The Fig

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Autumn 2009


The Juicy Bits Inside Music

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Page 5

Suicide Silence by Perry Hall

Christian Mann by Josie Edwards

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Everything Burns by Hoby Allen

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Page 13

Game review of Lost Planet by Jordan Devereux

Emimen by Meg Mathurine

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Page 10/11

Films/Games

Reading Festival by Jess Fairclough

Dead by April by Jordan Devereux

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Trailer review by James Hodson

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Batman game review by Perry Hall

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Review of New Moon by Meg Mathurine

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Game review of Crysis by Steve Mclean

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PC to console article by Grant Carpenter


Youth Culture/Art

Fashion

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Young people and drugs by Tom May

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Men’s fashion by Ben French

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Banksy by Roxy Stradling

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Women’s fashion by Bridget Bunnett

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Photography by Abi Trevena

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Coco Chanel by Roxy Stradling

Bar review by Sam Pond

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Women’s Fashion by Sam Pond

Food Page 27 Page 28/29

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Hot Chilli Taste Test by Luke Thomas

Alternative styles by Adam Weight-Cox

Sport

Theatre Page 30

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat review by Luke Painter

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Oliver review by Luke Painter

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Cricket by Andrew Harvey

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The Premiership by Josh Lowen 3


By Perry Hall


By Meg Mathurine

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By Josie Edwards


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By Hoby Allen


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By Jess Fairclough

THE HISTORY... 1972!

Reading festival first started as a Jazz event in 1961 when audio was in its ‘rock n roll infancy’. Ever since then it has grown immensely. Chris Barber was one of the original co-finders of reading festival as well as a jazz musician himself. Johnny Dankworth and Humphrey Littleton, in the different location of Richmond, to Windsor, then Sunbury and eventually Reading. Reading has always attracted thousands of music fans which were critical of the performances and really just there to enjoy the festival. Reading Festival has been a stalwart in outdoor music. Bands such as The Who, The Yardibirds, Eris Clapton, Small Faces, T Rex, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple that are still revered as legends now started to appear in the late 1960’s all cast from the same ‘rock mould’ but great bands all the same. In 1988 Reading Festival had a poor line up, poor weather and was poorly attended it took this to see the Mean Fiddler organisation to take control and steer the festival to the height of outdoor music with its mixture of indie/rock/punk/dance and every other genre in between. Reading has both good and bad memories, for example the last ever UK appearance by Nirvana in 1992 or the Stone Roses last show together in 1996 as well as the first triumphant appearance of Metallica in 1997. Most memories were good but who can forget the shocking ‘braining’ of Brendon Urie of Panic At The Disco in 2006 or 50 Cent getting everything thrown at him including a deckchair!? Reading Festival has some shocking moments but its all part of the history and to be expected from a festival raised on rock, from classic to indie. Reading Festival has and always will, lead the way in UK outdoor events of a similar manner. The festival was designed by and for music fans. There were complaints this year that the ‘Sunday Rock Day’ had been discarded when the line up was first released but if you look on main stage on Friday and Radio One tent on Sunday there are far more rock & metal bands than any other year. The fans opinions are listened to by the organisers and take note of their comments which helps the festival towards being probably the first one that most people attend and always will. With 2009 having the debut headline appearances by Kings of Leon, Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead I’m convinced Reading Festival will have many more classic performances to go down in records for history sections of the future.

2009!


Been to many festivals, but not yet reading, Alice Mcleod shares with us her experiences at the raging rock festival and how it compares to any other! So, this was your first time at reading? - yes. You said you were camping as well, I’ve heard that Reading has quite the reputation for the riots, mobs and even explosions all over the site. How did you find this, and is it as bad as everyone says? - Yes, I had heard before I went that camping was going to be the best experience and well worth doing at Reading, as well of course as hearing the dangers of going. But it wasn’t until the last night that I witnessed any ‘riots’ or anything. Although one of my tents got stolen and apparently sold for 20p and my phone was stolen too, everything else was just fine. On the Sunday night, after the last bands had played everyone went back to camp, all drunk and buzzing. The first I saw was an ‘angry mob’ which was actually just a pathetic group of about 10 walking around chanting angry mob. But eventually as the night went on fires started and then the usual idiots throwing in aerosols, and next thing you know there’s explosions every two seconds all over the site. We stayed in green camp which was near to the stages and apparently I heard this was the worst site for explosions. It even got so bad at one point that we had to evacuate our tent, and set up ‘neighbourhood watch’ but to be honest that night was one of the best and really added to the experience, I would have been disappointed if that didn’t happen. Sounds hectic! Would you say that the camping was safe and well organised and that you knew you were in safe hands despite the explosions? -Yes and no. When I lost my phone, the lost property desk was actually quite helpful and organised, the supermar

ket was really useful and by the most part I didn’t feel unsafe at all. Maybe on the Sunday night when the explosions were happening but no one could put them out when people were still throwing things in which became a little scary thinking they had no control, but within minutes everything was back under control. There were a few fights too which did get pretty serious and I didn’t see any riot police or anything. But I have since been told that there were police on site. So I’m sure most areas were reasonably safe. But that’s just part of going to a rock festival like Reading. You just know that this will happen, but go anyway. There were supermarkets? -Yes, as well as many stalls selling all the things you could possibly need. I think there was even a Millets aswell as a free boat ride to the nearest tesco. What more could you need! So overall the camping was good? -Yeah other than the toilets, they were awful, and apparently the showers weren’t too nice either. But everything else seemed fine. The location of Reading festival is so ideal, 20 minute walk if that to the town centre, meant we were hitting wetherspoons for a fry up every morning. Sorted! How about the music, what bands were the best? -Well on the Friday there was a really good line up, my favourite performances were definitely Florence + the

machine, which was amazing, I think it was her birthday too. Also Friendly Fires, which I managed to get right to the front for, but had to be carried over the barrier by the security because the crowd was so tightly packed and going crazy! After that was Jamie T, who was also good, although his set wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, the sound was good. He did climb up the tent supports and jump into the crowd. But overall I’d have to say NME was my favourite stage, the performances just seemed to be a lot better. Headlining were Kings Of Leon, although I was happy with their performances, they gave a speech which displeased a lot of the crowd, and portrayed an attitude of arrogance when they stormed off the stage without an encore, showing the ‘v’s’ because apparently the sound was bad at the front and they weren’t getting the reaction from the crowd they wanted. But where I was stood the crowd were going mental. Saturday my favourite was definitely ‘You Me At Six’ Which were also in the NME tent. So, how does Reading compare to any other festival you’ve been to? Well the most recent festival I have been to other than Reading is Oxygen Festival in Ireland which I really enjoyed. There is a clear difference between the two Festivals and I can easily say I preferred Reading, the site was a lot bigger and the location of Reading Festival was far better which is probably helped by the fact I go to Reading quite frequently so I know my way around. Something else that really made me prefer Reading was the fact I got to camp and was older therefore making the experience greater. The only downside was the fact that the sound was a lot clearer and less distorted at Oxygen than Reading By Jess Fairclough

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By Jordan Devereux


By Jordan Devereux

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By James Hodson


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By Meg Mathurine

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By Steve McLean

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By Grant Carpenter


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by Roxy Stradling


Photography by Abi Trevena

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Photography by Abi Trevena


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by Luke Thomas


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By Luke Painter


By Luke Painter

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By Ben French

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by Bridget Bunnett


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by Roxy Stradling


By Sam Pond

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By Adam Weight-Cox


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By Josh Lowen 43



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