Take Me Back: Reading Festival (Part Four)

Alas, at last I have arrived at what was one of the best days of my life. Sunday was Fall Out Boy day. Not on until about half six we had the day to fill with music, so first up was We Are The In Crowd. I've lost count the amount of times i've seen them live and although they aren't necessarily ground breaking stuff what they do, they do well. Their Reading debut last year in the Festival Republic tent was packed out with a crowd so enthusiastic it surprised me and their performance was truly amazing. Clearly the organizers agreed as this year the five piece were moved up the ranks to play the main stage. Being Sunday morning everyone's hangovers were at their worst and the days of festival camping made the crowd a tough one to crack, but with perseverance and catchy - sometimes cheesy, "Kiss Me Again," for example - pop-punk, we were soon won over. The newly released single "Attention" was chosen as their opener and although I liked the studio version I loved it live.

Wanting to beat the traffic the next day - and Elly being the most un-morning person I'd ever met - we decided we were going to leave that night so we headed back to our tent, took it all down and loaded up the car. Filling up the next few hours with food and alcohol we headed back down to the main arena to secure a spot for Fall Out Boy during The Lumineers' set. The Editors were a couple songs short of the end of their set so we parked ourselves by a gap on the barrier with ice lollies to keep us cool. The Lumineers were pleasant to watch albeit it got a bit boring but just as I was falling asleep an onslaught of people came surging towards us. Unsure as to what was happening, but seeing a perfect opportunity to get near the front for Fall Out Boy, we stood up and made our way to the now large gap near the barrier to find that frontman Wesley Schultz was stood, guitar in hand, directly in front of us to play their next song.

Now we were stood a couple rows back from the barrier and the fear that it's all a joke that Fall Out Boy were playing started to set in. Literally counting down the minutes and trying not to freak out, the cheers when their backdrop was put up were near enough deafening.

Then the opening of "Thriller" started to play and choked back what was about to be an all out sob-fest. This time the cheers were deafening, I had no idea how many people were behind me at the time as i'm short and I was barricaded in by wild giants. For a good ten/eleven years this is what I had been waiting for. It seemed only yesterday I was wishing and joking for them to come back from their hiatus and play Reading and now there they actually were. The dizzying mixture of emotions running through myself were no doubt matched by every other person stood there, so the outlet for us was to go crazy. We yelled back every line, jumped, screamed and cried. Playing crowd favourites meant not even the die-hard fans (how non-diehards even exist I don't know) were able to contain their enthusiasm. The beautiful Foxes came on and joined them for "Just One Yesterday" and simultaneously destroyed the self esteem of every single person stood there. As for Fall Out Boy themselves they played like there was no tomorrow - and if they kept up there wouldn't be for me, I swear I was going to explode - and proved to everybody exactly why they broke the internet when they came back, wedging themselves deeper into our hearts.
Since February, sat in the Costa Coffee on my college campus, crying over a laptop listening to "My Songs Know..." I said I need to hear it at Reading with the crowd doing the 'oh-ohhs,' at the time still only hoping they'd be playing the festival. Later that night Pete announced they'd be there, I cried some more (heck, I hadn't really stopped) and my countdown began. Then the song started and the crowd did it's part, raising goosebumps and making every hair on my body stand on end.

Sadly, it all had to end eventually so we made our way back to Elly by the barrier in a state of shock and briefly met a woman who had come all the way from America to see Biffy Clyro play a headline set.

 Pre-Fall Out Boy faces 

Fall Out Boy 

Post-Fall Out Boy faces 

We were hot, gasping for a drink, bruised all over and with Fall Out Boy gone the fact I missed City And Colour started to sink in. Sad, sad, sad. The NME stage filled up quickly for Disclosure and we sat outside and watched the synth stars' set. For ten minutes it's all good fun, but after a while it does become samey and the same goes for Azealia Banks. 

