Monday night that Eminem was to headline this year’s festival, it is not surprising that he has not been welcomed with open arms by regular attendees.

While some are looking forward to seeing Marshall Mathers III perform, the majority seem disappointed and let down by the festival’s organisers.

A quick look on Twitter says as much:

@OneLastCaresss - @OfficialRandL what the actual fuck??? so much fucking disappointment right now. yeah he's talented but REALLY?? FUCKING REALLY??

@jackhaines - @OfficialRandL EMINEM?! ARE YOU FUCKING HIGH RIGHT NOW? SERIOUSLY POOR FORM.

@EmmaImaGuru - Not happy about eminem headlining @OfficialRandL #DownGrade

@Dr0pDeadFred_  - I thought @officialRandL festival was a rock festival not a pop festival?

@katekatekeen - I'm going to lattitude again this year if @OfficialRandL doesn't get their act together. #WHATAREYOUTURNINGINTO

Obviously a very small example of the comments, but the picture is clear. This is not a popular choice with many.

Eminem has, of course, headlined this festival before back in 2001. However, he was at the height of his fame at that time on the back of the hugely successful Marshall Mathers LP.

The once fierce, dangerous and fresh rapper has arguably not had much success commercially or critically in the past 10 years.

Certainly when I saw him at V Festival in Chelmsford in 2011 – a festival and line up certainly more suited to his genre and fanbase – it was underwhelming to say the least.

Whereas once Eminem pushed the boundaries and caused the controversies, the current man looked something of a shadow of his former self. Gone was the shock and awe and replaced with nonplussed.

He was by no means terrible and the majority of the 60,000 crowd in front of the main stage – no doubt built to a frenzy by a day full of booze and Rihanna performing directly before him – seemed to be having a good day.

However, as the boy from Detroit repeatedly told me that if I was to ‘fuck with Shady, Shady would fucking kill me’ while a graphic of a machine gun pointed out to the audience, it was somewhat ironic that I felt anything but blown away.

In an age where selling out festivals is nowhere near a certainty, this is something of a gamble by the organisers. Maybe that’s the issue. It’s not selling out and so they feel they need to expand their customer base in order to increase revenue.

But is Eminem the act to do that? On current form, I would suggest not, but there could be one saving grace.

Eminem is currently in the studio working on his eighth album, with long-term collaborator and mentor Dr Dre expected to join him on the project.

If he can regain that spark that made him the hottest property in music in the early 00s, then it may be a gamble that pays off for Reading and Leeds.