Reading & Leeds 2009: Little Boots, Reading Festival

Pop stars don’t generally go down that well at Reading, and while Little Boots may not quite have had the year most critics were predicting, one has to wonder if a festival quite so rock is the place for something so mainstream friendly.

Worries all of which were utterly pointless, though some of that may be down to the inclement weather. Another heavy shower and everyone is back in the NME/Radio 1 Tent, and Miss Hesketh has the biggest crowd she could wish for, all determined to make the best of it.

This must be, without doubt, the first time Little Boots has caused a circle pit. It’s certainly the loudest any audience has sung back her choruses (both ‘New In Town’ and ‘Remedy’ being so loud you’d have to imagine more people listen to Radio 1 than you’d think). While it’d be fair to say the album is a bit over polished for this kind of festival, live things are far more interesting and, dare we say it, closer to the times of Little Boots the blog darling.

Bookending the set with ‘Meddle’ and ‘Stuck On Repeat’, losing a pair of shoes to the crowd and provoking a reaction that is perhaps the most unexpected of the day, it’s Little Boots 1, us doubters 0.