Festival Review: Reading Festival 2022
Reading Festival’s highlights included the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Halsey, As it Is, Sick Joy, Wargasm, Wolf Alice, Crawlers and many more.
Friday 26th:
Kicking our day off at the BBC Music Introducing stage, the first act of the day that we caught were Honeyglaze.
Hailing from South London and fronted by Anouska Sokolow, with Tim Curtis on the bass and Yuri Shibuichi playing the drums, Honeyglaze certainly pack a punch. The trio earned themselves a rather impressive sized crowd early into their 1 pm set, and with the band’s energy along with the topics discussed in their songs it’s easy to see why. Addressing the unrealistic standards women are held to (particularly by the media) and have to live up to, Honeyglaze’s track ‘Female Lead’ speaks on these struggles and the effects that they have on women, along with how so many women feel like they have to change themselves to be the ’ideal woman.’ The introduction of their song ‘Burglar’ doesn’t sound too dissimilar to the lounge music you might expect to hear in a movie set in the 1920s, before the energy picks up in its chorus.
2:45 saw us heading over to Main Stage West in order to catch Wallows’ set. The band opened with their track ‘I Don’t Want To Talk,’ which received an enthusiastic response from their crowd.
Taking their audience back to 2017, Wallows played the song ‘Pleaser’ and the track’s upbeat tempo made the energy of the track infectious – every single person in the crowd was moving, which is altogether an impressive feat to achieve. Halfway through their set, they performed ‘Sun Tan’ and as part of this track’s outro they covered One Direction’s ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ much to their crowd’s absolute delight.
After watching Wallows’ performance, it was soon time to head back to the BBC Music Introducing stage to watch Deadletter take to the stage. Even before the post-punk band had stepped foot onto the stage and began performing, they already had a large crowd eagerly awaiting their performance. Bringing unbridled energy and a sense of rebellion to the stage, Deadletter have established themselves as a band to pay close attention to this year.
5:30 found us at the Festival Republic stage for Sick Joy’s set. Having recently released their debut album ‘WE’RE ALL GONNA F***ING DIE’ along with supporting Pearl Jam at Hyde Park, London and playing 2000 Trees Festival, 2022 has been an exciting time for the trio so far. Their onstage energy is incredible and was certainly catching in the Festival Republic stage, their sets are not one to be missed and it is so exciting to see what comes next for this band.
Once again, we returned to the Festival Republic stage at 8:15 to watch As It Is. This was the band’s first appearance at Reading and Leeds since 2015, and it’s safe to say that their return to the festival had been eagerly awaited. The trio always know how to put on a spectacular show, and their set at Reading was no exception to this. They opened their set with ‘The Wounded World’ and with the reception they received from their crowd, they couldn’t have picked a better opening track for their set. Patty mentioned that since they’d started playing that the crowd had more than doubled in the tent, between the energy and messages of their songs and the trio’s charisma and stage presence it hardly comes as a surprise. Their set included many fan-favourites such as ‘Hey Rachel’, ‘I Miss 2003’, ‘The Stigma (Boys Don’t Cry)’ and ‘Dial Tones.’ These appearances at Reading and Leeds very much felt like a warmup for whatever is coming next from the band, and whatever it is it’s sure to be incredible.
Our last point of call of the night saw us at Main Stage east at 10:15 for Friday’s headline set, Dave. The crowd were eagerly waiting for Dave to take to the stage, and when he did their applause and cheers were probably the loudest of the day.
Dave’s set saw the live debut of the track ‘Heart Attack.’ The track tackles the topic of knife crime and the devastating outcomes it has for those involved and their families. It’s refreshing to see an artist using their platform to talk about a topic that unfortunately is not spoken about enough. An influential artist like Dave raising awareness of the consequences of knife crime could potentially help prevent an individual from partaking in this culture, and ultimately may even save a life.
Dave’s set also included some surprise appearances on stage throughout his set. The performance of the track ‘Thiago Silva’ saw AJ Tracey join Dave on stage, and the crowd’s reaction was full of excitement. Save had one more surprise up his sleeve for his crowd though, during ‘Clash’ Dave was then joined on stage by Stormzy. Dave’s headline set brought the night to a close on Main Stage East and from his crowd’s energy throughout his performance, it was a great choice of artist to headline that night.
Saturday 27th:
12 pm on Saturday saw us at Main Stage East again for Wargasm’s secret set. They opened with their track ‘Minigun’ and it was immediately obvious from Sam and Milkie’s, as well as their crowd’s, energy that their set was going to be a memorable one. Alongside tracks like ‘Rage All Over’ and ‘Pyro Pyro,’ Wargasm played their latest song ‘Fukstar’ during their set. They brought their set to a close with ‘Spit,’ a track that their crowd had been waiting to hear, and it took their energy to levels that no longer seemed possible.
Not long after Wargasm’s set had ended, it was time to head over to the Festival Republic stage so that we could watch Static Dress. Hailing from Leeds, the alternative band certainly know how to put on an unforgettable show. Vocalist Olli Appleyard’s energy is infectious, and it lends itself to creating a high energy performance that is replicated by their crowd and makes their sets so much fun to watch.
