Wednesday: It's the waiting that's the worst part, I get bored and go out too early. Got the Charring Cross train from Rochester. Went into the bookshop near Trafalgar Square then walked up to the national portrait gallery only to find they make you pay for the decent exhibitions now, started walking towards Soho and decided I'd have fun by getting myself lost in the West End. Got a Nick Cave album in Sister Ray then went up to get something to eat in Camden. Walked to the Barfly just in time for the doors to open early, didn't notice too many little kiddies, you could tell that this was some people's first or maybe third Hardcore show by the Bring Me The Horizon and Slipknot shirts.
Blackhole: The singer has gotten a lot more confident since the last time I saw them (well the last time was their first show so you'd hope that). "We should say, we're not from Watford, Gallows are from Watford, we're from Hemel" someone shouted "WATFORD" "Fuck Watford, it's all about Hemel" Frank from Gallows was throwing stuff at him in between songs "When Gallows play, you have to punch Frank in the face for every song" they have the potential to go places, it's a shame that the main reason is the singer is the brother of Frank from Gallows.
From Autumn To Ashes: I'm not really into them but they were alright. From the expression on the singers face you could tell he didn't want to play this show.
Gallows: Mental as ever. Stood upfront and sang along, even got to scream into the mic when they played their cover of Nervous Breakdown by Black Flag (anyone who knows me would know how much that means to me). When they played their last song Frank went into the audience, managed to get in front of him and scream into the mic, when they finished the song Frank was still in the audience and didn't have the mic so he just shouted "THANK YOU, NOW FUCK OFF!"
Got the train to Strood and walked home.
Thursday: Only managed half an hour of sleep before the first and loudest of three alarm clocks went off. Walked into Strood to see if there was an early bus I could catch (there wasn't) got thee bus to Rochester, couldn't wait for the Victoria train so I got the Charring Cross train, got off at London Bridge as I remembered that you could get trains to Victoria from there, problem was, they weren't fast trains, they went to ever stop along the way and I had to pay for another ticket there, by the time I got to Victoria it was later than if I waited for the first train from Rochester. The Circle Line was shut so I had to take a couple of trains to Paddington. Found a place that did triple Espresso's before getting the train to Reading. Got to the campsite and tried to phone Nick, I couldn't get through to him, some guy called back who wasn't Nick, I found out later Mills gave put a six instead of o five for the last digit of Nick's number. Tried phoning Mills but I couldn't get through to him either, phoned Steve thinking I could hang around with him while I waited for Mills to show up but he couldn't get a Reading ticket. After waiting around for a few hours I finally saw Mills and went to put up my tent, I would have actually been better off if I had went up with them.
It could have been the amount of caffeine in my system at that point but I honestly can't remember the first night.
Friday: Got up bright and early, walked into Reading to use the toilet at the Oracle. Bought a travel suitcase for 19.99 to replace my bag that broke on the way up and a Miles Davis CD from HMV. Came back to the campsite then went into the arena.
Street Dogs: They were good but their performance lacked energy.
The Draft: Really surprised at how good they were, I stood there thinking "wow this is how Emo was ten years ago" pulled myself away to watch all of Frank Turner's set, which was great but I still wished I watched the rest of The Draft. Came back to the tents, a couple of other people had just turned up. Went back into the arena to watch The Bronx, they may be Black Flag for Indie kids but any band who sites Black Flag as a main influence can be my friend, except Amen, Amen suck
Went back to the tents then went back in the arena with Mills, Nick and Luke. Had a look around the stalls and found the henna tattoo place, for some strange reason I can't recall Luke said he wanted Jim Bowen written on his chest, Mills dared him to, Luke said he would if Mills paid for it
Luke then starts showing it off to people too young to know who Jim Bowen is. Went off to watch Ash, they were great when they played songs I actually cared about, couldn't be arsed to stand up when they played something new.
Saturday: Got up early again to go to the Oracle toilets and bought Frank Turner's album from HMV. Later into the arena.
Dan Le Sac vs. Sroobius Pip: I take it back, there is hope for British Hip Hop. Pip might be ripping off Sage Francis' beard, and dress sense, and rhymes but at least they're not following the current trend.
Went to the tent and then back to the arena again.
Lethal Bizzle: Only watched the first fifteen minutes, some of his stuff I liked, some of it I didn't.
Dinosaur Jr.: Why don't I own stuff by this band?
Came back to the tent to find I have sun burn on the sides of my face that my cap doesn't cover
Sunday: Found some half decent chemical toilets near the camp entrance so I didn't bother walking to the Oracle. Had a look round Caversham but it was too early for anything to be open. Went back to the tent then went to the Record fare, got stuff by Joey Beats, Leftver Crack, Melt-Banana, Shellac, Swans and Why? Put everything in my suitcase then went into the arena.
