Basement Jaxx for Isle of Wight

Basement Jaxx are the first confirmed act for next summer's Isle of Wight Festival (12-14th June). They will play second on the bill on the Friday.

Reformed Blur to perform in Hyde Park

Blur will play a live show in Hyde Park in Summer 2009.
Graham Coxon will join Alex James, Dave Rowntree and Damon Albarn onstage for this first time since their Royal Festival Hall performance in 2000.
The concert will take place at London's Hyde Park on Friday 3rd July 2009, and tickets will be on general sale from 9am Friday 12th December 2008 at www.livenation.co.uk.
All tickets are £45.00, are limited to six per person, and subject to a booking fee.
Not sure if this is part of the O2 Wireless Festival, which last year was three days, but this year's festival is listed as being Sat 4th July and Sunday 5th July.

Isle of Wight 2009 tickets on sale

Tickets for next year's Isle of Wight Festival, which takes place on 12th-14th June are on sale now. Adult tickets, including camping are £140. There's no news yet as to who's playing, though. For further info or to order, see www.isleofwightfestival.com/

Phoenix 94 bootleg online

A radio recording of three bands live at the 1994 Phoenix Festival is available to download. It's a big file (160Mb) and contains tracks by three bands: Goats (no, I don't know them, either), Carter USM and The Wonderstuff (who were playing their farewell show at the festival). You can get it from here: http://live-bootleg.blogspot.com/

Word reviews Reading

The latest issue of Word (on sale now) has a half-page review of Reading (plus some glaring historical inaccuracies concerning the 1986 line-up...). Additionally, the magazine contains a reprint of John Peel's review of the 1977 festival, which is taken from a forthcoming book of the great man's writings for various magazines, and consists mostly of his recollections from the bar, rather than actually seeing many bands. Sounds like a great way to experience the festival to me...

Reading gets new festival

The Reading Festival site is to host a new "world music" festival. The two-day Heavenly Planet Festival will take place on 10th and 11th July 2009, and is expected to attract 15,000 people. The local council have committed to the new festival for three years.

Reading 2008 Downloads

OK, none of this strictly legal, your honour, but here are the Reading 2008 sets I've found on the web so far:

Babyshambles
Bloc Party
Cajun Dance Party
The Cribs
Dizzie Rascal
Editors
The Enemy
Feeder
Foals
The Last Shadow Puppets
Justice
The Music
Mystery Jets
Pendulum
Queens Of The Stone Age
The Raconteurs
The Rascals (9 songs)
Seasick Steve
The Subways
We Are Scientists

Can't tell you anything about sound quality, source of the audio or anything else, as I haven't downloaded them. I suspect they're either from TV or radio highlights broadcasts.

Council praises Glastonbury

Mendip District Council have praised the organisers of Glastonbury, describing it as "possibly the best managed event of its kind in the world. We know how important it is to Mendip and how important it is to ensure it remains one of the best in the world," added Mendip councillor Tom Killen. The festival has also come in for praise from Avon and Somerset Constabulary, the Environment Agency, Somerset Primary Care Trust and Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue.

Glastonbury 2009 headliners "confirmed soon"

Emily Eavis has stated that next year's Glastonbury headliners will be confirmed soon, but states that they don not include (as rumoured) Coldplay, U2 or The Rolling Stones. She did, however, confirm that Franz Ferdinand and The Ting Tings will be playing. Bookmakers are currently making Radiohead favourites, followed by Oasis and Muse. Tickets for next year's festival go on sale on 5th October.

Babyshambles Reading set on-line

A portion of Babyshambles' Reading 2008 set is online. Not sure what the quality's like, but I suspect it's from a radio broadcast, as it looks like part of the full show. Download it by clicking here.

Reading 1978 remembered in Uncut

The latest issue of Uncut (on sale now) has a one-page feature on the 1978 Reading Festival, which saw the arrival of punk acts, including Sham 69, Penetration and The Jam at the festival. The article has several eye-witness accounts of the festival and some pictures. Trawl around the darker recesses of the internet and you may find the TV broadcast of that year's festival, too, which is well worth seeing if you get the chance.

