Friday was ludicrous. Saturday was unfathomably great. Sunday couldn't possibly top either of those, could it? Well, it tried damn hard. Reading + Leeds, we're already missing you. Here are our highlights from the final day:
1) Drake Drake Drake Drake Drake Drake Drake Drake
And Giggs. Of course!
Giggs was bringing straight 🔥 to the main stage at teatime - so much so you could have toasted your crumpets off him.
But then he brought out Drake and, well, let's just say we feel sorry for everyone else who was playing at the same time.
We feel especially sorry for Wiley, since he was killing it on the NME/Radio 1 stage. Should have brought out Kanye!
2) Liam then having a pop at Drake. Perhaps.
Liam kept the between song banter to a minimum during his Oasis-heavy set on the main stage. But he did say at one point, "No f* miming up 'ere, mate."
A dig at Drake for rapping over a backing track, perhaps? Surely not! We mean, it's not like Liam to insult anyone, is it?
3) Architects' pyrotechnic competition
What's better: fire...
...or dry ice?
Their set wasn't half-bad either. Best screaming of the festival, we think.
4) Winter comes early
Game of Thrones' Samwell Tarley (the actor John Bradley-West) seems to have been all over this year's Reading like a rash. A good one, we promise! And today he popped up backstage to take this slightly-embarrassed looking photo with Muse:
Disappointingly, he didn't storm the stage later during Muse's set in his full Game Of Thrones get-up.
Muse didn't bring out Daenerys Targaryen with her dragons either :( They did, though, bring out Brian Johnson - AC/DC's singer - to perform Back in Black. Which - trust us - was like Christmas come early for anyone who grew up in the 80s. Brian, charmingly, couldn't have been more grateful to play Reading, and just kept on saying, "You don't know what this means" at the end.
5) Haim crowd-surfing and proving why they'll soon headline EVERY festival going
Every time the Haim sisters perform you just have to wonder why they're not headlining festivals. They have more songs, more energy and more moves than most bands, and they once again proved at Reading that they should be above every other act on the line-up.
This year, though, they added crowd-surfing to the mix, all three of them taking into the audience. We were surprised the audience let them back on stage.
6) The pop takeover
Halsey brought some serious pop vibes to Reading:
Charli XCX did too:
And both, going off the crowd reaction, clearly killed it:
Who ever said pop music didn't have a place at Reading + Leeds?
7) And finally... a little bit of Vant. Because Vant were awesome
So much great pop-punk has graced Reading's main stage over the years, from Blink 182 to Sum 41 to Green Day. OK, Vant might not be in the league of those bands yet, but their Sunday set showed they surely will be soon. Great tunes, great sass, and the kind of shout-along lyrics anyone can identify with - "Wait a minute / Wait a minute / Wait a minute / 'Cause your heart's not in it". And just watch out for what happens a minute in.
