READING FESTIVAL: BAND GUIDE!

If you’re at Reading or Leeds this weekend then right this moment you’re probably sat in a camp chair, looking at an already grubby campsite, can of poison in your hand absolutely buzzing about the weekend on the horizon. Well that’s for all you earlybirders, the rest of you will be finishing your packing, loading up the car, ringing your mates constantly asking what’s going on and probably getting half way down the road only to realise you’ve forgotten your bloody ticket. Whatever your jam is, you’re in for one hell of a ride. Reading Festival is a magical fucking place; it’s probably the closest tangible thing to Narnia. Never in my life will I ever see a man tripping his nut on shrooms dressed as a nun being escorted through the festival by some freaky Mr Chow looking motherfucker shouting ‘SICK NIGHT BITHCES’. The worst part is that’s not even the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen at Reading. No, no, no, no.. That’s a tame representation of the festivals reality….. hmmm reality, what even is reality. I’m not quite sure most weekends at Reading Festival form into one colourful blur of dirt, booze and music. What a dream!

Right on to the important stuff… the music. Friday is jam packed, you’re probably staring down at that bright yellow poster, scratching your head and wondering where you went wrong, we don’t want that now do we? No of course not. So let’s take that weight of your burly shoulders, we’re going to give you the scoop on what bands you need to see this weekend. I know generous aren’t we? And no, we’re not going to bore you with details about the bands you clearly already know. Who needs to be told AGAIN that the Chilli’s are the MUST see band of the weekend, no shit, of course they fucking are! We’re here to give you a breakdown of those bands you may not know exist OR have heard of but are yet to check out. Well my friend this is your weekend of discovery, who knows we may even find you your next favourite band. So sit tight and let us do the graft.

FRIDAY

Starting from the bottom up we have The Sherlocks & Pulled Apart By Horses on the Festival Republic Stage, Creeper, Hacktivist and Asking Alexandria over in the Pit. Hinds are playing the NME Tent and the Main Stage is home to Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Nothing But Thieves, Lower Than Atlantis, Die Antwoord and of course the mighty FOALS. As you can see we’re trying to keep this short and sweet for you all, these are our big tips for Friday so go check them out if you fancy it. Obviously you have several other stages with some awesome dance/ house/ drum and bass acts, we may be primarily a rock music publication but our love for music is universal. Disclosure and Oliver Heldens are the big headliners of the day so if you’re feeling wavey and fancy a dance try and squeeze them in. And of course it goes without saying for ALL days, the BBC Introducing tent is a must if you have time between bands. Bare in mind it wasn’t that long ago we we’re at Reading’s BBC Introducing stage watching Jake Bugg make a name for himself!

SATURDAY

On the Festival Republic Stage we have INHEAVEN, Vant, White Room and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. We’ve picked Dead!, Heck and Mastodon in the Pit. Over on NME we have Fathersons, Blossoms and Two Door Cinema Club. Mainstage we’ve got Sundara Karma, Skindred, Slaves, Eagles of Death Metal and obviously RED HOT CHILLI PEPPERS. It goes without saying RHCP will be the most watched act of the weekend, you’d be an absolute cretin not to go and see them. I don’t care who you are and what walk of life you’re from I can guarantee you love RHCP. It’s gunna be a great day for those of you that are into your heavier rock. There’s a plethora of choices on offer for you today with Skindred, Slaves, Eagles of Death Metal, Mastodon & Dead! Any of them will satisfy the burning rock demon inside you. It’s also no secret we’re big fans of both King Gizzard and Two Door so MAKE SURE you get to their sets you’d be a fool not too.

SUNDAY

Eagulls, Clean Cut Kid, Magic Gang and The Temper Trap are playing on the Festival Republic Stage. In The Pit we have The King Blues, Good Charlotte and Beach Slang. The NME Tent is packed with talent today with Spring King, Deaf Havana, Rat Boy, Savages, Cage The Elephant and The Wombats. Then over on the final day at the Mainstage we have Coheed & Cambria, Five Finger Death Punch, The Vaccines, Fall Out Boy and Biffy Clyro. It’s clear todays main attraction is Biffy and FOB, having just released their new album ‘Ellipsis’ Biffy will definitely be worth seeing, but I’m sure you already know that, right? If you follow our lead it looks like you’ll be spending most of your day in the NME Tent. Spring King, Rat Boy and Cage the Elephant shouldn’t be missed. Spring King are one of 2016’s hottest prospects so far having released their debut album ‘Tell Me If You Like To’. Good Charlotte over in The Pit will be a great opportunity to transport yourselves back into the mid noughties for some American Punk nostalgia. Again, got a spare half hour? Head over to the BBC Introducing tent and check out some unsigned talent!

BIG TIPS

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

All the way from Melbourne, Australia this Phsychadelic Rock band are here at Reading to get weird and wonderful with you all. Expect strong percussion, wavey synth and garage rock guitar the plenty. They recently released their latest album Nonagon Infinty so get ready to hear tracks like ‘People Vultures’ & ‘Gamma Knife’ swirling around the Festival Republic Stage. Go get sweaty with a load of trippy hippie’s in all their iridescent tie dye glory.

Pulled Apart By Horses

These lads are no strangers to Reading & Leeds Festival, having played for the first time back in 2007 on the BBC Introducing Stage this will now be the bands 7th appearance. Proper veterans! Playing again on the Festival Republic Stage Friday you HAVE TO get down and see them. Get ready for some proper heavy, gritty, sweaty and adrenaline ridden music. We caught them last at Truck 2015 and holy shit they were good. It was everything you could want/expect from a proper rock gig. They were recently in the studio working on their new album so we can assume you’ll get a sneak peak of some new material. Blood was their latest release back in 2014 and what a fucking album it is. So good infact it made the cut and is sitting pretty in our online record store.

Nothing But Thieves

They supported Muse……… do we really need to say anything else? All joking aside you’d be mad not to go and see these. They released their self-titled debut album last year and have ascended on the path of success since. We saw them at Opener in Poland back in June and damnnnn son they blew us away. The icing on the cake was their live cover of Pixies – Where is My Mind? Being a fan of that song alone is reason enough to go and watch their set! Lead singer Conor Mason’s vocals are dangerously good, he sounds like a younger, more passionate Matt Bellamy. They touch on several styles, with a tame take on 90’s grunge rock being the most prominent. The sky’s the limit for these lads, so go catch them early!

Slaves

These rowdy fuckers don’t need much of an intro, they stormed onto the scene with their debut album ‘Are You Satisfied?’ in 2015 and are now on the brink of releasing their follow up album ‘Take Control’. They don’t play by the rules! Their gigs are angry, sweaty, angsty and damn right riotous. They seem to be a defining part of the current generation, dragging punk rock back from the dusty, battered old coffin it resided in for the past decade or so. Most of you will already have heard of Slaves this is nothing new BUT we couldn’t, in our right minds, publish this article without mentioning them. So GO, don’t be a fucking plum get yourselves over to mainstage on Saturday afternoon get wild and listen to some quality punk anthems!

Blossoms

Don’t know if you’ve heard but they’re kind of a big deal at the moment? Their self-titled debut album was released earlier this month and shot straight up to number one. Surely that’s reason enough to check them out? The album includes fan favourites ‘Charlemagne’, ‘At Most A Kiss’ and ‘Getaway’ so you can bet ya bottom dollar they’ll play them at Reading. Indie Rock’s their game, but they don’t play by the books. They’ve infused this much loved style with glamorous glitter decked pop rock. There’s enough synth to drop you back into a 80’s disco hall. Grease up your hips and be prepared to pull out your best moves.