A surprisingly full Carling Stage waited to greet Arab Strap at half past ten on the first evening of this year's Reading Festival - surprising, as even I was tempted to leap around like a pre-pubescent lunatic to Ash's set, but common sense prevailed.  Some early technical glitches seemed to delay the start of the set, and an occasional 'popping' of speakers infiltrated the first couple of songs.  The band was focused enough on the music to ignore these hindrances and persevere, however.

I've always felt the best way of enjoying Arab Strap is in solitude: to focus on the lyrics and melancholy without distractions.  The main point of hearing them live (for me) is to find out how the songs have grown since being put down in the studio.  They open this evening with a rendition of 'Packs Of Three' slowed down to a snail's pace before moving on to an excellent 'New Birds', with an improvised ending that goes on for weeks.  Important note to the band: re-record 'Scenery' as it's performed live and bring it out as a single - this track was the stand out for me, as this faster and more guitar/drum based version would make a fine release from recent LP 'The Red Thread'.

Although short by Strap standards, the set featured a nice selection of tracks from their two best albums ('The Red Thread' and 'Philophobia'), and many stood out - 'Rocket Take Your Turn' and 'Turbulence', featuring those distinctive drum machine clicks that stand out so well on large systems, sounded well mixed and as intense and atmospheric as the original recordings.  Other songs such as 'Infrared' (with additional vocalist Adele Bethel), and 'Screaming In The Trees' were perhaps rougher and faster than before, showing the band can adapt quiet songs into something that will hold up well in a live environment.  A sleazy 'Afterwards' featuring Adele also complimented the set.

Aidan's banter was more restrained than usual (sorry pop pickers, no 'Bruce Willis' this time), but he instructed us to "take your drugs now, if you have any left" just before 'Rocket...' and produced a nifty line of curses when catching wind of Travis' 'All The Young Dudes' cover wafting over from the main stage: "They're not playing that song, are they?... Fucking hell", etc, etc.

They finished with a minimal version of Bob Dylan's 'Is Your Love In Vain', calming us all down ready for the first night's camping, and ending the usual roller coaster ride of an Arab Strap live set.  It could be considered hard to perform this type of music at a festival, as there's always going to be sceptics and cynics at the back making remarks about "how depressing it is" and so on, but they soon depart, and leave the fans to enjoy what we came for.

I have seen better performances by the Strap before, probably because their music is better suited to a smaller audience, but this was nevertheless one of the many highlights of the whole weekend for me - and all the better for me to enjoy, as my friends all wanted to see other acts at the time, allowing me to concentrate on the band in solitude (sort of).

Review: Andrew Morrison
(This review also appears at Arab Strap's official website ArabStrap.co.uk.)