Dave’s Rants

Hey well I’ve finally finished my Reading review.

Thursday 22nd August 2002

Well I got up pretty early because my flight out of Cork was
early. Bad thing was that I was already tired because I hadn’t been able to
fall asleep easily the night before. The excitement had kept me awake until
2am even though I knew I would have to get up at about 6:15. Despite this I
didn’t have much trouble getting out of bed. I think the incentive to get up
was pretty enticing!



So I met at the Airport with everyone
who was going and we checked in! We were on our way. Or so we thought. We
had decided to fly with Ryanair.
Who don’t treat their passengers much better than livestock so it came as no
surprise when we were told our flight would be delayed. Of course having expected
as much we had booked our connecting coach to the festival for a much later
time so the delay didn’t effect us to badly!

Anyway after about an hour delay our plane took off and despite
my best efforts to unsettle Steve during takeoff, he didn’t react to much. He
said he was afraid of take-offs but I’m sure he hid it just to spite me. I told
him look on the bright side it was the only way he’d make that evenings news!
The flight was pretty quick and my ears didn’t get too sore, so I was happy.
We landed in England, collected our bags, which surprisingly weren’t in tatters
[1]

First thing we did was to go and try to buy a copy of NME
in the hope it would have the stage times of the bands in it. Unfortunately
it didn’t but was a good read all the same and it still had a lovely festival
preview which increased my excitement no end! Anyway we caught our coach and
were on our way to Reading!



Following a brief [2] stop-over at Heathrow airport we arrived
in Reading at about 15:00. Next thing we had to do was make our way to the festival.
Now there was supposed to be a bus directly to the festival site from where
the coach dropped us off but that bus took 2 hours to come. Still we got there
and we all agreed it had been way easier and less stressful than getting to
Witnness [3].

There was a great buzz around the place when we arrived. There
were thousands of people walking around the city and I knew the weekend was
gonna rock! So we entered the festival and went to exchange our wristbands.
Everything was so cool, there were loads of cool shops selling weird stuff.
It rocked. Unfortunately when we got to the wristband exchange there was a queue
and we were in no mood to queue so we decided to go and set up our tent and
then come back later!



It took us ages to find a place to camp. All the sites near to the arena were
taken already so eventually we found a nice place on Orange
G. It never got too busy all weekend here and was never too cramped but
still was a laugh! After a bit of a struggle [4] in putting
up the tents, we got the two
of them up. Cormac, Steve and me got the ’sane’ tent and Dec and Wexford
Steve picked the ‘insane’ tent. Now this was a pretty happy decision but I was
stuck in the middle. Not insane enough for Dec’s tent but didn’t fall asleep
at a reasonable hour so was a little bored in the ’sane’ tent. But it was still
a laugh all weekend.



So having set up the tents we headed for town. We got our wristbands on the
way and the lads picked McDonalds
for dinner. I didn’t have any choice so I went but only had Coke. Didn’t think
that would do as much damage to me as the rest of the crap that place serves.
We went to Sainsburys and bought some food/alcohol for the site and we headed
back. We just spent the evening chatting and drinking. We had got really cheap Coke and Vodka in
Sainsbury’s and both were the most bland thing’s I had ever had, but It was
fun nonetheless. Soon Steve and Cormac did their fall asleep early trick and
I was left chatting to Wex. Steve and Dec. They said they had to go to the toilet
so I said I’d wait for them to come back…. they didn’t. After about 45 minutes
I decided not to wait up for them! I knew I should go look for them ‘cos something
could have happened but I said ‘fuck that’ and I went to sleep!

A couple of hours later I woke to loads of commotion outside. I listened to
Dec and Steve’s drunken, stoned conversation, laughed and went back to sleep!

Friday 23rd August 2002

Not surprisingly Dec and Wex. Steve weren’t exactly happy when the rest of us asked them did they want to head into town with us that morning! I think Dec just groaned and demanded panadol and water! I happily ate my breakfast of Strawberry Pop-Tarts washed down with Pepsi! What a breakfast!



