Skip to main content

Month: August 2013

Review: Eastern Electrics

From humble beginnings throwing low-key parties down in the capital, it’s surprising how fast Eastern Electrics has morphed into a proper festival. This year’s venue – Knebworth Park – definitely shows their expansive ambition. And kudos to the organisers for managing to keep an intimate feel to the 6-stage setup. There’s even a helter-skelter if that’s your kind of bag.

Friday kicks off with the likes of Bicep and Deetron in the main tent, bringing feel-good, no thrills house to the growing horde of punters seeking shelter from the midday heat. It’s muggy as hell, but that doesn’t stop the gradual exodus across to D-town icon Theo Parrish on the Black Atlantic stage. Parrish is unpredictable as ever, reeling through a mixed bag of soulful house, RnB and heavier techno. Peven Everett’s ‘Stuck’ sticks out as a memorable highlight, and confirms that Theo – by the look on his face – is arguably having a better time than anybody within a 500-yard radius. I really wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up on the helter-skelter.

As the evening draws in, Ben UFO gladly takes the reins and offers up an altogether more stable affair. His now trademark blend of everything from Trax classics to obscure British electro is served with mechanical precision, reaffirming his status as one of the most reliable jocks on the circuit. We manage to catch the tail end of Maurice Fulton before midnight strikes, and then it’s over to the first of the weekend’s Puerto Rican house bigwigs, DJ Sneak. By the early hours of the morning the crowd has thinned considerably, leaving those who haven’t retreated back to their tents to enjoy a very audacious booking, Blawan on last at 5am.

Saturday gets going with Heidi on the Switchyard stage, a circle of stacked shipping containers with a dancefloor in the centre. She’s one of many to drop ‘Werrk’ and ‘Gypsy Woman’, both of which seem to be heavily doing the rounds. Next up, avoiding all things Hot Natured, Roman Flugel lives up to expectation by drowning out any distant echoes of ‘Reverse Skydiving’. There’s not too much else to write home about, other than Josh Wink’s acid-flecked selections, Planetary Assault System’s extraordinary live set at 3am and Pan-Pot’s crowd-friendly conglomeration of cheesy vocal loops and dirty basslines. Cringy shouts of ‘Oh my Gad’ aplenty during Tiga’s ‘Mind Dimension’.

By Sunday morning, everybody is feeling a little ruffled but any thoughts of feeling sorry for oneself are allayed by Louche’s inspiring P-Bar coup of Tama Sumo and Prosumer. Out of the two, the former is on point mixwise, while the latter takes the biscuit in terms of selection.  Despite a few technical hiccups, the big bearded figure of Achim Brandenburg steals the show, particularly when easing into Suzy Q’s fantastic slice of Atlantic funk ‘I Can’t Give You More’. Tearing ourselves away from the Igloo tent (it was shaped like an igloo), the time flies and soon enough the inimitable figures of Masters At Work appear in the main tent. As expected, they bring the goods in terms of chiming piano house, salsa and a fair few singalongs too. ‘It’s Alright I Feel It’ is probably one of the most majestic ways to end any festival; it’s just a pity that the duo’s dynamic set was cut short by time limitations.

The music finishes not a minute over 10pm, a slight shame given that now everybody is suitably pumped, but probably for the best. A distant echo of ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’ rings out before all goes silent, leaving the masses to saunter back to Stevenage and to wonder how the weekend has already been and gone. Roll on next year.

Live: Johnny Flynn

29th July 2013

The Deaf Institute

Johnny Flynn has, of late, been taking to the stage in rather unconventional get-up. After undertaking cross-dressing roles in recent theatre productions of Richard III and The Twelfth Night, the multi-talented singer/actor must be relieved at this more casual dress code. So casual, in fact, that he steps up to the Deaf Institute’s diminutive stage in a t-shirt ridden with holes, using a guitar strap held together with old shoelaces. Looking every bit the Shakespearean stableboy with his disheveled blonde hair and charming wit, it’s no wonder Flynn is often branded the poster-boy of London’s “nu-folk scene”; an apparent folk revival that has seen artists like Mumford & Sons and Laura Marling, both of whom Flynn has collaborated with, emerge as huge talents.

