Reading 2012: Spector, NME/Radio 1 Stage

It’s a good afternoon to be Spector’s Fred Macpherson. Not only does he have the best white suit this side of Vegas Elvis, but he also has the most impressive crowd packed into the NME tent that we’ve witnessed thus far during the festival. Not only are they impressive in terms of size, but they’re unrivalled in terms of sheer enthusiasm; there’s spontaneous overhead clapping, there’s air punching, and a girl nigh on punctures my ear drums with her shriek of excitement at one point during the proceedings. There’s no worrying about appearing cool here, but instead a tent filled with people taking actual pleasure from enjoying a band’s music. Imagine.

All of which makes it easy to focus more on the crowd and less on the band, but Spector do manage to hold our attention too. As they plough through ‘Celestine’, ‘Friday Night, Don’t Let It Ever End’ and ‘What You Wanted’, it becomes clear that these boys were built for a festival stage, that the whole ‘third time lucky’ tag that’s been following Macpherson around like a bad smell appears to actually be coming true. ‘Chevy Thunder’ is greeted by the kind of response that is usually reserved for number one singles from Kings of Leon. Whatever the reviewers’ criticisms of the band’s debut might be – and some have been particularly harsh - Spector have clearly got more tunes than the majority of your latest buzz bands, and they sure know how to work that stage/crowd without resorting to looking disinterested or intense; they’re genuinely fun.

But special mention has to go to ‘Never Fade Away’, which even has the security guard by the entrance singing along. Because you know that moment at the end of a festival set when a band has properly won, you hear the crowd chanting a hook repeatedly as they filter away? It’s usually reserved for the likes of Blur and Paul McCartney, but today that honour is bestowed on the East London lads playing half way through the day instead. Main stage beckons, methinks.