The Reading Festival has been moving away from its rock/metal nucleus ,and has recently embraced hip hop ,dance and the like ,reducing the average age at the festival ,but increasing the vomit count.Medical crews are kept busy…
It’s blazing hot ,touching 33 degrees ,and Ben Stokes is rewriting cricket history at Headingley ,while at Reading the rock’n’roll contingent are ticking off the dull acts before the Foo Fighters.
The Pretender opens, as a stunning sunset bathes the stage in a burnt orange, the crowd surging as the delicate intro bursts into life, Dave Grohl’s screams likely to wake the dead. Preceding Run, Grohl gives a touching tribute to the late Keith Flint from The Prodigy, before pinning back ears with some serious metal. The 3 guitar attack on more recent material really ramps up the heavy quotient,Walk pulled by from the edge by the weight of the melody.
The band have to shoehorn so many classics into the headline set ,so the scratch the best of itch ,we are served up the emotional touches of Learn to Fly ,the jangle pop of Times Like These and the Venn diagram of melody and muscle that is All My Life,”Done , I’m done and onto the next one”…
And they are on and on ,carrying on with the 1000000 wattage of Monkey Wrench, and personal standout, Hey Johnny Park! Even though the band are masters of the stadium, Grohl chatting away all night, there are a few slight missteps-The Sky is a Neighbourhood is a plodder and Wheels is still spinning neutral. Taylor Hawkins steps out from behind the drum kit to karaoke Under Pressure and bar queues lengthen.
Nate Mendel bobs and weaves through a special quadrille (I’ll Stick Around, the sweet Big Me, a jazzy For All the Cows and a roughhewn This is a Call) all from 95’s debut and their first Reading appearance.
People of certain age are weeping.Two vastly different covers pop up, a faithful Let There Be Rock and Reading gets Rickrolled by Mr Astley on a pumped up Never Gonna Give You Up. Not even the stunning fireworks could top that!
