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The World' is out now to celebrate the 40th anniversary next year and is full of original photographs (many previously unpublished) and recollections from festival-goers.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.