READING ROCKS ONCE MORE
Secret sets, big names and lots of sunshine, this year’s Reading Festival was full of surprises. GEMMA DAVIDSON was there
WITH secret sets galore, special guest appearances throughout the weekend, and more twists and turns than you could shake a stick at, the unspoken theme of Reading Festival 2017 was most definitely: surprises.
The internationally-renowned festival, which saw more than 90,000 music fans descend on the Richfield Avenue site each day over the bank holiday weekend, served up plenty of thrills with an already stellar line-up, which was continually added to and added to as the weekend went on.
The weather also had a few surprises up its sleeve, going against the typical festival grain by delivering wall-to-wall sunshine across the entire three days.
The fun kicked off on Friday with rumours abound of a secret set by a previous Reading headliner.
The rumours did not disappoint, as US rockers Queens of the
Stone Age, who last appeared at the festival in 2014, arrived by helicopter in the late afternoon to take to the NME/BBC Radio 1 stage ahead of its headliners,
You Me At Six.
The band, who were promoting their newly released album
Villains, had appeared at the event’s sister festival, Leeds, earlier that day, before whizzing down to Reading for their evening performance.
The Main Stage on Friday was dominated by indie rockers Kasabian, who themselves wheeled out a surprise guest in the form of comedian and newly-appointed Great British Bake Off host Noel Fielding, who entertained the crowds in his typical surrealist way.
Saturday featured an eclectic line-up, with the likes of Korn, Major Lazer and PVRIS taking to the Main Stage, before rapper Eminem wrapped up the proceedings.
One festival-goer made headlines by scaling a production tower during the headline performance, with security scrambling to get him to safety.
The final day of the festival featured performances by Architects, Liam Gallagher and Giggs, who, in true Reading style by this point, welcomed US rapper Drake onto the stage, much to the delight of the fans who stampeded to the stage once they heard the news.
Closing the show in a blaze of glory were rockers Muse, who were certain not to let the party end without one final guest appearance. Breaking into a rendition of AC/DC’s Back in Black, the legendary rock group’s frontman Brian Johnson appeared onstage to a huge applause: Johnson had famously been forced to relinquish his role in 2016 due to hearing problems which threatened the future of his career.
The trio went on the close the festival in style, with fireworks, streamers and confetti raining down onto the audience.
The only question now: what surprises will 2018 have in store?