Ash to release 1996 Reading show

Ash are to release their 1996 Reading Festival set as part of an expanded "collectors' edition" re-issue of their debut album "1977". The triple-CD set also includes the mini album "Trailer", a live set recorded for Austrailian radio and a disc of rarities, B-sides and demos. Expected release date is 3rd November. For more details, and tracklisting, see the official Ash website.

Reading/Leeds review in NME

Today's NME contains a large review of the Reading/Leeds Festivals (strangely no mention of Black Tide - what were they thinking about?!). Also, the now traditional aerial photos of the festival sites. Try and spot your tent. It's actually pretty thin coverage of the festivals, with a bias towards Leeds, and I couldn't find any mention of The Ting Tings storming set, either. On sale now, for £2.20.

White car park fire

12 cars were destroyed and nine damaged in a fire in White car park at Reading. The fire was apparently caused by a festival-goer attempting to have a barbecue by their car. This set fire to the dry grass in the field and quickly spread to other parked cars. What a moron. Coming back to the car park to find your car destroyed would really ruin your weekend. If anyone knows anything about the fire, or who started it, contact Berkshire Police.

Reading highlights on BBCi

The BBC is showing extended highlights from Reading all this week on its "red button" interactive service, with sets from one band each day:
Wednesday: Editors
Thursday: Biffy Clyro
Friday: Metallica

Film showings at Reading

There will be movie screenings at Reading after the music finishes. The cinema runs from midnight – 4.00am in the Dance Tent.

Here's the line-up:
Friday: SPEED RACER (PG) + JUMPER (12A)
Saturday: IRON MAN (12A) + THE SIMPSONS MOVIE (PG)
Sunday: I AM LEGEND (15) + CLOVERFIELD (15)
+ SHORTS PROGRAMME (See Cinema tent for details)

They built a bridge!

Good news for White car park ticket holders - Reading organisers have built a foot bridge across the river, so the wait for ferries should be eliminated. On the downside, however, you will now have to exchange your ticket for a wristband upon entrance to the site (ie when you're loaded to the gills with tents, sleeping bags etc). There are a number of other changes to the general campsite layout, which can be seen on the latest site map (click to view/download, depending on your browser). Here's a JPEG of the map, which you can also click to see (but it's not as big):

T in the Park highlights on TV

BBC has extensive T in the Park coverage this weekend:

Friday:
7.30-8.30 BBC3: Stereophonics, The Verve, Feeder KT Tunstall, Scouting For Girls
10.30-11.45 BBC3: The Verve, Chemical Brothers, Stereophonics and Feeder

Saturday:
7.00-8.30 BBC3: The Kooks, the Raconteurs, the Pigeon Detectives, Reverend and the Makers, We Are Scientists
10.00-11.30 BBC3: Kaiser Chiefs and the Fratellis

Sunday:
7.00-9.00 BBC3: Amy Winehouse, Kings of Leon, Pendulum and the Zutons
11.45-2.00am BBC3: REM,the Prodigy and Primal Scream

Morrissey @ O2 Wireless Festival download

Get this before it's removed - the whole 90 minute show was broadcast on the radio, and some kind person has uploaded it for all to enjoy in mp3 form. To download (53Mb): click here: Morrissey O2 Wireless Festival

New official beer for Reading

With Reading and Leeds' Carling branding no more, Tuborg has stepped in as official beer supplier adding to the brand's roster of summer festivals which includes Download Festival, 02 Wireless Festival, Hard Rock Calling, Global Gathering, Latitude Festival, and Escape into the Park. The Reading/Leeds partnership is for three years. “These are fantastic music events for the Tuborg brand to establish its 'official beer' status and continue to build on its music credentials in the UK,” said Gareth Roberts, Head of Sponsorship and Media at Carlsberg UK. Additionally, Strongbow Cider has been replaced at Reading and Leeds by Gaymers. Handily, at Download and Wireless these brews were both served in stumpy plastic bottles - ideal for throwing at crap bands...