Anyway Steve, Cormac and me headed for town. We eventually found the Railway station and availed of it’s nice facilities, No more Porta-loos for us [5]! Then we headed back for the festival so we could check out everything in the arena! We headed in at 11 as soon as it opened. No sign of Dec and Steve anywhere, I just hoped they were alive. Dec’s trip wasn’t going to plan. [6]



So we headed up towards the main stage and I found out to my delight that in England they don’t segregate the crowd like they do here. That meant we could come and go as we pleased. It was great you could get up close for any band you wanted. Way better than the way they break the crowd up here, meaning you get stuck at the second barrier. Then we went for a walk around and I bought a really cool Weezer T-Shirt!! Then the Music began:



The Mouldy Peaches : We stood at the side but fairly up close to the front for this. All I can say is that it was extremely wierd, but entertaining. I only knew one song "Who’s Got The Crack" but it was still good. About 6/10



The Soundtrack Of Our Lives : We got something to eat while we watched this. The sun had come out and made it almost unbearably hot! So we sat on the grass and watched/listened. They weren’t very good. Average with a capital A. 4/10



Mercury Rev : We headed up closer for this. It was OK but not mind-blowing or anything. Perhaps if it was dark or indoors it would have been better but outside in the sun no amount of dry ice can create athmosphere! Anyway I was saving myself for what was up later.The White Stripes and Weezer. Anyway I’d give Mercury Rev 5.5/10



The Dandy Warhols : Dec had managed to follow the directions in my text message and found us even though we were up front! So we all were together for this…. the worst band of the weekend! They were appauling. I don’t know who they thought they were but they had loads of 10 minute long boring instrumental things. Then they didn’t even do the song from the Lifestyle ad. They did the Vodafone one though. But it was crap. Biggest waste of 50 minutes of my life! 1/10



The White Stripes: Finally something to write home about! They were amazing. So much noise for two people. Absolutely class. I can’t even remember the half of it! Dec almost caught Jacks sweaty T-Shirt. I think he was luckier he didn’t! Anyway I even have some pictures of this. Look how close I was. Anyway they were brilliant even though I only know about 4 songs! 7.5/10



White Stripes Picture



Weezer: Absolutely amazing! Since I already got my review on the official Weezer site [7], it must be pretty good so, I’ll include that here!

Anyway I also took loads of photos so here are some of them!!

Weezer Coming On Stage | Band On Stage | Me + Cormac | Me + Cormac



As you may have guessed I liked the Weezer gig so the almighty =w= get a great 9.5/10



Jane’s Addiction: Being unreal tired and soaking wet after Weezer I was in no mood to stand in the rain during Jane’s Addiction so we watched the first song and as soon as the rain began ran off to The Evening Session Tent where we got the very end of The Electric Soft Parade! Didn’t see enough of them to give a rating though!!



The Breeders: We stayed hiding from the rain at the back of the tent for the duration of the Breeders set. I didn’t pay much attention to them at all. I did listen for Cannonball which was OK I suppose. Didn’t pay enough attention to give it a rating!



Feeder: We stayed for about 1/2 of Feeder’s set. They were good and had stacks of fans. In fact the tent was really overfilled with people. Probably because Pulp (who were on the Main Stage) are so crap!. Anyway we couldn’t see the Stage so the gig was never gonna be fantastic for us. Pity, I’d say it was brilliant but we had to go watch The Strokes….



The Strokes: Despite what Dec would have you believe I don’t hate The Strokes. I just think they are hugely over-rated. But anyway I went with high hopes but was dissapointed. Basically there was no athmosphere, no interaction with the crowd and a flat lifeless preformace. It sounded exactly like listening to the CD. The band aren’t ready to headline. They had to play the whole album, and b-sides just to fill up 1 1/4 hours. Then to kill time at the end they said it was Julian’s Birthday [aren’t I cynical]. Anyway the only time it got interesting was when they brought on Jack White at the end. Then it was different to the CD. So 7/10 then! Only because Someday and Hard To Explain were so amazingly good!



So then it was back to the tents where Steve and Cormac promptly fell asleep leaving the rest of us wake for a while before we succumbed to the exhaustion too!