It is with no small amount of humble gratitude that the Sussex Wit frontman thanks the crowd for turning up, before kicking off proceedings with ‘The Ghost of O’Donahue’ from 2008’s A Larum. Appearing solo without his usual extensive band, the songs are delivered in a stripped-down fashion, but with a masterful display of guitar work. His fingers are a constant blur across the strings; it’s astounding that such a sound can be produced from a single guitar, a distinctive resonator model from the 1930s that requires re-tuning between each and every song, no less.

New tracks from upcoming album Country Mile are unveiled throughout the night, and despite more than a couple of false starts from Flynn, they go down a treat. ‘The Lady is Risen’ employs his full vocal range, featuring a chorus with exquisite highs, while the last verse of ‘Bottom of the Sea Blues’ sees him deliver lyrics at a blistering speed that would put most rap artists to shame.

Flynn’s between-song interaction with the packed crowd can only be described as awkward, but is delicately poised on the endearing, not the uncomfortable, end of the spectrum. His obvious shyness does nothing to detract from the set, which features fan-favourites ‘The Wrote & The Writ’ and ‘The Box’; on the contrary, he actually cuts a remarkably likable figure whilst mumbling his way through an anecdote about Travel Scrabble and middle-english words.

After an energetic rendition of ‘Tickle Me Pink’ that has all the crowd chanting its anthemic outro, an encore of ‘The Water’ could have been severely lacking with the absence of Laura Marling’s hauntingly-beautiful vocals from the studio version. Luckily, Flynn politely asks the crowd to help with harmonies and they are more than happy to oblige.

There’s only one word for such a moving, intimate performance, and for the night itself: extraordinary. And for the record, Johnny, that would get you the tidy sum of twenty-four points in Scrabble.

Interview: 65daysofstatic

“It was all loosely tied together and inspired by something called the Imagist manifesto, but it can probably be more accurately described as the noise equivalent of screaming into the abyss.” Paul Wolinski – who, I suppose, is the de facto frontman of 65daysofstatic – is filling me in on the band’s recent ‘Sleepwalk City’ performances at the Tramlines Festival in their native Sheffield, intended as a preview of their forthcoming sixth studio record, Wild Light.

“We built an audiovisual installation at the Millennium Galleries that featured sixteen speakers, a massive P.A., and big, glitchy visuals. It ran on a loop throughout the day, creating a cloud of noise and drones in the room that you could walk through, or that sometimes swirled around you. The audio itself was a thirty minute version of a song called ‘Sleepwalk City’. The original version will be on our new record. Both these projects were built at the same time over the spring months of this year, so they’re very similar in thematic and conceptual terms.”

“In the evenings, we played a few experimental live shows, using the P.A. and all sixteen speakers, creating what you could probably charitably describe as a cacophony of noise and weirdness.”

It’s a description you could just as easily extend to much of the 65days catalogue to date; since forming in Sheffield in 2001 (although Wolinski himself is from here in Manchester – “the best city in the world”, as he terms it), they’ve become old hands at conjuring up epic soundscapes, with their appetite for blending guitars with a host of electronic elements making them one of the most forward-thinking post-rock outfits around.

Disaster struck just days before the Tramlines shows, when the band’s rehearsal space was broken into and most of their gear stolen. Online appeals for its return have so far proved fruitless, according to Wolinski: “All we’ve had back so far is the most easily-replaceable thing that was taken, a bass guitar If you see any rogue instrumental bands pop up with guitars that never quite sound in tune, do let us know.”

On their last full-length, We Were Exploding Anyway, the band made a firm shift towards electronic territory, particularly on the record’s closer; the sprawling, ten-minute ‘Tiger Girl’ was the band’s most danceable effort yet. It’s not an approach, though, that they’ve continued to take on Wild Light.

“There’s a lot of programming and electronics on the new record, but it’s less obviously dance-based,” says Wolinski. “You can’t out-‘Tiger Girl’ ‘Tiger Girl’, really. So, yeah, there’s some stranger things going on. I suspect that when we get some of these songs into the live show, though, the beats will be that little bit tougher anyway.”