Back to main stage for Biffy Clyro, their pyrotechnics and Scottish rock Reading Festival 2013 was once again coming to an end. Another week of fantastic music, dodgy drunken dancers and unforgettable escapades was all being seen off with fire and uh more fire. Not wanting to miss Enter Shikari Sound System we left behind the Scots and the mass of mainstagers and headed towards the dubstep mash-up which proved to be a quite genius combination of your average dance music and songs from bands like Bring Me The Horizon. Of all the dance/dubstep acts i've seen Enter Shikari's take is by far my favourite.

PART ONE (ARRIVAL)

PART TWO (FRIDAY)

PART THREE (SATURDAY)

Take Me Back: Reading Festival (Part Three)

By Saturday we were beyond exhausted and our feet were a mess and so of course it was the perfect day to spend pretty much all of it on our feet in a crowd somewhere! Leaving Elly to her beauty sleep, myself and Megan took to the main arena to see Lower Than Atlantis. Having previously seen these guys twice before we knew we were in for a good set. Opening with "Love Someone Else" the crowd took straight to them, belting the lyrics right along with vocalist Mike Duce. Their ten song set list was made up of the very best of their blend of punk rock/melodic hardcore music that extracted the punk rock attitude from Duce, who told us he was going to smash up his guitar, but instead gave it to the crowd. Cue a mad dash and brawl between Jesus and several other large guys. He couldn't keep up the attitude for long though as he grabbed his acoustic and reduced the majority to near tears with hard hitting "Another Sad Song." Reunited with the rest of the band and a further three belters later, Lower Than Atlantis completed their main stage debut and after their fantastic performance and the eagerness of the crowd it's safe to say they'll be invited back again in the future.

Somewhere between Lower Than Atlantis finishing their set and The Blackout coming on, it decided to piss it down. Feet aching, we retreated to the barrier and sat in a puddle to watch the welsh tear up the stage like I knew they would. Again, i've seen them more times than I can even remember due to my dad (yes, my dad) being a super fan and completely in love with Sean Smith. In typical Blackout style they came on to an old hit, this time "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" before running out to "Start The Party" in enough rain for us to feel like we'd had a bath... if only we'd remembered shampoo. Blasting their way through hit after hit, "Higher And Higher" "The Storm," no one expected quite what was to come half way through their set when they claimed they were a "hip-hop" band and proceeded to play a hip-hop mash up of "Jump Around," "Paris" and "Fight For Your Right To Party." Possibly one of the most hilarious moments of my life I actually found myself a tiny bit disappointed when it finished and they went back to playing their own hits.

Still raining, we grabbed food and went to sit under a tree where we waited for Elly, and if it weren't for the fact we saw Russell Kane that afternoon, The Blackout would have won comedy title for sure. The Alternative tent filled up with people who left crying with laughter after his set. What makes a good comedian to me is someone who tells it true and can be self-deprecating too - making Russell Kane pretty much perfect. Running 20 minutes late we missed half of Twin Atlantic but made it in time for them to play their now mega famous single "Free." Sam McTrusty wore his bright orange raincoat adorably which matched their performance. Humbled to be even playing the festival, they entertained the main stage crowd with their Scottish charm and brilliant rock songs such as "What Is Light? Where Is Laughter?" and "Yes, I Was Drunk" but for me the stand out performance was of acoustic "Crash Land" which sounded even more beautiful with the crowd singing along.

Next up, we went to the NME stage which was packed to the point of over fill. People were spilling out the sides and all for Imagine Dragons. In a similar manner to Bastille there's something different about these guys and intense. Fantastic to listen too and to watch every single person seemed to be having a good time - whether they were being crushed in the tent or one of hundreds outside it. And, obviously, when they closed with chart topping "Radioactive" it was all the more wild. Future main stagers for sure.

