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 needs. 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.
Starting things off on the final day of the festival, The Story So Far opened up the main stage with an energetic performance, which was set to get the crowd moving – setting a high mark for the rest of the acts to follow. Despite some of the crowd not knowing of the band before, there wasn’t many heads in the crowd not bobbing along to the bass line, showing that there is certainly something contagious about the pop punk band. The Australian female fronted Tonight Alive followed on the main stage, with strong vocals from Jenna playing many crowd favorites including ‘Listening’ and their newest single from the Spider Man Soundtrack, ‘The Edge’. The bands confidence oozed out of their performance, and the true smiles from every member at the slightest vocal response from the crowd showed just how much they appreciate and treasure every moment on stage. It was clear to see that Young Guns had their heart set on making an impression on the festival goers by the constant encouragement to get involved, however despite the impressive performance from the band there was a minimal response. Despite this, the band continues on and produces a performance to be proud of.
Being a band I have been wanting to see for a while, Papa Roach were a band that I had high expectations of and I was very happy to see every expectation I had was met. Vocalist Jacobi wasn’t scared of crowd interaction; in fact I am sure around half of the performance was spent on the ground giving the fans memories that they will never forget. Ending on everyone’s favorite ‘Last Resort’ the crowd erupted, proving to still be everyone’s favorite.
With the crowd packed, A Day To Remember stormed onto the main stage armed with flying toilet rolls and t-shirt launchers, set to impress. ‘All I Want’, ‘All Signs Point To Launderdale’ and ‘Homesick’ were definitely crowd pleasers, with multiple mosh pits and a constantly moving crowd, A Day To Remember were truly welcomed back to Reading Festival.
You Me At Six were easily one of the most anticipated acts of the weekend and with the addition of All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth during Fresh Start Fever the crowd were not disappointed. With somewhat mediocre vocals from front man Josh Franceschi, the band played through a mixture of new and old tracks catering to every fan present. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are one of the most influential acts to brace the Reading and Leeds main stage this year after their astounding actions when releasing their debut album ‘The Heist’. Playing ‘Can’t Hold Us’ twice added emphasis to their act, however I could not complain as this was my personal favorite track from the record. Certainly one of the best acts to help draw the weekend to a close.
Keep your eye on the Summer Festival Guide website for the final instalement of our Reading Festival one week on which includes our thoughts on this years headliners!