I tell Wolinski that I haven’t seen the band play live since last summer, when they unveiled a handful of new tracks at the Cockpit in Leeds. “They’ll definitely have changed since then. There are eight songs on the record. They’ve all been through countless iterations, hopefully becoming more focused with each pass. We’ve probably been working on the album for about two years, but it had a pretty fuzzy beginning. We were a bit intimidated about having to follow up We Were Exploding Anyway, so we tried to trick ourselves into writing new material without realising we were doing it. It’s probably still not finished now. What songs ever are?”

One distraction that did crop up between the last record and the new one was the band’s involvement with a project that saw them compose an original score for Silent Running, performing it live alongside showings of the film and eventually releasing it on limited vinyl.

“That all happened before we properly got started,” recalls Wolinski. “It came about by accident – we wrote and performed the live soundtrack for the Glasgow Film Festival originally, thinking that would be the only place it ever existed. It turned out really well and got a great response, so it spiralled and we toured it and eventually turned it into a limited edition record. That came out towards the end of 2011, so there might have been a little bit of overlap with the Wild Light material.”

WL from 65daysofstatic on Vimeo.

Given that it was the last major project that the band embarked upon before throwing themselves solely into the writing and recording of Wild Light, you’d have to assume that the Silent Running record had some kind of influence on what followed it. “I’m sure it did, but I don’t know how conscious that was. The things we learnt with Silent Running were more about playing with the rules of composing soundtracks, rather than standalone songs. You don’t always want to grab the listener’s ear – the music serves the image.”

“A great quote from Walter Murch in David Byrne’s book, How Music Works, describes music as “the main poetic metaphor for that which could not be preserved”, which is perfect. On the other hand, when making a record, the song is the song; it’s the ultimate and singular expression of whatever it is you’re trying to say. It needs to demand attention, to get in your way.”

Irrespective of whether previous output has rubbed off on the new album, Wolinski insists that the songwriting process remains largely enigmatic, at least from the band’s point of view. “I wish we knew. I think the main thing is probably that we all just kept showing up each day. We’re either stubborn, or institutionalised. Most likely both. For one reason or another, it doesn’t come particularly easy to us. You hear these great ideas in your head, realise that you can’t actually pull them out into the real world, and so you clumsily build representations of them using whatever tools you have to hand.”

Perhaps owing to the striking diversity of the 65days back catalogue – they’ve been known to swing between heavy dependence on guitars to similar reliance on electronics – Wolinski refuses to be drawn on possible similarities between Wild Light and previous 65 records.”I hope that it is distinguished enough to stand on its own as being unlike the rest of them. We have no desire to repeat ourselves. If pushed, though, I suppose I’d pick The Fall of Math. The production on Wild Light sounds a lot better though.”

It’s pretty much the modus operandi of any post-rock band to try to tap into some kind of emotional spectrum in a wordless manner. As much as I don’t want to pigeonhole 65days as a strictly post-rock outfit, it’s striking that the band obviously have fairly strong political views; comments made on stage and through their social media outlets clearly point towards a left-wing outlook, but is it really possible for a song with no lyrics to sound political? You assume it has to permeate the music that 65 make, in some manner.

“Definitely. I mean, there’s a whole other conversation to be had about what ‘political’ means. I understand the shorthand of the term, but when you start to examine it, the edges get kinda fuzzy. Everything’s political, isn’t it? The world is happening and everyone is making it happen, all of us right here on the front line, making it up as we go along.”

“To paraphrase Milan Kundera – he was talking about novels, but it applies to any medium I think – “What is essential in music is precisely what can only be expressed by music.” It’s a bigger idea when he’s talking about novels because he’s discussing adaptations, screenplays, and so on, but the basic point holds: whatever form you choose, what is going to make it worthwhile is finding the ideas that can only be expressed using that form, and push in that direction.”

“This makes sense to me. I mean, I don’t mean to sound melodramatic, but the world’s not getting any better, is it? In this country alone the audacity of those millionaires in government is breathtaking, as is this weird, angry-but-apathetic malaise the rest of us seem to be trapped in. Arguably a more useful form of response to this is some rousing agitprop, but realistically, doesn’t listening to Godspeed or William  Basinski seem to capture what being in this environment actually feels like? Even now, I’m not sure I agree with anything I just said,” he laughs.