Saturday 24th August 2002

So Saturday started pretty much the same as Friday except today the sun was out and it was extremely hot even at 8.30. So I put on some sun screen! Turned out it would lash rain later but the morning was good!!!



Anyway Steve and Dec didn’t want to get up when the rest of us were heading off so we just went. We availed of the railway station again and had a nice cup of tea before heading back to the festival. So anyway Cormac knew someone from his course who was at Reading so we met up with them that morning before the arena opened.



Eventually we headed in and I made the mandatory trip to the merchandise stall to get a lovely rival schools t-shirt!! For the first couple of bands who were on we just relaxed on the grass.



Sahara Hotnights: Well this band are truely crap. So crap that just over two weeks later I can’t remember anything about it. What I do remember is that it was still better than the Dandy Warhols. Pathetic 1/10. We asked Cormac what he thought about them and after thinking about it he agreed it was terrible!



Vex Red: Now this wasn’t too bad at all. One of those bands you see at a festival and expect nothing but are pleasantly surprised. Has to get 5/10.



Andrew W.K.: Now I really enjoyed this. One of the highlights of my weekend, the man is an idiot but what an entertaining idiot he is. The second he went on stage he was met with a hail of bottles! But he kept on doing the stupid dancing and the overacting. Absolutely classic. Gets 9/10 on pure enjoyment alone. His music is crap but who cares…???



Less Than Jake: Saw about one song and they confirmed to me that they are crap. Enough said!



Well at this point everyone had shown up, and we were really enjoying the second day of Reading. There was some disagreement on what bands to see so we all spit up.



The Icarus Line: Now I lasted two songs of this and I just didn’t get it. I couldn’t see how you could enjoy this band by there seemed to be lots of people who did! What the fuck?? - 2/10



Dashboard Confessional: Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! I knew I wasn’t going to get to see Jimmy Eat World later on so Dashboard Confessional were going to have to provide me with my fill of emo for the day and they so did! I didn’t know any of the songs and was going solely on recommendations from the Internet. Turns out it was the bands first gig in Europe but that didn’t stop the tent being absolutely packed! Loads of people knew all the words too, as usual at the festival the atmosphere was amazing, and I will soooo be buying some albums by the band! 8.5/10



Alec Empire: So I went from relaxed, acoustic emo to this! Industrial Goth Rock and it was fantastic. The mic was fucked up at the start, I mean you think the sound engineer would notice but anyway eventually Alec kicked over the mic stand in disgust. To wild applause from the crowd, anyway he really revved up the crowd and eventually he was asked by security to tone it down! He didn’t appreciate this so instead started running all around the stage and eventually ran around the mosh pit! Fantastic gig and very entertaining. 8/10



Alec Empire



Rival Schools: Well this was fantastic again but I suppose since I’m such a fan I was always going to say that. They basically played all of United By Fate and played some new stuff as well! Brilliant. And I caught one of the RS frisbees that were thrown in at the end! 9/10



Rival Schools 1 | Rival Schools 2 | Rival Schools 3

Rival Schools 4 |



So after Rival Schools I was absolutely shattered but I knew there was loads more to watch that evening. I sat on the grass with Cormac for a while until the Cooper Temple Clause came on. We watched their first two songs before going to ‘the chicken kebab place’ to meet up with everyone else. So then we headed off to watch Ash



Ash: Now I’ve seen Ash twice now and this was definitely the best I’ve seen them. Of course there was doubt that they’d show up at all because of the bus crash but fortunately they did! Even Cormac who doesn’t like them thought they were pretty good. They were far tighter than any other time I’ve seen them. Tim Wheeler could actually sing properly and they just stuck to playing their biggest songs. Impressive 8/10



Muse: We pushed up towards the front for Muse because we all really like them. Unfortunately while we were waiting for Muse the heavens opened, leaving us soaked but Muse came on quickly so I didn’t really notice the rain so much! I don’t actually think it stopped during their set at all. The band were amazing and played pretty much what you’d expect exept ‘In Your World’, Never the less it was undoubtably one of the highlights of the weekend, the athmosphere was amazing and it was an impressive sight to see about 40,000 people moshing to ‘New Born’. The steam rising off the crowd mixed with the lights and when they let the ‘Bliss Balloons’ into the crowd it just looked so cool! Amazing 9/10



