We’re back home after three days in a field by the Thames, clothes have been washed and hangovers nursed, so it must be time to discuss who rocked Uncut’s world at the Carling Weekend: Reading Festival and who rocked the boat of musical excellence…

I mentioned in yesterday's blog about how much of a fan I am of Near Dark, Kathryn Bigelow's vampire noir that celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. To be honest, it's been flapping round by brain all day like a rabid bat, so I thought why not write about it...

There’s nine-minute songs, endless guitar solos, an awe-inspiring light show... Smashing Pumpkins' headline appearance at Reading Festival was pure prog - but was it bad cabaret or awesome future-rock spectacle?

While my compatriots are at Reading Festival, I've been spending a quiet weekend either enjoying the sun on London Fields or watching the typically variable output terrestrial TV has to offer. It's a dirty job, and all that.

The scale of the Klaxons’ popularity, meanwhile, isn’t something you hear while the music is in progress, more something you can see for yourself. The queues extend miles out from the fringes of the tent. Messages are passed back about what a good time is being had inside.

In spite of the day’s good vibes emanating from the mainly non-rock sounds of the Radio 1 tent, it’s impossible to ignore the Lock-Up stage, and the power of Gallows. Flaming red hair, covered in tattoos, with singer Frank Carter it’s as if someone was granted three wishes, and one of them was “Create the perfect Scotsman. But make him from Watford. And loud.”

Reading on Sunday is, emotionally speaking, a game of two halves. So much so, at the start of the day it helps to imagine a line halfway between the main stage and the Radio 1 tent, where you can stand and ask yourself: “So. Do I want to be happy? Or do I want to be depressed?”

It’s probably the hottest day of the year so far. A cool breeze is blowing and the sun is blazing away – what better day to be messing about on the river with the world’s premier psych-folk artiste?

Watching Red Hot Chili Peppers on the Main Stage reminds us of catching Arctic Monkeys last year second on the bill in Leeds. The whole area is as jam packed as then, with drunken punters stretching right up to the food stalls at the side of the arena.