Reading Festival 2010 Reviewed

FRIDAY

Last night it seemed that the weather had decided to celebrate the end of the summer by pissing down all over Reading festival, forcing everyone to pitch their tents in the mud, and ditch their battered Converse for wellies. However: having had their fun, the Rain Gods decide to let off for the rest of the weekend, leaving us to enjoy the mud and the wide variety of music that Reading offers in glorious sunshine.

Gaggle are, how do we say this... a challenging start to Friday. Parading onstage with slogan banners and psychedelic costumes, their choral chants would probably work well in a different context (perhaps a mystic cavern in Shoreditch), but not here. This leaves us running over to Frankie and the Heartstrings, whose short pop songs contain the kind of choruses most bands would kill for. ‘Hunger’ has the whole tent singing along to its catchy "oh oh ohs" and the feeling is they're going to be massive.

Eddie Argos and his new band The Eddie Argos Experience delight a small but excited crowd with stripped-down versions of Art Brut songs, Eddie wandering into the crowd to sing an extended ‘Modern Art’. Having spent my teenage years with this man soundtracking the more awkward moments, I've no hesitation in declaring him a legend.

Later on at the Festival Republic stage a frenetic Pulled Apart By Horses turn the whole tent into a moshpit, while Adam Green charms the pants off us with his crazy dancing and New York cool. Blood Red Shoes meanwhile, are mixing up songs from their new record Fire Like This with older classics like ‘You Bring Me Down’.

With Axl Rose turning up an hour late and becoming a collective hate figure for the whole campsite, we decide to avoid the Guns 'N Roses vibes and head along to LCD Soundsystem instead. James Murphy looks great in wellies, and a sadly short set does nothing to temper the brilliance of soon-to-be party classic ‘Drunk Girls’ and a euphoric ‘All My Friends’.

SATURDAY

Indie-heavyweights The Futureheads play early on the main stage, and employ their classic party trick of splitting the crowd down the middle to sing ‘Hounds of Love’ - sparking a projectile battle with the woodchips on the ground. Mystery Jets follow up with a set perfectly suited to the sunshine, getting everyone to dance to their Count & Sinden collaboration ‘After Dark’ and their own classic singles ‘Two Doors Down’ and ‘Young Love'.

My biggest regret of the weekend is missing Everything Everything not just once, but twice (they play a secret set on the BBC Introducing stage) and I'm left cursing my decision to go and watch fluoro-clad idiots Hadouken! instead.
After being cheered up by a disgusting festival burger, Libertines drummer Gary Powell’s band The Invasion Of… are pretty good and things are ready to roll again.

The Maccabees have made the jump to the Main Stage this year and get a great reaction from the crowd. Songs from ‘Wall of Arms’ still feel fresh, while an untitled new song suggests an even more epic turn of direction for the future.

A fair few people say The Libertines’ performance at Reading this year isn't "the same as the good old days", but having been too young to have them appear on my musical radar first time round, this is a special performance. Pete and Carl hug a lot (bringing on massive ‘awwws’ from the crowd) and they even play ‘The Delaney’! Following on, Arcade Fire are absolutely epic and very deserving of the headline slot.

SUNDAY

There's an overwhelming sense of hangover/tiredness in the air this morning, but The Joy Formidable pick things up when singer Ritzy smashes her guitar to pieces after just one song. Great!

Los Campesinos! are my personal highlight of the day: they play the ‘hits’ (if they can be called that) and cement their new album’s position as my favourite of the year. This is the third time I've seen them in seven months, and it's still hilarious to witness Gareth bashing seven shades of twee out of his glockenspiel.

The Drums annoy everyone by refusing to play "that song about surfing", but still almost manage to justify their hype. Four Tet warms up the Dance Tent for Metronomy, whose synchronised dance moves and warped pop tunes are as great as ever. Please though folks, write some new songs!

Foals get the best reaction bar The Libertines this year, and despite the more mellow nature of new album Total Life Forever, their set is absolute carnage: the band unleash ‘Cassius’ and ‘Balloons’ early in the set, while the sparse beauty of ‘Spanish Sahara’ sees lighters being waved in the air.

We Are Scientists make us laugh trying to get the crowd to bid on the Foals setlist, but don’t let the jokes get in the way of the music, delivering an up-tempo set that squeezes in ‘Inaction’ and ‘This Scene is Dead’ along with songs from new album Barbara.

The biggest news of the day is the return of Klaxons, who provide a fitting end to the festival by cloaking themselves in smoke and swearing a lot. ‘Surfing the Void’ has only been out for a week, but the new songs go down well, especially the soaring ‘Echoes’ and glam stomp of ‘The Same Space’. We're already looking forward to Reading 2011.