It’s officially been one week since we were stood in the middle of a field, listening to some of the best talent that one of the best festivals the UK has to offer. Back this year with some killer headliners and an insane line up; Reading Festival was set to please gig goers far and wide. With thousands heading towards the southeast, wither you are a metal head or EDM lover the line up catered for everyone need. We were lucky enough to head down to the festival to see what went down in arena. Wither you’re in the middle of the annual post festival flu, post festival depression or just looking to see what went down, keep reading to hear our thoughts on this years performances.
One of the first bands we checked out on the day were main stage openers Hacktivist, having headlined day festivals such as Camden Rocks before this summer, the boys had in store a treat for the festivals early birds with the bands remix of Jay Z’s ‘In Paris’ was certainly a crowd pleaser. Crossfaith were a personal highlight of ours, having seen them previously and known what a show they put on, seeing the crowd react in such a positive way for the Japanese metal band proved that they are truly infectious. Despite not being to everyone’s musical tastes, their stage presence along was enough to attracting ongoing passers by.
Mallory Knox took a well deserved (and earned) step up on the Reading Festival ladder going from main stage openers to NME stage midday artists, attracting a very large crowd showed just how much these boys have stole everyone’s hearts. Playing their newest track ‘Ghost In The Mirror’ proved a crowd favorite, especially after the significant backing from BBC’s Radio One. Enter Shikari gathered a decent size crowd on Friday evening, playing crowd pleasing ‘Arguing With Thermometers’ and ‘Sorry You’re Not a Winner’ creating mosh pits that many up and coming bands would love to see at their show. Showing no matter how long they maybe away from live music for, the fans still wait.
Duke Dumont played a very energetic set over in the dance tent, proving ever so popular there was no room to move within the tent with many more bodies trying to squeeze their way into the full capacity tent. Following on the same stage is a Summer Festival Guide favorite, Wilkinson created an atmosphere that grabbed and held everyone’s attention from the word go. With not one body stood still, MC Adapt was a great addition to the set constantly keeping the crowd going. Playing the new track ‘Dirty Love’, Wilkinson proved to be one of the best artists Friday’s line up.
To hear our thoughts on this years headliners and the rest of the weekends artists, make sure you check back here each day until Sunday night as we look back one week on from Reading Festival.