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Live Review
by Fun Boy 3
26-8-2002
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| Three days of 'Musique sur l'herbe' |
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Live: Various
Carling Weekend Festival, Reading
Sunday, August 25, 2002
Reading Festi: Three days of ‘Musique sur l'herbe’
Day Three - 25 August 2002
Third day at any Festi is hard on the public, under-slept, over-partied, sexed-up, dogged-out all together. One suspects that music of the day has to be louder, bigger, more obvious… And so, the third Reading day provides the decibels and enough energy to keep you awake however sleep-deprived. But, to get to the top ‘rocking’…
There was another day at the Festi that is getting bigger by year. Other stages appear to be getting further from the Main one and it’s evident that more new ‘avenues’ of merchandise, food-stuffs and booze-supply are opening as the Festi gets ‘middle-aged’ (it’s nearing its big four-zero). Well, there is 50,000 capacity currently and for three-odd days this becomes a city in itself.
One thing that will never change at the Festi is the sanitary facilities and it is one of the rare places on the planet where you can regularly observe a row of dicks watering walls and fences while ladies – their loos are always besieged with long queues – use ‘Male’ cubicles. The best thing is total avoidance of bodily functions… Not ever having spend the night at the Richfield Avenue, I can only have horrific imagery of what other hygiene-keeping gizmos are on offer… Well, I’ve seen enough campers on the third Festi-day – they usually appear to have given up on everything but survival.
So, the Main stage presents a lot of reasons to get cracking once again, with Amen causing a bit of a stir and yet one can’t help but think that they’ve missed the boat sounding like yesterday’s hopefuls. Hundred Reasons are a Brit-combo that shows promise but not enough to figure in any serious manner on the world’s popularity scale, not the way Puddle Of Mudd appear to do so effortlessly although they are no more than mediocre. Incubus is one of the finest American bands but their kind of thoughtful’n’mellowish Hard Rock appears to be on different tracks when it comes to the Euro-taste.
Slipknot do their best mayhem act but it feels like the gimmick is wearing thin, unfortunately, and they could turn out to be a caricature of HM as Offspring are of punk. Gimme a break, Dexter, you are as genuine as Gareth and Will! Prodigy top the evening and it is a rousing show but one can’t help hearing the same sound as three years ago. The big surprise is a version of Madness’ ‘Nightboat to Cairo’, which they should have thought twice of covering. Two new songs get aired, ‘Trigger’ and ‘Nuclear’, the show’s actual opener. The band overran the 11.30pm curfew for 10 minutes and are expected to be fined £20,000!
On other stages was worth catching Spiritualized, Cornershop, Six By Seven and The Shining (Evening Session), The Streets’ proper live debut (Dance) with a surprise appearance of Oxide & Neutrino (also members of So Solid Crew) instead of defunct Anti Pop Consortium. Other notable stage-headliners were The Music (Carling), whose new album, ‘The Music’ (due out on 02 Sept) is worth checking out.
The trouble with the size of the Festi is that you can only see about 10 percent of what’s going on around and informed selection is more than vital but most punters are obliged watching their faves rather than exploring… Still, does Carling Weekend offer value for money? Well, on average there are 150 musical acts and at the price of £90 (inc. camping and car parking), it works out at 6 pence per act. Defo a monetary bargain with quality guaranteed!
(SashaS)
*
Day Two - 24 August 2002
Weather report: fair until Muse hit the stage and it pished down and hailed for 90 minutes!
One thing no-one could fail to notice is that the whole site was covered in posters proclaiming that “Despite general opinion there will be a new Foo Fighters album and it is called ‘One By One’.” Glad that’s cleared up otherwise we’d pestered with a doubt whether some impostors were topping the bill tonight. (The whole story being that after Dave Grohl’s live drumming stint with Queens Of The Stone Age, as well as recording all-but-one track for the stoner-rocker’s third album, released on Monday, he was gonna stick with them and nix the Foos.)
Anyway, before being rocked to the soul’s centre by the Foos on the Main Stage, the day’s supporting cast came from Muse (too overrated), Ash (too tame), Sum 41 (too jolly), The Hives (too f-retro), A (too safe), Andrew WK (too lost) and Vex Red (too s**tty). This line-up is of less quality than the Evening Session stage where we had the incendiary Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Jimmy Eat World, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Rival Schoals, Alec Empire, The Icarus Line and The Libertines (who appeared to have learned a thing or two from their producer, the former Clash guitarist/vocalist, Mick Jones).
