No Rock And Roll Fun

REPORTS FROM THE MUDDY FRONT LINE: We would pay large sums of cash to avoid ever being in a place where Har Mar runs on stage and waves his ass around; during a set by Ash we'd welcome it rather like the way those competitors welcomed the guy in a tutu who fucked up the synchronised diving competition; likewise, the appearance of Goldie Lookin' Chain in the middle of a Super Furry Animals set - the sort of ill-judged attmept at humour exhibited by Uncles heckling at weddings. Elsewhere Graham Coxon suffers from clothing superstition and Green Day covered Queen. They chose We are the Champions, which sums up the general obviousness of Green Day: Fat Bottomed Girls, we might have been impressed by. The Darkness used some fireworks to round off their set. Talking backstage, Justin Hawkins said that one of the problems they have is that everyone assumes they're American because of the music. We'd have thought that wouldn't be too much of a problem, except in selling into the Iraq market.

The real story at Reading, though, is the weather: Drews Ironmongers in the town sold 1,000 pairs of wellingtons in 24 hours; parking had to be moved to the town centre; the Mean Fiddler team insist its business as usual, but we're not sure how routing the traffic into the heart of Reading and swallowing up parking spaces there will go down when next year's licence is being considered...