Five acts to see at Reading Festival 2016

Since our move to Reading in 2012 Reading Festival has been an integral part of our summer plans is not just becouse we live 5 minutes away! After seeing some of my all time favourite artists such as Eminem, Johnny Marr, Odd Future, Kendrick Lamar, The Libertines and Bombay Bicycle Club over the years, I’ll always be grateful to the festival for giving me memories I’ll never forget.

I’m not going to recommend the headliners to you guys because it’s pretty obvious that they’ll blow your socks off even without my recommendation.

My first must see artist from this years line up definitely has to be Anderson. Paak & The Free Nationals. I first heard about Anderson. Paak when he appeared on Jonwayne’s track Green Light and I knew instantly he would be someone to watch. His voice is something like I’d never heard before and I was so happy when he had a major part to play on Dr Dre’s album Compton in 2015. His solo album Malibu came out in January this year and is a real contender for album of the year, even with releases from Chance The Rapper and Kanye West. Definitely go check out his set on the BBC Radio 1xtra stage on Saturday.

Also playing on the Saturday at Reading Festival are the three piece girl band HAIM. The three sisters shot to fame with their album Days Are Gone and have played sets at prestigious festivals such as Coachella and Glastonbury as well as appearing at Reading back in 2013. They’re currently working on the follow up album to Days Are Gone and it’s definitely something I’ll be keeping an eye out for!

Kicking off the festivals festivities on Friday are The Internet. As a side project from the Odd Future collective, lead singer Syd Tha Kyd has become an artist in her own right with the help of her five other band members. Their album Ego Death, which was released last year, was recorded primarily in Syd’s basement over a three week period. The stand out track for me is Girl which features production from Kaytranada with further production coming from Tyler, The Creator and Daniel Marley on other tracks.

Another act I saw back in 2012 was The Vaccines, following the release of their album What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? A memory that will stick with me forever was seeing a guy crowdsurfing in a wetsuit whilst they played their track wetsuit. Brilliant. The guys return this year with a further two albums added to their back catalogue and it’s definitely a set that won’t want to be missed!

Finally the act cannot wait to see is A$AP Rocky. Rocky is someone I’ve been listening to non stop for the last five years since he released his debut mixtape Live. Love. A$AP, and everything he’s released since has been absolute gold. His further two releases Long. Live. A$AP and At. Long. Last. A$AP have shot him to the top of the rap game and his last album has features from the likes of Kanye West, Schoolboy Q, Juicy J and even Rod Stewart. My personal favourite from the album is Jukebox Joints with Kanye and it’s slowing creeping to the top of my most played songs on iTunes. He also played the festival in 2013 and played classics such as Wild For The Night, Purple Swag and Peso. Even writing this is making feel sad I won’t be seeing Flacko this year!

Other notable artists at this years festival include Nas, Boy Better Know, The Temper Trap, Yung Lean and Metro Boomin.

For all of you going this year, have fun and be safe!