Reading Festival 2007
Jeremy1012
Posts: 7,170
Got back a few hours ago, sunburnt, dehydrated, exhausted but pretty satisfied. I watched the following -
Jimmy Eat World
Gogol Bordello
Arcade Fire
The Shins
Bloc Party
Eagles of Death Metal
Red Hot Chili Peppers (most disappointing set ever?)
Smashing Pumpkins
Nine Inch Nails
Fall Out Boy
Gym Class Heroes
Dinosaur Jr
Sparta
The Bronx
Against Me!
From Autumn to Ashes
Municipal Waste
...and some others that weren't worth remembering.
Basically the chilis were really disappointing. shit sound, terrible vibe, tension between Anthony and John, Anthony's general bad attitude, almost all new material, unnecessary jams when they could have used the time to play some older stuff. The only redeeming factor was the fact that John and Flea seemed to be enjoying the jams and John's solo song was amazing as usual.
Highlights for me were The Shins, who played a flawless set, The Bronx who were the most physically intense band I've ever seen (one of my friends collapsed from the physical strain of being in the circle pits. It was the third time for me and it was an infinite improvement on the other two fantastic gigs), Bloc Party, who I don't even like that much but they played a fucking fantastic gig. They were so genuine and seemed sincerely humbled by playing in front of so many people.
Also, Nine Inch Nails were the best band of the weekend. The whole set was fantastic, the stage presence was amazing, the visual effects were brilliant and everyone was enjoying it. Most of all though, when they played Hurt as the closing song it was the most amazing live performance I have ever seen. I had actual goosebumps, people around me were tearing up, as was Trent, and two friends of mine finally agreed that NIN's original is better than Johnny Cash's
So yeah, good weekend. Who else went?
Jimmy Eat World
Gogol Bordello
Arcade Fire
The Shins
Bloc Party
Eagles of Death Metal
Red Hot Chili Peppers (most disappointing set ever?)
Smashing Pumpkins
Nine Inch Nails
Fall Out Boy
Gym Class Heroes
Dinosaur Jr
Sparta
The Bronx
Against Me!
From Autumn to Ashes
Municipal Waste
...and some others that weren't worth remembering.
Basically the chilis were really disappointing. shit sound, terrible vibe, tension between Anthony and John, Anthony's general bad attitude, almost all new material, unnecessary jams when they could have used the time to play some older stuff. The only redeeming factor was the fact that John and Flea seemed to be enjoying the jams and John's solo song was amazing as usual.
Highlights for me were The Shins, who played a flawless set, The Bronx who were the most physically intense band I've ever seen (one of my friends collapsed from the physical strain of being in the circle pits. It was the third time for me and it was an infinite improvement on the other two fantastic gigs), Bloc Party, who I don't even like that much but they played a fucking fantastic gig. They were so genuine and seemed sincerely humbled by playing in front of so many people.
Also, Nine Inch Nails were the best band of the weekend. The whole set was fantastic, the stage presence was amazing, the visual effects were brilliant and everyone was enjoying it. Most of all though, when they played Hurt as the closing song it was the most amazing live performance I have ever seen. I had actual goosebumps, people around me were tearing up, as was Trent, and two friends of mine finally agreed that NIN's original is better than Johnny Cash's
So yeah, good weekend. Who else went?
"I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
Saw loads,highlights for me were
(best band of the weekend) Nine Inch Nails
Smashing Pumpkins
Kings Of Leon
Arcade Fire
Maps
Interpol
Albert Hammond Jr
Jimmy Eat World
Dinosaur Jr
Lostprophets (who i did slag off,proved me wrong tho)
Lowlights
Fall Out Boy
Panic at the disco
Razorlight (who never in a million years should headline)
I love the chilis but they were okay at best.
Roll on next year
I actually thought fall out boy were great. good, catchy fun. the akon/r. kelly cover was amazing
NIN is the best live show going right now imo.
I saw:
Gogol Bordello
The Gossip
Jimmy Eat World
The Living End
Kings Of Leon
Ash
Eagles of Death Metal
Silversun Pickups - half their set cause I wanted to see Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire
Chili Peppers - left half way through cause they were boring as hell, Kiedis looked like he didn't want to even be there.
Sonic Boom Six
Lostprophets - I don't care what anyone says, they were fucking awesome
NIN
Smashing Pumpkins
NIN were very good, although I think they could have played a slightly more festival friendly set, and I was really disappointed they did nothing from The Fragile. I must concur though, that the version of Hurt at the end was damn near jaw-dropping. As good as Johnny Cash's version is, I still prefer Trent's version.
