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Reading Festival 2007

Friday 24th to Sunday 26th August 2007
Little Johns Farm, Richfield Avenue, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 8EQ, England MAP
£145 for weekend (including camping), £62.50 for any day each day - Friday tickets only

Daily capacity: 55,000

By Sunday the stamina’s down, meaning we don’t make it out of bed for the two bands we really wanted to see – opinion splitting grime-rockers Hadouken! and ace Nottingham Gary Numanites, Late Of The Pier.

We do make it down in time for The Sunshine Underground on the Radio 1 stage, but sadly the Leeds indie-dance gang fail to impress. Their debut album ‘Raise The Alarm’ had a couple of fantastic singles – ‘Put You In Your Place’ and ‘Commercial Breakdown’ in particular – but live there’s simply too much filler.

Despite looking good on paper, Sunday’s line-up isn’t all that. The mainstage is dogged by the traditional black t-shirted metal and emo acts, while the other stages have loads of big names that get you excited but, when it comes to it, you’ve seen them all before anyway so it’s not that exciting really. As a result, most of it is spent loitering around taking in the sun, eating crap festival food and messing about with friends – a.k.a the best things about a music festival.

It’s not until Gallows take to the Lock Up stage that things are getting exciting again in the early evening, maniac lead singer Frank Carting overcoming the lack of things to climb on in the large tent (usually they play tiny indoor venues with plenty of things in the vicinity to break) by diving in the crowd, climbing a tent pole and, most significantly – getting a tattoo live on stage. Noting that this is the best gig of his life, he has a lock with seven stars (The Lock Up Stage, 2007) etched into his skin, before finishing off the fierce set with the circle-pit starting ‘Orchestra Of Wolves’.

Back over on the Radio 1 stage, LCD Soundsystem play a steadfast and sturdy set that has people dancing and cheering in celebration of the festival’s final night. From ‘Daft Punk Is Playing At My House’ to recent single ‘North American Scum’, James Murphy lets the music do the talking, as the faceless act drive punk-funk to its limits over their hour long set. A monumental ‘Yeah’ is a highlight.

While The Smashing Pumpkins indulge themselves with their boring reunion rock on the Main Stage, over in the Radio 1 tent people are crammed as tight as they can to catch a glimpse of Klaxons play their most triumphant gig ever. This time last year they were halfway up the Carling Tent bill, now they’ve got the whole of the second stage singing every word of their songs back at them. What a progression. They stick to the now familiar set list – opening with ‘The Bouncer’ and ‘Atlantis To Interzone’, going through a few slow ones then picking up again towards the end – but it goes down as sweetly as ever, the atmosphere in the massive tent being celebratory. It rounds off the festival perfectly, not to mention their own year and a half of touring their debut album.

Reading Festival, yet again, proves itself as the most enjoyable festival the planet has to offer. See you in 2008.