Nirvana Reading 1992 DVD on sale

Nirvana's legendary last UK appearance at Reading 1992 is finally available on DVD. The tracklist is:
1. Drain You
2. Aneurysm
3. School
4. Sliver
5. In Bloom
6. Come As You Are
7. Lithium
8. About A Girl
9. Tourettes
10. Polly
11. Lounge Act
12. Smells Like Teen Spirit
13. On A Plain
14. Negative Creep
15. Been A Son
16. All Apologies
17. Blew
18. Dumb
19. Stay Away
20. Spank Thru
21. Love Buzz
22. The Money Will Roll Right In
23. D-7
24. Territorial Pissing
Initial reviews on play.com are less than positive, with buyers complaining about the picture quality, missing first track ("Breed") and the video company logo and track names being on screen all the time. Given that it doesn't appear to have any connection with Geffen (the band's old label) it may well be - effectively - a bootleg. Still, at £6.99 including delivery, it might be worth a punt. To find out more, click here: Nirvana Reading 1992 DVD

Classic Rock Festival special on sale

Actually, this has been out a few weeks, but it's still available in the shops. A one-off magazine, it covers all manner of festivals from Woodstock to Reading, and everything in between. The free cover-mounted DVD is disappointing (basically a sampler for DVDs in the "Live at Montreaux" series) but the mag itself is thoroughly excellent with superb photos. £5.99 from most retailers.

Pre-order Metallica's festival show

You can pre-order Metallica's Reading or Leeds festival shows for legal download in either mp3 or lossless FLAC versions from www.livemetallica.com. The mp3 version costs $8.95 (about £5), while the FLAC version is $11.65 (about £6). These prices save 10% on the post-tour prices. Look like bargains to me!

The Reading order page is here:
Metallica at Reading 2008.
For Leeds, click here:
Metallica at Leeds 2008.

Top Ten Disastrous Festival performances

Virgin Media has compiled a top ten of the most disastrous festival performances ever:
1. Rolling Stones, Altamont, 1969
2. Stone Roses, Reading, 1996
3. Bay City Rollers, Futurama, 1983
4. Meat Loaf, Reading, 1988
5. Morrissey, Madstock, 1992
6. Kevin Rowland, Reading, 1999
7. My Chemical Romance/Panic At The Disco, Reading, 2006
8. Daphne and Celest, Reading, 2000
9. Bad News, Monsters of Rock, 1986
10. 50 Cent, Reading, 2004
Read more here: Top Ten Disastrous Festival Performances

Actually, I reckon Daphne and Celeste triumphed by completing their two-song set. And where are The Rasmus, gloriously bottled off at Reading? Or Steel Pulse who met the same fate in 1983?

Meatloaf slates UK festivals

Porky rocker Meatloaf (left) has slated UK festivals, branding them "stupid" and claiming the crowds are "apes". In an interview the fat old has-been says: "We played with Jefferson [Starship] at one of those stupid English festivals, and I do call them stupid because people behave like apes who haven't eaten a banana in a week. I refuse to play them." He's referring to the 1988 Reading Festival where he was pelted with bottles of piss. He stopped playing to ask "You wanna rock 'n' roll, or you wanna throw stuff?" He was promptly hit in the face by a flagon of cider and stormed off. Presumably like a bat out of hell...

Free Glastonbury CD (and competition) with Q magazine

The latest issue of Q magazine (July 2008) comes with a free 14-track CD of tracks recorded at Glastonbury (mostly in 2007). Artists featured include Amy Winehouse, Paul Weller, The Fratellis and Goldfrapp. Also in this issue is a competition to win one of 23 pairs of tickets to the festival, and a further winner will get a VIP Glasto experience for themselves and three mates, including chauffer-driven transport, helicopter to the site, VIP backstage MyHab camping and £500 of clothes... Enter at http://blog.q4music.com/glastonbury2008/comp/ The keyword you need to enter is "AVALON".