As a band that have shown little reluctance as far as the heavy incorporation of classical instrumentation is concerned – one of their biggest ‘hits’, ‘Radio Protector’, is dominated by racing piano lines – I’ve always wondered if 65 had ever considered recording with a full orchestra. “That would honestly be great,” says Wolinski, “but do you know how much that costs?” He’s also non-committal on the idea of marking the tenth anniversary of their debut LP, The Fall of Math, next year; with a merch-obsessed cult fanbase that have heard only select cuts from the album live over the past few years, you’d assume that it’d be a worthwhile endeavour, but the question is met with a mere “maybe.”

Wolinski concludes the interview by claiming that he can ‘definitely’ foresee a day when he wouldn’t want to make more 65days records – despite the band’s steady career trajectory to date – and also lets me down gently when I submit a request for next month’s show at Sound Control; “we have literally dozens of better songs than ‘Aren’t We All Running’. Honest.” I can’t decide whether or not that’s an immodest statement, but conclude it probably isn’t; 65daysofstatic are a band who have carved a living out of being four unassuming guys that just so happen to make music that’s almost always thrilling in the extreme.

65daysofstatic play Sound Control on September 23rd. Wild Light is available via Speedball Records from September 16th

Live: Texas Is the Reason

3rd August 2013

Academy 3

“We’re not gonna come back out for an encore, we’re gonna play every song we know from start to finish and we’re all gonna be in it together.” You can forgive Garrett Klahn for his bluntness; Texas Is the Reason haven’t got much more time to waste. Tonight’s show, if we’re to take the band at their word, is to be their penultimate; once it’s over, only the following evening’s performance at London’s Electric Ballroom will stand between them and extinction.

Texas Is the Reason are one of those curiosities that rock music throws up from time to time, an outfit with a genuinely enigmatic back story; after producing a stellar debut, Do You Know Who You Are?, in 1996, they courted a host of major labels and looked as if they had the world at their feet. The following year, the pressure of the impending move to the big leagues had taken a serious toll. Relationships within the band deteriorated quickly and a sudden split followed; leaving that one-full length album, a handful of songs intended for the aborted follow-up and their first EP as their only recorded output.  Compared to some of their contemporaries in what would come to be categorised as the American emo scene of the mid-nineties – Sunny Day Real Estate and The Promise Ring spring to mind – Texas Is the Reason seem like the era’s great nearly men.

That said, Do You Know Who You Are? is arguably the most influential record to emerge from that period, and it’s that resonance, nearly twenty years on, that has kept the band in a position to sell out rooms across Europe for this final run of dates. They arrive right on time tonight, with the album’s instrumental title track filtering through the PA. It’s a fitting introduction, if only because that guitar tone, so typical of those nineties emo bands, absolutely screams nostalgia.

If you’ve seen Mad Men, you’ll know that the word ‘nostalgia’ apparently means ‘the pain from an old wound’, but the atmosphere tonight is largely celebratory. A mid-set show of hands suggests at least half the audience are hearing these songs live for the first time, and it’s a delight to report the band more than did them justice. The musicianship is pretty tight by any standards, but this is a group that have played a tiny number of shows over the past sixteen years – quite frankly, they’ve no right to sound this sharp. When it’s loud, it’s very loud – there’s real bite in the guitars on opener ‘Back and to the Left’ and ‘The Magic Bullet Theory’  – but the more reflective moments are pitched near-perfectly, and pack the heavier emotional punch – ‘Nickel Wound’ and “our take on a love song”, ‘Blue Boy’, are the standouts in that regard.

I’ll put my neck on the line here, and say that I honestly believe these are the last shows Texas Is the Reason will ever play. The tour’s promotional material was vehement to the point of protesting too much, with continued reference to the group’s ‘last waltz’ and even the tickets for tonight’s show reading “LAST EVER LIVE SHOWS!”, but the real evidence is in the body language. Frontman Klahn is a beacon of intensity throughout. You get the impression that the sheer gravity of the fact that he’ll only play these songs once more after tonight has only just hit him. On guitar, Norm Arenas strikes the kind of balance that defines the sentiment surrounding the band’s impending conclusion – his playing is frenetic, impassioned, but his demeanour largely reflects that of the crowd; a mixture of joy and astonishment at the fact that this is actually happening.

