Reading / Leeds 2002

Toast

So its time for a real festival. None of this Witnness nonsense. I'll be heading over to Reading myself. Line up at http://www.readingfestival.com . Any other fortunates avoiding slane in style?

Sandi

hehe...yeah, I'm heading over to the Leeds festival with a mate. Looking forward to it so much! Slane....pah!

daveirl

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biZrb

Im going to Reading aswell but only for the Friday, cant wait!
If you want to see a really good band check out Longwave, they play the Carling stage at 1:30 Friday for Reading and Saturday for Leeds.

daveirl

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Kali

Originally posted by Toast
So its time for a real festival. None of this Witnness nonsense. I'll be heading over to Reading myself.

pah Glastonbury is a real festival

no advertising and commercial sponsorship stuffed down your necks and woefully inflated food prices that come with the majority of events these days.

actually its a wonder the leeds festival happening at all, they had awful trouble getting their licence after the fires that broke out last year.

anyway enjoy.. mercury rev and the dandy warhols are both surprisingly great live, don't miss either.

daveirl

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Kali

Originally posted by daveirl
The thing about Glastonbury is it's being getting increasing crap linup wise.

i'd argue strongly with that
at this years.. cornelius, spiritualized, roger waters, aphex twin, plaid, mercury rev, roni size, lamb, st. germain, orbital, mr. scruff, rolf harris, air, badly drawn boy.. thats just what i bothered getting out of the tent for like... but of course it all depends what you're into.

Sandi

Yeah, Glastonbury's line-up doesn't really appeal to me much. Really looking forward to seeing Incubus and Weezer tho! Slipknot have to be seen just for the experience and the Offspring for the crazy happy music they play! Should be a kick-ass weekend.

Toast

Originally posted by Kali

pah Glastonbury is a real festival

no advertising and commercial sponsorship stuffed down your necks and woefully inflated food prices that come with the majority of events these days.

Ive been to both Glastonbury and Reading before and I can say both outshine Witnness by a hundredfold despite what any bribed hacks in NME say. The Glastonbury v Reading argument is pretty much mute in englands music circles. Most people agree as do I that both festivals have great atmospheres which are different to each other.

Glastonbury is definetly bigger and more open plan with loads to do whilst Reading is more concentrated on the music aspect of the festival (Glastonbury is technically an arts festival not a music festival). My preference is to go to both. Sadly missed out on Glastonbury due to stalling from friends resulting in us missing out on tickets this year. Ill make up for it though.

Just a point... Glastonbury has plenty of corporate sponsorship. Orange, Natwest, MTV, NME, Virgin, the BBC and Kodak where just some of the stalls I saw whilst there.

The Carling Weekend obviously is sponsorsed to the gills by Carling but unlike Guinness they dont feel the need to push their brand by removing choice. All major spirits and Beer can be got. So I never felt it to be stuffed down my neck. All the above that advertise in Glastonbury usually do so in Reading as well.

Food prices between Glastonbury and Reading are pretty much identical. There is a bigger selection in Glastonbury however Reading town center is 15mins away from the festival allowing the option to go for cheap and varied grub if you are willing to walk. Recommendation is to try out Pipers on the Thames. Lovely breakfast!

Kurdt

i'm off to leeds meself....

looking forward to GNR...i've read reviews and the new band play the old songs better than the old songs (though i'll judge that when i'm there)...hmmmmm....incubus, weezer, dandy warhols, janes addiction, amen, nofx, prodigy, foos, slipknot, muse, the d4, the breeders, the electric soft parade, ash...so much to look forward to...so many varying bands too

the list goes on and on and on....

leaving in 20 hours and 30 minutes or so...yay me!!!

Sandi

U can't leave without me Kurdt! I have ur plane and concert tickets!
Woo-hoo!

daveirl

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Toast

Its taken a few days for me to recover and straight off let me say that I stand by everything I wrote about Witnness in July on this board as Reading once again blew it out of the water.

Firstly travel time to Reading on coach from heathrow was only 40minutes on the thursday. This got us in town with plenty of time to stock up on cheap food and drink from the supermarkets. Getting into the campsite wasnt a problem with no queueing. Campsite was once again well laid out with many alternatives routes around it unlike the witnness bow shaped campsite. Each section of the camps had a fair number of toilets. New for this year the toilets were in fenced and monitered areas which prevented the danger of tipping as well as when particular toilets got bad the stewarts would guide you away from them. Campsite was bone dry and the major pathways all had metal grids once again on them so if it did become muddy there was at least some traction there for people. Great Atmosphere in the campsite helped also by campfires and barbeques being allowed. Big bags of wood were available in the site for a fiver a pop.

