Oh M83 Yes!   

Bloody hell. This really goes to show that I am sooo not an audiophile. That's the sort of thing I would not notice in a million years. It is a brilliant album, though, and it has reminded me how much I love Metallica.

But aren't you more of an indie kid? I think Kerrang used to be great (I'm talking about the early 90s here, btw) when I was a bit of a rock chick. I also quite liked Metal Hammer, but didn't get it that often because it was more hardcore and I liked 'alternative' (always hated that phrase) as well as metal, so wasn't into some of the bands it covered. The guy who became the editor of Metal Hammer (not sure if he still is) was the music editor on our student newspaper.

I don't buy any music magazines these days - I haven't done for ages, although I used to regularly read Kerrang, Raw (does anyone remember that?), Select, Vox and Melody Maker. This was before the tinternet, really. I think music websites will surpass magazines because the mags can't really keep up with the news - certainly not the likes of NME etc.

Oh yes, and I agree with your comments about holding attention...for me it felt like the gig lasted about half an hour.

Cheers 

I did wonder why it clearly was not sold out...I think perhaps the new album might be a bit too diverse or different for some?

I think it was a fascinating programme and quite creepy. I can't work out if the woman was more disturbing than Exoo himself, because she was actually charging a fee, or if he was more sinister because he appeared to get some sort of gratification from being around/assisting people who were dying. It felt like he was egging them on - very sinister. I think if someone's mentally ill or has MS and can be helped medically it is morally abhorrent to 'help' them to die. That said, I am all for the right to die for people who are terminally ill or have no quality of life. That however is a totally different thing to what Exoo was doing. I found it hard to understand why Jon Ronson was saying that he liked him as a person. I just found him quite weird.

It sounds like immense fun but it is really difficult to justify that price tag, to be quite honest!

There are not really any local hotels but the tickets allow you to camp almost anywhere - camping and entertainment is not really segregated like it is at other festivals.

Interesting topic, but for me personally, I could not listen to anything containing genuinely hateful content, regardless of who it was directed at. Same if I found a band turned out to be affiliated to racist or homophobic movements. That would just be taboo for me.

When I was younger I really liked Guns N Roses. I still think that Appetite for Destruction is one of the best debut albums ever made. A lot of the lyrics are quite sexist, and so was the original (banned) album cover (which depicted a woman getting raped by a robot), but I don't find any of it offensive. The only song I really squirm at (and it's on an earlier EP, not that album) is 'One in a Million', which does contain racist and homophobic references to 'Niggers' and 'faggots' and 'immigrants'.

I don't like that song but I don't think Axl Rose was/is genuinely racist (Slash is mixed-race, after all, and Freddie Mercury is one of Rose's heroes ... and Brian May has played as a guest with Guns N Roses live so he obviously took no offence); I just think he was an idiot writing those lyrics because he must have known they would cause an outcry - indeed there is even an apology for them on the EP's sleeve.

If Axl Rose was a member some white supremacist group or a homophobic movement then I think I would take a different view. I think he is a bit of a prat but there's a difference between that and people who are genuinely evil.

back to Twisted Ear article

More rock ... I like the sound of that.

Well, for me it really changed when it became Reading/Leeds and technically called the Carling Weekend or whatever. That is when it became different. So I am glad that I got the chance to go before all that when I was a teenager. 

It's sold out anyway isn't it?

In the years I used to go I think it was a bit smaller campsite-wise. You just went wherever and they didn't have allocated campsites with tickets. So the first year when we turned up on the Friday with the festival already well underway we ended up camping right next door to the car - it was pretty cool. 

Anyone over the age of 20 WILL feel very old in the campsite but I have such fond memories of the Reading fests I did go to. The one with Neil Young was the best, but I can't remember what year that was.

Agree with you about numbers...it felt VERY crowded last year.

Green Man is fab...I think it has a similar 'feel' to Glasto and a lot of the same stalls are there. But it just feels like so much less hassle...!

Not an obsession, just an interest. I like mysteries.