Reading Festival 2010 took place between the 28th and 30th of August 2010, with camping available from Wednesday, 26th.
The headliners at the festival were:
- Guns N Roses
- Arcade Fire
- Blink 182
Fun fact: this was my very first ever music festival!
There’s me in the picture below, second from the right.
Now, I had gone to festivals on day tickets before this, but Reading 2010 was my very first weekend festival.
I learned a lot that festival, and I definitely could have used some advice beforehand, like my 5 Dos and Donts of Music Festivals.
I went to Reading Festival as a naive and foolish 18 year old with terrible hair and an awkward smile.
Seriously, I don’t know what I was thinking.
And this is how I looked at the start of the festival!
I left that festival… well, in pretty much exactly the same state, except that I was also hungover, smelly and sporting some awful bum-fluff chin hair.
But I had a fantastic time too; I learned a lot and this started off my life as a music festival explorer!
Campsite
I went with some friends and friends-of-friends (some of who would end up as part of my annual Music Festival crew).
We set up camp somewhere, and immediately my years as a Scout became vital!
Like my skills of lighting a disposable barbecue with safety matches.
My cooking skills were pretty limited at the time to heating beans in a tin.
However, I did also test the limits of my skills by making toast on the barbecue as well though!
At one point, I even once ate cold beans straight from the can.
Which I now think is a Festival newbie rite of passage.
And in my defence: it had been raining heavily, and I was wet, cold and hungry dammnit!
That meal was a sad time and I honestly wouldn’t recommend it.
I think I went to food vans a lot during this festival. Though, honestly, food vans at festivals are amazing!
The Music!
I had been to a lot of gigs in my teenage years, and even some day festivals, but nothing prepared me for the awe and wonder of a full weekend of music in a field!
I actually discovered one of my all-time favourite bands this festival: NOFX.
I discovered NOFX as I was passing the stage and I thought they sounded good.
You should always listen to new bands at festivals!
That’s Rule 1!
On the Saturday, I went to see another of my all-time favourite bands: Bad Religion. As they played their set, NOFX came on stage and played with them!
The highlight bands of the weekend for me were:
- NOFX
- Bad Religion
- Cypress Hill
- Weezer
Guns n’ Roses
The headliners on the Friday night were Guns N’ Roses.
This set has kind of become infamous in the years since, and not for good reasons.
The band was set to start at 9.30pm and play until 11.30pm, when the festival had to end because of local sound laws.
So, 9.30pm came and went and there was no sign of the 80s rockers.
Now, the band, and particularly Axl Rose, has a bit of a history of turning up late to their shows.
However we kept waiting and the band kept… not being there.
The band eventually did show up, an hour late! They then began their set, which I remember being okay, but I’m not a huge GNR fan, so I wasn’t enthralled by it.
The band did manage to play past the 11.30pm curfew, and then went off-stage nearing midnight.
However when they then came back to play an encore, they had the sound cut.
And during Paradise City no less!
The drums were still hooked up, but all the instruments and microphones were switched off.
Axl tried to continue singing through a megaphone, which I can’t imagine was producing a lovely sound for those at the front row, and obviously made no difference to me and my friends stood halfway back.
Axl was very annoyed about this, saying that he thought there was a deal in place for the band to play past the curfew, but the organisers of the festival disagree, saying that they made it very cler the band could not play past the 11.30pm curfew.
The Weather
This years weather was… not fantastic.
It rained almost all day, every day.
A little bit lot of rain never hurt anyone though!
We just bought ourselves a gazebo, and put it up (in the rain). After that we could congregate outside our own tents and not get soaking wet!
Seriously, a Gazebo is one of the best choices you’ll make at a festival.
If it’s sunny, you get some shade, and if its rainy, you get cover. And you can use the frame to hang a lamp to light up your camp at night!
The Atmosphere
Reading Festival has always been known as a rather rowdy festival.
Every night there were fires and destruction. Honestly, as it was my first festival, I was a little scared at times.
And with opportunist thievery pretty common too, there were a lot of elements that I was less than happy with.
The last night was pretty intense. Fires all around our camp, and as more and more people left, the areas for more fire grew and grew.
At one point, someone tried to light a fire near our tent, and we were getting pretty worried. Suddenly someone from a nearby camp came over, stomped out the fire and told them to fuck off.
That night taught me a lot about anxiety and standing up for yourself.
The staff working the site had an almost impossible job trying to stop these larger fires, so I think they jut let the largest fire continue burning, but were very strict about any smaller fires being put out.
We even had a fire mashall come and spray our Hexistove that was boiling a kettle.
Let me tell you: a Pot Noodle made with lukewarm water is a very sad experience I don’t wish on anyone.
Wrap Up
Reading Festival 2010 was a life-changing experience for me.
I had never been so surrounded by like-minded people, great music and an atmosphere of freedom and fun.
From the very first few minutes there, Reading Festival turned me into a life-long festival addict, and started my journey as a Music Festival Explorer.
I came home that year and did not stop talking about music festivals for months afterwards!
I actually don’t think I ever stopped, come to think of it…
My next festival was Download Festival 2012