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Best Festival band you've ever seen

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?
by SeymourMBA

Mine is Therapy?, hands down. At Reading 94 (my first festival) they strode out, dressed in black, announced "READING! JAMES JOYCE IS FUCKING MY SISTER!", slammed straight into 'Potato Junkie' and decimated the festival - 60,000 people went completely ballistic for the entire set. The Chili Peppers had to follow them, and failed. Fantastic.

How about you?

SeymourMBA | 31 May '06, 00:35 | Send note | Report this | Reply

READING!!!

!!!


Just....

in general, you mean?


TRUCK!!!

!!!


Weezer 2002 probably

You can't really lose at a festival if you're Weezer and play all the old songs and a couple of good new ones. Everyone was bouncing around and grinning and Rivers kept shouting 'ROCK N ROLL! C'MON! YEAH!' in a cheesy manner. It was class.


MOGWAI

at the Leeds Festival, just after Rock Action. They were incredible and it was the last time I did poppers.


Was that when Rivers.....

.....said "Thank you! Goodnight!" after like two songs?

Quality gag.


best festival bands:

super furry animals
les savy fav
the gossip
ty
dillinger escape plan
mission of burma


and..

mclusky


terrorvision!


flaming

lips at glastonbury 2003, just before radiohead...sunset...


actually

that therapy gig was something else, page hamilton played guitar on one song and lesley rankin from silverfish sang on a couple as well (did I hear right that she died recently?)

obviously nirvana in 92 were a highlight of my life but as for other READING!!! acts... pavement in 92 and 94 were brilliant, breeders and fishbone in 93, flaming lips and superchunk in 94, trail of dead and mogwai in 01, blimey can think of loads more!


I think she's alive and well

Just taking a break since the last Ruby release in 2001


You have a good music taste!

Seymour...


Not bad for a dead person I must say

I saw a lot of great stuff at ATP the other week, so probably one of those.

Electrelane or The Shins.


Symposium

Glastonbury 1997. I was young, they were young, it was muddy, it was fun.

Also, from numerous Readings, 2000-present:
Blur
Pixies
Primal Scream
and, bizarrely, Limp Bizkit in 2000. They may be shite, but the show itself was ace.


Bands you must see if they're at a festival

Hundred Reasons
Green Day
Willy Mason
Super Furry Animals


Oooh, good call

Green Day at Reading two years ago was immense. Brilliant, brilliant show. I love it when bands play the hits, and add a bit of humour and glamour to a show. Green Day did exactly that.


Green Day at Reading

was one of the best live performances by a contemporary rock band (as the Grammys might call it) I've ever seen. They were the perfect band to end Reading


^^

big fat yes to Willy Mason. (not that I saw him supporting Radiohead and he f'wicked)

Best think I've seen at a festival was Brian Wilson cos he made me cry and I don't cry.


umm...

***not that I've seen him at a festival but I saw him supporting radiohead...


Tricky. Glastonbury 1998.

70,000 people waiting for Robbie Williams. Then a tiny, rocking paranoid mentalist swaggers on barking how his one time lover (also on stage) hides his Ventolin. Incessant, hypnotic and very loud. "Where's Robbie?" a few FHM lads heckled, trying to put a brave face on their bewilderment. "He's Dead" replied Tricky.


Flaming Lips - Big Day Out, Gold Coast 2000. The whole extravaganza of it!
The Avalanches - Falls Festival, Lorne 1999. Full band show with horn section and all
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Benicassim, 2005. The man (and band) were on fire!


Beastie Boys at Glastonbury 1994

was pretty crazy.

Some other favourite festival moments..

Beta Band (Glasto and V 2002)
Super Furries (everytime!)
Inspiral Carpets (Glasto 1995)


David Bowie (Glastonbury)

The Parkinsons (Glastonbury)
Radiohead (Glasto...)
Sonic Youth (ATP)
!!! (Reading)


i CAN'T WAIT

to see sonic youth in december at ATP! hopefully should be amazing :)


at the drive in :)

i've literally never seen reading's carling tent rammed like that before. one minute i was right in the middle of it, the next i found myself outside, dazed and not a little confused. it was like a tornado of flesh.

and the band were quite good.


Exactly what SeymourMBA said

Awesome set packed with the best of Nurse and Troublegum, plus introducing some songs from Infernal Love with their new cellist. In the Chilis' defence, they had just lost John Frusciante and were at the end of a massive world tour; plus it's hard to impress when you're knackered and have to wear an oversized light bulb on your head. Still, Therapy? all the way.