Do Reading in style... at a price

Fed up with a soggy tent that falls down on Friday night? Now you can do Reading (or one of several other festivals) in style thanks to MyHab, who will have special MyHab areas in the campsite with prefabricated 'tents' made of waterproofed cardboard. They put them up and take them down, too, leaving the commited festival-goer more drinking time. The sites will also include hot showers, too. Each MyHab sleeps two people. Sounds brilliant, but (and it's a big 'but') each MyHab costs £240 for the weekend, ie £120 per person. Ouch! Still, if you're loaded and fancy a bit of luxury (or as luxurious as it gets without actually booking into a hotel) you can find out more at www.myhab.com. Actually, I'm quite tempted...

Dance/Lock Up Stages announced

Acts have been announced for the Dance and Lock Up stages at Reading/Leeds. The Dance Stage (Sunday) will host: CSS, Digitalism, Simian Mobile Disco, Chromeo, Crystal Castles, Lethal Bizzle, Holy Fuck, The Whip, Robots In Disguise, The Death Set, The Shoes

The Lock Up Stage again runs for two days (Friday and Saturday at Reading) and sees appearances by:
Friday:
Less Than Jake, Pennywise, Goldfinger, The Unseen, H2O, Frank Turner, The Loved Ones, Hexes

Saturday:
Gallows, Alkaline Trio, Thrice, Flogging Molly, MXPX, Cancer Bats, Set Your Goals, The King Blues, Fucked Up, The Gaslight Anthem, Random Hand

The Radio 1 stage has the following additions:
Friday:
Jack Penate, One Night Only, The Duke Spirit, Be Your Own Pet, Blood Red Shoes, Make Model

Saturday:
Seasick Steve, The Ting Tings, The Mystery Jets, Santogold, Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong, Kids In Glass Houses, Bombay Bicycle Club

Sunday:
The Music, hadouken!, Lightspeed Champion, Cajun Dance Party, Adam Green, Yeasayer, The Metros.

Finally, added to the Main Stage bill are:
British Sea Power, The Automatic, Alexisonfire

All of which leaves plenty of time to go to the pub.

Here's the line-up poster:

Noel Gallagher slams Jay-Z Glasto headline slot

Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher has slated the decision to book Jay-Z as a headliner at Glastonbury, claiming the decision is the cause of slow ticket sales for this year's festival. The singer said "If it ain't broke don't fix it," he said. "If you start to break it then people aren't going to go. I'm sorry, but Jay-Z? No chance. Glastonbury has a tradition of guitar music and even when they throw the odd curve ball in on a Sunday night you go 'Kylie Minogue?' I don't know about it. But I'm not having hip-hop at Glastonbury. It's wrong."

However, a more likely cause is that there are simply so many festivals these days that music fans are spoilt for choice. And Glastonbury is getting so big now that over-crowding could be part of the problem. One artist seems unlikely to be the cause of people not buying tickets - with several hundred act to choose from you can always see someone else, rather than the main stage headliner.

Free Metallica Donington download

Over at www.livemetallica.com you can download Metallica's 1985 Donington Monsters Of Rock set free of charge. It's free to sign up at the site and there's a good selection of free downloads from 1982-2003. Here's the full list of freebies:

10/18/1982 Old Waldorf, San Francisco, CA
12/18/1983 Agora Ballroom, Cleveland, OH
12/20/1984 Lyceum, London, UK
3/15/1985 Kabuki Theater, San Francisco, CA
8/17/1985 Donington Park, Donington, UK
5/24/1986 Arena Building, Cape Girardeau, MO
7/29/1986 UTC Arena, Chattanooga, TN
9/21/1986 Hammersmith Odeon, London, UK
2/13/1987 Frolundaborg, Gothenburg, SWE
2/3/1989 Erwin Events Center, Austin, TX
7/18/1992 Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ
6/17/1994 County Fairgrounds, Middletown, NY
8/23/1995 London Astoria II, London, UK
10/6/1996 NEC, Birmingham, UK
12/21/1996 Great Western Forum, Los Angeles, CA
7/8/1998 Blossom Music Center, Cuyahoga Falls, OH
7/19/1998 Great Woods Center, Mansfield, MA
5/21/1999 Frankenstadion, Nurnberg, GER
7/13/2003 Citrus Bowl, Orlando, FL

Additionally, you can buy many shows from recent tours - sadly the band's Reading Festival appearances are absent, but their Donington 2006 show IS available.

