A READING rock band said their world was ‘turned upside down’ after performing at Reading Festival this year.
The Amazons, who hail from Burghfield, Pangbourne and Calcot, performed on Sunday (August 27) of the annual music event on the main stage east.
Members Matthew Thomson, Chris Alderton, and Elliot Briggs described the performance as being ‘huge for them’, especially being from Berkshire.
READ MORE: GALLERY: Saturday pictures at Reading Festival
Frontman Matthew said: “It’s a… how do we put it? In the grand scheme of things you can barely see the footprint in the sand but for us, our world turned upside down. It was huge for us, it was the combination of 13 years of working.”
The band have been attending the festival since they were teenagers but first performed at the age of 16 under the name ‘Peers’ in 2010 on the BBC Introducing Stage.
They came back in 2013 as The Amazons and performed twice more in 2018 and 2019.
“We got there in the end but we’ve been coming here every year as a band,” said Matthew. “It impacts us more than just playing the festival.
READ MORE: Women describe 'horror film' moment they were 'chased' after Reading Festival
“We’re getting this feeling we’re becoming part of the furniture here which is actually quite nice and cool.”
Jokingly, he added: “We’ve become quite involved with Reading FC as well – they’re addicted to our music.”
The group said they will be spending the rest of the festival watching different acts and catching up with friends and family in the guest area.
When asked who they’d go and watch, bassist Elliot said Billie Eilish, adding: “We’ll be here all day at the festival, there are a lot of acts we want to see.
“We’ll be right in the middle of the crowd with all the screaming teenage girls.”
When asked if they hope to return next year, Matthew said: “As many times as they will have us, we’ll be here.
“I spoke to the manager of the festival and he said he really thought we were going to be in our Reading FC shirts and I said, ‘Have us back next year and I’ll be in it’.”
READ MORE: Reading Festival food review: Tragedy struck with expensive lunch
When comparing Reading to Leeds, Matthew concluded: “Leeds is an amazing festival, the north always has big festival crowds.”
Elliot added: “It’s actually less emotionally traumatic for us to play Leeds. It’s more pressure at Reading as our mums our watching us but the feeling you can get from playing a good show here is unmatched – it’s why we do it.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article