Finishing off the exhausting day was Chase And Status and then rap legend himself, Eminem. As you can probably imagine - or if you were there, as you know - the amount of people gathered was somewhat insane. It came as no surprise when midway through C+S's set everything was unplugged and we were told to move back as their were A LOT of people passing out and getting pretty badly hurt. And this was before Eminem was even on. C+S well and truly warmed the crowd up for The Real Slim Shady who rapped - or did he? Rumours are he mimed... - his way to most people's best memories.

PART ONE (ARRIVAL)

PART TWO (FRIDAY)

Take Me Back: Reading Festival (Part Two)

Waking up Friday morning in chronic pain from the 'short walk to Tesco' I was relieved that we'd finally be getting to hear music. The sun was blazing, so we took cover in the NME tent and listened to 20 minutes of Dry The Rivers' set before deciding that sleepy music was not what we needed and instead joined the constant party in the Dance tent.
Turns out Lauren and Elly are not morning people. I don't consider myself a morning person - in fact i'm far from it - but there are certain situations where i'll drag myself out of bed and push through my tiredness because something cool is going on like at Reading. But apparently they just couldn't do it. Headed back to the tent me and Meg said we'd meet them there and queued to get over-18 wristbands and dropped my phone off to the Vodafone truck when New Found Glory were due on.
Having seen them more times than I can remember I knew exactly what to expect and wasn't disappointed by their energetic pop-punk performance and was more than ecstatic at the news they'd be playing Sticks And Stones in it's entirety. Churning out anthem after anthem it kept the not so die-hard fans entertained as well as offering songs not often played live for those of us who'd seen them before.
Having been gone for nearly 2 hours we were feeling a bit guilty at having left Lauren and Elly in the tent and decided not to stay for Bring Me The Horizon despite every fiber of our beings telling us to do otherwise. (Note: we should definitely have stayed and I will spend the rest of my life kicking myself for not having done so).

When we eventually headed back to the arena we caught the end of Frank Turner's fun set. With his happy blend of folksy music and The Sleeping Souls backing him up it was a fun affair for all there to witness. With Elly finally awake and Lauren still asleep but waiting for someone we joined the crowd for Bastille. Having catapulted themselves to stardom with "Pompeii" the crowd was a large one, radiating heat similar to Two Door Cinema Club last year. Hell, there was even a guy peeing into a cup behind us. Deja Vu everywhere. Coming out to title track "Bad Blood" it was immediately apparent that the quartet are some of the most talented out there in today's industry. There's nothing easy about playing their songs live and yet they make it work so fantastically. Opportunities for crowd participation are everywhere in their songs and the festival set list was no different with them playing popular tracks like "Weight Of Living, Pt II" and "Icarus" as well as their version of "What Would You Do?" and "Of The Night." Closing their set with "Flaws" and of course "Pompeii" they finished on a high after putting on a truly incredible performance.

Knackered from all the walking around and the intensity of Bastille's set we found a patch of grass outside the Dance tent and watched Fenech- Soler who gained three new fans after we saw their brilliant combination of electro dance music with pop-rock sounding songs.

Finishing the night were punk legends Green Day. After their surprise appearance last year the anticipation was high in the arena and the crowd gathered. The child in me was gleeful and desperate for the trio to hurry on stage so I could live out a childhood dream and let me tell you - they didn't let me down. And the addition of a fan on stage for "Know Your Enemy" who took one look at the crowd and exclaimed 'oh fuck me' even added a comedy element to their punk extravaganza. "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" was goosebump performance of the day as 90,000 people sung the song in perfect harmony with Billie on his knees, stunned. Much was the same with "Wake Me Up When September Ends" which led into the beginning of the entirety of Dookie. Admittedly it did leave us a bit lost in the middle with a set so laden with political punk rants but favourites such as "Basket Case" and "Minority" lightened it up. Typically, "American Idiot" set everything off in the crowd and my tired feet thanked the fact we were on the outskirts. One of my favourite set endings came from them too with Friday being closed with "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)" which was beautifully fitting.

