Phoenix FM at Reading Festival 2008

Phoenix FM's review of this year's festival - scroll down for photos

Interview pages: Biffy Clyro | Attack! Attack! | XX Teens

Eddie Curry and Steve Mead spent the August bank holiday weekend, as they often do, in a noisy, smelly corner of occasionally-sunny Berkshire.

Eddie says:

A lot of the bands I've enjoyed seeing in half-empty tents over the years, such as Editors, We Are Scientists and Bloc Party, were elevated to the main stage this year and for the first time I spent almost half my time in the big field. This was nearest to the clean (ish) toilets in the guest area, so it wasn't all bad news.

It seemed that most of the bands in the NME tent this year were not only playing to a full audience but also to thousands of people camped outside. It was difficult to get inside for bands such as Foals and Mystery Jets but they both delivered two of the best sets of the Saturday.

I also enjoyed sets from Los Campesinos!, Hadouken! and Attack! Attack! (There's a tip for bands looking for good reviews next year). Hadouken! had a disturbingly young crowd and I felt more at home with Yeasayer, who sadly spent too long twiddling about with their levels, and only managed to crack out four songs on the NME stage on Sunday morning. Watching their folky offerings while eating a big yorkshire pudding smothered in gravy which hadn't been on the boil for 12 hours was one the of highlights of my weekend.

Other highlights were the joys of the Festival Republic stage and the deserted and extremely comfortable lounge bar behind it.

One big complaint is the terrible sound delivered generally this year. The NME stage always sounds like my PC speakers amplified through a series of bassy, raspy megaphones, but even the main stage was very poor this year, particularly on Saturday evening. I was only about 100 yards from the stage and Bloc Party sounded like they were playing underwater.

It's okay for freeloaders like us (well it's not, since we still have to give up a weekend and do work there) but why would anyone want to pay £140 to hear such poor sound quality?

Steve says:

Friday:

80 miles, 2 1/2 hours. Eventually got to Reading after an early start, popping into Phoenix Towers early so as to grease the wheels of industry and avoid any complications in my absence over the weekend. So we parked in Oxfordshire, I kid you not, the "white" car park for the festival was in a different bl**dy county. We met our native trekkers at the base camp, otherwise known as the wristband exchange, and was escorted right through the site by a very nice security guard (more on security guards later). Eventually got my pass for the festival and got into the arena at about 2pm, only 4 hours after setting off (more on journey times later).

I had an interview booked with Biffy Clyro for just before three so made my way to the press area for that, as I entered the area a security guard nearly pulled my pass to bits and helpfully informed me "try not to lose that or you won't get back in". Did the interview with James from Biffy Clyro as they recovered from a heavy night at the Kerrang awards the evening before. Went back into the arena to see Biffy Clyro and catch a bit of the Duke Spirit whom I was meant to interview later in the day along with Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip. The Duke Spirit were awesome, I believe the lead singer, Leila, to be slightly affected, the interview should have been a good one. Headed back to the main stage to see Biffy Clyro, they were very good indeed, most pleasing on the ear. Halfway through the set I tried to get back stage to do a couple more interviews, as I went through the security cordon a different security guard yanked my pass off, took it from me and refused to enter civil conversation on how to rectify the situation, thank you very much security guard number 46 - I use his number as he refused to give me his name, like I say, he was a nice guy. Now at this point I am now festival pass-less and if stopped in the same bracket as the predominantly scouse thieves and drug dealers who seem to have AAA passes on the site. The promotion company who kindly sorted us with press passes were absolutely fantastic and rectified the situation immediately once I got to the main entrance, but I lost two hours nearly and missed the opportunity to do some interviews along the way. I spent the rest of Saturday in a dark mood and watched The Teenagers, Queens Of The Stone Age and the MIGHTY Rage Against The Machine, who were; it must be said, super fantastic, naturally playing a greatest hits set. Starting the performance dressed as Guantanamo Bay detainees in orange boiler suits with Black bags on their heads, they even played the first track in the said garb. Also saw One Night Only, The Enemy, and The Wombats in the press area too.

Saturday:

80 miles, 4 hours, oh yes, an average of 20 miles an hour, I love this country's road infrastructure. Moan over, we had an interview organised with Attack! Attack! who were playing on the BBC Introducing stage. We had to reschedule this due to the transport situation, but at least this gave us the opportunity to see them perform. Saw the Subways, had a nice chat with Charlotte too, which is always the highlight of any day. Saw The Mystery Jets and Ting Tings in a packed NME tent, then saw Attack! Attack! on the BBC Introducing Stage, they put on a storming set and drew a large, appreciative, crowd, which included a high proportion of Welsh people. Caught most of Editors too, my favourite band of 2007, they were very good, although struggled poor sound and had very little interaction with the crowd, I thoroughly enjoyed it though, good to see them again after 3 years. Went back stage to interview Attack! Attack!, lovely lads, very Welsh. More on the interview page. Spent the rest of Saturday watching Foals, Bloc Party and the Killers, so that's Foals twice in one week......Get in! Spotted Tubes and Sheephead from Soccer AM in the press area.

Sunday:

Got there in much better time on the Sunday to see the line up on the main stage in disarray, what with Slipknot and Avenged Sevenfold pulling out for various reasons. Watched Bring Me The Horizon, very good in my opinion, although the majority of the crowd seemed to disagree, bombarding the stage with whatever they can lay their hands on. Myself and Sir Edward Curry interviewed the XX Teens, see the interview for confused details. Saw various amounts of Hadouken! (Nice Prodigy cover), Lethal Bizzle, Lightspeed Champion, saw all of Feeder (lovely), Tenacious D (trying) and finally the mighty Metallica, who were fabulous, so much better than when I last saw them at Reading in about 2003 (ish). Finally I got spotted by Snell, formerly Towers Of London, now Day 21, which gave me a warm feeling inside.

All in all the festival was a success for Phoenix FM, although the new band uniform of pointy shoes, tight black jeans and over sized military style wool coat make it incredibly hard to differentiate between them when trying to obtain interviews, so with that in mind the XX Teens were a pleasure to interview!

And some more photos.