Photo: Justine Trickett
Green Day closed day one of Reading Festival 2013 last night, once again playing their 1994 classic Dookie in full.
The Californian punks rose to the challenge, with their first UK festival appearance since frontman Billie Joe Armstrong's stint in rehab earlier this year. Coming on stage to the strains of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly theme music, Green Day lost no time in launching into opener '99 Revolutions', followed by a number of hits from their 2009 album, 21st Century Breakdown.
Armstrong then announced that the band were going to play Dookie from start to finish, as they had done two days earlier at their London show at Brixton Academy - although this time, there was an interlude as 'Sassafras Roots' was followed by a partial cover of AC/DC's 'Highway To Hell'. The frontman also smashed his guitar after a rendition of 'Waiting', but continued to play two encores - the first included 'American Idiot', 'Jesus of Suburbia' and 'Brutal Love', which was followed by a second encore for 'Good Riddance'.
Watch Green Day performing 'Stay The Night' at Reading Festival 2013 below:
Prior to Green Day's headline set, metal heroes System Of A Down drew a massive Main Stage crowd to see their tear through 17-song performance of classics and fan favourites. Opening with 'Aerials' before a volatile rendition of 'Suite-Pee', Serj Tankian and co were clearly in high spirits as they drove the massive Reading audience into a series of viscious circle pits. Highlights of their show included 'Psycho', 'Chop Suey' and 'Spiders' before ending with the brilliant closing 'Toxicity' and 'Sugar'.
Just before them were Reading veterans Deftones. Opening with the brilliant 'Diamond Eyes', Chino Moreno and the noise-metal icons fired through mosh-pit anthems that included 'Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)', 'My Own Summer' and 'Elite'. Diving into the crowd to have his shirt torn by clamouring hands and have flowers placed around his neck, the band ended with the awesome closer '7 Words' - proving themselves to be one of the highlights of the day.
Speaking to Gigwise just before Deftones' set, Chino Moreno stated that this year's Reading & Leeds festivals felt like one of the band's favourites, due to the sheer number of hardcore rock bands on the line-up.
"We've played a few Reading festivals, maybe five," he adds. "I remember the last one was 2010 and it was great. I'm more excited about this year because it's a pretty heavy line up."
He added: "We enjoy what we do, we're pretty genuine about it," he says. "We don't make for music for any other reason, than we enjoy it. We're still with each other, the same people we've been making music with since we were kids."
Frank Turner also delighted fans by paying tribute to Kurt Cobain by coming on stage in a wheelchair, following his recent back injury. Speaking to Gigwise just before his set, we asked him where he sees himself on the line-up in future years.
"There's an obvious answer but who knows?" Turner said. "My music career is already far and above anything I ever imagined. On the one hand I stop thinking of limits for it, but on the other hand if this is the upper limit then I'm satisfied. But if I can ever headline... There you go, I've said it. I'd love to. I want to play to as many people as possible but it's reached a point now where I'm just curious."
Battling Green Day for audience numbers but still pulling an impressive and lively crowd over to the Festival Republic Stage were CHVRCHES, who were undoubtedly the best performance of the day. Showcasing synth-pop gems from their upcoming debut album, The Bones Of What You Believe, they enraptured the packed out tent. Expect huge things from these talented Scots in years to come.
Earlier in the day, Robert Delong played the BBC Radio 1 Dance stage, getting an enthusiastic reception particularly to his hit 'Global Concepts'. Over on the NME/BBC Radio 1 stage, FIDLAR shared their brand of Californian garage punk with the crowd, bringing some sunshine to the festival. Peace pulled a huge crowd, playing 'Follow Baby' and 'Lovesick', among others. Frightened Rabbit also performed another triumphant set, saying it was their first festival, and were followed by Bastille who delighted their masses of hardcore fans with tehir sickly-sweet operatic pop-rock.
Watch Frightened Rabbit perform 'Backyard Skulls' at Reading Festival 2013 below:
Later on, A$AP Rocky took to the stage, after Major Lazer had played. Other highlights included Is Tropical, MS MR and Surfer Blood.
Green Day played:
1. 99 Revolutions
2. Know Your Enemy
3. Stay the Night
4. Stop When the Red Lights Flash
6. Letterbomb
7. Holiday
8. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
9. Let Yourself Go
10. Wake Me Up When September Ends
Dookie:
11. Burnout
12. Having a Blast
13. Chump
14. Longview
15. Welcome to Paradise
16. Pulling Teeth
17. Basket Case
18. She
19. Sassafras Roots
20. Highway to Hell (AC/DC cover) (partial) When I Come Around
21. Coming Clean
22. Emenius Sleepus
23. In the End
24. F.O.D.
25. St. Jimmy
26. Waiting
27. Minority
Encore:
28. American Idiot
29. Jesus of Suburbia
30. Brutal Love
Encore 2:
31. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
Reading Festival continues today with headliner Eminem, alongside performances from Chase & Status, Foals, White Lies, Alt-J, Jake Bugg, Tame Impala, British Sea Power, Savages, Magnetic Man and many more.
Meanwhile, Leeds Festival welcomes performances from Green Day, Bastille, Deftones, System of a Down, Frank Turner and more.
- Check back at Gigwise for latest news, interviews, reviews, photos and more from Reading and Leeds Festival 2013.
