Crunching their puny bodices into a mangled punk hovel of =SuPa=EmO= Blink-uniformed bikini jailbait:

Ellen Forster (EF)
Mathew Hocking (Mat)
Edward Mellett (Ed)
Katherine Price (KP)
Raziq Rauf (RaZ)
Peter White (PW)

SATURDAY 23rd AUGUST at THE READING FESTIVAL
SUNDAY 24th AUGUST at THE LEEDS FESTIVAL

FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND:
Oh it was everything you will have seen previously but in a tent at 150% capacity. It was beautiful and the singer's laryngitis evidently has cleared up - RaZ
Should have been tearing the Concrete Jungle stage down at the end of the night, not the beginning. I have never seen a tent this full and that includes 'Tallica at Donington. PW
They got drunk kids to get up before lunch, stand 40 feet from the edge of the Concrete Jungle tent with bad views and rubbish sound.. and for this they gave them the best rock of the whole weekend. My god - Hell yeah! Ed
Couldn't even see the stage but their set was easily my highlight of the festival. Shame it came so early on in the day...EF
KING PRAWN:
Not a single DiS writer frequented the Carling Stage at the time of King Porn's set. Tells a story in itself.
THRICE:
I almost fell asleep - RaZ
Bland, bland, bland...didn't know hardcore could be this unoriginal.EF
POISON THE WELL:
Fiiiinally something resembling brutal, cock-bending metal. Made me smile. From outside the tent - RaZ
Didn't know anything about this band, in fact, only went to see them cos my little bro dragged me along....but they were pretty fucking good. PTW could certainly teach Thrice a few things.EF
Was in the pub. Looked at the time. I could make it back. Then again, I could have another pint - Mat
THE MOVELIFE:
Was in the pub. Looked at the time. I could make it back. Then again, I could have another pint - Mat
BOYSETSFIRE:
Not a single DiS writer frequented the Carling Stage at the time of Boy Sucks Liar's set. Tells a story in itself.
TURBONEGRO:
Was worried about catching these Norwegian punk'n'roll heroes due to an interview with Cult of Luna, but they wanted to catch them too so we cut short and found these mental patient rejects delivering some fine-ass rock'n'roll debauchery and confirming their reputation as true punk legends! - Mat
MAD CADDIES:
I used to really love Mad Caddies. Maybe if I'd squeezed my way into the tent I may have rekindled that love, but after two same-y albums I'm afraid me and the Caddies are over. Sniff - Mat
Stayed for four songs to see if they were gonna play their one about monkeys. They didn't so I left cos the Mars Volta were calling...EF
ALKALINE TRIO:
The sound was so weak from just outside the tent I had to ask someone behind me if it was really them. Not the greatest of sets and quite offputting really - Mat
Looked like midgets, sounded like I was stuck outside the tent. Still compounded the fact that it seemed like 2003 was the year of the mass appeal, trucker cap wearing, =emo= punk. PW
THE ATARIS:
Not a single DiS writer frequented the Carling Stage at the time of The Farties' set. Tells a story in itself.
LAGWAGON:
Not a single DiS writer frequented the Carling Stage at the time of Shagwagon's set. Tells a story in itself.
PENNYWISE:
I foolishly chose AFI over this lot (well, not quite 'foolishly') but once I ventured over just as the drum fill for 'Perfect People' was firing up I found myself jumping into the crowd and singing along with all the might my weary body could muster. New song 'God Save the USA' was top notch too. Absolutely Brilliant! Mat

CARLING WEEKENDER 2003: DANCE STAGE REVIEWS

Grooving their slippery butts off in a vacuum sealed bleeping sweatshop of doom heaven in pill-fuelled excess were:

Oliver Appleby (Ollie)
Mathew Hocking (Mat)
Edward Mellett (Ed)
Katherine Price (KP)
Raziq Rauf (RaZ)
Joanne Sutton (JS)
Georgina Terry (GT)
Genevieve Williams (Gen)

FRIDAY 22nd AUGUST at THE READING FESTIVAL
SATURDAY 23rd AUGUST at THE LEEDS FESTIVAL

DEATH IN VEGAS:
It's the end of the summer, and you're in the dance tent, and it's hot as fuck, and at least 60% of the people in here are pissed/stoned/floating on a magical pink cloud in happyhighland and clutching glowsticks, and there are big globulous glowing blue cubes dangling in mid-air, and Death In Vegas are waging war upon your senses and giving it their creepy sexy hypnotic freak-you-the-fuck-out all. So why is no-one dancing? They're all standing around like bored middle-aged morons. Fucking spoilsports - Gen
Too tired to pass judgement. Sorry. JS
BLACKALICOUS:
Were there really polythene sheets hanging down the entrances preventing ANY ventilation or was I just seeing things? - RaZ
DM & JEMINI:
Ah, yeah! RaZ
AMON TOBIN:
Although I'd been looking forward to this for a while his fractured beats and dizzying drum 'n' bass anomalies just seemed wrong in the middle of the afternoon - Mat
BUCK 65:
Marred by inadequate sound and unfortunately placed before the Smirnoff dance picture-show screen, those honky-tonk blues just couldn’t stir the already distracted crowd. Ho hum, you win some, you lose some. JS
MY COMPUTER:
Not a single DiS writer frequented the Carling Stage at the time of My Porn Reservoir's set. Tells a story in itself.

SATURDAY 23rd AUGUST at THE READING FESTIVAL
SUNDAY 24th AUGUST at THE LEEDS FESTIVAL

2 MANY DJS:
So I left Blur positively bored out of my mind and contemplating bed when, allofasudden, I stumbled across a rave. Not just any rave, the best rave imaginable with bits of Beyonce, Dolly Parton, House of Pain, Guns 'n' Roses... everything. And so I raved and it got me in the right frame of mind for the rest of the night. All hail 2 MANY DJS! - KP
AUDIO BULLYS:
I went, I saw, I danced and I left; impressed. KP
GOLD CHAINS:
Lots of shouting. Time for a delicious Carling I believe. GT
Best band of the tent. Ok, the only guys I saw all weekend, and even tho GC didn't play some of his killer tracks, instead going more 80s and dropping in a few too many slow numbers, him and his polio dancing petite partner in crime made the best of a slightly ill advised tracklisting. Face it, the dance tent's a joke, do you get an indie tent at a dance festival? No, the crowd response says why. Ollie

SUNDAY 24th AUGUST at THE READING FESTIVAL
FRIDAY 22nd AUGUST at THE LEEDS FESTIVAL

LAMB
Overheard 'Angels' during a break in Metallica's set and it sounded lusciously spellbinding - Mat
SQUAREPUSHER:
Put it this way - complicated quadratics at 10pm on the Sunday of a drunken festival weekend would be hard to get your head round. Squarepusher sounds like 4n/6fx(2(n-7)) ..with more swearing... and so many more drugs. Ed
JUST JACK:
Imagine my delight when, stumbling in half asleep, slightly hungover and blinded by the mid-afternoon sun, I sank to the ground only to be soothed and mesmerised by Just Jack's laidback hip-hop grooves. Just what the doctor ordered - Gen
BLAK TWANG:
It was too damn sweaty to watch anything in here - RaZ

(Photo by Ollie)