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Reading Festival 2005

Friday 26th to Sunday 28th August 2005
Richfield Avenue, Reading, Berkshire, England MAP
£125 for weekend (including camping) - SOLD OUT, £60 any day

Daily capacity: 55,000

It must be hard being a politically-minded American in these turbulent times. It must be even harder when you try to accompany your political rants with some ker-azy random humour. This kind of dangerous mix can often fail spectacularly – Rock Against Bush failed to stop the Commander-In-Chief from returning for another four years, and today at Reading, the ultimate embarrassment.

Is there much point in continuing to fight the good fight when the biggest cheers of the day don’t come for another rant against the current administration, but for a song about an old guy who likes getting bladdered? Is it any coincidence that most people seem more interested in the banter between songs than the songs themselves? Is it really good practice to invite randoms from the crowd onstage so they can play the bugle? Thank god it was sunny, otherwise this could have been one damp squib of a set.

review by Tom Foster