Municipal Waste: Insane amount of energy for this time in the afternoon. They got Jay from The Casualties to do a beer bong "we're down with Punks because they like to drink as much as us"
Ignite: Weren't that great, played a bit too much of the stuff off the last album. After Municipal Waste anyone seems pale by comparison
The Casualties: "You might have noticed we're missing our lead singer, he's from Ecuador so they would let him into the country" "So you country doesn't like dark people?" The Guitarist and Bass player shared vocals between them, they sounded the way you'd hope Rancid would if you just saw their picture
Cancer Bats: They may be from Canada but the singer sounds like he's from Texas, they gave a shout out to Gallows "Last night me and Stu shared a bed, that was the heaviest sleep I've ever had"
Went off to get something to eat, suffered through the Dwarves set.
From Autumn To Ashes: seemed to be more into their set today.
Against Me!: I enjoyed them more now that I've spent the last year listening to their stuff. I like that they don't explain every song like Anti-Flag would and just let the music speak for itself like Conflict. This band could be our generation's Clash, but don't hype them too much
Gallows: Now this was something special. They had every member of their family on the side of the stage (except Stu for some reason). Frank was even in a good mood when they threw stuff "if you're going to throw a bottle of piss, uncap it first"
"I want to remember this for the rest of my life, but I know half an hour after I go off stage I'll forget, so I'm getting a tattoo, right now" the singer of New Found Glory came onstage with a tattoo needle and wrote "Reading 2007" on Frank's hand
Frank mentioned he now has a celebrity girlfriend he met when on tour in America (wouldn't say who) and phoned her onstage and got everyone to say hello to her. For the last song Frank crowd surfed to the middle of the tent, climbed up the centre pole and dived back on the crowd, one of the most mental set I've seen at Reading, on par with Dillinger Escape Plan shitting on the main stage.
Saw the last half hour of Nine Inch Nails, brought back awkward memories of being a teenager, but in a good way then watched the last half hour of so of Turbonegro before going back to the tent. I hear running water outside my tent I look out to see some kid pissing near towards my tent, he comes over and asks "is this you're tent" "yes" "do you want me to make sure no one fucks it" "what I should have said was "alright" and that would have been the end of it, instead I stare at him angrily and tell him to go away as he's annoying me, so he keeps coming back and getting in my face until the others come back and we start a fire. I stay up 'til past five and make sure the fire is out and that cunt and his friends are too tired to try to do anything to my tent.
Monday: I get two hours of sleep, pack all my stuff up. The little cunt from last night walks past, sees all my tattoo's and leaves me alone. We all decided not to pack our tents up as it's too much hassle. We get to Reading train station and the others tell me they already have tickets, they can go straight to a train, I have to queue for a ticket, I tell them not to bother waiting for me. It takes nearly an hour to get into the station but I get a ticket quickly and get a fast train to Paddington. I get to Victoria with minimum hassle, get tofu and rice for lunch, I get a train and call Dad to pick me up from Rochester. I will always think back on Reading 2007 as the year of unnecessary aggro.
Blackhole: The singer has gotten a lot more confident since the last time I saw them (well the last time was their first show so you'd hope that). "We should say, we're not from Watford, Gallows are from Watford, we're from Hemel" someone shouted "WATFORD" "Fuck Watford, it's all about Hemel" Frank from Gallows was throwing stuff at him in between songs "When Gallows play, you have to punch Frank in the face for every song" they have the potential to go places, it's a shame that the main reason is the singer is the brother of Frank from Gallows.
From Autumn To Ashes: I'm not really into them but they were alright. From the expression on the singers face you could tell he didn't want to play this show.
Gallows: Mental as ever. Stood upfront and sang along, even got to scream into the mic when they played their cover of Nervous Breakdown by Black Flag (anyone who knows me would know how much that means to me). When they played their last song Frank went into the audience, managed to get in front of him and scream into the mic, when they finished the song Frank was still in the audience and didn't have the mic so he just shouted "THANK YOU, NOW FUCK OFF!"
Got the train to Strood and walked home.
Thursday: Only managed half an hour of sleep before the first and loudest of three alarm clocks went off. Walked into Strood to see if there was an early bus I could catch (there wasn't) got thee bus to Rochester, couldn't wait for the Victoria train so I got the Charring Cross train, got off at London Bridge as I remembered that you could get trains to Victoria from there, problem was, they weren't fast trains, they went to ever stop along the way and I had to pay for another ticket there, by the time I got to Victoria it was later than if I waited for the first train from Rochester. The Circle Line was shut so I had to take a couple of trains to Paddington. Found a place that did triple Espresso's before getting the train to Reading. Got to the campsite and tried to phone Nick, I couldn't get through to him, some guy called back who wasn't Nick, I found out later Mills gave put a six instead of o five for the last digit of Nick's number. Tried phoning Mills but I couldn't get through to him either, phoned Steve thinking I could hang around with him while I waited for Mills to show up but he couldn't get a Reading ticket. After waiting around for a few hours I finally saw Mills and went to put up my tent, I would have actually been better off if I had went up with them.
It could have been the amount of caffeine in my system at that point but I honestly can't remember the first night.
