The best music event in Reading absolutely nails it once again.
This is our brief overview of last weekend, with more coverage to follow on several bands.
Friday Night
Ciao Lucifer
If The Black Keys had been more partial to funk and soul than the blues, they might have ended up sounding like Ciao Lucifer. Having seen a lot of two piece guitar and drums bands it is genuinely unusual to find one that doesn’t resort to blues, or a heavy rock sound, at some point in their set. It was uplifting good times here. Ciao Lucifer are from Amsterdam and this marked their debut appearance in the UK. They were a polite and well drilled duo who barrelled through a lot of tracks without too much stopping in between. Those down early enough found themselves tapping and swaying along regardless of whether they were familiar with the band or not. Possibly our favourite of the three acts as a live band tonight.
Pale Blue Eyes
This modernist indie-pop band have been grafting away for a while now. That they have done live sessions for BBC Radio 6 speaks to their qualities and the strength of their backers.
Vocalist Matt Board at times reminds us of Samuel T. Herring of Future Islands, more down to the bendy leggedness on show as he stalks around the stage, rather than his vocals – which are much subtler than Herrings. They make for a decent little mid-afternoon festival band if you happened to catch them somewhere.
Cassia
We missed their 2025 album everyone, outside when it was released but have been playing it a lot in the last few weeks. There are some excellent tracks on it, particularly ‘everyone, outside,’ ‘friends’ and ‘miles out.’ It is some stunning sunshine indie married to a hint of Afrobeat and some impressive whistling abilities.
As a trio they mix and match instruments according to need, a fine selection of drums and bongos to help produce their signature sound. They are a solid outfit, but could do with finding an extra gear in the live performance. Whilst their last album compares favourably in style and ability to Good Neighbours Blue Sky Mentality, they lack the killer live edge that Good Neighbours bring to their sets. They are likely to keep growing as a band and we look forward to their next releases with interest.
Saturday
AYL? Festival is like an old fashioned choose your own adventure book. Your journey could take many different paths and you must be decisive in your decision making. We felt that we chose well this year with a stream of outstanding sets. We took the difficult choice of missing Adult DVD in the knowledge that they are playing The Bullingdon in October, so we will catch them then. We would have also loved to see Scaler, but didn’t want to only see a few minutes of them, so ended up skipping that short opportunity. In all we saw 18 bands/artists on the day, with only a couple of those being quick photo drive-bys.
Miss Hunte
A lovely way to start the day with this strong singer, she played a couple of soulful covers including ‘What A Difference A Day Makes’. Then followed some decent originals. She was accompanied by djembe and keyboard. She moved neatly into rap for one track, about how your early twenties are supposed to be the best years of your life but all she was racking up were worries about finding a job and the state of the world.
Ladylike
A Brighton based band, like so many decent indie bands are these days with its thriving scene. Like Y last year (appearing at the Purple Turtle later this month as well), they provided a fantastic opening to the Saturday at St Laurence Church. They sit firmly in the Windmill Scene style and will appeal to fans of caroline and English Teacher. They do a fantastic line in folk and whimsical quiet, that at times opens out into noisy breakdowns. Check out, ‘Sour Carol, I.’ Ones to watch.
Jewels Vass
A local veteran who has performed with a range of big name reggae and soul artists. She mixes cute covers of tracks like ‘Three Little Birds’ alongside her own material.
Charli Lucas
The young Charli Lucas might well be a star in the making. Like a mix of Holly Humberstone and Gracie Abrams. She is quick to note the irony of song titles like ‘FKN EMBARRASSING’ being sung in a church. She has an easy manner and is clearly enjoying every second of being up on stage. Worth a listen you like your pop music with an indie twist.
Lost Velvet
Surprisingly, this was the Reading debut for this Reading resident duo. It was a solid performance that matched the effortless cool of their recorded output so far. ‘Dark Cells’ might end up being one of our favourite singles this year. That and ‘Wasted’ from their 2025 EP speak to a lot of potential.
Native James
An absolute highlight of the weekend. Expect a full review.
Lemonsuckr
So rammed we struggled to get into the Turtle to catch them. On this occasion the hype did not disappoint. Full review to follow.
Slag
Whilst we enjoyed what we heard, they didn’t impress to the extent I was expecting. This Brighton based indie band have an air of effortless cool around them, we enjoyed their recent ‘Losing’ EP and they have plenty of time to carry on growing and improving.
My First Time
Another band that we had liked what we had heard of them, but who absolutely beat all our expectations. Genuinely one of our surprise favourites of the day. Full Review to follow.
Puma Theory
It was a quick drive-by to capture some photos of this great Reading band on a decent stage. They were doing a great job from the first three tracks that we heard.
Bucket
We had a sneaky suspicion these guys would be off the hook brilliant and they did not disappoint. Expect a full review soon.
Mên-an-Tol
We really expected to like Mên-an-Tol, we have enjoyed their recorded output so far. However, we were not quite connecting with it today and about half way through headed over to catch Yard instead. Mên-an-Tol have something of a 90s guitar feel about them. It all sounds a bit familiar. Great if you want to recapture past glories, less so if you are looking for something fresh.
Yard
The Dublin based Yard were one of the brilliant performances of the day. We suspected their slightly techno based take on Nine Inch Nails might be fun but wow, they had some serious firepower. Loved every minute of it, frontman Emmet White is permanently somewhere between magnetic and feral, in a good way. Annoyingly, we left the set early to catch the start of Snayx, only for Snayx to be running massively behind due to technical issues.
Snayx
With their slightly futuristic take on old-school UK punk we fully expected Snayx to be one of the biggest hits of the festival. Sadly, this was the only set of the day we saw that ran into massive technical issues.
The set finally got going twenty-five minutes late. They did a couple of impressive, fantastic tracks… and then further issues occurred with the bass that derailed things for another five minutes. It got started again, but it was all over before it really ever got going. Out of a forty-five minute timeslot we barely got 18 minutes of music. From what we saw, we can absolutely believe all the live performance hype that surrounds this lot, but we were left massively regretting not going to their O2 Oxford Academy 2 gig back in March.
Daufødt
We suspected they would be brilliant and they promptly delivered. A truly compelling live performance chock-full of energy.
Good Health Good Wealth
It was a flying visit to The Facebar to grab some photos of our recent interviewees. The few tracks we heard sounded great and we will be hoping to catch a full set from them at Truck Festival to make up for it.
Panic Shack
Our Are You Listening? Festival headliners did not disappoint. A massive set full of incredible energy and togetherness. Full review to follow.
Murkage Dave
A fantastically chilled way to end a long, busy day. Murkage Dave has collaborated with Skepta, Mike Skinner, Caroline Polachek and many more big names. Laid back rap and hip-hop vibes with some singing. Dave is resplendent in an immaculate suit loving every second of his performance.
Overall, the festival has been another stunning success. Get in quick for your 2027 earlybirds and get it for the best price possible: https://areyoulistening.gigantic.com/are-you-listening-festival-tickets/reading-various-venues-in-reading/2027-05-08-12-00
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