Live Gigs: Reading 1991

OK, here’s my second of three Reading fest blog post for this whole weekend! Overflowing with three post in a row, finishing tomorrow with year 1992! Thanks to Sonic Youth‘s The Year The Punk Broke VHS tape I do remember seeing some of this on a small TV screen, at least but once again I wasn’t there and who know why I am blogging about it? Linking that SY doco here, if you wanna know more about it? One clip of it is embedded below from that. Off course, that means at this point in time grunge was about to destroy the mainstream but this fest did still have a few non-grunge acts so with that in mind, I’m trying to mix it up below! Once again, it’s all my personal favorite acts embedded below, adding up to seven and all are whole sets which I think, is bloody amazing they’re recordings of these. We’re getting a little more pro-filming today but most of it still all hand-held cameras in the crowd and not very good camera work but it’s all not bad sound today, if you just wanna listen NOT watch? Which, a lot of time when I’m doing these posting I’m just listening really, you know when I watch sometimes it’s just listening, anyway point out the obvious maybe?

Nirvana off course, steeled the whole thing and nicked off with best live band award before almost anyone else played so let’s start with them right now at the very top. It’s a Multi-cam and pretty good sound tooo! To put this into context, if you need a timeline or something? Nevermind wasn’t even out when they played at Reading, it was going to be drop next month on Sept. 24th plus Teen Sprit hit single wasn’t official released until 10th Sept. but Nirvana played five of Nevermind tracks here so then everyone there lost their minds and as they say the rest is history. Great silly on stage quote from Dave Grohl “Tony the dancer wrote all the songs we’re playing today” You’ll see, if you watch it but Tony was guy who come on stage with Nirvana who just dance away while they played. Plus slow-motion replays of Kurt’s famous drum kit jump/drive right at the very end of this tooo:

Nirvana setlist at Little John’s Farm, Reading festival, England on Friday 23rd of August:

• School
• Floyd the Barber
• Drain You
• Smells Like Teen Spirit
• Come as You Are
• Breed
• Sliver
• Molly’s Lips (The Vaselines cover with Eugene Kelly guest singing)
• Love Buzz (Shocking Blue cover)
• Negative Creep/The End (The Doors cover snippet)
• Blew
• Endless, Nameless

KC in-between the stage and the crowd with the press surrounding him!

Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore helping KC back onto the stage!

I’m putting The Fall second this time around and you might notices it’s back to back years they performing at Reading. I’d watched this set twice because they’re two recording on YouTube and this one which I watched second is the easy the best both sound and visuals. Who knows maybe they changed someone’s world that weekend tooo? They have gone from playing just before headliner on Sunday night to what looks like a pretty sunny Saturday afternoon in England, I guess they’re only third from the top this year. So that means they’re only losing one spot but I think, I would have made them headliners but I guess, that’s why I’m NOT fest/tour promoter?

The Fall setlist at Little John’s Farm, Reading festival, England on Saturday 24th of August:

• Time Enough at Last
• Idiot Joy Showland
• Pittsville Direkt
• High Tension Line
• The Mixer
• Edinburgh Man
• Big New Prinz
• Free Range
• A Lot of Wind
• White Lightning (The Big Bopper cover)
• Bill Is Dead
• Shift-Work

Sonic Youth played just before Iggy Pop on the Friday night, here’s the full set which is shot from the crowd on hand-held but it’s not bad sound but starts out the visuals are out of focus and backs of crowd’s heads with flashing lights in the background kind-of waving all over the place picture quality so you can only see the band itself only sometimes but it does get a little better as it goes on but only sometimes. So easy wins worst filmed set of Reading 91. On stage random funny quote from Kim Gordon this time is “I’ll like to thank God and Perry Farrell” for what? She doesn’t really say:

Sonic Youth setlist at Little John’s Farm, Reading festival, England on Saturday night, 23rd of August:

• Schizophrenia
• White Kross
• Brother James
• Orange Rolls, Angel’s Spit
• Eric’s Trip
• Teen Age Riot
• Flower
• Tunic (Song for Karen)
• Dirty Boots
• Chapel Hill
• Mary-Christ
• Kool Thing
• Expressway to Yr Skull

