Music Discussion and Information

Exclusive footage of guitar maestro beta in action....

Reading Festival 1992

I was living in Hammersmith at the time with about 5 or so grotty aussies. Had just come from 6 months in the US where i7d seen live bands at least 3 or 4 nights a week. I was a man of the world. I was Mr Music. I was in the midst of my 18 month O.E for which I'd saved NZ$12,000 in the hope of being enough of a miserly cunt to ensure I didnt have to do much work over the 18 months and could focus on seeing all the bands on my wishlist and attend NBA/NFL/NHL/MLB/UK soccer matches.



Is this goddamn poster accurate? I don't think it is. I am certain I saw Jah Wobble play an awesome set in the 2nd biggest tent. Also, pretty sure Rollins slot is wrong, he kicked off day 2 proceedings at midday on the main stage in bracing cold and incongruously chipper sunshine. God, daytime festivals are stupid. Shirt back on, Henry. This is England. After Rollins set he walked right towards me on his way to the signing tent wankery, looking all stern and glowery. Was kind of bummed as he got closer that he was just a little lightweight shorty. 5"9 at the most. Not sure why it bummed me out a wee bit. Maybe his whole Superman shtick at the time. Felt a bit daft being big enough to scrag Superman.

Pretty sure the Beastie Boys played early day 3 too? Fuck knows

Day 1

Anyway, day 1 for me kicked off on some distant stage to see REDD KROSS. Wft, the poster says main stage. That is wrong. They definitely played on some other distant little poxyarse stage. They were a good decision. Pretty awesome, nice weather and the other options for me were all shit.

Can't remember who I saw next but I was just hanging out for COP SHOOT COP who were My Guys and I was beyond excited to see them having managed to miss them completely during my 6 months in US. They were fucking GREAT, standing up drummer, all malevolence and rhythm. Mosh pit was suitably bonkers and I was right in there copping a well-deserved hiding.

WFT happened after that? I cannot remember a single fucking Day 1 band after that. Maybe I was pretty wiped out after CPC. I think it was then that it dawned on me that, of course, like any invincible 23 year old idiot, I hadn't planned a single fucking thing in terms of logistics for this fucking festival. No tent, no sleeping bag, no bag, no nothing. Just wing it and see what happens. Think I wandered up to the offsite shops to find food (although I have ZERO recollection of eating or drinking anything over the 3 days let alone taking lots of cool drugs. As i said I was a miserly cunt who was very disciplined at making my 12K savings last the 18 months). Tried sleeping in some public bogs like a homeless person but that lasted about 60 seconds before I went back to the main tent to sleep on the grass with the other disorganised vagrants.

Day 2

As mentioned, kicked off with Rollins which gave me a big stiffy. After that can't remember shit until the Smashing Pumpkins came on. Not into them much but they were probably my 3rd favourite set of the whole weekend. Sun was out, sound was perfect for their Gish/Lull-era dreamy squall. Just really impressive and a huge sound. Can't remember shit after that either, none of the bands were really my bag. Probably just jumped around with the music. I was down the front the whole time, any mosh pit I was right into it. Oh shit I remember now, I was crowd surfing and literally fell onto the head of a Belgian guy I saw a few bands with in the US. We had a 30-second joyful reunion amidst the mayhem and upside down bods. In fact, he was in my car when it brilliantly broke down a year earlier RIGHT in the middle of the Golden Gate bridge on the way to Oakland to see Primus/Anthrax/Public Enemy. We were given a lift in the back of a ute by two friendly handsome black men who stopped outside a convenience store and then said "give us all your money". Crikey! OK. Luckily still had my ticket to the show. Primus were goddamn awesome. WFt happened to my car at the top of the bay bridge? Can't remember shit. Anyway, that Belgian guy was the person who handed me a Nomeansno tape and said "you will like this". tOTAL game changer, I'll always owe him for that.

And, oddly, full circle, PE were scheduled to play that night at Reading. I can remember asking Belgian if he had any room in his tent. He said no and was lost to the crowd, never to be seen again. I guess I stayed to see P.E but have no goddamn recollection of it. FFS. Maybe it was raining like mental? Anyway, another night sleeping on tent grass freezing my arse off in the grunge shorts (shut up, it was a thing then) Mr Bungle shirt and idiotically thin red windbreaker. It was then that I realised that during all my crowd surfing I had lost my wallet. No money to buy food or even get home. Didn't even register as an issue. You're invincible when you're young. Oh, and by this stage I was covered head to toe in mud. It dried into a whole-body brown crust overnight.

Day 3

Kicked off with the Melvins at midday which sounds all kinds of stupid. Almost no one gave a shit. Their menacing slow dirge was lost to the wind. FFS they should've been headlining over Nirvana instead of being dumped in the dawn daybreak slot. Being a dumbshit I cannot remember ANYTHING about the next bands, Pavement, L7 etc.

Then Mudhoney came on and all hell broke loose.

Oh my fucking God.

They were EASILY the highlight of the whole festival. Just a roaring chunder sound. The crowd went NUTS. A huge 30-metre diameter empty mudpit cleared in front of the stage with people running around like lunatics and sliding all over the place, including me. It was ankle deep so all the posers just there to see Nirvana gave it a wide berth. Then the nutters realised the band's name was "MUDhoney" and there was mud everywhere so the band got pelted to shit with mud which they encouraged. It was dusk, the sun was literally framing them and it was like goddamn utopia, probably one of the happiest moments of my life.

No recollection of Nick Cave playing after that. Maybe I was recovering after the Mudhoney battering. Then, just like that, it was night, the posers just there to see Nirvana pushed up to the front so they could stand there stock-still like lemmings. Didnt even bother making my way towards the front where i7d been for the whole fucken festival, no mosh pit, no crowd surfing. Couldn't believe how lame the atmosphere was compared to the halcyonic dreamscape of dusk a couple of hours prior for Mudhoney. Nirvana were boring as shit then it ended and everyone filed out. Fuck Nirvana. Mudhoney owned them and I bet they knew it. Me, I remembered I'd lost everything I owned crowd surfing and had no way of getting back to London. No going to sleep back on the tent grass, we had to vacate the premises. Like a total loser I went back to the public bogs near the shops to sleep the sleep of the damned, fresh mud to again go crusty overnight.

Day 4.

COVERED in crusted-over mud, I tried to play it cool as I made my way to the train station amidst the morning commuters. No $$ so did the old slip in behind some cunt thru the turnstiles trick. No $ for a train ticket so just hopped in the train bog, locked the door and stayed there for an hour or so. Conductor tried bashing on the door but I just ignored the fucker. I was very punk rock. Back at Hammersmith, did the ol' slip in behind morning commuter stunt again and walked home. No key to get inside so waited for some flatmate fucker to come home the end

Albini poo-poohs it
www.stereophile.com/content/steve-albini-serve-servants