Top Tunes: August

Panic! At The Disco - This Is Gospel 

Fall Out Boy - My Songs Know... 

Fall Out Boy - Sugar We're Goin' Down 

Green Day - Boulevard Of Broken Dreams

Imagine Dragons - Radioactive

Twin Atlantic - Make A Beast Of Myself

Bastille - Laura Palmer

New Found Glory - Head On Collision

YOUTUBE PLAYLIST

Take Me Back: Reading Festival (Part One)

Leaving Reading Festival last year was a real low point for myself and Meg. We had embraced the mud, the toilets, the overall grossness of festival camping and were not quite ready to let it go for another year. Alas, the rules meant we had to leave and spend the next year counting down the days until we could return. The line-up didn't even bother us - it could have been the worst line-up ever and we'd still go. Half way through the year though, Fall Out Boy came back from the murky hell of hiatus and like I had been joking about for quite sometime announced they were playing Reading Festival.

Our countdown was with a new sense of complete and utter fangirl level excitedness.

As per usual I left everything until last minute which meant a mad dash to find my clothes and haphazardly shoving them in my bag. Climbing into a car that was bigger than I expected but still too small, we were off up the giant hill out of my village trying to convince Elly that Reading's not really THAT bad. Then we hit the motorway. And the car just couldn't take it. There was little to no acceleration. Trundling along until we could turn off and head back the other way we lost an hour of travel time heading back to Elly's house to steal her dad's Galaxy. A mob attack from her two adorable Labradors and eventually we were away - again, and this time with enough room to spread out.
At around 8 that night we parked the car and loaded up with our stuff to trek and find a place to camp. Having had a good spot last year just 5 minutes walk from the arena, we couldn't help but be a little annoyed at Elly and Lauren's lack of stamina and ending up just under the bridge - which for anyone who has been before you know is miles away from the arena. Sigh. Coming a day early meant there was only us and two other groups of people in our field which seemed bizarre but it didn't stop us from getting reasonably drunk and putting sugar on our chips instead of salt.

The next day plan was to do the 'short walk' to Tesco to stock up on food and good ol' vodka so leaving Lauren behind we set off on Thursday morning to discover it was not a short walk. Reading Festival website tells lies. It took us an hour to walk there in the blazing heat with green car park campers going towards Reading and early birds like us trying to walk away from it to get to Tesco. It was a beautiful moment when we could see the front doors and we took to the shelves like we had been starved for months not a mere 15 hours. Exhausted we stopped at the cafe and I wolfed down chips, beans and a mango Costa iced drink before beginning the dreaded walk back. With bags that weighed about the same as us it took 2 and half hours to get back and I popped a vein in my finger thus resulting in a dead finger (it's still dead fyi).

We arrived back in more pain than I think ever before and spent the rest of the day lying around half dead from the pain, half dead from the level of alcohol consumption that followed the trip from hell. It was to our amusement every time we heard other people say things like 'we're just gonna pop to Tesco.' No, sir. I don't think you are.

Reading Festival 2013

Leaving Reading Festival last year was one of the hardest things i've ever had to do and from the moment I set foot on camp I knew I would return the year after. And now here we are in 2013. With my ticket purchased before any bands had been announced I wasn't expecting much of the line-up and nor did I care as the atmosphere of the weekend is enough to lure me back. But much to my surprise the bands that have been announced so far have obliterated all expectations I had. There are some surprises, some Reading veterans and plenty of artists I really don't like but will no doubt find myself drunkenly dancing to anyway. I would suggest songs for newcomers to these bands to listen to but it would always be "ALL THE SONGS" so without further ado I present you with the bands that have me wishing the year away so I can get to Reading faster. 

FALL OUT BOY

Oh man oh man oh man I feel sorry for anyone that is near me when they play their set. I will turn into a total beast and I will be shrieking the lyrics along with absolutely everything I have in me. I joked a while back about how great it would be if they came off hiatus and played Reading and then they did come off hiatus and they are playing Reading and just thinking about it is making me tear up.