It’s so rare to actually get to bear witness to a show like this – where you know, with each song that goes by, that there’s a career terminus creeping ever nearer – and there’s no place to hide by the time the traditional closer, the Twin Peaks-referencing ‘A Jack with One Eye’, rolls around. As promised, there’s no encore, and Klahn implores the crowd – wholly appreciative, but largely static to this point – to make the most of this last chance to lose themselves. As the final screeches of feedback ring out, there’s an arresting, and very genuine, mutual appreciation between crowd and band; the emotional investment in the music clearly still remains a two-way street, all these years later. “Hold onto your friends,” Klahn urges, if Texas Is the Reason themselves hadn’t managed that feat over the past decade or so, we’d have missed out on something very special tonight.

The Mancunion 2012-2013: Highlights

Dear readers,

In this final post, I’d like to thank all those who contributed, read and supported The Mancunion last year. Here are our 2012-2013 highlights. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed editing it.

Sincerely,

Richard Crook

@RichardJRCrook

Improvements in numbers 2012/2013

– Over 1,500 Facebook likes gained.

– Over 1,000 Twitter followers gained.

– Over 100,000 hits gained.

News

This year, delivering bold and original news has been our top priority. Here is a collection of some of our best scoops:

– Two major exclusives on Islamic extremism. The first concentrated on exposing a society for vile homophobia. This article led to widespread criticism towards the Welfare Officer for her initial statement, which expressed deep concern over The Mancunion‘s methods. Amended statements followed and the society shut down after national outcry.

– The second piece focused on the radical Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir, who The Mancunion revealed were using a centralised Facebook page to organise workshops in UK universities including Manchester.

– Our series of articles on the RA/JCR system showed it up as not fit for purpose. Committee members received lavish perks and job offers from companies they sign up with, while other RAs claimed they felt pressured by unelected staff bar managers to work only with Social Junkies. The University initially dismissed our allegations, but a leaked presentation from uni higher-ups finally vindicated our reports. Reform is on its way.

– A new club promoting company duped Freshers and threatened Halls security.

– Embarrassing report for the university as departments inexplicably release ‘unanswerable’ exam questions.

– The shambles that was the Students’ Union’s M13 festival.

–  Exclusive on the ‘outrageous’ price hikes in halls costs, which even the Vice Chancellor admitted she would have “a hard time justifying.”

– Exposing a former Students’ Union Exec Officer for taking over TEN weeks holiday and receiving full pay with no punishment.

– A report on the ‘Army and Taliban’ themed clubnight, which was forced to cancel after sustained pressure from the University.

–  Exclusive on club reps stopping students on campus and secretly rating them for their looks and ‘banter.’ This was followed up with  articles on the consequences of Freshers’ Week events.

– Extensive coverage of Demo2012. First, a story on the backlash against Activities Officer Tommy Fish for linking society funding to the Demo. Then, we reported on the NUS President’s fears of a repeat of 2010 violence. Finally, a report of the event itself.

–  Heartwarming tale of a BOGLE runner who sacrificed victory to save a woman from a car crash.

– Series of exclusives on the resignation of an internationally renowned MMU lecturer, who felt “bullied” by the university and claimed his colleagues were “under attack.”

– Our incoming Diversity Officer Omar Aljuhani claiming he “feared for the career” of the student exposed for vile homophobia on campus.

– Delivering the latest on student elections and democracy. The Mancunion organised hustings and presented Live Blogs, delivered up-to-minute results for elections and assemblies and reported on the controversies surrounding iPads and disqualifications – branding the elections UMSUSHAMBLES.

– The latest on student campaigning. This included flashmobs, protests against pro-life campaigners and the outrage over course closures.

– Disclosing the high price to hold this year’s Reclaim the Night.

– The university’s controversial policy to charge students who take learning difficulties test.

