Reading Roundup

'If you're list-en-ing/Woah-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh/Sing it back/Woah-oh-oh-oh-oh.'

(Yeah, thanks for getting stuck in my head Jimmy Eat World. It's only been three days of Sweetness on repeat...jeez.) 

One of the weekend's many rainbows, but this one made an arc over the whole site. Ooh, magical.

This year's Reading festival was soundtracked by some great bands, plus the rustling noise of waterproofs being taken off, then put back on, then taken off, then put back on again. Yes, the weather was playing silly buggers, and yes, I was a little perturbed to discover on the very first day that my waterproof leaked - at the neck seam no less - but I wasn't going to let an iddy bitty drop of rain dampen my spirits* interfere with the serious business of band watching. 

*Sorry, just for a second there I thought I was writing for the Daily Mail. 

This year was a strange one for acts, with a mixture of old-school established rock behemoths and freshly exploded from the womb newbies, and Friendly Fires. (No, credit where credit is due, the sight of their coterie of hula girls shimmying in the rain to 'Hawaiian Air' did actually brighten up the drizzly Sunday.) As usual, my eardrums and limbs have not quite recovered from the battering they received over the past few weekend, and neither have my eyes, from the sight of a million pasty legs and bum cheeks poking out of too-short denim shorts. More like denim knickers, or even denim thongs, some of them were that high cut. Eurgh. Kate Moss and Alexa Chung have a bloody lot to answer for, that's all I'll say on the matter. 

And now, in true music magazine style, here is the full Reading breakdown: in the form of a list, naturally.

Most exciting band of the weekend: letlive. Frontman Jason Aalon Butler spilled his guts onstage, exploding like a wildcat as he ricocheted around, jumping into the crowd, smashing into equipment, punching roadies and any band members that crossed his path of self destruction. He was like a ball of angry noise. Mindblowingly good.

Noisiest band - Crystal Castles. I thought my eardrums were about to explode. However, a note to festival organisers: please don't book Crystal Castles as the second to last band on the Sunday night of a festival. Teenagers + camping for four days + total lack of deodorant + having an arms-in-the-air rave-up to 'Baptism' = Gbird almost keeling over, knocked out by a cloud of over hormone-drenched B.O. Yeesh, it was bad.

Best scream - The Bronx frontman Matt Caughthran. That should probably be best roar. The man is a TANK with lungs.

 Olly Sykes: good tattoos, pretty good scream-ability too.

Best stage dive - Bring Me The Horizon guitarist Lee Malia set the bar high on Friday afternoon, jumping into the crowd then surfing all the way to the back, before reappearing to 'play' the rest of the song hanging off the smugly named 'Vodafone VIP' viewing tower. Pretty darn impressive. Apparently they tried to recreate this event at Leeds, but he ended up simply disappearing into the crowd. Ah well, everyone knows Leeds is never as good as Reading *oooo, controversial*.

Best outfit - Jared 'leather leggings' Leto. Mr 30 Seconds to Mars, what I wouldn't give to spend an evening gazing into those baby blues of yours, but seriously dude - a skirt/dress/cape combo? What were you thinking? As soon as Jared appeared on stage via a smoke filled rising platform, you kinda knew he was going to be maxxing out his rockstar persona. What with the aviator shades reflecting the sparkling lights, the (probably) Burberry spiked leather jacket and the custom in-ear monitors featuring the 30STM logo, it seems no expense was spared when it came to costuming this particular extravaganza.

Best crowd interaction - Enter Shikari. Cup throwing, crowd surfing and getting the audience to crouch down and sneak about, just before Rou shouted ' You creepy bastards...' These nutters still know how to have a good time.

Best frontperson - Jarvis - who else? 

Best banter - Taking Back Sunday. On the main stage: "Guys, look, I estimate that there are at least 20 more people out there than there are on stage, so let's rock the shit out of them with this next song!".

Biggest disappointment - The Strokes. Next time Julian, could you at least pretend that you are remotely bothered about headlining one of the greatest music festivals in the world? Mumbling doesn't really come across that well when you are talking to tens of thousands of people.

Coolest girl - I can't decide, it's too hard. Bethany Cosentino was just about the best thing since sliced bread, while Alison Mosshart is just so much cooler than Jamie Hince it's almost unfair. But I think Alice Glass still holds the crown. Although overall, there were not enough girls on stage in general. Sort it out...

Alice Glass: nice t-shirt

Best show - Muse. Come on, no one had a hope in hell of beating the kings of killer riffs and even bigger pyrotechnics. Forget Bonfire Night this year - Muse have used up the nation's supply of fireworks, sorry. What a night though, a moment to remember forever.

Best encore - My Chemical Romance, duh. Yeah, it was cheese on toast, and yeah, wheeling out Brian May to do We Will Rock You is a somewhat guaranteed crowd pleaser, but when he carried on playing for The Black Parade - which I've never seen them do live before - I was crying my eyes out, like the massive emo that I am. What of it?

