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31/08/2004: "System failure..."

And the winner is... Danko Jones! My personal favourite at Reading Festival, Danko Jones pumped up the Carling Stage like no one else, pulling his sizeable tongue out and winning us all over. Watch out, this guy is good.



I greatly enjoyed Taking Back Sunday (although their show was poor), Thrice (amazing), Lostprophets (they know how to talk to the crowd) and Hundred Reasons (loved their song Unprotected).

Now the Reading Festival is probably one of the dullest Festivals I've been to. The crowd is passive and unresponsive. The atmosphere is mainstream, expensive and consumerist. The organisation is poor (directions, crowd control, layout, infrastructure). Maybe it's because this year's lineup wasn't the best (or the weather).

I don't know what security had in mind (probably nothing, judging from how sharp the bouncers looked, or maybe WMDs, stage storming and Osama bin Laden attending). But having 30 bouncers standing next to the stage behind big barriers can't prevent bored kids from chucking mud bombs and empty plastic bottles onto the stage. It was great fun - people yelled when mud hit the drums. Victims: The Rasmus played one song and gave up, G-Unit held on a bit longer.

The funniest thing in the world: signs warning people NOT to queue. Because in Britain, people queue all the time, even when not needed. In this case, people waiting for urinals didn't need to queue, only those waiting to sit down.

What will remain from my Reading Festival 2004 is basically the impression of a spoiled crowd not really enjoying themselves, too tired to jump up and down in the mud and too worried about where the closest Carling bar was located. Even in the middle of the mosh pit, it felt as if I was the only one having fun (except during Green Day maybe, which I didn't really enjoy).

So next year, it's definitely Glasto for me! (pix in the gallery)