From Feed The Rhino to While She Sleeps and Refused, here’s your rundown of the final day at Reading Festival…
**FEED THE RHINO WILL GRIND YOUR BONES TO MAKE THEIR BREAD **By day three at a festival, no one is coming in strong with a mind to mosh. At this stage in the game your average punter is well and truly broken, and it’s down to whoever is tasked with cutting the muddy, smelly, jaded ribbon to set the bar for the final stretch. Feed The Rhino are by far and away the heaviest band on the main stage this weekend, and they don’t just set the bar, they bend it in half and throw it back. The crowd is thin on the ground, sure, but those gathered witness the most brutal and punishing but at the same time rewarding collection of bone crushers the festival has to offer, delivered with the diligence of a band with a true sense of duty and purpose. They came, they saw, they conquered! (MS)
Feed The Rhino | Will Ireland
LONELY THE BRAVE ARE EASY LIKE SUNDAY MORNING After Feed The Rhino’s energy-filled opening set, Lonely The Brave are on hand to soothe hangovers with their soaring melodies and generally pleasant demeanour. They’re not the most exciting spectacle, and the present mood of the Sunday morning crowd could probably do with a bit more of a kick up the backside to get them back into the festival spirit, but Trick Of The Light, Backroads and Black Saucers, with their irresistible melodic climbs, are the perfect soundtrack to a lazy Sunday morning. Well, afternoon, but everyone’s still half asleep. (TDG)
Lonely The Brave | Will Ireland
AGAINST ME! MAKE THOUSANDS OF NEW FRIENDS What to say about Against Me!, other than that they are quite simply the best punk rock band in the business. Today’s set is perfect, and their placing on the main stage is an inspired booking. They plough through hit after hit – of which they have many – with the kind of passion and intent that lights a fire in your heart. It might be the festival hangover finally setting in, but it’s more likely the sight of a truly alternative band breaking the mainstream and making such a difference that almost brings a tear to your eye. As long as there are bands like Against Me! with a platform to express themselves, and doing so in such an inspired fashion, you know everything is OK with the world. (MS)
Against Me! | Sandra Sorensen
**BRIAN FALLON HAS A HOLLYWOOD SMILE **The Gaslight Anthem are one of those acts that obviously have a great catalogue of songs, and they always sound good in a field full of friends enjoying sharing the experience of all the emotions that live music evokes. They’re perhaps never exceptional or indeed surprising when it comes to their live shows, but they always get the job done in terms of delivering familiar songs that people can sing, dance and move along to. And a Sunday afternoon is as good a time as any to see them do their thing. If you’re not a fan already, you’re unlikely to go out and buy all their music after today’s performance, but if you like what Brian Fallon and the boys do then it ticks all the boxes. If you don’t, at least he’s easy on the eyes. (MS)
The Gaslight Anthem | Sandra Sorensen
SINGLE MOTHERS’ ANDREW THOMSON CAN’T BUTTON HIS OWN SHIRT While the main stage crowd is being gently serenaded, The Pit is being punched in the ears by Single Mothers. The Canadian punks have a lot more energy than most of the festival-goers, as frontman Andrew Thomson struts open-shirted around the stage, a whirling dervish of infectious energy. For a guy who formed a band with the questionable aim of getting revenge on an ex-girlfriend, he’s amassed quite the fan base, and The Pit is almost full to capacity as Single Mothers unleash their spiky riffs and petulant anger. (TDG)
HAWK EYES SHOULD HAVE PLAYED ON SATURDAY The Pit has emptied out considerably as Leeds rockers Hawk Eyes take to the stage, but it’s no reflection on their sound. They’re tight and abrasive, but they would have slotted much better into Saturday’s heavier line-up, and would no doubt have seen a bigger crowd had they played on the day that their former tour buddies Alexisonfire reunited on the main stage. They don’t let the dwindling audience put them off, though - they make their way earnestly through the likes of The Ambassador, Witch Hunt and Terribly Quelled as though they were playing to their most dedicated fans. (TDG)
QUEEN KWONG ARE REALLY TIRED Trent Reznor’s protege Carré Callaway is battling a sore throat as she jerks and twists her way around the stage. Wes Borland provides a discordant backing track as he makes full use of his whammy bar, but he and bassist Fred Sablan often drown out Carré’s vocals with their noisy, unpredictable melodies. Their punchy, sinister sound on record isn’t quite translating to The Pit – Cold Daggers certainly lacks its razor edge live – but who can blame them for not being on top form after the weekend they’ve had? Wes later tells TeamRock that they’ve travelled from London to Leeds to Reading in the space of two days, and are surviving on minimal sleep. For a tired bunch, they did their best, but the sound in The Pit wasn’t on their side. (TDG)
Queen Kwong | Sandra Sorensen