 

Ah, Gerard. My tomato-haired, leather-clad dreamboat. Not to be confused with Gerard Butler, like my pal Ruth did. Verrrry different people. 

Most irritating bits - Moan moan moan, oh, there are always bad points about festivals. I won't bore you with gory details of the sanitation facilities ('tis amazing that we pay £175 for the pleasure of nearly vomming every time we go for a wee) or the lack of veggie food (we can't eat falafel every day, y'know?!) The most annoying thing about Reading 2011 was all the STUPID FANCYDRESS. Please, for the love of God, leave your Morph suits, monkey onesies and silly headgear at home next year. Wearing all that crap doesn't a) make you look Crazy with a capital C! or b) make the opposite sex think 'oh, I must have sex with that quirkily dressed character, sharpish!' It just makes you look like a knob.

And finally, on a happier note... 

Most romantic moment -  when a little plane flew over, bearing the the banner 'Sarah I love you will you marry me'. We are still waiting for confirmation as to whether her answer was in the affirmative, but either way, it made every girl in the field go 'awwww', so well done to you, lover of Sarah.

 Reading: it's been emotional yet again, every bit of me hurts, I'm too old to deal with this, but like all unhealthy addictions, I'm pretty sure I'll be relapsing next year. Until then...

GL

Images: top, GL, all others, BBC

Yo, Flo

Good to have you back. It's been too long, lady.

'What the water gave me' is the first 'taster' song off the new album (this kind of song used to be known as a first single, then the music biz realised that people are more likely to create a buzz around something that seems secret and exclusive. And also to download it in their hoardes, sending it up the 'singles' chart, and to blog about it. *ahem*)

I was so excited when this dropped yesterday that I emitted a sound normally only audible to bats. Florence is a goddess, a legend, and an inspiration to her army of fans, yours truly included.  You may remember this moment, a highlight in the chain of embarrassing events that pass for this blogger's life. So I have been basically clawing the furniture in anticipation of new music from Miss Florence Welch. 

'What the water gave me' is such a beautiful track that it gives me musical orgasms. Gospel inspired, euphoric and harp-heavy in true Flo-style, it's the perfect way to warm us up for the new album, which is as yet untitled, out on November 7th. Perhaps she'll continue the anatomical theme and call it 'Heart' as a follow up to 'Lungs'? I don't really mind to be honest, just want it on my iPod, stat.

The video shows Florence rocking out in the studio, working hard (while wearing some fetching Gucci togs, thanks to her uber fan, designer Frida Giannini) and also wafting about in her usual white witch attire. She also conducts a choir on the massive build towards the end of the song, and does some lyric writing - basically all the things we know and love her for. If this is just a taste, then I'm hungry for more (sorry. I'll put my bad joke trombone away.)

November 7th 2011. And so the countdown begins...

GL

Doc Martens: The Best Boots, The Best Ad Campaign #FirstandForever

Last Friday, I fell head over heels in love. My heartbeat was all a-flutter and my eyes misted over like I was a My Little Pony.  

The object of my foolish heart's affection? Only Agyness Deyn, part time supermodel, full time barometer of cool. My favourite supermodel was unveiled as the 'face' (and feet, naturally) of the new Doc Martens campaign.

So far, this was an entirely win-win situation. Aggy is ridiculously amazing, and I am a crazy Doc Martens lover.*

 *Having misunderstood DMs for years, thinking they were only worn by art teachers and five year olds (purple patent boots with flowers, hello), in 2009 I underwent a spiritual conversion and suddenly 'got' DMs. I fell for their chunky, clumpy, clompy-ness - the fact that when you are wearing them you feel like you can run or fight or dance, depending on what is presently required. Within three years, I've acquired three pairs, and am now looking to add classic cherry 1460s to my collection. I wear my DMs disproportionately more than any of my other shoes, and I have a LOT of shoes. Sometimes I think I'd be happy if they were my only pair of shoes. This is a long term relationship.

 

Back to Aggy and Doc Martens. What makes this combination so special, so flipping perfect, is  the  ingenious idea behind the campaign.

 

I'm not normally a big fan of that word. Nobody says 'advert' anymore, which is essentially all a 'campaign' is - a series of nice, shiny pictures, featuring a supermodel or six, shot by a swanky photographer, with everyone getting paid fees that would pay for a small house.

 

However, Doc Martens have gone out of their way to make the promo for their new collection  not just a fashion campaign, but am interactive, emotional, digital experience, and I'll be the first to say I've been suckered in by it - and I don't even mind. I relish how suckered in I am. I'm actively enjoying it.  

