Top 10 Live Acts of My Festival Season
Top 10 Live Acts of My Festival Season
After returning home from Reading festival this year, I came to the nasty realisation that my festival season, and quite frankly, my summer as a whole, was well and truly finished.
When I say "my festival season", I am referring to the two festivals that I was lucky enough to be part of this year; the awesome underdog Truck festival, and the old veteran Reading Festival.
While this year would mark my fifth time and fourth full weekend at Reading, which was the very first festival I went to back way back in 2015, it was also incredibly excited to visit Truck festival in Oxfordshire for the very first time as well. Both festivals were incredible, but to elaborate on this, and to kind of wrap two subjects I wanted to talk about in one article, here are the pros (an one con) of each festival;
Truck Festival
Pro 1: Feels very intimate as there's no nearby civilisation
Pro 2: A great festival for families to enjoy
Pro 3:It has a clear focus on indie while still being diverse enough
Con: Getting in and out is HARD
Reading Festival
Pro 1: There is nearly always someone to see
Pro 2: It's very easy for you to grab stuff outside the festival
Pro 3: The weather is normally perfect (maybe too true this year)
Con: A clash of genres means a clash of demographics
I also wanted to note before counting down my top 10 favourite acts of these festivals combined, that I was very excited for this year as going to both festivals allowed me to see both of my two favourite live acts ever; Foals (who played at Truck) and Foo Fighters (who played at Reading). I was always torn as to which of these two were ultimately better live, but this list will eventually reveal my number one favourite live artist.
And before we get to the actual countdown, some honourable mentions;
Mention: Two Door Cinema Club - Truck Festival
Mention: Two Door Cinema Club - Truck Festival
Two Door most certainly put on a show worthy of headliner status, and I would say it was still indeed a highlight at Truck. I may have ranked them a little higher if only they played "Ordinary", but I digress. They are still a phenomenal band, and put on a show which was equal in greatness.
Mention: slowthai - Reading Festival
Mention: slowthai - Reading Festival
I truly did want to put slowthai on the top 10, but there were just too many amazing acts this year. I feel like slowthai's set felt even more at home at Reading than when he was at Glastonbury. This incredible artist has really made a great splash this year, and I was very glad to finally experience his bangers live.
Mention: Nothing But Thieves - Truck Festival
Mention: Nothing But Thieves - Truck Festival
Despite the fact that I only really knew two songs by Nothing But Thieves before going into their set, they thankfully played both, and executed each perfectly and effortlessly. "Amsterdam" especially was absolutely thrilling.
Mention: Billie Eilish - Reading Festival
Mention: Billie Eilish - Reading Festival
If you've seen that aerial shot of the crowd that turned up to Billie Eilish's set, then you know that a lot of people wanted to see this young prodigy (thank god they moved her to the main stage).
Mention: Oxford Symphony Orchestra - Truck Festival
Have you ever seen a crowd brutally mosh to the theme tune of The Apprentice, or the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack? I thought not.
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So with the honourable mentions out of the way, lets get straight to the top 10...
10: Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes - Reading Festival
10: Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes - Reading Festival
It should come as no surprise that this band was one of the reasons I even got a ticket to Reading. Ever since I saw the same band at the same festival back in 2016, I have been utterly in love with Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes.
Having said this, returning to the home-ground of my first experience with this band to see them again, was truly magic. It was also great to see how far they've come in the space of just 3 years, as well as how much their sound has matured.
This maturity in the band was both a blessing and a bit of a curse, as the Rattlesnakes seemed to avoid a lit of the Blossom bangers that I would've been ecstatic to hear again. But this is why Ive ranked this band at number 10. However, to be on this list in the first place should come as a way to display just how phenomenal the Rattlesnakes were anyway.
Highlight song: Kitty Sucker
Highlight song: Kitty Sucker
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9: Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Truck Festival
I genuinely arrived at the tent where Psychedelic Porn Crumpets were playing to find that fans were spilling out of it. However I somehow managed to get pretty close to the front eventually.
The reason why I managed to do this, I believe, was because of how much the crowd kept moving as a result of the amazing live tunes that this band displayed.
It was clear that this band were incredibly passionate about playing for the people of Truck, and continued playing up to the very point where their sound got cut off (they may have played over their time slot), but I could honestly have listened to them for at lease another hour.
Psychedelic Porn crumpets were honestly an incredibly fun band to see, and I would love to come across them again.
Highlight song: Hymn For A Droid
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8: Anderson .Paak & the Free Nationals - Reading Festival
Highlight song: Hymn For A Droid
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8: Anderson .Paak & the Free Nationals - Reading Festival
Ever since coming across last years album from soulful hip-hop extraordinaire Anderson .Paak, I have been longing to see him live. I had also read into a little bit of Free Nationals music, and was curious to see how this group would integrate it into the live performance.
What we ended up getting was a very genuine and raw rendition of numerous Andy .Paak hits, including "Jet Black", "Tints" and of course, "Bubblin", which was an absolute blast. The ever-summery vibe that Anderson .Paak and the Free Nationals constantly delivered us melded perfectly with the near-mediterranean heat of the weekend.
Highlight Song: Bubblin
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7: Machine Gun Kelly - Reading Festival
Eminem stans beware, because I strongly believe that this set absolutely crushed Slim Shady's mediocre headliner back in 2017.
