Woke up not nearly as hungover as I should have been and was thinking a quick bite before the onslaught resumed! Up and out to the town center for a look 'round and something to eat. We got off the bus and quickly found a nice Spanish tapas place and headed in. Some nice reggae and dub on, we eat some killer plates of food (intense sausages from the different regions of Spain) and get a cab to the backstage. Saturday is usually my day to go "large" as they say here. Today is the unofficial "English" day during the fest every year. Seen some amazing sets, some monstrous screw ups by acts and have had some of the best experiences this day.
My friend had run into a publicist he knows from London and she had mentioned that the "surprise" of the day was going to be an unannounced set by Them Crooked Vultures. The super group of Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones and Josh Homme. They had supposedly played a surprise set in Leeds yesterday at the sister fest of the Reading Festival. Cool I thought, as the Chicago show was a Lollapalooza after show at Metro and it sold out in 5 seconds. It was to be around 4pm in one of the tents this afternoon. More on this later! So I talked David and Lidia into seeing the Eagles Of Death Metal and I hoped they wouldn't make me a loser for picking them to start our day. We enter the site backstage and it's a killer day, especially for the UK at this time; here we go!! Lager in hand, we head out to the main stage for those great guys from L.A......Eagles Of Death Metal.
Right away I notice that Josh Homme (of Queens Of The Stoneage) is not on drums. He is the usual drummer for this project of he is involved in that seems to have morphed into something very cool and kick ass! So this was a great clue regarding the Them Crooked Vultures secret set sometime later today at a to be determined stage. I have to say that Jesse Hughes (lead guitarist and vocalist) is a front man's front man. Young wannabee lead singers take notes, this guy is the real sh*t! This guy takes an audience and sweet talks them into following any of his leads. Great pacing and killer audience interaction make him one of the few bright spots on the US rock scene at the moment. I have to say that one of this summer's better songs is their "Wanna Be In LA" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj3kTdx1QBw), this song has a undulating pulse that sends your hips crazy. The set was nothing short of brilliant and the Reading crowd responded nicely to Jesse and the boys. Now to figure out where the hell this secret set is suppose to be!
I had figured that the set was probably at the biggest of the tent stages; the NME tent. Metric had just finished and Patrick Wolf was playing there now, so we headed that way. Did not know much about Patrick Wolf and after seeing some of his set; I am probably not going to know much more than what I witnessed this afternoon. Not my cup of tea, too forced and a bit too artsy. He seems to have some nice haircuts on his promo pages and seems to have his make up done nicely, but no soul and a bit too processed for me. The kids who were there seemed to like it and relate to him or something. It was now after 4pm and no sign of the secret band. Another quick look at the set times for each stage and I noticed a large time gap between ole' Patrick and the next act scheduled; You Me At Six. This must be our stage and we are closing in on the set of Them Crooked Vultures...alright! Patrick mercifully puts an end to his thing and we venture into the massive tent. It is emptying out as we enter and we go up the left hand side and find a nice spot 25 or 30 yards away. Set change seems to take forever and we discuss what this will sound like. No one has heard any songs yet, other than the several shows they have played. One has to think that it will be "balls out" rock & roll....right? A power trio like Motorhead or ZZ Top? Slow and heavy? Fast and right between the eyes? Have to wait a bit longer for this to be uncovered. The band finally walks onstage and they look ready to rock. Pretty cool to see Led Zep's John Paul Jones and Dave Grohl be a rhythm section! They were spot on all set and it was pretty much straight ahead rock. You definitely heard the Foo's and Queen's influences thru out. Josh handled most, if not all the lead vocals. Don't remember Dave singing, but he had to be doing backing vocals. Songs were good and well rehearsed; nothing really jumped out, I would love another listening to the set again. This is something to really watch and see where it goes. Could be cool or just minor dust up on the rock and roll highway. Only time will tell. We stayed for most of it and then decided it was time to see the monkey man himself....Ian Brown.
Let me just go on the record and say that....The Stone Roses were one of music's most over rated bands of all time. I have listened to that record many, many times and still to this day only hear a average at best pop record. Whatever everyone who hails this record must be on, please pass me over whatever you are smoking or in taking to make this sound so magnificent! I feel like the one person at the party who still doesn't get that joke from twenty minutes ago everyone is still pissing in their pants about...what? What are you hearing, because I am missing it totally. So there...I think Stone Roses blow...not as people, just as a mediocre Brit pop act. Give me Oasis, Suede or Super Furries any day! However; I do really like Ian Brown and most of his solo ventures. Saw him briefly at Glastonbury and liked the few songs I witnessed. So this was my big chance to see him in front of 40,000+ in his own backyard! Should be good and I talk several people from backstage into venturing out into the main pitch for Mr Brown. What a bummer, he started slow and seemed to grind to several halts during the set. You ever play a record on a turntable at the wrong speed; too slow? That's what it seemed like all set long. He was doing a poor man's Liam Gallagher swagger onstage and mumbled between songs. Played a lot of slow, ballad like songs and never really kicked it into gear. Very frustrating and time to exit stage left. This only confirms my Stone Roses dislike!
Someone finally puts a bullet in Ian's set and we are backstage drinking and laughing under a beautiful English afternoon. In the high 60's, a bit breezy and tons of white clouds high in the sky. This place freakin' rocks every time! I really should be the PR spokesman for this fest and city in the states; I could do it!! First we must focus on the task at hand, preparing for The Prodigy! One of today's most over the top sensory experiences you get find. I also have to explain that I owe my amazing wife a Prodigy (live set; not dj set...big diff!) set as I denied her 5 or 6 years ago at this same festival. It has been a huge, heavy burden I have lugged around for these many years and has put a bit of a hump in my back...LOL! It is a long and complicated story why we did not see them at that point in time; details that are not much relevant to this day, but Lidia was denied her chance to see one of her fav acts. This was the year I would set history straight and have her see them live and they better deliver!! Actually it is a funny story and sometime I will tell you, but that's for a rainy day. Onto to The Prodg.....and what a set it was. They came out and pummeled 60,000+ into happy oblivion. F*ck me, they were all that and more. The lights, the sounds, the heaviness and the groove...they win by a long shot. "Breathe" was one of the first songs and it just ripped my head off. They had us all dancing for the entire set. "Omen" was next and just set it all off. It has been awhile since I was totally drained by one set of music and it felt great! Keith Flint is the consummate maniacal leader and Liam Howlett just puts together some of the best beats and grooves. It's Slayer goes to a rave and flogs you senseless with it's beats! Nice!! I'll take one of these every time thank you. We flowed backstage after being lovingly crushed for a final lager. Arctic's are next and we sat there thinking how great they are, but just never got to see them. We were totally satiated by Keith and Liam, we had no further need for musical nourishment. We jumped in a taxi and watched The Arctic's from the hotel bar; really nice and Lidia is happy!!
P.S. I did go large all day and evening and ended up pontificating, standing on my bed at 2am to the nice Jack Doolan. Luv ya Jack!! Check out his London based band: http://www.myspace.com/cypher16
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