My Weekend At Reading Festival - Day 2

Satuday, the second day of Reading festival was my favourite of all. Here is why, in a long story. 

Rumours were all around the UK after a mystifying statement at BBC Rafio 1`s studio on Wednesday. Billie Joe Armstrong mentioned something about a secret Green Day show at Reading festival buring the band`s interview. And hey! S#*t got real!

11am, campers were still asleep, I was having my latte at the train station and about to take the bus to the arena when the punk legends went on the NME Stage and woke up every single person at the camp sites. I almost totaly missed them because I knew like they were playing at 12 noon! I got there around 12:35 and there were barriers and security all around from far away the tent and Green Day were playing!!! No way! They didn`t wanted to let us in so we were singing along in the puring rain and booing from outside for about 10 minutes when finally the guards put the barriers away and everyone started to run under the tent like mad zombies. It was freakin` mental! I just caught 'Minority' and 'She'. I`ve felt like my life completed now, that I`m seeing the band whose`s music got the 14 years old myself into the the world of great musical taste. Then the show finished and the crowd wanted still more but they didn`t come back. They might be arrested or something after the show :D

But the story isn`t finished yet! Everyone knew they will play 'Dookie' - the hit album from 1994. They did, but mixed up with other and brand new songs too! Billie Joe called the show "The Best Worst Kept Secret In All Of The UK". PLUS the guards wanted to literally pull them off the stage in the middle of 'American Idiot' but they refused to finished the show at that point and kept playing. That`s the real rock 'n' roll! No one can pull off Green Day from the stage! Jeeez...

You can watch that " let`s pull off Green Day!"-moment here around 24 minutes by the way.

My only picture of them playing. 

After the not-so-secret secret show, I stayed at the NME stage, there was a band playing but I wasn`t really paying attention on them, then Pure Love came on stage with a brilliant and energetic show. They are a very new band on the palette but the members might be familiar to some of you: Frank Carter (ex-Gallows frontman) and Jim Carroll (ex-Hope Conspiracy) fromed Pure Love only a year ago and they already supported Paramore on it`s recent UK comeback. They`ve played the singles 'Bury My Bones' and 'Handsome Devil`s Club' (I really adore both singles) among with other great but unknow songs to me and even brought huge balloons for the crowd to play with, Frank went crowd surfing and called his fiance from the stage. Amazing! I really enjoyed their show.

Pure Love

Singing in the crowd

Crowd-surfing

BALLOONS!!!

Straight after Pure Love, the Scottish Twin Atlantic came onto the NME stage. They might be familiar for US folks as well because they were supporting You Me At Six on their US tour in February and spent a month on Warped Tour this summer. They were drunk, made a beast of themselves then lead singer Sam McTrusty set his body on fire and became free so much that he smashed his giutar. I loved them and was already excited about them in the morning when I saw their huge album billboard at the tube. Sure people had no idea why I was smiling at that point.

Twin Atlantic

Twin Atlantic

Sam

Poor guitar!

Then I`ve had a little time to walk around again and took some photos of the amazing festival sky and crowd.

And I`ve found Wally!

I`ve discovered another new band called Oberhofer at the Festival Republic stage. They were crazy! The singer were running around in the crowd and their music sounds great.

Oberhofer

Don Broco were next up on the same stage and that show was BRUTAL. With capitals. They opened with 'Priorities' and the crowd went insane straight away. Singer Rob Damiani jumped into the middle of the crowd to sing a bit there then crowd-surf and he broke his mic, lost his earbuds. Then everyone was crowd-surfing and sitting on each others` shoulders. It was insane! In a good way. I want to do it again!

I couldn`t take full band photos of them because there was a pillar right in front of me. 

Rob Damiani

Don Broco

Simon

Don Broco were so intense that I went to sit in the dirt and listened to The Shins playing the Main Stage. I`ve never listened to them but I think I`ll start it. Strange coulds came as well and festival people outsite the tents were caught up in the rain little bit later. 

Enter Shikari attracted a really huge crowd of hardcore-lookalike fans so I felt a bit outsider knowing only the thermometer song of them and couldn`t get close to the front. That show was freaking mental and I loved it! I`ve had no idea abou Enter Shikari being THAT popular. Now I understand why were they playing at one of Hungary`s summer festivals too. Rou, the singer went to sing in the crowd too! It was a day like that. Why to build the stage when bands can play in the crowd too? :D 

Singing in the crowd

Enter crowd

Here comes the 3 concerts in a row part at Festival Republic stage what I blame about loosing my voice for the next day completely (I still can`t talk though :D). At Shikari`s last song, I went back to Festival Republic stage where We Are The In Crowd were playing. I thought I was in late but didn`t even started just after I got there. How nice of them they were waiting only for me, haha. They were awesome, said they are coming back in autumn to support Young Guns and that they`ve spent more time in the UK this year than in the US aaaaaand TAYLEX happened! Alex Gashkarth of All Time Low came on stage to sing on 'Kiss Me Again'. Screaming girls everywhere!

WATIC

WATIC

Alex came on stage

I was excited about Lower Than Atlantis because: Mike Duce became my newest crush the day before when I`ve seen the band on tv, he was rocking a Nirvana long sleve with skinny jeans+his hair awesome and I loved it. AND they are from Watford and Hemel Heampstead where my friends are living and which is the town next to Borehamwood where I`m living! Neighbours! Only in England yeah. But end of fangirling and back to music. I`m just getting into their music now but 'Love Someone Else' was brilliant back in the day too and even more brilliant live. They`ve also played 'If The World Was To End' and 'Deadliest Catch'. I think I`ve heard the brand new song 'Normally Strange' there too but I`m really not sure about that. Told ya I suck at remembering the setlists. You can download that for free by the way; Amy Jo gives the instructions for that here. They also made an amazing cover for Foo Fighters` 'The Pretender'. 

LTA

Mike

Ben

Dec

I love this photo

Lower Than Atlantis

My last concert for the day was Young Guns`. They didn`t disappointed either but didn`t play 'Learn My Lesson' which is my favourite song off of 'Bones' (it`s out in the US soon and they`re going on tour there too so watch out!). But they played 'Chrystal Clear', 'Bones', 'Dealry Departed' and other new and old songs. The audience was singing along and I`m sure the tent was full and even fuller. This was the first place I`ve seen a crowd going very crazy for an Adele song. The band covered 'Set Fire To The Rain' what you can watch on this link I`ve found. We also were shoutng to Florence on the Main Stage, I don`t if she heard it but it was fun. "Oi Florence!"

P.S.: Dear Young Guns, if you see this, I want that YG light after you don`t need it anymore! :D

Young Guns

THAT light! I want it!

John and Simon

this photo is pretty epic. and not b&w effect or something. just happened

end of the show

I caught a few songs ('No Light No Light' and 'Never Let Me Go') of Florence and the Machine`s set too but they finished soon after. I didn`t go any close so I just have that distance photo of them. It was an absolutely enchanted set with all the lights, Florence`s voice and way she was talking to the audience plus the moon on the night sky. I`ve felt like the only thing was missing is Stonehenge. 

I didn`t stay for Kasabian because I was in zombie mode by then but have heard them all the way back to the train station. It must have been an amazing show.

Thanks for checking out, this blog is really long and I appreciate even if you just took a look on the photos. Check Day 1 here if you missed it!