Blur played pretty early in the day on the Saturday but this was way before all that Britpop hype hit a few years later. That’s before The Fall and those are the only couple bands I’ve embedded here from that day. This was taken from bootleg DVD the uploader tell me but released years after so came of somewhere else before that? It’s just crowd hand-held recording plus editing in the backstage and on stage footage which came for a doco called Starshaped. BTW it also has funny band interview with MTV after their live set:

Blur setlist at Little John’s Farm, Reading festival, England on Saturday 24th of August:

• Explain
• Bang
• High Cool
• Bad Day
• Oily Water
• She’s So High
• Turn It Up
• There’s No Other Way
• Wear Me Down
• Mr. Briggs
• Slow Down
• Come Together
• Commercial Break

I have to say The Sister Of Mercy were a very disappointing live when I seen them, you couldn’t seen anything because someone forgotten to turn the smoke machine off but then again all you did see before the smoke covered everything was just fours old Goths blokes standing on stage, a couple with guitars, one with drum machine, synth and keyboards and Andrew Eldritch the singer who had gone bald by then. So nope, Patricia Morrison didn’t make it to Australia then or was mostly likely long gone but I just didn’t know that? Anyway I still like/love them after such a shit gig. Maybe you need to see them somewhere like Reading headlining Sunday night in the early 90’s? BTW this is the only Sunday/night set I’m including today plus it’s multi-cams again but it’s pretty shit picture but the sounds is pretty good plus MTV interview with Andrew Eldritch after:

The Sister Of Mercy setlist at Little John’s Farm, Reading festival, England on Sunday 25th of August:

• First and Last and Always
• Lucretia My Reflection
• Body and Soul
• Possession
• Ribbons
• Alice
• Dominion/Mother Russia
• Amphetamine Logic
• Detonation Boulevard
• Temple of Love
• Gimme Shelter (The Rolling Stones cover)
• Flood II
• This Corrosion
• Encore 1: Something Fast
• Vision Thing
• Encore 2: He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands (Traditional cover)/Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (Monty Python cover snippet)
• 1969 (The Stooges cover)

Going back to the grunge bands to end on. Babes In Toyland so we’re going back to Friday again in the daytime for the last couple of full set on today’s blog. Unfortunately almost everyone forgets about this band these days but I still love them, check them out because they really know how to rip up the stage also never go the dues they should have back then. They did go on just before Nirvana very early on that day:

Babes In Toyland setlist at Little John’s Farm, Reading festival, England on Friday 23rd of August:

• Catatonic
• Mad Pilot
• Spit to See the Shine
• Laugh My Head Off
• Primus
• Handsome & Gretel
• Mother
• Ripe
• Dogg
• Swamp Pussy
• Vomit Heart
• Dust Cake Boy

Finishing with Dinosaur Jr. who when on just after Nirvana on that Friday and before Sonic Youth then Iggy but some others where also on that day but haven’t a clue who they’re? Sorry to them and their fans, call me a dumbass if you wanna? Anyway it’s thanks to that Sonic Youth doco, I was talking about early you can watch Freak Scene then it’s their full set audio:

Dinosaur Jr. setlist at Little John’s Farm, Reading festival, England on Friday 23rd of August:

• Severed Lips
• No Bones
• The Lung
• Water
• Budge
• Blowing It
• Keep The Glove
• The Wagon
• Freak Scene
• Thumb
• Sludgefeast

I don’t if no one filmed Iggy Pop headlining Friday night set or they have all been deleted but nothing at all is on YouTube, sorry to say! Plus I’m saying I’ll pass on everyone else, sorry again to fans of acts I’ve missed whoever they’re, yeah some more are on YouTube but some ain’t. For me, Iggy is the main one that’s missing here but I’ve just said that, didn’t I? I can’t go on and on forever, even if it seems sometimes I do! I didn’t see any John Peel footage tooo, he was comparing this whole weekend apparently.

That’s adding up to top seven full sets from huge big fest which I guess, is very edited down and isn’t much really? So that’s it and all over this time around for this Saturday morning of my early 90’s Reading fest live special blog posts which is on all weekend, started yesterday and finishing with 92 tomorrow! Hope you enjoy something above? Who’s your favorite act/s on this fest line-up? Did I included them or not? What else? Maybe that’s it, until tomorrow!

91’s poster/flyer!

Cheers! 🙂