I say this every year, but I’ll say it again. This year was the best Reading Festival ever! There was a wonderful combination of great company, great bands and great weather. It only actually really rained on the Thursday when we arrived so the campsite was muddy, but the arena was nice and dry. I already have my ticket for next year! It’s been too long now to do a mini review on every band I saw (34 this year), but I will list my favourites instead.

Queens Of The Stone Age – Was there any doubt I wouldn’t enjoy this set? An hour of Josh Homme and co not promoting anything, just playing for the pure enjoyment of it. They opened with the winning combination of Feel Good Hit Of The Summer and The Lost Art of Keeping A Secret, and kept churning out hit after hit for the whole hour. Ending with Song For The Dead was totally epic and I had a smile on my face for the rest of the night. So glad I didn’t go to see Guns ‘n’ Roses after!

Blood Red Shoes – I saw these directly after Queens and they didn’t quite match up, but they were still brilliant. Such a vast improvement from seeing them two years ago in the NME tent and they had managed to draw a pretty large crowd as well. I adore both albums equally so pretty much anything they played, I loved.

The Maccabees – I’ve seen them a couple of times in the past and they were just, ok, alright, and the albums are pretty much the same. But seeing them live this time around they were like a band transformed. Confident and loud and bold, with a brass section dressed as woodland animals. Everyone around me was smiling and dancing along to every song, it was perfect.

The Libertines – If you know me, you know that this was the moment I have been waiting the whole summer for. Ever since the rumours started late last year I’ve been excited for the reunion of the summer. I’m glad to say they did not disappoint me. Before they came on stage they showed a montage of photos throughout their career and I was welling up just at that. The setlist was fantastic, the band were so tight and Carl and Pete looked so happy, hugging and kissing and whispering ‘I love you’ into each others ears. The crowd was massive and bouncy, it looked amazing on the big screens. Sadly they only had an hour and it was over far too soon, but I’m hoping it has paved the way for future gigs.

Arcade Fire – Their live show has the power to convert people into fans, I am living proof! I haven’t looked back since seeing them at Eurocks in 2007. Their new album is lovely and their set was lovely too. They have a really powerful energy when they play live, that really resonates with the crowd and makes them dance like no-one is watching. You also forget how many wonderful hits they have had until they play them back to back, with musicians swapping instruments inbetween each song. I think they were humbled to be headlining Reading but they deserved every minute of it.

Holy Fuck – I hadn’t heard much of them before I saw them, just a few clips and recommendations. Bleepy electronic brilliantness! I had a great time dancing away to these, and they looked like they were enjoying themselves too, despite the leaking roof of the tent!

Limp Bizkit – I really was not expecting a midday slot from an old nu-metal has-been band to be so good. I think it’s just because (like Blink 182) a lot of the people at Reading were the right generation to have been fans the first time round, so everyone knew all the songs. I’m glad to see Fred Durst has become a nicer person, high-fiving the audience instead of punching them like he did the last time I saw them. Wes Borland’s odd betamax bandit/witch outfit was quite interesting to see as well.

Weezer – Possibly the biggest surprise for the whole weekend was how much I enjoyed Weezer’s set. I went along expecting to know about half the songs and have a fairly pleasant time singing along, instead I had the time of my life. With Pat off the drums and taking over lead guitar duties, Rivers was free to play the enigmatic frontman. He leapt into the crowd, rolled around in the mud, jumped on a trampoline and donned a blonde wig for a cover of Poker Face and MGMT’s Kids. On top of the theatrics, the music was excellent as well with a set crammed full of hits that had the whole crowd roaring.

We Are Scientists – I always enjoy seeing We Are Scientists live as they sound great and they have very funny stage banter. The newer songs from Barbara sounded perfectly at home with the older stuff and from the way the crowd was bouncing, they definitely have a future hit in ‘I Don’t Bite’. There was lots of singing and dancing which got us in the mood for Blink.

Blink 182 – Some people complained about this set, as apparently they didn’t sound too amazing and they spent a lot of time telling stupid jokes. Er, have these people ever seen Blink 182 before? That’s pretty much all they do on stage. Throw in a lavish drum solo by Travis (rotating drum kit which then turned upside down? Blew my mind) and it took me straight back to my teenage years. The setlist was packed full of my favourite songs and I had a great time with a group of my friends. It was a great way to end Reading 2010.

Other highlights include:
NOFX
Biffy Clyro
LCD Soundsystem
Metronomy
My cat hat
Getting drunk til 6am on Friday night
The happy beer crew who were accepting everyones leftover alcohol on Monday morning and having singalongs.