NOT EXACTLY LIVE FROM THE READING FESTIVAL, DAY 2

2:15 pm
Rumble Strips, who are already guaranteed to be better than the SXSW show we saw with 40 people in a wanting venue (and they were pretty darn good then). Guitar/drums/trumpet/sax; invariably compared to Dexy's.

2:22 pm
What's up with people who continue sitting down even as the crowd fills in all around? They deserve every tipped beer and stepped-on hand.

3:10 pm
Two things today I should have had the camera for:

1. A girl outside the men's squatting on the ground and peeing. It's a forlorn sight, but then again, she probably has nothing to blame other than her beer consumption.

2. Another girl's lacy pink trimmed but mud-splattered plumber's crack.

3:20 pm
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are backstage briefly. Alec's got a copy of "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" in his front left blazer pocket.

3:49 pm
Good Books. Recently semi-slagged by NME for being like Athlete, but we like Athlete. Plus they're way, way better live. And are a former Art Brut franchise. And have a song about WWI. Does that mean they are influenced by Franz Ferdinand? The actual Franz Ferdinand, I mean.

5:09 pm

Dirty Pretty Things. Zzzz. Truly, they are Sparta to Pete's Mars Volta, or just the Foo Fighters to the Libertine' Nirvana. Carl has one arm in a sling, having suffered an injury while patting himself on the back. (Aw, just kidding. We hear he's nice).

5:33 pm
We-ah, now call-ah, this meeting-ah, of everyone-ah at Reading who's over thirty-ah, to order. That's right, it's time to see the Fall. It's just too bad there are no bands here who have been influenced by them.

5:40 pm
People are clearly expecting a Brian Jonestown-like shenanigan, but Mark is elegant and calm, and the band well-drilled and whetstone-fine. We especially liked the song that sounded like the Fall. And the other song that sounded like the Fall.

5:55 pm
Brix looks damn good for her age. Oh wait...

5:56 pm
Mark, on the other hand, makes me think of the South Park Rod Stewart episode.

6:00 pm
Really, it's like we've stumbled into an alternate universe where everyone at Reading is our age.

6:30 pm
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah come on and the crowd instantly goes from pre-CD to post-CD. And the set is pretty magical.

8:30 pm
Arctic Monkeys time -- but since it's already 2 pm on Day 3 as I type this, better save that for tomorrow's post and get the hell back to the field.