Wristband exchange was relatively quick with maybe a 15min queue versus the 3hrs of witnness.

Main Arena was huge and you were free to roam around with out any crazy one way systems. A decent selection of drink including vodka was available for pub prices at the 4 bars. I was never waiting more than a minute to get served at the bars. No bacardi bar this year unfortunately.

Weezer were the first band I saw and a great set despite a pretty tame version of hash pipe and buddy holly at the end. Rained after weezer wasnt too much of a problem though we gave janes addiction a skip to keep dry in the tent of the Radio1 stage. Feeder were above average. Went to the dance tent for Aphex Twin. His set pretty much started straight after the previous dj with no announcment he was playing. A good mix of aphex tracks with some strange visuals. Not a word or a sign of the man himself though as he hid behind his equipment.

Saturday was interesting with Sum41 covering Slayer Reign in blood half way through their first track. The rest of their set was helped alot by this I think. Quite a surprise. Rained again keeping us confined to tents. Saw a variety of bits of bands. Sick of it all headlined the concrete jungle tent with a good set. Hadnt heard them before and will have to check out some stuff now.

On sunday caught a medicore set from Puddle of mudd which sounded like b-side nirvana for the most part but had a few good tracks spattered within and a quick cover of war pigs included half way through control. NoFX were one of the highlights of the festival. Musically I found them samey but their between song banter was hilarious. Incubus seemed boring and not festival material. Slipknot were energetic and the only band I braved up front for. there is no seperate pit section so to get up the front you just push up or get there early after a band finishes. Offspring put on a good mix of new and old and had the crowd record a chant for their new album. Finally prodigy played an amazing set. Whilst the same tracks as witnness featured the improved sound allowed me to actually hear the new material and really put an edge on the old. A cover of a madness song showed up too and a few second sample from out of space.

All in all a great festival. As this is the third time I have gone though its getting a bit routine so I may give it a skip next year unless the line up is particularly good. Definetly recommended to anyone who thought Witnness was good though.

eth0_

Originally posted by Toast
Great Atmosphere in the campsite helped also by campfires and barbeques being allowed. Big bags of wood were available in the site for a fiver a pop.

WHich, in hindsight, probably wasn't such a good idea at Leeds :-D

Slipknot were energetic and the only band I braved up front for

Hurrah! Pat on the back for you, Mr Toast!

Toast

Originally posted by eth0_

WHich, in hindsight, probably wasn't such a good idea at Leeds :-D

I hear the big problem in Leeds was the Portaloos being set on fire and exploding. That would be something to see. From a distance.

daveirl

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Kurdt

i was at leeds and i luckily missed the riots and exploding portaloos...have ya seen the pictures...theres this one picture and theres two ppl and they're surrounding by huge flames...wonder how they got outta that one...

anyhoo before the violence was a great well run festival...ireland really needs to learn how to put a festival on!!!

anyway...best bits as follows:

the craziness of the crowd for slipknot...it was just one big mosh...it was bigger that SOAD at ozz(less)fest...oh, and getting stood on was nice...couldnt breathe properly for a wee bit...ouch!!

prodigy doing that cover of madness was amazing!!! night on the river nile methinks its called...at first i just thought they were sampling the start of it with the foghorn...and then the trumpety guy came out...brilliant, just brilliant!!

GNR whole set was amazing!!! 8 songs from appetite for destruction methinks plus november rain, patience, live and let die, knockin on heavens door...what a set...started with welcome to the jungle and finished with paradise city!

the whole weezer set...they just made me smile for the whole thing!!!

feeder in the evening session tent...probably the best atmosphere of any band and also the only time it rained heavlily the whole weekend so i stayed dry

the 30 seconds or so of slayer played by sum41...

the finish to the weekend...ash, muse and foo fighters...three excellent live bands that i've seen before...and they didnt dissapoint again!!!

and finally the fact that i missed the violence and the fires etc...wouldnt wanna be around for that...


plane touched down at 8 in the morning...in work for 9

ah well twas well worth it!!!!

daveirl

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