Reading Festival 2010 (Sunday)
Richfield Avenue, Reading
29 August 2010
Thrice are one of those bands who have always been loved by their fanbase regardless of whether they’ve been deemed cool or not. They look humbled as they take to the mainstage and repay the open arms welcome from the crowd with a performance that justifies why they should be much higher up on the bill than shit like All Time Low. Over on the Festival Republic Stage, while not necessarily Planet Loud fodder, there is no doubting that scouse rockers Sound Of Guns are a band on the up with their performance being greeted with a suitably busy tent.
YouMeAtSix are our next port of call after being truly disappointed by a band called Holy Fuck who turn out to look like a bunch of geography teachers who have too much time on their hands. Enough of that though as the rising UK rockers turn their main stage performance into one of the most memorable ones as Hayley Williams from Paramore joins the band onstage for Stay With Me causing a right commotion in the main arena.
Love him or hate him, there is no doubting that Limp Bizkit are one of the most entertaining rock bands on the planet and, with Dursts’ sidekick Wes Borland dressed in some sort of wierd witches outfit, the US rap-rock stars have the crowd eating out of their hands. “Every time I say something, you cheer but every time a cute girl gets her boobies out, you cheer more..” laughs Durst but, cute girls or not, there is no denying their set is one of the highlights of the day as there isn’t one person who isn’t moving when the band smash through hit single Rollin’ in the Sunday afternoon sun.
Hard a long, hard weekend? Need a chill out? Cypress fuckin’ Hill are up next and, armed with one fairly hefty “herbal cigarette” the hip-hop legends drag the main stage punters through a chilled out, high as a fucking kite set and are the perfect come down following the rap-rock chaos that was Limp Bizkit. All that was missing was a huge box of kit-kits to munch on while kicking back to the grooves of Ain’t Going Out Like That.
What can you say about Weezer? They are another of those bands who’ve got a cult following and randomly appear on bills like this. They play pop-infused rock gems like Undone – The Sweater Song and the main arena goes suitably bonkers although not as bonkers as when they run through a cover of Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus. Genius.
When Hayley Williams joined YouMeAtSix onstage earlier in the day, the reaction showed that the Tennessee punk kids are now officially a big deal. Having been milling around the edges of superstardom for a number of years, the last eighteen months have seen the band become a household name with Williams gracing the cover of many a mainstream magazine. As they hit the stage with Misery Business it is easy to see why as well. Looking and sounding like the full package now, Williams strides around the stage with the confidence of a bona-fide rock star and a voice that grabs the attention of everyone watching. Behind her the band chuck out slice after slice of pop-punk brilliance to the masses who sing back every word to the likes of Ignorance and leave you wondering how stunning are Blink 182 going to have to be to follow this.
“Remember when you drew with us at soccer in the World Cup when really you should have kicked our asses?” giggles Tom DeLonge of headliners Blink 182. “Well, the best thing is, nobody in America gave a shit!” Despite being on the wrong side of thirty now, it’s nice to see that little has changed in terms of the Blink 182 blueprint. It’s still dumb, it’s still childish and immature and there are moments when certain members of the band look like they really don’t want to be doing this anymore but, on the whole, it’s nice to hear tracks like The Rock Show again as Blink 182 bring a mixed Reading 2010 to a smutty, cheeky conclusion.
Review by Graham Finney