 Called 'First and Forever', they have set up a micro website as part of their main one, which firstly features the shots of Agyness in full skinhead, oi attire. It's impossible that this wasn't inspired by Lol and co from the greatest tv show of all time, This is England 1986. Aggy has been styled up like Lol, her ashy blonde hair slicked into a boyish quiff, minimal makeup, and she's wearing polos, skinny jeans, donkey jackets and a different pair of DMs in every picture. Her male companion is twin-like, as they smooch and mooch around what looks like an old bingo hall and a carpark. They are a young couple in love.

The idea behind the campaign is that our 'first' moments shape us 'forever', which is something I have always believed in. First kisses, first friendships, first gigs, first heartbreaks are the experiences that affect the rest of our lives. The short film shows Aggy and her boyfriend happy and overcome with love, but also sat in a dingy cafe, having that conversation where no-one really speaks because you know you are breaking up but it's too painful for either of you to actually say that.

 

 Doc Martens are asking people to submit their first and forever memories, whether it's remembering their first pair of DMs or something more personal. They are building up a map of memories from everyone who contributes - plus there's a chance to win a pair of shoes from the new collection. If ever I for one needed motivation, the lure of reliving awkward romantic memories (see: the rest of this blog) and free DMs is good enough for me.

 

GL

Doc Martens #First and Forever

Best Coast + Drew Barrymore = Music Video Heaven

I've been AWOL because in all honesty, I wasn't going to follow up a post about one of my idols dying with something trivial. I had to wait until something special came along.

Thankfully, one of my other idols stepped up to the plate, in the form of Drew Barrymore. My love for Drew knows no bounds: her style, attitude and artistic endeavours always impact on my little life in some way. Full disclosure: as a fourteen year old, I even loved Charlie's Angels (there, I've said it.) 

Dream combo deluxe.

So you can imagine my hyperactive, bated-breath levels of anticipation when we heard recently that Drew would be directing that old fashion entity, the music video, for er-ma-zing California band Best Coast. This group, fronted by Bethany Cosentino, have had a place in my heart since last year, when I first heard their dreamy, wistful take on Beach Boys-style pop songs (if the Beach boys had just been dumped by their boyfriends).

The video for Best Coast's song 'Our Deal' got unveiled last week, but as is the way in 2011, has already been wrenched away from the interwebs by an over zealous MTV employee, due to a copyright issue or something equally annoying. Good luck trying to find the official version anywhere apart from on the actual teevee. Oh, how I miss teenaged days, prone on the sofa, flicking steadily between the music channels - skipping over Scuzz, naturally.

Luckily a fellow fan resorted to the time honoured trick of videoing the video off the tellybox. Thank you, ILOVEJONAS93 or whatever your real name is. Therefore, I can share a little Best Coast/Drew/Chloe Moretz love. Yeah that's right, little Hit-Girl from Kick Ass grew up a tiny bit, got herself a quiff and a tough chick leather jacket, and went all West Side Story on us...

 Chloe Moretz: from Kick Ass to bad ass.

 Tyler Posey, a.k.a Teen Wolf, gets his 'Danny' on.

The brief summary: Chloe and Tyler Posey play members of opposing LA gangs; the Day Trotters and the Night Creepers (somehow I feel the Trotters drew the short straw, name wise.) They meet on the stretch of disused reservoir made famous by a car named Grease Lightning - nice touch, Barrymore. In true Romeo and Juliet fashion, Veronica and Lucky fall madly in love, despite having to keep their romance a secret. There's some nice use of Biro-on-hand and graffiti-on-wall communication that makes everyone nostalgic for some good ol' fashioned note passing in class. 

Sweet sentiment, awful grammar. 

Oh, and one of my favourite Whip It actresses, Shailene Woodley, pops up too. Looking ferocious.

 There's also enough retro 50's street gang fashion to fulfil your wildest West Side Story fantasties. The big floppy quiffs on guys and gals, custom leather jackets and frankly agressive levels of eyeliner are like a NYLON-er's style wet dream. That's a good thing, believe me. I'm growing my fringe out faster than you can say 'Kenickie'.

  A lovers misunderstanding leads to tragedy. Look at that SNARL!

There's the inevitable rumble in the, er, car park, and of course, this wouldn't be a Romeo and Juliet remake without a suitably 'got something in my eye' ending. As no-one can currently watch the darn thing, I don't think I can be held responsible for ruining the ending. I challenge even the toughest of nuts not to feel even a teensy bit choked up.

Cue tears, and a rush on red tights.

I'm a sucker for a cool hairstyle, a tragic love story, and a beautiful song. Thanks Drew. 

ps. Rumour has it there's a 10 minute version due to be released next week. Who said the music video was dead?

GL

NB: All images borrowed from Best Coast's 'Our Deal' video, directed by Drew Barrymore for MTV's Supervideos. If you don't hear from me in a few days, it's because MTV's copyright Daleks have exterminated me for frivolously flagrant infringement.