Reading Festival 2024 delivered a weekend of musical multitudes, with headliners Blink 182, Lana Del Rey, and Liam Gallagher drew in crowds of all sizes wanting to dance and sing long into the night. With bands like Blink 182 and Neck Deep hitting the stage there was an air of nostalgia for the old days of Reading Festival that was just a bit more grungy than the Reading Festival we know today.
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Blink-182 @ Reading Festival 2024 (Nick Allan)
If you are a fan of the old-school rock, metal, and punk genres then Friday was the day for you. Neck Deep hit the main stage calling all elder emos to the front. They played a lot of their newer music, like Dumbstruck Dumbf**k and STFU, with the energy and excitement you expect, while hinting that their later set on the Festival Republic Stage would feature a lot of deep cuts and older songs- and they did not disappoint!
Bad Nerves kicked off their set at the Festival Republic Stage with Don’t Stop to a ready and waiting crowd. There was plenty of excitement for this Essex-based punk rock band, with everyone dancing and belting out the lyrics. We were treated to a debut of their new single Television, which had all the signs of being a hit. It was clear the band had saved the best till last, with the final two songs being Can’t Be Mine, and Dreaming. Playing to a packed-out tent, the band enjoyed every second and played note perfect, with frontman Bobby Nerves being his charismatic, passionate self.
I followed up Bad Nerves with the Canadian heavy metal band Spiritbox on the main stage. They started to a smaller crowd but throughout the set you could see streams of people running over to see frontwoman Courtney LaPlante show off her vocal abilities. We were treated to a mixture of their best work, starting with Cellar Door, and Jaded to really get the crowd going. Throughout the set you could feel the music getting heavier and really leaning into the powerful screams that LaPlante can produce, while she encouraged the crowd to get wild.
They finished off their set strong, with a trio of songs that highlight what they do best. We heard Circle With Me, Holy Roller, and Hysteria in quick succession and before you knew it their powerful, loud, exciting set was over. I only wish they could have gone on for longer.
Moving back to the Festival Republic Stage I awaited a band I had been looking forward to, The Amity Affliction. You could immediately recognise this crowd, who had been seen earlier in the day watching Neck Deep and you knew you were going to have a good time. With the crowd ready and waiting, they were belting out the emo anthems before the main event. The band came out and hit us with Pittsburgh and it was all go from there. As they played track after track the crowd went wild. As they belted out anthems like Show Me Your God, and It’s Hell Down Here, crowd surfers threw themselves over the barrier, and we saw mosh pits galore. The crowd waved and sang at the top of their lungs, with every song building and building to their final number, Soak Me In Bleach. It is safe to say this performance had the crowd eating out of the palm of frontman Joel Birch’s hand and what a perfect way to prepare the crowd for Neck Deep’s second set of the day.
Following on from the outstanding performance from The Amity Affliction the crowd stayed put, anticipation running through the packed-out tent for Neck Deep. We were teased earlier in the day with what this set might hold, and it surpassed every expectation. The band had a big production, setting expectations high. They set things off with Serpents, followed by Motion Sickness and the whole band was packing a punch. It was clear that every band member was playing their heart out to a crowd that was eating it up. Frontman Ben Barlow told the crowd we were getting some deep cuts and that we did. We hear I hope this comes back to haunt you and Crushing Grief, two songs that are deeply loved but hadn’t been played live since 2019 and they sounded just as good as they did all those years ago. Between songs Barlow told the crowd the experience of growing up in a small town with different music tastes to everyone else, and how weird it felt to be singing songs like She’s A God, about a girl he’s no longer with. It felt like an intimate conversation between old friends. The last two songs of their set left a lasting mark and showed everyone why this band got to play twice in one day. We were played out to the anthems A Part Of Me, and December, two tracks that will make any long-time fan of Neck Deep feel a wave of nostalgia for the first time they listened to this outstanding band. This was a highlight of not only the day but the entire weekend.
After a long day of punk, metal, and rock, we finished off Friday with the band that everyone had been waiting for, Blink 182. The crowd was a sea of baseball caps, plaid shirts, and Vans shoes, waiting excitedly to see their teenage icons. The band started strong by blasting out Feeling This, and The Rock Show, reminding everyone of why they are so iconic. The band provided fast guitar, powerful drums, and the dry, crude sense of humour we’ve grown to know and love. After a strong start we were taken through a lot of their newer tracks like Bored To Death, Up All Night, and Not Now. It is hard to admit that the middle section of their set was a definite dip in energy. I think a combination of some lesser-known songs, and Tom DeLonge fighting an illness led to some lulls in the performance. It was clear though that they were all having a great time, with Travis Barker smashing it on the drums and Mark Hoppus filling in when DeLonge had to take a break to hydrate, blow his nose, or refresh his voice. The second half of the set definitely picked up, with breezy I Miss You getting the crowd to blast out that classic line, ‘where are you?’ We got snippets of When Your Heart Stops Beating and There Is, both from the band’s respective side-projects.
The ending tracks are easy to guess and were the songs everyone had been waiting for. Anthems What’s My Age Again? And All the Small Things were exactly what you expect, and got the crowd going, giving The Prodigy who were also performing across on the new Chevron Stage a run for their money. The set came to an end with Dammit featuring a snippet of Spice Girls breakthrough Wannabe and One More Time, bringing to a close a fun filled set that was what you come to expect from Blink 182.
Review of Friday at Reading Festival 2024 by Louise Warby, photos by Nick Allan.
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