Reading/Leeds headliners

The headliners for this year's Reading/Leeds Festival will be:

Rage Against The Machine (Reading Friday/Leeds Saturday)
The Killers (Reading Saturday/Leeds Sunday)
Metallica (Reading Sunday/Leeds Friday).

The full line-up anounced so far is:

(Reading Friday/Leeds Saturday)
Rage Against The Machine, Queens Of The Stone Age, The Fratellis, The Enemy, Biffy Clyro, Serj Tankian, Dizzee Rascal, Taking Back Sunday, Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly, and Anti-Flag.

(Reading Saturday/Leeds Sunday)
The Killers, Bloc Party, The Raconteurs, Editors, We Are Scientists, Dirty Pretty Things, and The Subways.

(Reading Sunday/Leeds Friday)
Metallica, Tenacious D, Slipknot, Feeder, Avenged Sevenfold, and Dropkick Murphys.

Radio 1/NME Stage
(Reading Friday/Leeds Saturday)
A special co-headline between Babyshambles, and The Wombats, and also appearing Vampire Weekend, and MGMT.

(Reading Saturday/Leeds Sunday)
Manic Street Preachers, Bullet For My Valentine, Justice, and Foals.

(Reading Sunday/Leeds Friday)
The Cribs, Conor Oberst, and Pendulum.

Tickets appear to be sold out at the moment, but there will be returns/further releases nearer the time, so don't panic.

Reading/Leeds tickets on sale tonight

From 6.45pm tonight (Monday 31 March) you will be able to buy Reading/Leeds Festival tickets tickets through nme.com. The first line-up details will be announced at the same time, with 0rganiser Melvin Benn claiming this year's festival will "blow everything else out of the water." Given that this is the ridiculous hyperbole that normally precedes the headliners announcement, let's not hold our breath.

Latest Reading headline rumours

Current rumours suggest Rage Against The Machine (Friday), The Killers (Saturday) and Metallica (Sunday). Possible further rumours (or a confirmation of these) in this week's NME.
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More Download acts announced

Incubus, Coheed & Cambria, Alter Bridge, Disturbed, In Flames and Children of Bloom have all been added to the Download bill (13-15 June).
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BBC 6 Music listeners compile Festival manifesto

BBC 6 Music got listeners to compile a "Festival Manifesto", which the station then took to festival organisers, including Reading's Melvin Benn. Here's the manifesto:

SIZE
Make festivals smaller and more personal
PRICE CAPPING
Lower ticket prices into line with the rest of Europe
BAN THE VIP
Get rid of VIP areas
BE LESS CORPORATE
Don't sell every inch of space to the highest bidder
FAN REPRESENTATION
Arrange focus groups with festival-goers to find out how events can be improved
BE MORE ENVRIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE
Use more recyclable materials or charge a deposit for reusable pint cups like Latitude
IMPROVE TRANSPORT
Offer more, cheaper public transport to reduce traffic
BAN FOOD & DRINK RACKETS
Allow people to bring their own food & drink
REDUCE QUEUES
Sort out better queuing systems and widen bottlenecks
GO ON LATER
More music going later into the night

I'll take a listen to Benn's podcast response later (a written response on the official site is conspicuous by it's absence) - but I don't hold much hope of any of these ideas happening at Reading...
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Glastonbury headliners

Jay-z, The Verve and The Kings Of Leon look like being the headline acts at Glastonbury this summer. Confirmed artists so far are Neil Diamond, Leonard Cohen, Hot Chip and Elbow. Sounds like a laugh a minute...
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T In The Park main acts announced

This summer’s T In The Park festival (11-13 July) will be headlined by The Verve (Friday), Rage Against The Machine (Saturday) and REM (Sunday).

Kings of Leon are also on the Main Stage on the Sunday, Kaiser Chiefs headline the NME/Radio 1 Stage on the Saturday, with The Prodigy headlining on the Sunday. The Pigeon Detectives and The Raconteurs will also play on the stage over the weekend.

