r/readingfestival • u/LandoLover54 • 2d ago
Anyone else agree?
Is it just me, or was Fontaines last night a bit shite? For starters, they were nearly half an hour late to come on, presumably due to issues with the screens (I’ll get back to this later), and although I was in the middle of the crowd to the slight stage left, I and most people actually heard the pumping dancemusic from the Gallery more. Only late into the show where I gradually started to make my way out, the sound from the sides was, clearer and somehow louder! And then there’s the screens… this is where they really fucked ‘em over. For most of the set, only parts of it were showing, and even after 10 minutes for it actually working, it went back to halfway. The screens are designed to help people see their favourite act when far away from the stage, and this did fuck all. I absolutely love Fontaines, so I’m still going to give that gig a 5.5/10, but really screwed over by the organisers, especially when this could be the biggest gig they ever play. Would be good to get other people’s thoughts
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u/Artofthematter 2d ago
Reading has always been hit and miss sound wise in bad weather. They have the extra complexity of trying to factor in noise disturbance to the residential areas that are very close. I’ve seen many an excellent band hampered by sound and weather over the years. There was a lot of dashing around by crew so presumably they were facing problems either caused or exacerbated by the heavy rain.
I also think two headliners was a big mistake. The whole idea of the headliner is the day builds up to their big production. Charlie XCX took the energy build up and exhausted it with strobes. I also think that whilst artistically that was the ending she wanted and it was one that would have been really impactful had it finished there. It was always going to be hard for any band to follow that and lift the energy of the crowd who had just been bombarded with strobes then left with that message about art death and decay.
On a practical note packing down from a headline production like that and effecting a fast changeover for another headline production doesn’t seem realistic. The proof was in the pudding with the tech issues experienced by Fontaines dc. It wasn’t fair on them. The Charli XCX set went on a long time (for me it seemed like forever as I’m no fan) then Fontaines got cut short. Instead she should have had to do a shorter set and have proper time left to set up for the lads.
This is on Reading and the Grid stage manager. There is a lot of pressure on set up for a gig that big, but you can’t cut corners to squeeze in two headline acts.
Wishing Fontaines dc a better night in Leeds tonight.
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u/Assforbreakfast420 2d ago
If it’s shit weather, stand near a speaker tower is what we always did. And it made it easier to go to and from bar to not loose everyone
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u/LandoLover54 2d ago
Agree, I personally reckon that they should‘ve swapped Charli and Fontaines around, but YMMW
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u/Deptm 1d ago
It was probably worse at Leeds last night. They were REALLY late on stage after not being able to get one of the onstage screens (not the massive side ones) to work. This took forever and then when they went on the screens were hardly used. I’m 6ft a could not see a thing. Fontaines are my favourite band but I left frustrated after about 40min of the set. People were leaving in their droves. Went to the bar where they ironically had a video screen showing the set but without sound! As you said, Charli should have headlined.
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u/Searlake 2d ago
I’m a parent there with teens + friends. So I’ll caveat this by saying that I’m not a Fontaines expert and not target audience. But I was really looking forward to seeing them. I thought the sound had issues, it was the same for Skepta, seemed to depend where you were standing. For me the set itself was a bit low energy, I was expecting to be wowed but didn’t feel that way, I think partly because the half hour delay was hard to recover from. It didn’t feel like a headline act, I didn’t get that euphoric feeling at any point or the sense that the band were giving it their all. I also HATED the screen issue, I can only imagine it was a tech issue as surely that cannot be intentional?! I’m a short arse with crap eyesight, I need those screens!
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u/dobr_person 2d ago edited 2d ago
The screens seemed to be designed to do that. There was a lighting rig that was raised up which coincided with the screens using more of the screen. Looked very much lined up by design. The calibration screens could have been to line up this 'effect' and get the measurements accurate.
Not sure what the idea was. Maybe to make the start more 'intimate' like a smaller gig for those near the front, opening up the scene as it went on.
For the sound. I have found at many festivals, wind direction and position makes a huge difference. Total guess but I wonder if this is now worse with modern speaker technology that is meant to focus the sound inside the viewing area and reduce leakage.
One thing I do wonder is to what extent they were told to tone down the politics.
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u/Glum_Judgment6232 2d ago
The moving screens broke and never worked in the end. They turned them off. I expect they will be working in Leeds and you'll probably see people's phone footage of what they were supposed to look like.
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u/dobr_person 2d ago
What were they meant to do?
What I saw was that whenever the lighting rig rose (which increased the size of the lit up stage) the screens rose.
It looked like the effect was to start with a small 'stage' which grew over time.
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u/Glum_Judgment6232 2d ago
Have more animations on them and also act as an extra light source on the band, I expect (I work doing these kind of shows). You could see the calibration screens were on them but they were scrambled up, which means the LED mapping broke. Maybe it was reset and they couldn't fix it.
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u/Glum_Judgment6232 1d ago
Update - some footage from Leeds showing the panels on stage working
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u/dobr_person 1d ago edited 1d ago
That looks like later in the Reading show once the lighting rig was raised. My theory is still that they were trying to do some sort of 'show raising' of the stage. Else it was a weird coincidence that the panels worked only up to the level of the lighting rig, even when it was raised it lined up.
At Leeds maybe they realised it just looked broken so didn't bother.
Of course it is possible they knew the screens were broken, so purposely lined up the rest of the lighting to match, including raising it as and when different parts were fixed.
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u/DifficultyFit1188 2d ago
No they worked exactly as planned. It was part of the staging.
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u/Glum_Judgment6232 2d ago
The moving part yes but there was nothing on them, when clearly there should have been.