– And who could forget our very own Andrew Williams crashing out of BBC’s Pointless in the first round…

 

Features

The Mancunion produced a Features section rich with interviews and in-depth reports. Here is just a handful…

– A baffling report – published against the threat of legal action – on the Korean church recruiting students in Manchester.

– A series of pieces on Syrian students being kept in the dark and facing an uncertain future. Read their story and the story of campaigners fighting for their justice.

Disturbing interview with Tacko Mbengue, a gay Senegalese student who was told to prove his sexuality or face deportation and likely persecution.

– An in-depth report into gambling on campus.

– Interviews with senior politicians including Education Minister David Willetts and Tom Watson, Labour’s attack dog for Rupert Murdoch.

 

Comment

Limiting the column inches we devoted to national issues, this year the Comment section took on more local and student-focused issues.

Our Yes/No debate covered issues such as  the use of iPads in elections or the alleged sexism in Spotted Facebook pages. Comment often provided valuable analysis for our big stories of the week and tackled issues that mattered to students, evident when looking at pieces on university privatisation or the value of a Phd. Of course, we stuck with My Political Hero, which has become an institution at The Mancunion.

 

Sport

This year we wanted to take a step back from national stories and devote our attention to Manchester’s fantastic sport teams. Purple and proud!

– Online: For the first time, we delivered Live Blogs on Varsity clashes, including Rugby Union, Rugby League, Ice Hockey and Football.

– In print: Interviews with captains and more focus on match reports than ever before. Formations, fixtures and league tables are now included each week.

 

The Mancunion Magazine

The sections that make up our Magazine pages – Music, Film, Food and Drink, Lifestyle, Arts, Theatre, Fashion and Beauty, Books, Games and Societies – worked tirelessly this year to deliver lively, entertaining and informative content week-in, week-out. Here’s why they deserve your vote.

Music: Managing the Music section in a city like Manchester is a dream for many and our editors and writers have enjoyed every minute of it.  Live reviews, venue guides, interviews every week and fun features such as 5 Songs in the Field of… makes this a section that has to get you voting.

Film: The film section reviewed all the latest released and provided a comprehensive guide to Oscar season. But they also shed light on Manchester’s silver screen scene. We treated readers to a Cornerhouse ‘Pick of the Week‘ feature, interviews with Manchester filmmakers and features on local film festivals.

Food and Drink: Whether it was telling us the best spots for Graduation celebrations, showcasing a huge array of unique and affordable recipes, or producing the no-copyright-intended ‘Come Have Dinner With Me,’ Food and Drink kept us thirsty for more content all year round (sorry…).

Lifestyle: The Lifestyle expansion meant all-new features, like the BNOC Interviews and a collection of articles on traveling and studying abroad as a student.  Of course, Lifestyle wouldn’t have been Lifestyle without its relationship advice, tales of  ’50 Shades of Fallowfield’ encounters and the institution that is the Blind Date.

Fashion and Beauty: A section that offered you fashion advice in the form of  ‘Craving and Saving’ and ‘Loving and Loathing’, profiles on Manchester boutiques and highlights of the best-dressed on Oxford Road with ‘Street Styles.’ Proving the diversity of the section, Fashion and Beauty also took on more serious features such as size zero modelling and ethical shopping.

Arts and Theatre: Students often say they wish they knew what was ‘going on’ in Manchester. The Arts and Theatre section left no cultural stone unturned, covering everything from exhibitionsstudent and professional productions and stand-up comedy. On top of that we treated you to regular interviews with university experts and those in the heart of Manchester’s Arts scene. Thanks to us you have no excuse for staying within the Oxford Road bubble!

Games: A new section this year, we brought you the latest in the gaming world with previews, reviews and features. Beyond that, we brought you all the latest student gaming news. Finally, we offered some trips down memory lane with our ‘Retro Corner.’

Books: Contrary to what Daily Mail commenters suggest, the youth of today still very much enjoy a good book. The Mancunion provided a space for students to share their passion. We published features on the local literary sceneinterviews with local novelists and an invitation to join our Book Club.

