Josaka - Berkshire live music, indie record label, gig promoter

Reading preview

Posted: Fri, 28 Aug 2009

Reading Festival weekend is upon us and this got me thinking...not everyone starts their festival weekend the same way. Here’s how, several Reading festivals in, my weekend will be rolling.

Thursday

Now this has already happened, so I can be pretty factual.

Some people, like my younger brother, waited to get their GCSE results yesterday (well done bro, good results, who needs German anyway - speak loudly and slowly and the world will understand you, it’s a British tradition) before heading to the festival site to drink lager and sit in tents and ponder the weekend ahead.

Sadly, I had a days work to knock out before I could leave London, jumping aboard the 1806 to Frome to do so. I disembarked at the thinking man’s festival train station (Theale) where we were met by my wife’s mum. After some lovely food and a chat we headed into Reading where I was compere for The Wookies pre-Reading party. Lots of rum and good sets from Sixty Watt Bayonets, The Wookies and The Northwestern . Later Kevin, Ruth and I headed for the casino opposite the festival site, where after some roulette and steak baguettes we called it a night. Good start.

Friday

A leisurely start after a good night’s rest, I sat down to type this preview with the hope of completing it in time to catch Sixty Watt Bayonets on the BBC introducing stage at 12.45pm.

I’m then planning to catch up with friends and see some bands I’ve never seen before but without any firm plan, a flexible Friday. Later on I’ll be trying to miss Little Boots but catch Bombay Bicycle Club, Jamie T and rounding it all off with Kings of Leon.

Saturday

Maybe a light lunch outside of Reading before heading to catch The Petebox who I’ve only seen on YouTube - he is on the alternative stage and Baddies, Metric, The Maccabees, The Gossip and The Rakes all seem stong contenders. Ian Brown and The Prodigy are both on the main stage later on and I think it’ll be hard to be anywhere else.

Sunday

Sunday will be busy, there are lot of bands I’d like to see. Love her or hate her or just wonder how you could miss Radiohead for anyone, it’s pretty tempting to watch La Roux headline the Festival Republic stage. On the same stage I want to see The Hot Rats, The Golden Silvers, The Rumble Strips and Bear Hands. Lethal Bizzle and Frank Turner are next to each other on The NME/Radio 1 stage and the main stage has Radiohead, Bloc Party, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Vampire Weekend - I think there’s a distinct risk I’ll end up sitting in the middle of it all confused with a flat beer wondering where I’m meant to be.