Glastonbury 2010 sold out

All tickets for the 40th anniversary Glastonbury Festival in 2010 are now sold out. Any returns will go on sale at some point in 2010. U2 are the only confirmed headliners, playing the Friday night in their first-ever Glasto appearance. Also confirmed are The Wurzels, Dub Pistols and Squeeze.

Isle of Wight 2010 acts announced

The 2010 Isle of Wight Festival, which run from Friday 11th June to Sunday 13th June has announced its first acts. Jay-Z will headline the Friday night; Saturday will be topped by The Strokes, with Blondie second on the bill. Sunday sees Pink in the 'special guest' slot (presumably second on the bill) with the headliner to be announced. Additionally, Orbital will play on the Saturday (second stage headliners, by the look of it), and Squeeze will play on the Tursday night, which will be available for weekend campers only. Tickets can be bought now from www.isleofwightfestival.com

Hard Rock Calling 2010 first act announced

Next year's Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park will run for three days (Friday 25th June to Sunday 27th June), and the first headliner announced is for Friday 25th June, which will be Pearl Jam. Tickets are on 'pre-sale' now via www.hardrockcalling.co.uk

Wireless 2010 headliner announced

Yes, you saw that correctly - it's Pink, who will be supported on 2nd July by The Ting Tings and other acts to be announced. I was really looking forward to a day out in Hyde Park next year... let's hope Hard Rock Calling's acts are better than this.

Nirvana at Reading 1992 released

Nirvana's legendary 1992 headline appearance at reading has finally been released on CD, DVD and a limited edition DVD/CD double-pack. The DVD contains the full show, while the CD omits 'Love Buzz' and almost all of the between-song stage talk - presumably because there wasn't quite enough space for the whole show on one CD. 'Love Buzz' and all the chat are on the DVD, however. The full DVD tracklist is:

1. Intro
2. Breed
3. Drain You
4. Aneurysm
5. School
6. Sliver
7. In Bloom
8. Come As You Are
9. Lithium
10. About A Girl
11. Tourette's
12. Polly
13. Lounge Act
14. Smells Like Teen Spirit
15. On A Plain
16. Negative Creep
17. Been A Son
18. All Apologies
19. Blew
20. Dumb
21. Stay Away
22. Spank Thru
23. Love Buzz
24. The Money Will Roll Right In
25. D-7
26. Territorial Pissings

The DVD/CD set is available from play.com for just £11.99 (inc postage).

Isle of Wight 1970 book published

A 144-page limited edition book celebrating the original 1970 Isle of Wight Festival has been published. Isle of Wight Festival 1970. 'Six Days That Rocked The World' is out now to celebrate the 40th anniversary next year and is full of original photographs (many previously unpublished) and recollections from festival-goers. More information from www.isleofwightfestival1970.com/index.html

Smashing Pumpkins Reading sets online

Smashing Pumpkins are one of a number of artists now allowing recordings of their shows to be freely distributed on the web via The Internet Archive (www.archive.org). Their 1995 and 2007 Reading Festival appearances are available. The 1995 set is from a radio broadcast, and there are two versions of the 2007 show, one an audience recording of most of the show, the other edited highlights from a radio broadcast. Here are the links:

1995 Radio broadcast
2007 Audience
2007 Radio broadcast

Nirvana Reading 1992 show to get official release

Widely bootlegged over the years, Nirvana's legendary final UK show gets an official release on both CD and DVD later this year. It's not clear at the moment whether it will be edited highlights or the full show, but is scheduled to be released on 16th November 2009.

fatreg.com - an apology

Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed that there have been no updates to the site for some months. Unfortunately, my hard drive failed, taking with it the site, all my work, and (even more importantly to me) over three years' worth of photographs... nothing was recoverable. I've had rather a lot of work to do in catching up as a result, and fatreg.com has, unfortunately, had to take a back seat.

I'm also not going to Reading this year... the first time I've been unable to since I first went way back in 1983. Work commitments have got in the way for the first time.

If you've been this year, please post your thoughts or a review in the forum (you don't have to register).

Normal service is about to be resumed, and I hope to be back at the Festival next summer.

Anvil for Glastonbury?

Legendary metal band Anvil are potentially being lined up to play Glastonbury this summer. The band whose biopic 'Anvil! The Story of Anvil' has won awards at film festivals around the globe are the subject of a petition to see them playing the festival. Vote for them by clicking HERE. It's about time Glastonbury got wise to putting some metal bands on.