Foo Fighters: Like Muse another band I’ve seen many times. This time I was so tired by the time the band came on I couldn’t fully appreciate it but it was still amazing! Dave Grohl was in amazing form and claimed ‘This is my night Motherfucker’, and wow it was! Grohl showed what a live show should be like with plenty of jokes and interaction with the crowd. The icing on the cake of a brilliant day! 8.5/10

Sunday 25th August 2002

Well Dec demanded we wake them up this time, so we did and following my usual Pop Tart + Pepsi breakfast we headed for the town. We planned to take it easy today because there was no ‘must-sees’ for us, just loads of stuff we didn’t mind watching.



Anyway while in town I had to buy a T-Shirt because if I didn’t I wouldn’t have any to wear going home! So I bought a Reading Festival one. Not a real one though. It was a dodgy one but that’s just as good!



So eventually we got back to the campsite. I went with Steve and Dec since they wanted to buy another slab of Carling and the other two wanted to check out some CD Fair, which I had no interest in. I was so tired I almost fell asleep when we went back to the tent but I didn’t and eventually we mananged to get up and head for the arena.



Amen: OK so I wouldn’t be into this but they seemed extremely crap. Apparenly they don’t currently have a label and all I can say is that maybe the A&R departments are spot on for once. The band were really crap. They had a song called ‘Piss Virus’ how could they be good! Piss Poor 1/10



Hundred Reasons: I expected far more but to be honest they were very boring. Even the songs I knew I didn’t really enjoy. Boring 3/10



Puddle Of Mudd: I only saw the first half of this. What I saw was alright though. Sounds very like B-Side Nirvana but alright still. But didn’t see any of the hits! Had to leave early to go see stuff on The Carling Stage Average 4/10



Hell Is For Heros: This was so packed we couldn’t get inside the tent so I had to settle for sitting outside waiting for the next gig. *sob*



Biffy Clyro: Didn’t know any of the band’s material but it was still really good. In fact I’ll probably check out some of their albums. Good 6/10



NOFX: For some reason on Sunday I was absolutely starving so I spent all of NOFX’s set eating!! Thank God because they were absolutely shocking! Food = 9/10 Band = 1/10



Incubus: Incubus were really good. I wouldn’t exactly class myself as a big fan but they were really enjoyable. Entertaining 7.5/10



Slipknot: Another Highlight of the weekend! I’m definitely not a fan of Slipknot but still the stage show was really enjoyable and the place went absolutely mental. Giant Mosh Circles all over the place. Really Great to watch 8/10



Between Slipknot and the Offspring a giant bottle fight started near us which was class. Dec and I were of course in the middle of it trying to kill each other. Basically a 30 foot circle opened up and everyone inside was throwing bottles at each other. Great Fun 10/10



The Offspring: Now this is how you do a show. The bank kicked off with ‘The Kids Aren’t Alright’ which instantly revved up the crowd. They just had a laugh and I think everyone there did too. Now I’m not claiming they are great but live they were amazing! Class 9/10



Prodigy: Now this was the complete opposite. This is my third time seeing them and they seem completely incapable of working a crowd. The Madness cover took the biscuit! Crap 3/10

After the last gig of course the music was over for the weekend but the fun wasn’t. We headed back to the campsite where everything was mental as expected. Just crazy stuff going on all over the place. Really funny stuff and just ‘you had to be there’ moments. Unfortunately we all collapsed of exhaustion so we didn’t stay up all night partaking in the festivities.

Monday 26th August 2002

Well we packed up our tents and headed home. Took all day of course. Still enjoyable due to Dec always being entertaining!

Anyway I hope this was reasonably interesting to read. I might some day write more on what happened on Monday, but I’m too tired now! Anyway all comments are welcome at oneilldavid@iol.ie



There are more pictures here for anyone whose interested! Thanks for reading about Reading!