Friday: Got up bright and early, walked into Reading to use the toilet at the Oracle. Bought a travel suitcase for 19.99 to replace my bag that broke on the way up and a Miles Davis CD from HMV. Came back to the campsite then went into the arena.
Street Dogs: They were good but their performance lacked energy.
The Draft: Really surprised at how good they were, I stood there thinking "wow this is how Emo was ten years ago" pulled myself away to watch all of Frank Turner's set, which was great but I still wished I watched the rest of The Draft. Came back to the tents, a couple of other people had just turned up. Went back into the arena to watch The Bronx, they may be Black Flag for Indie kids but any band who sites Black Flag as a main influence can be my friend, except Amen, Amen suck
Went back to the tents then went back in the arena with Mills, Nick and Luke. Had a look around the stalls and found the henna tattoo place, for some strange reason I can't recall Luke said he wanted Jim Bowen written on his chest, Mills dared him to, Luke said he would if Mills paid for it
Luke then starts showing it off to people too young to know who Jim Bowen is. Went off to watch Ash, they were great when they played songs I actually cared about, couldn't be arsed to stand up when they played something new.
Saturday: Got up early again to go to the Oracle toilets and bought Frank Turner's album from HMV. Later into the arena.
Dan Le Sac vs. Sroobius Pip: I take it back, there is hope for British Hip Hop. Pip might be ripping off Sage Francis' beard, and dress sense, and rhymes but at least they're not following the current trend.
Went to the tent and then back to the arena again.
Lethal Bizzle: Only watched the first fifteen minutes, some of his stuff I liked, some of it I didn't.
Dinosaur Jr.: Why don't I own stuff by this band?
Came back to the tent to find I have sun burn on the sides of my face that my cap doesn't cover
Sunday: Found some half decent chemical toilets near the camp entrance so I didn't bother walking to the Oracle. Had a look round Caversham but it was too early for anything to be open. Went back to the tent then went to the Record fare, got stuff by Joey Beats, Leftver Crack, Melt-Banana, Shellac, Swans and Why? Put everything in my suitcase then went into the arena.
Municipal Waste: Insane amount of energy for this time in the afternoon. They got Jay from The Casualties to do a beer bong "we're down with Punks because they like to drink as much as us"
Ignite: Weren't that great, played a bit too much of the stuff off the last album. After Municipal Waste anyone seems pale by comparison
The Casualties: "You might have noticed we're missing our lead singer, he's from Ecuador so they would let him into the country" "So you country doesn't like dark people?" The Guitarist and Bass player shared vocals between them, they sounded the way you'd hope Rancid would if you just saw their picture
Cancer Bats: They may be from Canada but the singer sounds like he's from Texas, they gave a shout out to Gallows "Last night me and Stu shared a bed, that was the heaviest sleep I've ever had"
Went off to get something to eat, suffered through the Dwarves set.
From Autumn To Ashes: seemed to be more into their set today.
Against Me!: I enjoyed them more now that I've spent the last year listening to their stuff. I like that they don't explain every song like Anti-Flag would and just let the music speak for itself like Conflict. This band could be our generation's Clash, but don't hype them too much
Gallows: Now this was something special. They had every member of their family on the side of the stage (except Stu for some reason). Frank was even in a good mood when they threw stuff "if you're going to throw a bottle of piss, uncap it first"
"I want to remember this for the rest of my life, but I know half an hour after I go off stage I'll forget, so I'm getting a tattoo, right now" the singer of New Found Glory came onstage with a tattoo needle and wrote "Reading 2007" on Frank's hand
Frank mentioned he now has a celebrity girlfriend he met when on tour in America (wouldn't say who) and phoned her onstage and got everyone to say hello to her. For the last song Frank crowd surfed to the middle of the tent, climbed up the centre pole and dived back on the crowd, one of the most mental set I've seen at Reading, on par with Dillinger Escape Plan shitting on the main stage.
Saw the last half hour of Nine Inch Nails, brought back awkward memories of being a teenager, but in a good way then watched the last half hour of so of Turbonegro before going back to the tent. I hear running water outside my tent I look out to see some kid pissing near towards my tent, he comes over and asks "is this you're tent" "yes" "do you want me to make sure no one fucks it" "what I should have said was "alright" and that would have been the end of it, instead I stare at him angrily and tell him to go away as he's annoying me, so he keeps coming back and getting in my face until the others come back and we start a fire. I stay up 'til past five and make sure the fire is out and that cunt and his friends are too tired to try to do anything to my tent.
Monday: I get two hours of sleep, pack all my stuff up. The little cunt from last night walks past, sees all my tattoo's and leaves me alone. We all decided not to pack our tents up as it's too much hassle. We get to Reading train station and the others tell me they already have tickets, they can go straight to a train, I have to queue for a ticket, I tell them not to bother waiting for me. It takes nearly an hour to get into the station but I get a ticket quickly and get a fast train to Paddington. I get to Victoria with minimum hassle, get tofu and rice for lunch, I get a train and call Dad to pick me up from Rochester. I will always think back on Reading 2007 as the year of unnecessary aggro.