TURBOWOLF BRING A SHAMANISTIC VIBE TO THE PIT The Pit has played host to the heavier contingent of the Reading line-up over the weekend, but Turbowolf are on hand to bring a bit of glam. The Bristolian rockers can’t stick to one tempo as they race through their upbeat set - bassist Lianna Davis even tells the crowd to ‘boogie woogie’ at one point, which is probably the first time such a phrase has been used in The Pit all weekend. Frontman Chris Georgiadis appears to have been taking fashion tips from Brendon Urie as he struts about in a sequinned blazer, full of confidence as he plays his first ever Reading festival, and the crowd shares his energy as they bounce to the likes of Rabbit’s Foot and American Mirrors. (TDG)
Turbowolf | Sandra Sorensen
GET CARTER Frank Carter has a chip on his shoulder. He’s a pissed off punk with a point to prove, and that’s why he made Gallows great in the first place. Pure Love was a departure, but also a necessary break from all the anger and rage, which allowed the man time to breath, regroup, and come back bigger and better than ever. The Pit is literally heaving as he takes to stage with his latest band of brothers the Rattlesnakes, and everyone with a view witnesses the indisputable return of the king of UK hardcore punk. Imagine unpinning a music grenade and dropping it down a drain – that’s the kind of explosion we witness this afternoon as Frank Carter quite literally blows the roof off the sucker and leaves all the competition in the dust. (MS)
**STOMACHES NEVER FELT SO GOOD **It’s all about the Franks on The Pit today. The sweet and smiley Mr Frank Iero couldn’t be more different to Frank Carter (if Carter’s a pitbull then Iero is a pug), but that’s the beauty of today’s bill and the ex-My Chemical Romance man is as much of a hero to his demographic as the ex-Gallows singer is to his own. Songs off his debut solo record Stomachaces sound amazing, and the fervour and zeal with which his band the Celebration recite the songs is matched by a level of enthusiasm that does the name justice. Once again, we can’t help but feel like the world is wonderful place to live in whilst there’s music like this being played and received with equal amounts of excitement. (MS)
Frank Iero andthe Cellabration | Sandra Sorensen
A CANCER BATS SHOW IS NEVER, EVER DULL For anyone that missed Cancer Bats’ explosive set in The Pit, don’t worry - frontman Liam Cormier promises mid-set that they’ll be back in the UK in January 2016 for a headline tour in the ‘smallest, dirtiest’ venues the UK has to offer. Judging by the response this gets from the crowd, they’ll sell out every single one. Between driving tracks like Pneumonia Hawk, R.A.T.S. and Hail Destroyer, the band show a cuddlier side by declaring their love for their friend and The Pit’s host Daniel P Carter, and the crowd is fully hyped by the time they bust out the thrash-fuelled anthem Lucifer’s Rocking Chair. (TDG)
Cancer Bats | Sandra Sorensen
WHILE SHE SLEEPS BURN THEIR BRIDGES WITH YORKSHIRE ‘Sorry, Leeds, but this is already way better!’ declares Loz Taylor early in the set, showing that despite being a Sheffield native, he’s not afraid to say when the party is really down South. The Pit isn’t big enough to accommodate all the festival-goers who’ve shunned The Libertines in favour of While She Sleeps’ aggressive metalcore, but even those outside the tent are moving to the storming Dead Behind The Eyes and New World Torture. The crowd shouts every word back at the band at the top of their lungs, and the raw energy makes it easy to forget that While She Sleeps aren’t actually The Pit’s headliners - Refused, who Loz bigs up as one of his favourite bands, are on next. The crowd moves as one to explosive closing track Four Walls, and if ever there was a reason to put While She Sleeps on a bigger stage next year, it’s the response they just got in The Pit. (TDG)
While She Sleeps | Will Ireland
SOME NEEDS TO GET BURY TOMORROW’S VOCALIST A SWEAR BOX Listening to Dani Winter-Bates rabble-rousing in The Pit, you’d be forgiven for thinking ‘motherfucking’ is simply a casual form of punctuation. If he popped a quid into a swear box every time he dropped the M-bomb, he’d stand to make up all the money he’s potentially losing by not charging for meet-and-greets. Yes, Bury Tomorrow are dead against that tacky practice and don’t mind telling the audience so. “If you know our band, you’ll know we hate paid-for VIP bullshit,” Dani declares, before saying that “bands should want to meet you motherfuckers!” And there’s his favourite word again.They also unleash a hardcore-tinged new song, complete with the kind of soaring chorus we love these guys for, and sent the audience into a frenzy as they finish with Lionheart. Oh, and the fourth album’s on the way, which is nice. (TDG)
Bury Tomorrow | Will Ireland
REFUSED AREN’T FUCKING DEAD The crowd for legendary Swedish hardcore punks Refused is bewilderingly small. It makes you question what the hell is wrong with kids these days, but you also can’t blame them for not knowing who the band are. The world as a whole didn’t twig on to how awesome they were the first time around, which is why they broke up in the first place. But those smart enough to be in The Pit for the closing act of weekend are gathered in the collective knowledge that the Refused are not fucking dead. They’re back with a vengeance, and they’re as brilliant as they’ve always been. A world class act, and a fine way to end a fantastic weekend of live entertainment. Now someone hand over the Berocca. (MS)
Refused | Sandra Sorensen
Reading 2015 round-up: Day One