Pumpkins were probably the biggest letdown of the weekend for me. I'm not saying they were awful, but they wasted so much of their set with ten minute plus jams, when they could have played a load of their classics in that time. Obviously the hits they did play, were great, but I couldn't help feeling slightly short changed. They did somewhat redeem themselves by playing Drown though, which was excellent.
All in all a great weekend!
* Albert Hammond Jr
* Arcade Fire
* Ash
* Biffy Clyro
* Bloc Party
* Cold War Kids
* CSS
* Dinosaur Jr
* The Enemy
* Enter Shikari
* Funeral for a Friend
* Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly
* Gossip
* Hadouken
* The Horrors
* Interpol
* Jack Penate
* Jamie T
* Kings of Leon
* Klaxons
* LCD Soundsystem
* Lostprophets
* The Maccabees
* Maximo Park
* New Young Pony Club
* Nine Inch Nails
* Panic at the Disco
* Patrick Wolf
* Pigeon Detectives
* Razorlight
* Red Hot Chili Peppers
* Reverend and the Makers
* Smashing Pumpkins
* The Subways
* The Sunshine Underground
* The Twang
* The View
* We Are Scientists
* The Young Knives
all of those sets (perhaps shortened in some cases) plus you'll find interviews/acoustics sets, etc!!!
wish i had been there... KOL and Arcade Fire were goosebumpingly brilliant on TV nevermind live!!!!
Were Jimmy Eat World good?
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.
www.bebo.com/pearljam06
Yes, they were fantastic! I've seen them in the past and they were just OK, but their main stage set this year was perfect. They played all their big songs including some stuff from Clarity, so I was well happy.
I was really hoping for We're In This Together too, but I don't think they play it very often. Still they did play a lot of very good stuff so I can't really complain. I just watched their live set again on the BBC website, even hearing it through my crappy pc speakers, Hurt still gives me shivers.
also, I only caught Jimmy Eat World's later set in the Lock-Up tent but it was very good. I don't know a lot of their stuff beyond the hits but they were great.
I never went. Sorry the Chili's were crap.
I think NIN is so close to being best band of our generation (next to Pearl Jam) I'm really sorry I missed it.
Were Dinosaur Jr any good?
I wish I'd been there in '95. Neil Young and Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Green Day, Hole, Smashing Pumpkins, the Chili's, I think? Lollapalooza for the English!
I was a bit disapointed by Pumpkins i have to say, he really did not seem to want to play the old stuff, and unfortunately thats what a festival crowd usually want to hear. New stuff was good live though.
It was funny though, the crowd really emptied after Lost Prophets as most of the kids went off not knowing much about NIN or Pumpkins.
Fall Out Boy were a surprise hit for me, they were good fun and i think most people had a laugh with them.
What did others think of the Pumpkins?
I was there that year, it was awesome. No Chili's though. And I think everybody was expecting Vedder to come out, since the rest of Pearl Jam were Neil Young's backing band - so it was a tad diappointing when he didn't turn up!
I enjoyed the pumpkins but I thought the set list could have been better. A bit TOO much new stuff if you ask me. Today, Bullet with butterfly wings, Tonight Tonight and Cherub rock were great. Wish they'd played hummer though...
RHCP were awful, I walked out 1/2way through as couldn't take much more of it.
Arcade Fire were brilliant as usual, can’t wait to see them again in October.
Eagles of Death Metal were another band that great, I think they should have played a little later than they did.
Dinosaur Jr was also very solid
I still can't believe how bad the chili's were, every time i hear them now, i will think of reading.
23/09/2006 Berlin, 30/09/2006 Athens, 18/07/2007 London
02/07/2009 Honolulu (EV Solo), 22/11/2009, Sydney, 29/11/2009 Christchurch
I've spent ages defending the new Smashing Pumpkins, but seriously even if the old members might not have played a pivotal role musically, at least they would have been able to say "Billy why don't we play this instead?", imagine if one of the new members said that to him, I suspect they are very much made to feel that they should be grateful for getting the gig. It makes me wonder what the future of SP really is, Corgan barely even interacted with the rest of the band.
NIN definitely should have headlined, they were much better, you actually got the sense they were giving everything they had. Failing that I would have been happier seeing Lostprophets headline, the crowd interaction was excellent, they played exactly the songs they knew people would want to hear, and they seemed genuinely grateful that people wanted to watch them.
I gotta say, I would definitely think twice before I paid to see Pumpkins again, their Reading performance has really left a sour taste in my mouth.
just noise.
and im a fan btw
Dinosaur Jr were also incredible, I was so happy afterwards I stumbled over to the signing tent to meet 'em which was something I wouldn't normally do
Shame about the Chili Peppers, I was really lookin forward to seeing them, I guess all bands have off days. Can't shake the feeling that things really aren't right tho, there was so much tension pouring from the stage.
Anyways, definitely one of the best I've been to, roll on next year.......