After MGK's diss track directed at Eminem (titled "Rap Devil"), came back to bite the rap artist on the ass and soiled his reputation slightly, It's definitely fair to say that Kelly has seen something of a redemption this year with the release of his latest album Hotel Diablo.
It was almost this album entirely that made this set one of the most anticipated amongst me and my friends. MGK certainly didn't disappoint either, with a visually and audibly engaging performance that played most of the Hotel Diablo bangers, and even "Rap Devil".
Highlight song: I Think I'm OKAY
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6: Joji - Reading Festival
I initially went to see Joji for two, illegitimate reasons; the first was his newest single "Sanctuary", and the second was the artists history of being the YouTube comedian Filthy Frank.
However, I started to take the artist ten-fold more seriously when I noticed just how good his live set was. The more minimal music on his BALLADS 1 EP seemed to have so much more depth in a live performance.
I also really loved Joji's stage presence on top of all of his great live tracks, and this ultimately made for one of the weekends highlights, both for me and my friends.
Highlight song: CAN'T GET OVER YOU
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5: Royal Blood - Reading Festival
Royal Blood was yet another live act that came as a pleasant surprise. After seemingly being up to the same old box of tricks on their latest album How Did We Get So Dark? back in 2017, the dynamic duo fizzled out from my personal recognition slightly. That being said, I almost forgot that the band were on the line-up, but I still wanted to see them once I remembered.
Royal blood made a far greater splash with this set than the one they did back in 2016. With a higher place on the main stage this time around, they had far greater time to play around with their live setlist. They utilised this perfectly by constantly building up tension with each of their live classics, as well as a couple of new songs which actually sound refreshingly different.
From a visual and atmospheric standpoint especially, Royal Bloods set was thoroughly deserving of being one of the best festival sets this summer.
Highlight song: Boilermaker (a new track)
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4: Johnny Marr - Truck Festival
At number four is none other than Johnny F**king Marr, former member of The Smiths.
As somebody who went into this as a pretty decent Smiths fan, as well as somebody who went into his 2014 solo album Playland a little, I wound up getting as emotional as the music itself.
Also, the fact that I crowd surfed to "This Charming Man" ALONE should make this performance art of the top 10, but the performance and showmanship that Marr displayed was additionally fantastic.
Highlight song: How Soon Is Now?
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3: Post Malone - Reading Festival
Admittedly, the main reason I went to see Post Malone was honestly his headliner status on the Saturday of Reading festival. However, that wasn't to say that I didn't enjoy some of his music prior to the show.
However, despite a fairly high bar being raised by myself, Post Malone's performance defied all expectations I already set. It was an incredibly atmospheric but also engaging performance that, despite being a festival set, still felt as intimate as one of Posty's very own concerts.
The artist truly shone as a rockstar in his own unique way, complete with guitar smashing a pyrotechnics, and it has made a true fan out of me
Highlight song: Sugar Wraith
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So that leaves only two. But the question still remains; who is my current favourite live act of all time? Below is the runner up...
The set from Foals was the very best that Truck Festival had to offer this year. From start to finish, the band engaged me to the point where the music felt like the only thing that was real. Everything else, was just a blur.
It's definitely fair to say that my voice took a good few weeks to recover afterwards as well, as I knew enough about the foals discography to absolutely burn my lungs out screaming along to the lyrics of tracks like "What Went Down", "Snake Oil" and "Providence".
And as always, Foals brought their atmospheric A-game which I only ever felt when I saw them before back in 2016, even ending the set off in the same way, with their amazing live version of their Antidotes classic of "Two Steps, Twice". It was truly a performance that me and my friends were raving about, even post festival.
Highlight song: Two Steps, Twice
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1: Foo Fighters - Reading Festival
This set was ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING! And when I say that, I mean there were fast-paced bangers, epic anthems, smoother jams, first-album classics, Rick-rolling, an impression of Freddie Mercury, a petition to bring Oasis back together, literally EVERYTHING!
I was genuinely gobsmacked that even after three hours, Dave Grohl was still just chewing away at his gum (admit it, it was very noticeable) as if he just set foot on stage, whereas everyone in the crowd was on the verge of passing out. I don't know what kind of coffee they were drinking beforehand, but the band genuinely looked like they could've kept going for another 12 hours at least.
In comparison to the last time I saw the band, back when they headlined a closing ceremony hosted by Prince Harry of all people, it was basically all of that, but another hour and a half of...well...literally whatever the hell the band wanted to do!
And that brings me to what my favourite thing about this live set. Foo Fighters knew that they were at a point where they could do almost anything they wanted to do in their live performance. Hell, they could probably even get Steve-O to come on stage and chug beer through his ass (please make this happen) and everybody would be living for it! Needless to say, the band utilised this to great advantage, and in turn, made this live set the most entertaining and THE BEST LIVE SET I HAVE EVER SEEN, no joke.
Congratulations Foo Fighters.
Highlight Song: Never Gonna Give You Up (by Rick Astley)
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All of this writing about festivals has left me longing for the festival season to come round again once more for 2020, which is why I might've impulsively brought a ticket to next years Truck festival already, but I hope to do a similar article next year.
Heres to hoping that we don't have to wait out the winter storm too long before flourishing upon festival fields once more.
Thank you for reading,
Booth Boy
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