Reading 2012: Graham Coxon, NME/Radio 1 Stage

Less than two weeks ago we were watching Graham Coxon headline Hyde Park. As part of Blur, he was hammering out ‘Country House’. Tonight, he isn’t doing that.

Coxon’s solo material has always been a brilliant counter point to his more well known output as the Britpop legends’ guitarist. Even at its most populist, ‘Freakin’ Out’ holding claim to being one of the very best indie pop singles of the last decade - it’s still a snarling, punkish, lo-fi beast.

Opening with a track by track tour of the highlights of recent album ‘A+E’, opener ‘Advice’ gives way to the brilliant drone of ‘City Hall’. ‘Running For Your Life’, with its tale of being chased up and down the M1, seems perfectly suited for the double venue festival, while recent single ‘What’ll It Take”s refrain of ‘What’ll it take to make you people dance’ seems to write its own punchline.

The answer, quite obviously, is ‘Happiness In Magazines’. By far Coxon’s most mainstream album, ‘You & I’ and the aforementioned ‘Freakin’ Out’ are what most of the Reading crowd is here for. The ones who seem to be under the impression the opening chords of ‘Ooh, Yeh, Yeh’ signal a slowed down version of Blur’s ‘Song 2’ maybe less so, but the less said about that the better.