Before digging deep into the highlights, I thought it would be good to take a look at all of the bands that I did see over the weekend...which, as the weekend went on, dwindled a lot!
| Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|
| Enter Shikari | The Wombats | Blossoms |
| Machine Gun Kelly | Pale Waves | Of Mice & Men |
| Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes | Royal Blood | Twenty One Pilots |
| A Day To Remember | The 1975 | Post Malone |
| Enter Shikari (again) | Bowling For Soup | |
| Foo Fighters | You Me At Six | |
| Bastille |
I saw a fair few bands, admittedly not as many as I usually see at Leeds (mainly due to to the line up, wasn't quite my cup of tea but still go for the social fun!). If you hadn't already guessed, Friday was by far my favourite day of music so expect a few bands from that day! So, in no particular order, lets get to it!
A band that always impresses, good old Enter Shikari! I've lost count of how many times I've seen these guys now but I'm guessing it's around the 50 times mark which is a lot but honestly, it never ever gets boring. I saw their first set on the main stage which was nuts but then also caught the back end of their even more nuts set headlining the Pit Stage which was heaving. The first set of the day opened with Stop The Clocks before going into a complete mix of tracks from their discography, including a quickfire round of Sorry, You're Not a Winner, No Sleep Tonight, The Last Garrison and ...Meltdown. It was very warm and very sweaty for an afternoon slot at the main stage.
After A Day To Remember finished, I rushed over to catch the remainder of their headline set in the Pit. I arrived in time for their live debut of Tribalism which was INSANE. I could barely get in the tent as it was but when that track kicked off the crowd went nuts. Super glad I caught that one! Following that, they also played Arguing With Thermometers, Slipshod, Live Outside and finished their two-set day with The Appeal & The Mindsweep II. The only thing that sucks about their sets at Reading and Leeds that weekend was that Reading also got a surprise acoustic set the next day - they literally get all the action!
Another favourite from that day was, of course A Day To Remember. My absolute favourites in the entire universe. Sub-headlining for Foo Fighters, they graced us with a 14-track set list which opened with 2nd Sucks and went through tracks off their back catalogue, including new tracks, Rescue Me and Degenerates. Have Faith In Me is my all time favourite from this band and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it from the heights of being on my other half's shoulders. I think I may or may not have cried multiple times during the set. I always do. The set was complete with the usually pyrotechnics, beach balls and t-shirt cannons that ADTR always bring to the table. They ended their set with The Plot to bomb the Panhandle and, of course, The Downfall of us All.
A little bit different to the previous two bands discussed was Machine Gun Kelly who I absolutely adore and if you haven't heard of him, I'd certainly recommend a listen. In his setlist, he played a lot of tracks from his new album, Hotel Diablo including Candy which I am absolutely loving at the minute. Also from the new album he played another track that I'd had on repeat since it was released. This was I Think I'm Okay which YUNGBLUD also came out on stage for. I don't remember much of that track other than dancing, crying and holding the phone up for Rach could experience it too! I was honestly so happy. Other tracks were a mix of the back catalogue and included Let You Go, Rap Devil, Bad Mother F*cker and a Motley Crue cover of Should at the Devil (he did a fab job in the movie Dirt!). He ended the set on Till I Die and all I wanted was a longer set. I was absolutely gutted for it to be over. He's bloody fantastic live and someone I certainly want to see again.
You Me At Six are also up there with top bands of the weekend. Another band that never seems to disappoint either. They played their new track What's It Like and, I'm fully on board with that track, right up my street! The rest of the set had quite a bit from the last two albums with a couple of older tracks such as Lived a Lie, Underdog, Bite My Tongue and Reckless. They certainly livened up my Saturday!
An unexpected band on this list is also Bastille. I saw these guys play Leeds Fest back in 2013 and also 2017, this time they were back and headlining the NME stage on the Friday evening. Admittedly, I've not really listened to Bastille much since their first album but the tent was packed and my goodness, they were so much better than I expected it to be! The set was split into three acts. Act 1, "Still Avoiding Tomorrow" opened with Quarter Past Midnight and six songs later ended with Happier. Act 2 was names "Those Nights" and obviously opened with Those Nights, followed by Doom Days and then Blame before moving into Act 3: "The Morning Doesn't Reach Us" which opened with Joy and ended with Pompeii. Dan's vocals were bloody incredible and the whole shabang on the stage was mesmerising with a full band and dancers, the lighting was incredible and then there were lots of balls flying around the crowd too. They pleasantly surprised me, I had a good old dance and I think that they were a very worthy headliner.
I could go on forever talking about the acts I saw over the weekend but I'm going to finish on a high with Post Malone and his Sunday night headline set. Not only did he kick things off with Wow, my reactions were also wow. I saw him last year on the main stage, he killed it then in the daytime. As a headliner he was something else. He played a load of tracks off his older albums and some of my personal favourites including Better Now, I Fall Apart, Goodbyes and Candy Paint. We were also treated to a lovely acoustic performance of Stay. The crowd was absolutely huge and the atmosphere was great, I was gutted for it to be over but finishing on Congratulations left everyone on a good high to end the weekend.
I'm gutted it's done for another year but I'm so excited for 2020 already, for all of the gigs and festivals that I have lined up. It's going to be another super fun year of music! Did you go to Reading or Leeds? Who were your favourite acts of the weekend?
No comments