Other bands announced are The Enemy, Interpol, Ian Brown, Primal Scream and The Fratellis
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Download headliners announced

The headliners and main acts for this summer's Download Festival (13-15 June) have been announced. Kiss, The Offspring and Lostprophets will top the bill over the three days, while among the supporting line-up are Judas Priest, Motorhead, HIM and Rise Against. The campsite will be open two days before the music starts, from midday on Wednesday 11 June. Tickets go on sale on Thursday 7th February. See www.downloadfestival.co.uk for more details.
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Metal tent pegs banned at Glastonbury

Festival goers at Glastonbury this summer will be forced to use bio-degradable tent pegs made from potato starch in a bid to keep the site free from abandoned metal pegs which harm the cows that graze in the fields after the revellers have gone. Apparently, organiser Michael Eavis has a "skipful" of left-over metal pegs from previous festivals. Quite how potato starch pegs cope in rock-hard ground is uncertain, but given Glastonbury's reputation for rain-sodden ground, that probably won't be an issue...
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Neil Diamond to headline Glastonbury

Legendary crooner Neil Diamond has been confirmed as Sunday night headliner for this summer's Glastonbury Festival (27-29 June). Organiser Michael Eavis also said that an American hip-hop artist will headline the Saturday night. Jay-Z or Kanye West are tipped for this slot.

All American headliners for Reading/Leeds

While not giving away any specific details, festival organiser Melvyn Benn has said that all three headliners will be American acts, and that all have played the festival before but "not necessarily as headliners." Rage Against The Machine, Green Day, Foo Fighters, Metallica, The Strokes, Marilyn Manson and The White Stripes are all strong possibilities as previous headliners, while The Killers, My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy are possibilities for those that haven't previously topped the line-up.

Benn also stated that he has recently bought a piece of land that he'd previously hired for the festival as a way of ensuring the long-term future of the event and that they were putting more roads in on the site and would be making the main arena a lot bigger for this year's event. So, that'll either mean less overcowding in the arena or more people allowed in.

The Wonder Stuff at Reading 1992 on CD

Highlights of The Wonder Stuff's Friday night headlining slot from 1992 are now available on CD, along with sessions from the Janice Long and Mark Goodier radio shows. The second disc includes 16 tracks recorded in Leicester in 1994 and three songs from their 'farewell' performance at the Phoenix Festival, also in 1994. None of the songs have been released before. Here's the festival tracks:

Reading 28/08/92
Red Berry Joy Town BBC
Who Wants To Be The Disco King?
Radio Ass Kiss
Mission Drive
Cartoon Boyfriend
Donation
Play
Circle Square
Cabin Fever
Room 410
A Wish Away
Piece Of Sky
Give Give Give Me More More More

Phoenix Festival15/07/94
It's Yer Money, I'm After Baby
Unbearable
Good Night Though

You can get this 2CD set for just £5.29 (including postage!) from www.101cd.com

Isle of Wight 'sold out'

The 2008 Isle of Wight Festival is apparently sold out. Headliners are The Police, Sex Pistols and The Kaiser Chiefs. Also rumoured to be playing are The Zutons, though they are keeping a very low-profile at the moment. Watch this space to see more tickets available nearer the time, just like every other festival...

MPs reject call to ban internet ticket touts

Once again, after much debate a government committee has done sweet FA. In this case, they have rejected the idea of banning online ticket touts, despite recognising that there are "dubious practices" in place among some agencies. Instead they have recommended that artists and venues profit from the proceeds of these inflated ticket sales. Stupidly, they seem to have targetted sites such as ebay, rather than the organised touting agencies which buy tickets in bulk purely in order to sell on at huge profits.

The simplest solution would have been to make the selling of tickets above face value an offence. But no, we've got the usual ineffectual waffle.

Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis made the frankly daft suggestion of pre-registering and putting photos on tickets, which doesn't seem really practical - can you imagine the queues at venues as everyone has their photo checked on entering? It's one thing to pre-register for a big festival, quite another for a gig in a smaller venue where you may not decide months in advance that you're going.

One thing's for certain, organised online touting will continue to blight the concert-going experience in this country.