Reading 2001
A selection from the photos I took. I was nearer to some artists
than others!
Firstly, my favourite three performances:
The Cult played a storming set, including many of their old hits.
Gary Numan was exceptional, playing a very heavy set. I had hoped
that his would be the surprise hit of all the gigs, and was not
disappointed! I had also made it to the very front of the audience.
However, the show was undoubtedly stolen by Marilyn Manson. Parading on stilts,
preaching from a pulpit (which bore a
cross made from guns), dressed as the pope and
flaunting torn fur, this guy was the most spectacular. With pyrotechnics to
complete the show, even those at the back of the arena will not have missed him!
With a good selection of songs performed (including Sweet Dreams for a bit
of audience participation) even nonbelievers nearby were heard to mutter
"He was ok actually!"
And a selection of the others:
Jeff Green was excellent in the Comedy Tent, borne out by the huge
audience. His observational comedy was spot on, and just slightly
cutting. (He's on the right!)
Rancid were the best of the rest, performing a mix of ska and punk with
talent and style. A surprising number of festivalgoers were either
wearing the t-shirt or happy to talk about them, and I hope that next
time they will be higher up the programme. They encouraged several manic
circle pits in the audience!
PJ Harvey was quite good (for a change!) although she spent much of the
set saying "we haven't rehearsed this, so..." and wore only a leather
bra and miniskirt.
Iggy Pop was fun, stagediving and managing to get audience members onstage
to dance during "Passenger". His voice was a bit rough, but Iggy is Iggy
and of course everybody loved him.
System of a Down were fun, entertaining, and musically tight. Who can
resist their staring eyes and comments such as "I like to watch retarded people
having sex... am I alone?" I have added them to my album-buying list!
Queens of the Stone Age brought nudity - both to the stage and the audience
as their bassist performed starkers. This encouraged a man to stagedive
wearing nothing but a seethrough raincoat, and various girls to lift their
tops when the camera caught them. Unfortunately the Queens' music is
bland USA rock which we have all heard before.
I could hardly see Eminem at all - which suited me just fine!
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