Festival season round-up

This summer I attended Truck festival as well as Reading festival, I meant to write a post about Truck when I got home, and I started another post about who I was looking forward to seeing at Reading, but I ran out of time to finish either of them so instead I'm going to write a sort of round-up of who I saw over the summer and some highlights. Apologies for the lack of photos as I know it makes for a more boring post, I stupidly didn't take any but if you are interested in seeing any of my videos then they are included in my vlogs which you can watch here

Truck Festival 25th-28th July:

I wasn't originally planning on going to Truck until the Friday but I'm so glad I got early entry in the end as seeing Slaves was definitely one of my highlights of the weekend. They put on a really good show which I think was enhanced by the fact that they were playing in a tent and the crowd all seemed very up for it, especially in the middle (I did find myself a few rows from the front for a couple of songs, where the crowd were definitely a lot less energised). Despite only being a casual listener of this band before seeing them, I absolutely love them now and would without a doubt see them again. 

Highlights from the Friday would have to be Airways, Nothing But Thieves, and Wolf Alice. I used to be a huge Wolf Alice fan a couple of years ago and I do still really like them now so it was great to finally get to see them live, even though I was shattered and the weather wasn't fantastic. I also really wasn't expecting them to play 'Silk' so I was ecstatic when they announced it as it is one of my favourite songs. 

Saturday was probably the day I was looking forward to the most, pretty much mainly due to Don Broco, who were of course as good as always, and again always seem to have a great crowd. Ten Tonnes was also a lot of fun even though unfortunately I can't remember that much of it (I can remember it was good though). Foals' set was also brilliant as expected, despite being a lot further back in the crowd (didn't enjoy all the pushing near the front) and the encore with 'What Went Down' and 'Two Steps, Twice' was so good. 

Although Sunday was the day with the least music for me, Easy Life and Two Door Cinema Club both exceeded my expectations, and I've booked to see Easy Life again next month (I'd also be seeing TDCC at the o2 if I had the money). I think if I go to a set where I don't know every song but enjoy it just as much as I do at a set where I know all the lyrics then that is a good sign, and that was the case for both of these performances. 

Reading Festival 22nd-25th August:

I was definitely most excited for Friday at Reading to see The 1975 headline, which was of course incredible and probably one of the best nights of my life. I was slightly worried the crowd would be a bit 'pushy' especially as we managed to get not too far from the front, but I was pleasantly surprised and my only criticism of the set was probably the setlist, as I thought they might play some tracks that they haven't in a while. Obviously I completely understand playing a set with mostly singles though, especially for a festival where you are catering to a more mainstream audience. I also really enjoyed The Wombats' set on the Friday, especially when they played 'Tokyo' and I had it stuck in my head for pretty much the rest of the weekend. 

Moving on to Saturday, I started the day by seeing Boston Manor who are probably one of my favourite bands so it was good to finally see them live. They put on a great show but I think the size of the stage really let them down in the fact that their crowd wasn't big enough to fill the tent, and a smaller tent where the crowd wasn't split into sections would've benefited them a lot more. Next I saw slowthai who I was really intrigued to see, he definitely delivered one of the most energetic sets of the weekend, and I loved how much he got the crowd involved.

Then it got fucking hot and I didn't feel like doing much but I dragged myself to see Sports Team on my own later on and I was so glad I did. I've seen them once before and it was just so much fun so it was great to see them again and I'm glad I got to hear their newest single 'Here It Comes Again' live as it hadn't been released when I saw them before. To finish off the Saturday, we saw Post Malone who was probably one of the biggest surprises of the weekend for me as although I've always liked some of his songs, I've never really enjoyed any of his singles and for some reason I was pretty fed up while we were waiting for him to come on, but as soon as his set started I was so immersed in it and really loved it. 

I was really looking forward to the Sunday at Reading but unfortunately the heat was just too much at some points so I ended up not seeing/getting as close for some of the sets as I would've liked to. My highlight of the Sunday was undoubtedly Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes who were just incredible despite me not being in the pits for it (I got way too dusty during swmrs earlier in the day and didn't want to repeat it). I really loved how Frank spoke in between pretty much all of the songs and interacted so much with the crowd as well, he is probably the most charismatic frontman I've seen, and it made for a fantastic performance.

So that's festival season over for me for another year, I'll hopefully be attending Truck again in 2020 and perhaps Reading or Leeds too depending on the lineup. I'd love to go to 2000 Trees next year, as well as a day festival (hopefully Slam Dunk's lineup next year will be as good as it was this year).