BRAND NEW

When I saw them last year they surpassed all expectations and played just about every song I could have wanted them too. They destroyed things and Jesse stage dived so far into the crowd I was convinced he was going to kill himself. With a back catalog with plenty of rock, pop-punk, acoustic and just plain weird the band are sure to be one of my highlights.

CITY AND COLOUR

Dallas Green,  please oh please can we get married? City And Colour, the band of Alexisonfire front man, is set to break my heart in about a million different ways with his beautiful blend of acoustic music penned with lyrics so lovely I will be a puddle on the floor of the NME tent.

NEW FOUND GLORY

Pop-punk kings return to Reading main stage where they will bring their classic anthems to get the crowd going. They never disappoint live and their bounds of energy will awaken the festival-goers from their inevitably hungover stupor.

BRING ME THE HORIZON

Playing the main stage BMTH are sure to bring a hell of a crowd to accompany what is certain to be a hell of a set. Find me in the most pit. 

FRANK TURNER

More acoustic fabulousness from Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls. They never fail to put a grin on my face and i'm sure they won't fail in spreading the festival cheer.

BASTILLE

With new single Pompeii, Bastille have suddenly found themselves as the next best thing which is perfectly fine by me if it means the crowd give it their all for a set that will be unbelievably fun. They have a knack for writing catchy as hell songs that sound incredibly upbeat with lyrics that are so harshly relatable it's like the words have been picked straight from my brain.

GREEN DAY

Sitting outside my tent last year, hearing the first guitar strums of their "secret" set and then watching practically the entirety of Reading flock to the main arena and then an actual crowd forming in front of the main stage screens was a surreal sight. If it's anything to go by I imagine them actually being on the main stage will send everyone into a frenzy. Pure nostalgia will accompany with their set. 

BIFFY CLYRO

I would be lying if I said I wasn't surprised by their headlining but all the same i'm sure the Scottish rockers will put on a headline worthy set that should not be missed. 

TWIN ATLANTIC

After catching the last half of their set last year and seeing them play the Bristol 02 Academy I already know these guys will go down a treat with their radio famous single Free and adorable humbleness. 

EMINEM

Again, nostalgia will be my date for this headline act. Don't trust anyone if they say they're not excited for Eminem. 

THE BLACKOUT

I've seen them live so many times now and every time they've been entertaining and musically perfect with songs that involve a lot of crowd participation which always makes things better. 

Reading 2012 (Thursday/Friday)

Reading 2012 (Saturday)

Reading 2012 (Sunday/Monday)

Gig Moments I Never Want To Forget (Part 5)

26. Being subjected to Enter Shikari (Reading 2012)

I just can't stop talking about Reading. I miss it so much. Even being dragged along to see Enter Shikari - a band my ears just refuse to like - then being forced into the mosh pit and Meg getting so carried away she ended up punching me in the face. I did manage to get her back though.

27. Florence and the Machine (Reading 2012)

Florence played on the Saturday and surprisingly it hadn't yet rained properly - a first for the festival. Not for long though. As the masses of people stood around waiting for the flame-haired singer and the machine to make an appearance the clouds parted and dumped a weeks worth of rain on us. Everyone got soaked through and the stage looked like a swimming pool. It did fail at dampening our spirits though. If anything it made the experience more magical. We made friends, Meg sat on someone's shoulders and we started a dance pit. 

28. Meg Actually Passed Out At Mayday Parade (Cardiff 13/10/2012)

When we first went to see a band together (Paramore 2010) I warned her that if she passes out i'm leaving her where she is. 2 years later and it finally happens. We're stood on barrier and Natives and The Summer Set have already played and by the looks of it Mayday Parade would be on in a few minutes. Then Meg turned round and said to me that she really doesn't feel well so we tried, and failed, to get the security guards attention for some water. No more than a minute later I saw her shrink out the corner of my eye and fall down. Everyone stood around us looked completely freaked out especially when her eyes rolled back. Finally, the security guard noticed us and we pulled her over the barrier which was a task in itself as her legs JUST DID NOT WANT TO END. Everyone was asking me what happened and saying things like "omg that was so scary is she ok omg" while all I could do was laugh. 10 seconds later and Mayday came on. Well timed, Meg. 