Societies: The Mancunion believes that societies can define your time at Manchester. We offer a space each week to showcase the best events, sports and activities on offer. While the Students’ Union Facebook page spammed your news feed with the latest Exec blog, we were telling you about Student Action and RAG, showcasing the success of the Harmony Gospel Choir and learning about Slacklining. If just a few students signed up to something because of us, it was worth it.

Preview: Reading & Leeds Festivals 2013

Reading and Leeds are the two festivals that have stood out over the past few years for their willingness to adapt to the changing musical zeitgeist, displaying through their lineups a genuine response to the demand of their audience, of which students have always comprised a large part. Since 2008, the previously traditional ‘metal day’, on which the main stage would usually be dominated by heavier acts, has been eschewed in favour of a move towards indie and alternative rock; it was this policy that has seen the likes of Radiohead and Arcade Fire booked as recent headliners, as well as the already-legendary Libertines reunion back in 2010. This year, though, sees that fluidity and diversity ramped up to a whole new level, with a slew of new stages introduced to the twin festivals.

First up, the delicate and often difficult balance that Festival Republic previously had to strike between the punk and hardcore-dedicated Lock Up Stage and the one-day Dance Stage is no more; the latter is now its own entity, with the empty one-day slot on the Lock Up filled by a host of heavier rock bands. There’s also a brand new addition in the form of the 1xtra stage, bringing a full programme of hip hop and grime artists to the festivals for the first time; Wretch 32, Toddla T and Action Bronson are lined up for headline slots.

That’s not to say, though, that there’s any neglect of the festivals’ traditional duty of care to rock and indie bands; Friday (Leeds) sees Biffy Clyro top the bill on the main stage, finally freeing themselves of the tag of perennial sub-headliners thanks to their number one double record Opposites. Even more exciting, though, is the unexpected return of Nine Inch Nails, who’ll play before Biffy and should preview their new album Hesitation Marks alongside classic material. The same day will see another reunited American outfit, Fall Out Boy, take the third slot on the main stage, whilst Phoenix make their first headlining appearance on the Radio 1/NME stage in support of the critically-acclaimed Bankrupt!, with support from Azealia Banks, Disclosure and the festival circuit’s hottest property, Haim.

Following last year’s unannounced set at Reading, Green Day return to headline both legs, appearing on Saturday at Leeds. With no shortage of material thanks to last year’s ¡Uno, Dos, Tre! trilogy and frontman Billie Joe Armstrong firing on all cylinders after a tumultuous end to 2012, a typically sprawling set is in order. The rest of the day’s main stage lineup should appease anyone still hankering for the ‘metal day’ of old, with System of a Down making their first appearance at the festivals since their reformation, and the never-more-vital Deftones back for the third time in five years. That heaviness is offset over on the Radio 1/NME stage, with Skrillex and A$AP Rocky topping the bill, although Frightened Rabbit and Deap Vally have the day’s indie quota covered.

Returning to Reading twelve years after his first appearance is Eminem, who’ll make his Leeds Festival debut on the Sunday. Fans will be hoping for a first taste of his eighth studio album – slated for release this year – alongside the metric tonne of classics he has in his arsenal. Chase and Status will warm up the main stage crowd for perhaps the world’s most iconic living rapper, whilst Foals make the step up that their incendiary Holy Fire deserves to round out the top three. Mercury Prize darlings Alt-J are top of the pile over on the Radio 1/NME, but equal heed should be paid to appearances from Australia’s premier psych-revivalists Tame Impala and Smiths legend Johnny Marr, who has spent the year so far delivering career-spanning sets that thoroughly justify his reputation as one of the world’s most influential guitarists. Elsewhere, Savages and DIIV will both play the relatively intimate Festival Republic stage – probably for the last time, with bigger things very clearly ahead of them. Magnetic Man head up the Dance Stage, already old hands after holding down the same slot two years ago.

Boasting one of their most dynamic lineups in years, Reading and Leeds continue to expand and improve in an undeniably tough financial climate. That ambition deserves to reap rewards, and should secure the future of two events that are fast becoming British institutions.

Weekend tickets for Reading Festival are sold out. Weekend tickets for Leeds Festival are available from all major outlets