Boutique stage has transformed into The Concrete Jungle Stage to provide a platform for Sick Of It All, No Use For A Name and (Spunge), with the Carling tent housing Ikara Colt, Ben Kweller, The Parkinsons and The (International) Noise Conspiracy. There is also a comedy stage but we find that the bands provide comic relief galore to be in need of extra lightly humoured divertimenti.
So, the Foos. Rocking but verbally-quiet show from Dave Grohl, apart from telling us that this is his sixth time at Reading (2 with Nirvana and the rest with FF). Presenting a mixture of new, ‘One By One’, material and classics – ‘Monkey Wrench’ causes a mass-mosh – it is a storming performance. And then, during ‘Stacked Actors’, Grohl runs around the pit, climbs an advertising hoarding and tongues the onsite’s video-screen camera, mouths ‘I Love You’, fingers his nose and uses the lens as a bogey depot.
Hero of the day: Ash drummer Rick McMurray who performed against doctor’s advice after breaking ribs in a bus crash in the USA. The band’s bassist, Mark Hamilton, spent half the ‘Greatest Hits’ set with a neck-brace.
Still, it’s the Foos who supplied the superiority lesson of the day.
(Klam Meraffe)
*
Day One - 23 August 2002
Whenever is the Carling Weeekend Festival time at Reading (or Leeds, for that matter) the big question is – dust or mud? Neither is particularly pleasant but dryness is infinitely preferable. Thus, the first day we had everything, from take-you-top-off to standing water. Well, it is the season of open-air music and you take everything nature throws at you.
The feelgood afternoon of the Festi turned into a rain-refreshing sequence during the opening songs of Jane’s Addiction, thus spoiling the enjoyment of one of most promising comebacks of recent years. The American alt.legends reformation ten years down the road is seen as Perry Farrell coming to terms with within-grasp mega-success he rejected after the brilliant album ‘Ritual Do La Habitual’ 11 years ago. (His refusal to occupy the position has been fulfilled by Ant Keidis and Red Hot Chili Peppers, at one point joined by Jane’s guitarist Dave Navarro). Resplendent in all-white suit with an elaborate hat, Farrell conducted his Addict-ors into a splendid performance, one of the finest of the afternoon.
Competition was fierce as they were sandwiched between Weezer and Pulp (both excellent in their own way), with The Strokes topping the main stage’s bill: Julian Casablancas hobbled onto the stage on crutches (having injured his knee) and perched himself on a stool which laced his performance with a frustration that provided an extra edge. The band is go eager to move on from their breakthrough debut, ‘Is This It’, and song number four was the unreleased ‘Meet Me In The Bathroom’…
At the end, alike on their joint US tour, Jack White (of The White Stripes) came onstage to perform the guitar solo on ‘New York City Cops’. White, with his sis/squeeze(?) counterpart, entertained earlier in the day on the Main stage that was also crowded by Dandy Warhols, Mercury Rev and Moldy Peaches. The other stages were also stocked up with variety of well chosen artists: Feeder, The Breeders, The Vines, Guided By Voices (Evening Session), Dot Allison, Ladytron, Lo-Fidelity AllStars and Aphex Twin (Boutique), with new-hopers Interpol, The Datsuns, Princess Superstar and Polyphonic Spree gracing the Carling marquee.
Rumour of the day: Pulp’s last show as Jarvis Cocker will halt the band’s career.
Another goss of the day: Ash’s appearance on Saturday – in doubt after bus crash in the US – will go ahead as the band confirmed their support at Foo Fighters’ secret gig on Monday in London.
Guest area spotting: The Breeders’ Kim Deal (looking rough), Dave Navarro (Jane’s Addiction guitarist in ultra-Goth chic), David McAlmont, Perry Farrell (DJ-ing in a hospitality tent), Luke Hains, a couple of The Vines…
The daftest band moniker: PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES.
(Scott Sterling-Wilder)
Fun Boy 3
13-8-2003
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