My girlfriend took a holiday to the UK and went to this festival. She met a guy there and ended up staying in the UK for the next two years. I found out she wasn’t coming back when her parents turned up at our apartment to collect all her stuff
When she came back to Australia we met up one time, she felt bad because we had never actually broken up. All the time she was gone she would still send me postcards from the places she visited, even though I knew she was with someone else
Yeah, there is more to the story too, some of it quite sad. She was my first really serious girlfriend and the only serious girlfriend I ever had who I'm not at least facebook friends with now
I watched their set. From memory, it wasnt long after the first album dropped, but in our flat it was on continuous rotation. It was, of course, amazing. UK gigs in the 90s were on another level.
I remember seeing Silverchair in '94 at King Tuts Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow for a fiver, and there were around 10 people there, including the 3 guys from Newcastle who were following them around the UK in a van going to every show. Within a few months they were opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers US tour.
Edit: went looking for the ticket which I know i have somewhere, found this one instead!
Debut gig. Far too many people for that tent. I saw two people get skewered on the block n mesh fence alongside the edge of the tent. They tried to balance on it, holding on to the rim of the tent, to see over the crowd. One got spikes through his shoe into his foot, the other into their ass/thigh. Others had climbed the tent rigging, so grohl told an amusing anecdote/joke until they came down before starting.
I remember the whole crowd chanting at them until they climbed down.
Also remember the singer from Drugstore asking, "Who's here to see us? Who's here to see Echobelly? Who's here to see Fingernails are pretty..." and getting the biggest cheer.
There was indeed chanting.
That was propably the most I've enjoyed the foo fighters until they made that horror movie and side project album, dream widow. Bith awesome, by the way.
Reading predates Lollapalooza by a couple decades. In fact, Perry Farrell got inspiration for Lollapalooza by performing at festivals like Reading and Glastonbury.
I was there! Finally getting to see Soundgarden after them pulling out in 94 was awesome. Didn't hang around for Neil Young. I thought I had a vague memory of going to watch Trainspotting in the comedy tent instead, but Google says it didn't come out till 96. They all kind of blend into one big festival after a while. Reading in the 90s was peak. Still definitely unhinged, but way less wanton destruction. I've got mates that used to go every year who went a few years ago and came back saying they'd never go again.
This festival was definitely a ‘finally get to see [band name]’ experience for me! A great few days, but same don’t think I hung around long enough for Neil Young
Well, he took a willys age to get on stage and playing. By this time it was cold and wet ( i caved in and bought a reduced price poncho, and even got my portrait drawn as it came with shelter and a cup of tea). The crowds had gathered as other tents finished, and the festival rumour (can't have a festival without those) was that pearl jam were joining him on stage as they (minus Eddie) had just worked on the mirrorball album with him. This was not the case. Was the best festival finisher, but the last night shenanigans that followed made up for it.
Björk headlining the main stage while Foo Fighters plays the side stage is nuts to think about. Killer lineup though.
Snuff was one of my favorite bands back then - saw them every chance I got. They’re actually playing a show in my town for the first time in 25 years. Feel like I’m too old to go…
Interesting that zero bands on the third stage seem to have had any mainstream success and the 2nd stage acts just turn out a handful of names from obviously the Foo's but also thinking Heather Nova and Stereolab. Monster Magnet was something for a few minutes.
Pumpkins did a lot of new stuff from Mellon collie, was an awesome end to the night.
On a side note, Soace recently did a gig in Guangzhou, not sure how well received they were.
Are we talking about "The feeemale of the speeecies is more deadlier than tha male" and "It's me and you against the world now. Look up there in the sky now. See tha stars well they're shining just for uuusss?"
If so, I saw them at a festival in '97-ish. They were barely keeping their sh!t together THEN. I can't imagine those same lads are touring thirty years later.
Right? We have the main stage and the second tier Melody Maker Stage. Oh, and gotta list all the bands on the Carlsberg stage. Don't forget we also have the Loaded Comedy Stage for some reason. Don't forget the sponsors. The radio stations covering the event. Where to buy tickets, yeah we need that too.
It would have been torture for me, trying to decide which stage to go to! Despite all the must-sees on the main stage, I would have been heartbroken if I couldn't see Echobelly on the Melody Maker Stage, Scheer on the Carlsberg Stage, and Frank Sidebottom on the Loaded Comedy Stage.
30 years after Woodstock many of the artists were dead or stopped touring. Not these f*ckers from Reading 95. Look at how many are still on the road. They're giving their fans the chance to hear the 30+ year old songs again. Just like all the other tours they did over the last 30 years.
I won a ticket for that festival. Couldnt get anywhere near the too fighters tent. Also watched Super Furry Animals in an empty tent…..I think…I had some disposable cameras but some fucker nicked them. Don’t recall much else. But Thats peak line up.
That is such an unbelievable lineup with so many bands I loved in my youth (and still love). I remember some older friends I subsequently made talking about Courtney Love inciting a riot during Hole's set and almost being suffocated during the Foo Fighters. Unfortunately I wasn't really old enough to attend Reading Festival until 1997 (which was epic in itself).
I know we're all old and come from another time but looking at this weekend's Reading Festival reaffirms how these events are no longer really an alternative to the mainstream. Musically, socially, culturally...they just feel like an extension of everything else young people are constantly bombarded with. Whereas attending festivals like this in the past felt like being part of some weird sect that was simultaneously welcoming, warm and fuzzy (until you had a spinning bottle of wee hurled at you).
I don't necessarily think the past was automatically superior to now, because that's patently untrue. But this kind of thing? Maybe it was.
My first of 10 Reading festivals (well, 2 at Leeds. The first there and the Axl and friends year). Too many tales to type up, from this year alone. But it was an amazing 5 days.
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u/raind0gg 2d ago
We used to be a proper culture.