Reading/Leeds Festival 2012

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In recent years, the influx of new UK festivals means old favourites, stalwarts even, like Reading and Leeds could easily be forgotten in the midst of hipster minded music snobbery, but thankfully whilst pulling out “the big guns” headline wise (The Cure, Foo Fighters etc etc), the organisers have finely tuned this year’s line-up to keep veterans and new kids alike happy. Staring the never-ending debate as to which site is better (or more accurately which one you’re most likely to survive) right in the face we plan on making it to both this weekend, but I’ll be on the ground up North, where the inconceivably brilliant Leeds Festival returns to create an ungodly wreck in the beautiful grounds of Bramham Park.

On top of the free beer and breakfast provided to ticket holders (thanks, Melvin), festival goers are being treated to a stellar line up. As ever, most of the real excitement comes from reading between the lines and usually straying from the melee of the main stage – though the big hitting credentials of the acts appearing there are undeniable, if that is your kind of thing. There are some genuinely brilliant acts on the bill this year and, though in some respects the UK festival scene has been infected by the wild #LADS on a “top banter” weekend feel, the quality of the music it provides is not to be sniffed at.

Santigold is definitely one of our ’must sees’. Playing tracks from her exponentially brilliant second album, Master of My Make-Believe, expect a Radio 1 Stage show of hip hop/tribal infused pop that’s as energized and eclectic as her style.

Sunday will see Azealia Banks, everyone’s favourite pottymouthed spark plug from Harlem, playing songs from her EP 1991. Excitement around this girl refuses to die down so the festival’s in for a fully charged atmosphere, a jam-packed tent and no doubt an X rated dance routine or two.

The equally down + dirty Deap Vally feature elsewhere on the bill. These girls from the Californian Valley are taking up a pretty humble slot on the Festival Republic stage but are guaranteed to play the kind of dynamic set that will delight your loins and limbs in equal measure. They are deserving of a much higher billing, poised as they are to melt your face off with their blues fuelled, gutsy trad rock & roll delivered by way of spirited howls courtesy of frontwoman Lindsey Troy.

Heading up the BBC introducing stage on Friday is a huge boon for Cornwall’s resident experimentalist guitar driven three-piece, Tall Ships. Knocking around the scene for a few years now their slot is a bit of a well deserved, hard won battle. The crowd’s in for a well oiled, tightly strung machine where angular noise and surprising bursts of melody await.

Elsewhere, At The Drive In are set to headline the Radio 1 Stage in what is their only UK festival appearance. The boys from El Paso will be delving into their back catalogue for an equally era-spanning crowd of hardened devotees and curious, young ears. It will be blistering, pounding and probably pretty fucking messy. Too many live gigs now play to alarmingly placid audiences and you just know this will offer up a tradition front row display of enthusiasm, mania and sweat-filled insanity that’s so often missing. We’re putting our faith in ATDI to incite a little much needed hysteria into festival proceedings.

Before we leave you to your all important alcohol smuggling operations and battle ground preparations we can’t recommend a band more highly right now than LA’s Fidlar. They recently signed to Wichita and after their incredible performance at this weekend’s Radfest we feel like we can pretty much guarantee they’ll be one of the highlights of the festival.

Aside from this, the line up is so packed and so vast, any further recommendations would be pointless. Do your homework and go watch your new favourite band (or in the case of The Hives, your old ‘new favourite band’) or simply go and see someone totally new, you might end up loathing them to your very core but you might find yourself falling head over heels to life-altering levels. Rediscover the point of the big festival experience. With its roster filled with hidden treasures and obvious charms, Leeds is going to remind the festival scene what made it so good in the first place.