29. Rian Dawson dancing behind The Maine (Yeovil 1/02/2012)

Rian was dancing behind The Maine throughout their entire set. It was funny and cute and he really really can't dance. Bless him. 

30. MEETING PARAMORE (Reading 2012)

I don't want to stay on the topic for long because it makes me cry like a big baby. But when I first saw Paramore were playing Reading I screamed and cried because I knew I would be able to see them again. Then they were announced for the signing tent and I screamed and cried because I knew the likelihood that I would meet them was like zero. We queued for almost six hours anyway despite being told we were unlikely to meet them. We were bored, hungry and tired but had other people to talk to who were all really nice. Then we made it through the first lot of barriers and were in line to see them. Then they let everyone apart from 4 of us through to the 'you will definitely meet them' queue. And then they stopped letting people through. We begged. We cried. We conquered. The security guard let us through and the hundreds on people behind us screamed and cried and a couple of people gave us a book they had made for them. Our determination not to cry completely broke at that point and we sobbed. When we went through Jeremy told me I had cool hair before I even had a chance to process that I WAS MEETING PARAMORE and I high fived them all and gushed about how much I love them and then went and sobbed some more on the phone to my dad. The guys who gave us the book - which we gave to Taylor - also came over to us and we hugged and cried some more for a while. I honestly thought I would never meet them ever and I had accepted that but then we ended up being the last people allowed through to meet them. Also I thought that they would be less perfect looking in real life but nope they're perfection. Paramore 1 - Self Esteem 0. 

Oh and then my friend found the above video of us actually meeting them floating around YouTube. 

Part One here.

Part Two here.

Part Three here.

Part Four here.

Gig Moments I Never Want To Forget (Part 1)

Over the past few years I've been to some pretty amazing gigs and so over the next few days i'm going to be bringing to you some of my favourite moments and performances I've witnessed. There are sad moments, funny ones and simply epic as well as the gross. Be prepared. 

1. All Time Low covering Blink-182's "All The Small Things" (Bristol 30/01/2012)

During the sound check the crowd sang along to the legendary pop-punk tune "All The Small Things" by the Kings of the genre Blink-182. However, I don't think there was anyone in the crowd that actually expected All Time Low to cover the song themselves that night. As soon as the crowd clocked the song, that was it. Everyone had their hands up, feet bouncing off the ground as we screamed along to one of the most memorable moments of our gig-going lives. 

2. Getting peed on and falling over during Two Door Cinema Club (Reading 2012)

I did warn you that some of these were just going to be gross. If you've seen my reading post then you'll already know about this but I have to mention it again as honestly I thought it was hilarious. I was boiling hot wearing all my layers of clothes I had brought with me, as I didn't think we were going in the crowd and I had been drinking vodka for a good few hours by this point so saying I was kinda tipsy would be an understatement. It was on the Sunday so everyone was in the same way and so when a bunch of guys decided they just couldn't make it to the loo and peed all down everyone I just laughed. A bunch of girls started freaking out but I just couldn't stop laughing. Anyway, 10 minutes later the same guys were the ones who stopped me being crushed by the mad crowd when we all fell over and I couldn't get up, so instead of getting angry that they peed on me, I made temporary friends with them for saving what really could of been my life. 

3. Super Prime cover Fall Out Boy's "Sugar We're Goin Down" (Cardiff 16/04/2012)

If Super Prime wanted a sure way to gain support from new fans that night then they certainly found the best way to do so. Their set had been awesome already and then they played "Sugar We're Goin Down" and my reaction was "oh my fucking god I love them" and proceeded to drag my sister to meet them afterwards and they're genuinely lovely guys. The cover was perfect and the entire crowd seemed impressed. 