What a weekend that was, though: The Wildhearts, Terrorvision, Helmet, Pavement and Rollins Band all put in amazing sets. Crappest sets were from Lemonheads, Cypress Hill, Hole ("Yeah, I know: I'm so fucking brave.") and Soundgarden (for the no-show)


that was the year

that danny wildheart dislocated his knee onstage and kept playing wasn't it? 20,000 people all wincing in empathy at the same time! that was a hell of a weekend, with lou barlow's breakdown onstage, bloody courtney love everywhere, great fun :D


It was indeed - propped his leg up on a flight case and carried on

How many times did the festival cameras zoom in on Courtney's gusset? *sound of retching*


Polyphonic Spree

V 2005
Brian Wilson Glastonbury 2005


Ben Kweller

at T in the Park.

Magic Numbers at T 2 years ago were genuinely brilliant.

Arctic Monkeys at Reading was an impressive sight (yet a predictable answer).

Sons and Daughters at T in the Park

Faithless at V in the afternoon sun was an awesome sight too.


i once

saw new order play some joy division songs with billy corgan on guitar and moby on vocals. It was in the desert as the sun was going down and was immense.


Polyphonic Spree at Reading 2003

is a very good shout. One of the most wonderful things i have ever witnessed. The only band to compete with them that weekend was Mclusky...


Mogwai - Reading 2001

The best musical spectacle I have ever witnessed.

Their seminal show to date (in my opinion).


ihateyou

and have no idea why i didn't watch them.

really, none.


metallica

knew how to work the massive crowd perfectly


So do

Slipknot

seen them twice at festivals, both times an amazing experience


even my dad liked them

the first time he saw them play a festival ... he thought they'd lost it a bit second time though


i have to mention

Les Savy Fav at ATP last year. They blew me away.

Beck at Leeds a few years ago was very entertaining.


The Bees


hmmmm

Arcade Fire (Leeds, 2005)
Green Day (TITP, 2002)
Beta Band (TITP, 2002)

and...
whilst waiting for MSP to play at V99, I stood through a set by The Beautiful South. I fucking loved every minute of it and knew every single word.

Festivals are great just to let go man. I love that shit.


I'm going to be stoned I know, but the first time I saw Less Than Jake at Reading Festival in 2002, they were bloody brilliant, always a good fun live band, great atmosphere from the crowd!

Oh and Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Reading in 2003 was fantastic, possibly the best band that weekend.


Radiohead- Glasto 2003.
Oh and Love (Glasto 2004)- No explanation needed for either of those really.


the beta band

at V a few years ago were fucken lush.


.

I'm a bit new to all this festishite but

Dizzee Rascal (Reading 2004)
Arcade Fire (Reading 2005)

were both awesome. I mean, I quit seeing Morrissey to see Dizzee. Yes.


arcade fire

at reading were SO great. pretty much exterminated all doubts i continued to harbour about them.


.Oh and you're all a bunch of greasy mettlers

Get a haircut, have a wash, get some sunlight.


lowds

These stick out

Miss Black America @ LMHR MANC 2002. Unfortunately none of the protesters arrived in time to see them so they played to an audience of about 200
one of the best gigs i've ever seen

Lou Reed @ ATP Long Beach 2005

not a grumpy old man, smiling, talkative, quality, lots of familiar tunes, and the stuff from the raven was tops!

Aphex Twin @ Glasto 2002.

Unanounced, mental, MC Hammer samples,

Badly Drawn Boy @ Glasto 2002
really, unexpectedly, absolutely mint, played you were right for the first time(?), crowd loved him

Muse @ 94.9 mini fest @ SDSU amphetheatre 2004, Leeds 1999

He Moonwalks, even better than @ Glasto a few months earlier, first time was mint too

Mogwai@ Curiosa, 2004
Blew everything else away

Pixies @ MOVE 2004

the PIXIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!, people dancing in the rain

Chemical Brothers at Coachella 2005
dance in the desert!

Elastica @ Leeds1999
words cant express how much this made me realise that the britpop I hadnt listened to for ages was actually quality

Blur @ Leeds 2003
Billy Bragg @ Glasto 2003
Vines @ Glasto/Reading 2002
PJ Harvey@ Leeds 2001


Miss Black America @ LMHR in Southampton 2003 was pretty good too.

i've still got an interview from that night somewhere.

Shame Cultural Ice Age didn't turn up.


ARGH

fucksake

i was meant to see elastica, and got halfway to the tent, but circumstances conspired and i fucking missed them. ARGH. gah. aagh. SULK.


Wow, thankyou!

We were supposed to be on later at the Manchester LMHR festival, but Sona Fariq were late so we agreed to go on first. The MBA story in a nutshell: give us a golden opportunity and we'll fuck it up in every way possible. Hence, I'm still sleeping on the floor seven years into our glorious "career"...