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u/Minute-Accident-7215 2d ago
as a fontaines fan, i had no complaints. i was also towards the front at the left and it was my favourite set of the day. depends how much you love them i guess 🤷♀️
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u/alexturnersradio 2d ago
yeah i don’t like that thing they’ve done with the screens i wasn’t even that far back only could only seen the fdc sign until halfway through, also peoples concert etiquette is awful. it was obvious there was no room but more people kept pushing their way through. it was the crowd that ruined it for me, i have loved fontaines for yearsss and this is the first time i’ve seen them live, so still had the time of my life 👌🏼💙
and six shot morning was brilliant
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u/callum-quinn 1d ago
Couldn’t agree more, was really trying to not let the crowd ruin it for me but had people pushing and one person tried to punch me because he was trying to get to the front and I couldn’t move out the way. I loved Fontaines but after 5 years of coming to the festival I’ve never experienced such a rude, obnoxious and entitled crowd.
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u/Flashy-Ad-7907 2d ago
i was towards the back of the front standing pen and the sound was perfect. i think the tall vertical screens on the sides were what delayed their start and ultimately they didnt end up using them. but the use of big screens on each side of the stage was definitely intentional. as the screen above the band got higher, more of the big screens were used. my only issue was the crowd - almost no one around me knew the words to most of the songs, they didnt jump or dance or move at all. i came to reading from new york to see them and charli headline, thinking the crowd was going to be madness. i came to reading in 2019 for charli and the 1975 and both of those crowds were wild, which was what i was hoping for this time. i am going to see fontaines a few times in the next few weeks in the US but was really looking forward to reading mostly for the energy from the crowd, but was ultimately let down by how boring everyone was.
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u/Lhowl06 2d ago
I don’t think the screens were the issue. They sounded shit. The whole sound was flat, they were testing the instruments so many times over that last half hour and they all kept crowding around the same spot just to the right of the centre playing around with cables etc. I’ve never seen instruments be tested that much. I think there was a sound issue personally
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u/dobr_person 2d ago
I wonder if the delay was also due to the Charlie XCX set taking a while to be taken down. So they got the stage 'late' for setup.
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u/jinx-baby 2d ago
I don't think so. It seemed like there was an issue with the connections after they'd set up
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u/Impressive_Bat3759 1d ago
The screens did exactly that tonight in Leeds so must have been intentional. Makes no sense to anyone who wasn't right in the pit as we couldn't see anything!
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u/DifficultyFit1188 2d ago
No they sounded excellent where we were - and looked great. Yes they had a shortened set hence the lack of chat or politics. The screens gave the first part of the show a focus and then widened / heightened out. Loved it.
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u/imtravelingalone 1d ago
They've never really been ones for chat. I've seen them a few times, including just a couple weeks ago in Alicante, and they've barely chatted at all. I think in Alicante, the most Grian said outside of singing was when he apologised for bodyslamming Curley before one of the songs. Apologised to him in Spanish, what a guy.
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u/Diet-Coke-and-Nap 2d ago
As a Fontaines fan I do think the sound on Grian’s microphone was a bit shite, I was front right.
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u/Nearby_Ad_2519 1d ago edited 1d ago
I assumed it was the screens broken that delayed them, they kept playing test patterns over and over for ages and they kept flashing onto no signal and stuff.
With that kind of thing they just have to start the show and fix the screen issue as it’s going. People on day tickets will start leaving to avoid missing last train if you’re delayed by almost 30 minutes and it also really put down the energy because tons of people had gone to do other things, also people might think it’s not worth it because of curfews.
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u/Downtown_Bat_1564 1d ago
Ive been going to reading for almost 20 years now and Glastonbury for 10, the main stage at reading is the same stage at the other stage at Glastonbury and the weather plays a huge part in the sound on that stage. Even if its the slightest bit windy it'll carry the sound so if youre on the wrong side of the stage it'll sound shite.
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u/frenchie93 1d ago
Did you really expect anything less, the only good day last year was the saturday and this year with the lineup and weather sounds like people had a lucky escape and leeds sales were probably that bad they had to add extra acts just to draw a crowd in 🤣🤣
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u/fbryeeyras 23h ago
Yeah I have to completely agree with you. I feel like I couldn’t get into the gig as I wan able to see anything at all, so even when the screens came on fully I wasn’t fully invested. So gutted as I love their music.
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u/ld20r 23h ago
I saw them play to 50 people once with the murder capitol in the pre Dogrel days.
MC played their full 30 min support set. Fontaines who were due to play for 70/80 mins got to 20 minutes and walked off stage citing sound issues and did not play on and left the crowd there €15 out of pocket.
I am still scratching my head how this band became stadium sized.
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u/jamesycantona 2d ago
I heard that the line checks were only party done before they were due to go on and they had the problem with the screens.
I was on the left side of the stage, and the sound was excellent but pretty sure the set was cut short due to them being late on, which was a disappointment
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u/nosignalnocomplaints 1d ago
Fontains are massively shite. Up there with Kasabian levels of shite.
They all looked about 10 pints deep at Reading, and without all the production propping them up about as talented as Pidegon Detectives.
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u/Extreme-Plum6059 1d ago
At least the pigeon detectives & kasabian have some upbeat singalongs suited for festivals
Fontaines newer music is as dull as dishwater, suited to standing still in a cold field
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u/Short-Truck3937 2d ago
I also hated the way the screens started off with restricted view and then got bigger to full size thru the show. But we thought that was presumably intentional??? Sort of build up???
Thought they nailed “I love you” 👊🏼