4. Hayley Williams of Paramore singing "Always Attract" with You Me At Six (Cardiff 16/12/2009)

I actually forgot how beautiful this really was and i'm now sat here in tears but I refuse to close the video. Ah man. Anyway. This was the first time I'd seen either one of the bands live and suddenly the crowd went wild and I couldn't see why. And then I saw this tiny blonde head on stage and I could not believe it. Their voices melded together with such perfection and god just look at them. How far You Me At Six have come since this performance is incredible. 

5. Hayley and Josh of Paramore perform "Let This Go" acoustically (Birmingham 14/11/2010)

If you want your heart broken then listen to this. 

I don't know what else to say about it. 

Because that's what it does.

Break hearts.

And cause a lot of tears. 

*none of the video's are mine apart from the last one

Back In Time: Reading Festival (Sunday and Monday)

Hurrah I've finally reached the last couple of days of Reading Festival 2012 and let me tell you this - it was good one.

We woke up super early on Sunday because yet again we had to queue at the NME tent for Baltimore's All Time Low. After seeing them live several times we met guitarist Jack Barakat and drummer Rian Dawson back in freezing days that January had to offer us but now we wanted to grab this opportunity to meet vocalist Alex Gaskarth and bassist Zack Merrick. We waited outside the main arena for a good hour and then walked to the queue. I say walked because a good 50 or so people ran but it really was too early to be dealing with that. We recognised a few faces from the Paramore queue and they happened to recognise us as being the last girls let through so we were met with a few glares, it's always nice. Needless to say we didn't make any friends in this queue.
Apparently whilst we had been living in a separate world from everyone else All Time Low had released a new song 'For Baltimore' which we were lucky enough to hear pulsing from one girls' phone. Compared to the Paramore fan base the people we were surrounded by were unfortunately very annoying. There was a group of 20-somethings who confessed they had nothing better to do, a girl who was queueing merely because she had been turned away for Paramore and The Vaccines and worst of all a group of 6 pre-teens who really had no clue who All Time Low actually were. One of these girls happened to hear the song 'Lost In Stereo' on the radio and decided Alex was hot and so she had to meet them but she didn't want to queue alone so all 5 of her friends went in too. She also claimed that Lost In Stereo was an old song and they had to Google the names of the other members and pronounced Rian's name like Reean. I wanted to kill them. Not because they were bugging me but because that meant that at least 6 people who were die-hard fans desperate to meet them now wouldn't.
Anyway, rant over. We only had to wait for 3 hours this time before the queue started moving and in we went. A flicker of recognition passed over Jack's face when we saw him, Rian and Alex told me they loved my hair (It had been a topic of conversation all weekend) and quiet Zack was most definitely high. They're probably one of the most lovely bands out there - when they aren't making dick jokes that is.

After we finally met all of the ATL guys we headed for the main stage to wait for their set and heard The Gaslight Anthem in the process. When All Time Low came on I knew this was going to good. Bouncing around as always and not letting anyone down musically their set was awesome and my day was made when they played a cover of Blink 182's 'Dammit'. 

They were the last band I really wanted to see for the weekend so we spent the rest of the time wondering around and in the NME tent which we had decided early on was just a really nice place to be. At some point we went back to the tent and thinking we would just be sitting around for the rest of the night I put all my layers on as it was getting cold. But no. I was dragged into the crowd for Two Door Cinema Club and this was the closest I think i've ever come to death. We hadn't had much to eat or drink due to lack of money and I was overheating like mad. The only reason I was still on my feet was because of just how many people were there - I couldn't have fallen if I tried. Until that is the entire crowd fell down. Now, previous to this a bunch of guys had decided they couldn't make it to the loo and simply unbuttoned there and then and peed all down our legs. A rational me would have been angry but I was delirious and full of vodka so I didn't really care. So when I fell and I just could not get up, for a variety of reasons mostly to do with the fact I really did not feel good, and Meg was yelling at me to get up and I was about to be squished and the guy who peed on me pulled me up I was really grateful and for a while we made friends with them. I don't think there are many people in the world who can say they made friends with the person who peed on them but i'm one of them. The short of it is Two Door were excellent and great fun and never would anyone expect their fans to be quite as violently enthusiastic.

