The latest issue of the Full Pelt Magazine is here, and you can download your copy for free below!
Volume 32 features our cover stars The Hives as they show just why they are regarded as one of the greatest live bands. Plus we review the new albums from James and Gun.
Our News Report has all the latest music news including live announcements from Reading & Leeds Festivals, Graphic Nature, Rise Against, Mammoth WVH, Elles Bailey and St. Vincent!
Plus all the best new releases including The Meffs, Delilah Bon, James and the Cold Gun, Slash, Joanne Shaw Taylor, The Commoners, NOTHING MORE, FM, Like Moths To Flames, Dea Matrona, Robert Jon & The Wreck, Black Country Communion, The Lemon Twigs, Cane Hill, Royal Republic, The Treatment, The Mysterines, Kasabian, Gaffa Tape Sandy and Giant Walker!
Finally, we round up the latest additions to our ‘Discover’ New Music Playlist including The Rolling People, Regent and DeadWax!
The latest issue of the Full Pelt Magazine is here, and you can download your copy for free below!
Volume 22 is features our cover stars Saint Agnes as they take ‘Bloodsuckers’ on tour. We also have album reviews for The Last Dinner Party and Florence Black.
Our News Report has all the latest music news including live announcements from Download Festival, Reading & Leeds, 2000trees, Slam Dunk, Victorious Festival, Beautiful Days, Tomorrow’s Ghosts Festival, Cambridge Folk Festival, Demob Happy, Bury Tomorrow, The Last Dinner Party, Troy Redfern, Trophy Eyes and iDKHOW!
Plus all the best new releases including Bowling For Soup, Indoor Pets, Royal Tusk, VENUES, The Cheap Thrills, From Ashes To New, ERRA, Banks Arcade, Aaron West & The Roaring Twenties, Normandie, The Farm and Job For A Cowboy!
Finally, we round up the latest additions to our ‘Discover’ New Music Playlist including Gallus, Loose Articles and IRKED!
The latest issue of the Full Pelt Magazine is here, and you can download your copy for free below!
Volume 12 features cover stars Reading & Leeds Festivals as they reveal their 2024 headliners. We also review live shows from Queens of the Stone Age, Twin Atlantic and Beans On Toast. Plus we review the debut album from The Sleeping Souls!
We have our News Report rounding up new releases from Von Hertzen Brothers, Superlove, ALT BLK ERA, Blackout Problems, Feeder, Graphic Nature, Gun, The K’s, Kid Bookie and Benjamin Francis Leftwich!
Plus new live announcements from Live At Leeds, Takedown Festival, TRNSMT Festival, Roddy Woomble, Paul Weller, The Warning, In Flames, Arch Enemy, The Damned and Bad Touch!
Finally, we round up the latest additions to our ‘Discover’ New Music Playlist with SAVE US, Future Static and Tribe of Ghosts!
Reading & Leeds Festivals are the traditional end of the UK Festival season, and this year is a milestone year as a full calendar takes place for the first time since 2019. Let’s not dwell on why, instead let’s head straight into the action on a packed and hot Saturday at Reading Festival.
Sold out well in advance, Saturday at this year’s event is a particularly hot ticket with a stunning line-up throughout and topped by Arctic Monkeys and Bring Me The Horizon.
We are in the arena bright and early for surprise opening act Wargasm who storm the main stage with a set packed full of energy and attitude. The band appears to be on a world conquering mission, and nobody can argue their work ethic. It’s also damn hard to argue with their captivating stage presence and musical outlay.
We then head into the ‘Festival Republic’ Tent for the next couple of acts. With the new two main stage structure at Reading & Leeds Festivals the separate ‘Pit’ and ‘Lock-up’ stage has sadly been a much missed casualty. There is much less choice now for the music connoisseurs amongst the crowd; which isn’t a problem with a stacked line-up like today but is very evident on Friday and Sunday.
This change does mean there is less cohesion in the line-up with heavy rockers Static Dress followed by lad rock upstarts The Skinner Brothers in the tent. Despite their difference styles both deliver energetic and well-received performances for the early risers.
There is more indie-fuelled sing-a-long action next back on the main stages with The Lathums pulling in a decent crowd. Whilst there is nothing earth-shatteringly new about what they do, The Lathums do this modern stock-indie reasonably well.
