David Emery OnlineReading Festival 2007: Sunday
31 August 2007
Right – time for the last in the series of my reviews of Reading Festival 2007. Sunday, while traditionally thought of as the ‘rock’ day didn’t actually seem to contain a huge amount of what I would call rock, the main stage filled with whinny emo instead…
12:00 Radio 1 Stage: Late of the Pier
I almost didn’t manage to drag myself out of bed for Late of the Pier – I don’t envy anyone playing early on Sunday – but they were certainly worth it. They’re my pick of the current flock of unsigned bands getting hype at the moment, blending electro influences with more traditional rock and indie. ‘Heartbeat, Flicker, Line’, probably their best song, is definitely worth hunting down.
12:55 Carling Stage: I Was A Cub Scout
“Fuck the headliner!” Comes the cry from I Was A Cub Scout at the end of their cut-short set, before launching into ‘Pink Squares’, their debut single. It was the perfect end to a very good set – the Cub Scout boys are getting better and better technically, and new single ‘Our Smallest Adventures’ is a cracker.
13:30 Radio 1 Stage: Hadouken!
I’m always a little wary of band with punctuation in their name, especially with one so full of hype as Hadouken!, but I think that might be countered by the Street Fighter II reference. Naming discussions aside, Hadouken! were actually pretty good; they’re a bit heavier then the move traditional ‘Nu Rave’ (_spit_) fare, and they’re a bit short on good tunes but they certainly know how to get a crowd going.
14:15 Radio 1 Stage: New Young Pony Club
In all honesty, New Young Pony Club were a bit rubbish. Their songs are ok – they have some good ones like ‘The Bomb’ and one-hit-wonder ‘Ice Cream’ – but live they’re uninspired and maybe even slightly cocky. You never got the feeling that they wanted to be there, which was the exactly opposite of everyone else on the bill.
16:05 Radio 1 Stage: The Maccabees
The Maccabees – as ever – were jolly good fun. Fun songs, fun atmosphere and a fun performance. I’m a big fan of their debut album, which is packed full of great singles, and it translates really well live.
20:20 Main Stage: Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails were simply stunning – quite probably the highlight of the whole weekend. There’s something very reassuring about seeing a big name band put on a proper spectacle – you just don’t get that kind of quality with a smaller name. I case in point was the LED screen that NIN had, which descended from above the stage about 1/3rd into there set. They then proceeded to perform some of their more electronic numbers in front of the screen, with graphics all in time with the music.
The really special bit came next, though, where they performed behind the screen, still visible with graphics over layered on top. It’s a bit hard to describe but was very, very impressive. They finished off by playing ‘Hurt’ – better known as covered by Johnny Cash – which was amazing.