I'm glad other people agree about that Therapy? gig. I'd almost started to wonder if it really was as great as I remembered...


therapy? 94

i too saw that, and rather spiffing it was too, especially leslie rankin.

others to add are :
spiritualized : glastonbury 1993 (original line up)
new order : reading 1993
rage against the machine : reading 1993
ned's atomic dustbin : reading 1993
blur : reading 1993
therapy? : reading 1994
lush : reading 1994
manics : reading 1994 (first as a three piece, everyone expected hole to play penny royal tea, they did'nt, but the manics blew through it)
wonderstuff : phoenix 1994
foo fighters : melody maker tent : reading 1995
prolapse : reading 1995
new order : reading 1998
living end : big day out 1999
at the drive in : reading 2000
utah saints : reading 2000


oh

and yo la tengo, summer sundae last year. purely because a drunken love ends disaster! and I watched it from the side of the stage


I was looking

forward to Utah Saints at Leeds in 2000, but sound problems meant it was a total washout. Gutted :(


the reading gig

was mind blowing. they played as a full live band, god knows what they were doing on the bill, but it just really worked, guitars, drums, stacks of electronics, and

edwyn starr appeared to sing war.....god bless him


Ah - I'd forgotten I saw the Manics at Reading 94

Just post-Richie and that was overshadowed by Courtney being there after Kurt's death.

Other performances I've enjoyed and just thought about:

Senser: Phoenix '93
Faith No More: Phoenix '93 (and Jim Martin's last gig with them)
Blur: Xfm Great Xpectations 1993 (surprise acoustic number)


aha

trainspotter alert :

it wasnt post richie, he was admitted to the priory at the time, and the fee / contract was so great the band played the gig without him.

you can add

carterusm : 1995 : melody maker stage at reading

10,000 people watch neil young and pearl jam, 50,000 people go to watch carter and seem them voice their well know hatred for pearl jam


.

acid mothers temple

and battles.


Jamiroquai...some 90's 1 day'er thing in a park in London...

It was v. hot, I had eaten a lump of lovely black...Jay K came out and went on this rant about how stupid anti-"Gris Gris" laws were when two policemen ran on the stage and forcibly dragged him off...the crowd went silent in shock until he ran back on with the "coppers" tearing their uniforms off and he kicked in to the gig...the sky just filled with joints being thrown to the stage like arrows in the sky from the scene in Henry V...the ensuing gig was astonishing!


Arcade Fire @ Reading 2005


Maybe...

Carter USM, followed by the Wonder Stuff's final (ha!) gig - Phoenix 94
Carter USM - Great Xpectations 1993
Collapsed Lung - Phoenix 95ish

Actually Phoenix 94 and Great Xpectations tie


gutted i couldn't go to Great Xpectations...

Carter, Family Cat, Catherine Wheel, Frank & Walters, Senseless Things.. The ideal festival lineup in 1993.


ozric tentacles

saw em buy accident

fuckin bunch of grebo's

they were awesome...i was on the shrooms, good combination


*by


It was such a good day

even Damon Allbran and Coxon turning up in their new mod outfits could ruin it.
Carter, Cure, Belly, Frank and Walters, Family Cat, Catherine Wheel and Kingmaker were all ace

Sugar and Senseless Things were typically dreadful. I loved Sugar but they were one piss poor live band.

Carter's set was the best thing ever - fireworks, first airing of Lenny and Terence , East 17 tattoos - marvellous!


i wanted to go to that

but couldnt, i especially wanted to see levitation who were initally to play, but they split up beforehand. (later became dark star).

sugar always were abysmal live. copper blue is a truly fantastic record, but live they were never much cop.

Carter on the other hand, were truly brilliant in full live flow.


That they were....

Carter were a true festival band. It's a pity they were banned from Glastonbury!


"senseless things typically dreadful"
rspce.. i hate you.


You know its true!

I love Senseless Things as much as anyone but they were RUBBISH outdoors at festivals!


You're forgetting the Cure!

If it's any consolation, I had to leave after Carter because I had my Maths GCSE the next day


Sorry, that was meant for Sarah C

...but ended up down here


Oh, and Senseless Things were great

I went and bought 'Empire of the Senseless' after seeing them


Yeah, rub it in a bit more.....

just because i couldn't go. I was stuck in somerset...also about to sit my GCSE's!


on another trainspotter note

they werent wearing black, they were wearing crushed velvet black / maroon suits with those fluffy neck cravat thingys.

(i have a bit of a mad and specific memory).


Manics?

Could've sworn they were sporting the 'Combat Rock' look...


they were

the manics were in holy bible combat rock stuff. that post was a reference to seymours point about therapy? in black. they were in these posh crushed velour suits, with a red backdrop to promote the infernal love album.

i replied to the first post and ended at the bottom.


Yep, Therapy?

And someone mentioned Terrorvision, still for me the king of all festival acts after all these years.

But Therapy? still kick it live, so I wish the Reading organisers would just let them play. Sod that "but they're old" crap, there are hundreds of bands playing, let 'em in. The reaction when The Wildhearts played in 2004 showed that not everyone believes music only started this decade...


Damo Suzuki at ATP

because id spoken to him previously and he came down from the stage and hugged me.

also Mastadon at the same ATP, as it restored my faith in metal


Les Savy Fav

@ last nightmare before xmas