We love Reading and Leeds. It’s an institution of the British Summer and each year, it’s one of the messiest of all the festivals. This year, we thought we’d get some memories from the other side of the barrier with a series of Reading Festival memories, and the first edition comes from three of our favourites from this year’s line up.
BLOOD RED SHOES
First up, we asked Laura of Blood Red Shoes what her standout reading memories are…
“Reading festival was the first festival I ever went to aged 15. It was amazing so I went every year until I was around 20 and then said to myself, I don’t want to go again until I play it (which I did shortly after!) My greatest memory was seeing PJ Harvey play the main stage. I got pretty close to the front and was looking up at this woman dressed in a mini skirt , bra, playing a telecaster. I couldn’t believe how cool she was!
At the time i was handing out Fanzines that I made with my friend and we were meeting all these PJ Harvey fans and singing along with them. It was one of my favourite times at Reading. Another memory I have was going into the Warped tent and I think The Living End were playing and I got into the mosh pit with MASSIVE guys and got completely beaten. I thought I was cool, but the next day I could hardly move and was just covered in black and blue bruises everywhere. I am not quite sure what the hell I was thinking!”
YOUNG GUNS
Former main stage heroes, Young Guns will grace a high up spot on this year’s Festival Republic stage at Reading / Leeds, so we though it was only appropriate to see what guitar John Taylor has as his standout Reading moment…
“The first festival I attended was Reading in ’99. I drank frozen daiquiris and watched Lit open the main stage. Little did I know that 11 years later my band would be playing the same slot. I always flash back to those two moments: looking at the stage from the crowd and looking at the crowd from the stage. I also can’t help thinking about blowing up baked bean tins, tossing bags of shit, making people drink my piss, yelling “I am Tiger Woods” and setting my tent on fire because I couldn’t be bothered to bring it home, but that’s another story.”
DEAF HAVANA
When we do this sort of thing, there’s always one who manages to throw in a comedy entry, and this time around it’s Lee Wilson from one of this year’s Main Stage openers, Deaf Havana…
“Lost my shoes and my phone at reading once”
Word for word.
More Reading / Leeds memories coming up soon, as well as massive preview, Punktastic’s top 10 moments of Reading as well!
TOM AYLOTT