Once this spectacle was over we did what we do best and sat down on the outskirts of the tent. Later in the night Justice the NME headliner came on and i'm almost ashamed to admit I loved it. I'm really not a huge Dubstep fan but when you're drunk and in an atmosphere like Reading it really is the best thing ever. An adorable security guard was dancing by himself at the back and I wanted to marry him but instead I settled for telling him he had the best dance moves ever and then hi-fived him. Meg also got a sneaky video.

Sadly, it was all over. We went back to tent sad as ever that we had to go home. Our hair had become one clump of dreads, we hadn't showered in 5 days and food and drink were things of the past but the thought of going back to Devon and college was torture. The atmosphere on Monday morning was one of total despair and nostalgia for only the day before and the shuttle bus was almost silent. We were at the train station by 9:15 so we an extremely painful wait for our train which wasn't until 1:35. People all around us were buying food and drink and we'd had nothing for almost 24 hours unless you count the vodka but we definitely don't. We plugged ourselves in to my ipod and blasted Yellowcard's 'Here I Am Alive' - the theme tune to the greatest weekend of our lives.

If there is anyone out there with a time machine let me know. I'm willing to either go back in time to Reading or forward to Reading 2013 - i'm not fussy.

Back in Time: Reading Festival (Saturday)

On Saturday there wasn't anyone we were interested in seeing until Scottish rockers Twin Atlantic and so after our night spent crying over Paramore we were relieved to get a lie in. Once we had pulled ourselves out of our sleeping bags we went exploring and saw some, uh, interesting signs.

Needless to say we didn't 'follow the road for a great shit'. There were endless shops and we were both cursing ourselves for not bringing more money.

We bought a locker to charge our phones with which didn't work (£15 wasted!) and so then we got a portable charger for £20 which lasted for about half an hour and did this to our phones:

Now money-less and phone-less we headed towards the NME stage to find we had missed the majority of Twin Atlantic's set but did manage to catch their final song Free and I was glad to hear Sam McTrusty's accent was more bearable live.
For reasons unknown to me Meg happens to like Enter Shikari and so I was bullied into going to see them. The crowd was crazy, violent and I was entirely sure that when I was dragged into the mosh pit I was going to die. She even punched me in the face. As for Enter Shikari I just don't get it. One minute there's breakdowns the next it's dubstep. My brain just can't process it.
We Are The In Crowd impressed me so much they made me cry. I had seen them 3 times beforehand and they've always been good and have never disappointed but this time around they were incredible. Their songs sounded more punk than pop and the tent was full. Surprisingly the crowd knew all the words and actually sang the Guaranteed To Disagree songs much louder than the few songs played by Radio One. We had been joking about how they would cope singing Kiss Me Again without Alex Gaskarth (Jordan > Alex) when who should step onto stage? Yep, you guessed it. Alex Gaskarth himself. As you can imagine the crowd suddenly became 100 times wilder than before.

I did want to catch Lower Than Atlantis once more but after WATIC we were exhausted so we went outside and sat down before heading to the main stage for Florence And The Machine. 
Admittedly i'm not really a fan of Florence but if there is anything you do in your life that at the moment you wouldn't even think about doing make sure it's going to see them live. It rained for the first time all weekend but it didn't bring anyone down - if anything it made it more magical. We even made a temporary friend, Hollie 'not Polly' with the metal head friends who ditched her for Mastodon.

There you have it. The highlights of my Saturday. Sunday and Monday coming soon.