WATCH POPPY PLAY ‘BLOODMONEY’ AT READING FESTIVAL
Poppy – ‘BLOODMONEY’
Whilst there were no moulds broken on one main stage, over on the other is Poppy, an artist who has broken every mould she’s been in. Yes, originally a Youtube sensation, then a bubblegum pop idol and now a heavy metal phenomenon, Poppy crosses many boundaries. Today she oozes rockstar appeal as she owns the stage with their eclectic musical offerings, proving along the way that she retains a very bright future.
A bright future is also ahead for Sueco, who attracts a good sized audience in the tent next for his debut UK performance. Over the next thirty minutes Sueco has that crowd in the palm of his hands as he runs through fans favourites including TikTok sensation ‘Paralyzed’.
Enter Shikari are a band more concerned with the future of the planet than that of their career and they take a main stage next for a politically charged call to arms with epic musical accompaniment. New single, ‘The Void Stares Back’ including guests Wargasm sounds absolutely huge as do tracks from previous album, ‘Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible’.
WATCH ENTER SHIKARI PLAY ‘{ THE DREAMER’S HOTEL }’ AT READING
A passionate speech is curtailed through either a power failure or for the conspiracy theorists – censorship. Either way even with a stifled end to their set, the band show once again that they are one of the best live acts on the planet.
We’ve mentioned the stacked line-up today and part of the reason for such excitement is the collection of a number of bands in the best live act conversation. Next up on the other main stage are Fontaines D.C. who receive a hero’s welcome by swelled crowd.
WATCH FONTAINES D.C. PLAY ‘BOYS IN THE BETTER LAND’ AT READING
New album, ‘Skinty Fia’, takes centre stage as the band deliver the likes of ‘I Love You’, ‘Jackie Down the Line’ and ‘Roman Holiday’. A young fan coming out the crowd to ace guitar on ‘Boys in the Better Land’ provides one of the highlights of the festival, and the band leave the stage having proven themselves to be in the pool of future headliners.
Another band no doubt destined to headline Reading Festival in the not too distant future is Wolf Alice. Whether rocking hard on ‘Smile’, serenading us with ‘Safe From Heartbreak (If You Never Fall in Love)’ or showing their all round brilliance on ‘The Last Man on Earth’, Wolf Alice are a band that can literally do it all.
WATCH WOLF ALICE PLAY ‘HOW CAN I MAKE IT OK?’ AT READING
A twelve song set absolutely flies by this evening and with a rammed field of fans left desperate for more, surely a full headline show from the band is a must next time they come to town.
That’s one thing Reading & Leeds Festivals have always excelled at – giving new headliners their shot. That’s exactly what they do next with heavy hitters Bring Me The Horizon finally being given the main stage headline festival set they earned years ago!
What those who gather for the performance are greeted with is a band at the peak of their powers, both creatively and as a live act. The band proceed to deliver a memorable set for all the right reasons. This is a victory for Bring Me The Horizon and for heavy music and the band do all in their powers to fulfil all expectations.
WATCH BRING ME THE HORIZON PLAY ‘BAD HABITS’ WITH ED SHEERAN AT READING
Bring Me The Horizon – ‘Bad Habits’ feat. Ed Sheeran
The setlist is flawless, the visuals are stunning, the crowd interaction is on point and the band sound incredible; this is a real moment. A moment made even bigger by the band bringing out Ed Sheeran for a dose of ‘Bad Habits’ to the ear-piercing sound of teenage girls screams.
This is the sort of performance that you don’t want to follow but that’s just what Arctic Monkeys have to do next. Being one of the most hotly anticipated acts of the weekend and one much craved by fans in recent years, surely this would be easy for megastars such as Arctic Monkeys.
WATCH ARCTIC MONKEYS PLAY ‘R U MINE’ AT READING
Arctic Monkeys – ‘R U Mine’
Sadly for those in attendance what the band deliver is a lukewarm showing. The opposite of Bring Me The Horizon, the setlist is poor, the visuals are basic, the crowd interaction is nearly non-existent and the sound is too low. A stunning day such as this needed a big finish and that should in hindsight of been Bring Me The Horizon.
Arctic Monkeys are a huge act with a back catalogue you can hold against anybody else, but today it feels like a phoned in effort. It isn’t a bad show by any stretch of the imagination; it’s a good show that should’ve been a great show.
Hopefully the band can rediscover their spark with new album, ‘The Car’ on the way, but tonight belongs to a different Sheffield band!