1:20 once again saw us head to the BBC Music Introducing stage to catch Gabe Coulter’s performance. Charismatic and as someone with a fun stage presence, it came as no surprise that Gabe’s set had a large crowd of people watching it. It’s always wonderful to see people curious about new artists, and if his set was anything to go by, Gabe Coulter may find himself with a significantly large fan base in the not-too-distant future.
We found ourselves heading over to Main Stage West at 4:30 to catch Enter Shikari’s set, which was always destined to be incredible as they seem incapable of putting on a bad show.
Their set featured a cover of David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ which the crowd loved and was then soon followed by the live debut of ‘The Void Stares Back.’ During the performance of ‘The Void Stares Back,’ Enter Shikari were joined on stage by Wargasm’s Sam and Milkie.
However, during their set they faced some difficult challenges including the power to the front of house cutting out during their performance of ‘Sorry, You’re Not a Winner,’ and the band were unfortunately cut off after ‘The Dreamer’s Hotel’ due to the power outage pushing them over their allocated set time. Despite all of this, Enter Shikari once again reminded everyone of why they’ve held the title of a must-see band for years.
Wolf Alice took to Main Stage East at 7:30and like everyone in the crowd already knew they would, played a spectacular set. Opening with the track ‘Smile’ the energy of their crowd was perhaps already the highest it had been at the festival all day. They also played tracks like ‘Safe From Heartbreak (If You Never Fall In Love)’ and ‘Play the Greatest Hits’ along with ‘The Last Man on Earth.’ There was something deeply special about watching their set while the sun was setting, and people were sat on each other’s shoulders while enjoying their performance.
9:50 on Main Stage East marked the time of one of the sets people were most excited to see at the festival, Arctic Monkeys. The unmistakable intro of ‘Do I Wanna Know?’ signaled the beginning of their set, and the cheers that followed in its wake from their audience were immense.
The crowd’s energy during the performances of tracks like ‘Snap Out of It’, ‘Tranquillity Base Hotel + Casino’ and ‘Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?’ are quite frankly, unable to be described. Other fan favourites that the band played during their set included ‘Knee Socks’ with an alternate ending, ‘505’ and ‘Arabella’ in the encore with Black Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’ as an outro.
Arctic Monkeys brought their set to a close with ‘R U Mine?’ and after leaving the stage once they had finished performing, they left their crowd with the feeling that they’d undeniably just watched one of the best sets of the weekend; one that would be difficult to top.
Sunday 28th:
1:20 on Main Stage East marked the start of our final day at the festival, and with it saw us waiting for Willow to take to the stage. ‘t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l’ marked the start of a strong set and immediately got her crowd moving. Highlights of Willow’s set included the performances of ‘Lipstick’, ‘Hover Like a GODDESS’ and ‘Meet Me At Our Spot.’
Once again, we found ourselves at the Festival Republic state, and at this point it basically felt like a second home, this time to see Abby Roberts grace the stage at 1:35. Not letting the sound issues she faced during her set on the Festival republic stage hold her back, Abby and her band delivered a phenomenal set that was impossible not to enjoy.
4:05 saw returning to the Festival Republic stage for Courting’s set. They opened their set with ‘Tennis’ which led into ‘Football’ and to complete the theme, the crowd had fun throwing around tennis and inflatable beach balls during the performances of these songs. The track ‘Crass’ featured an Icona Pop ‘I Love It’ interlude which was thoroughly enjoyed by the band’s crowd. The band brought their set to a close with the track ‘Loaded.’ Whether you had seen Courting live prior to Reading or if this was your first time seeing them, it was undeniable that it was perhaps one of the most fun sets of the day.
Crawlers then took to the Festival Republic stage at 4:55 and we already knew that this was going to be an incredible set. The band opened with ‘Statues’ before they played ‘MONROE’ and the crowd’s energy in the tent was already similar to that of some of the headlining acts’ crowds during the weekend. During their set, they also announced the details of their debut mixtape that is called ‘Loud Without Noise’ which will be released on the 28th of October.
Our last point of call on Sunday was Main Stage West, which saw Halsey taking to the stage. It was a well-known fact that she was going to put on an incredible show, and they did not disappoint. Halsey started their set by playing ‘Nightmare’ and the visuals during this performance featured footage of the protesting of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade, highlighting the severity of the attack on women’s rights and ultimately using their platform to speak out and raise awareness. Those who are familiar with Halsey will not be unfamiliar with the ways in which they use their platform to speak out about the problems and injustices in the world.
Other highlights of their set were ‘You Should Be Sad’, ‘Colors’, ‘Bad at Love’ and ‘3am.’ Halsey also surprised their audience with a cover of Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ and no words can truly capture how incredible it was. Alongside the songs performed, another thing that Halsey can be counted on for is having the most incredible visuals throughout their sets, and Reading was no exception to this.
After a weekend full of so much talent, from so many different artists, it’s safe to say that Reading and Leeds is well and truly back.
Words by Bethany Ellis
Photography provided by LD Communications
