so, reading festival, then. traditionally the home of hard rawk and the a-level celebration. on this year’s evidence, the latter very much dominated – you were never more than six feet away from a honey-limbed 18 year old in a class of 2010 hoodie. but who cares when the line-up’s this good.

pulled apart by horses made an early bid for performance of the weekend, killing the festival republic stage with a tight, energetic set. great song titles too, including ‘i punched a lion in the throat’; ‘e=mc hammer’ and ‘high five, swan dive, nose dive.’ from rock gods in the making to rock has-beens at the end of friday night, guns n roses turned up onstage an hour late and, my sources told me, performed a set nearly as bloated and lame as axl himself. i went for lcd soundsystem instead, who ran the gamut from their jokey electroclash beginnings through to the grown up dance music of their latest album this is happening. a class act.

onto saturday and mystery jets, who’ve come such a long way since their eel pie island, dad-in-the-band days. they might just have sneaked the song of the festival, not to mention the summer, with ‘after dark’, while the rest of the set showed a wholly enjoyable self confidence that left no one in any doubt that this band are here for the long haul.

a few notches up the bill, the maccabees combined a similar maturity and also self-deprecation at their thoroughly deserved main stage slot. singer orlando weeks’ voice has a real melancholy to it and songs such as ‘love you better’, ‘can you give it’ and ‘precious time’ got me a little teary eyed, i’m not ashamed to admit.

the libertines’ performance was on time and filled with all the hits and bromance you’d expect – get a room you two! note to axl rose, if pete doherty can do it, you’ve really got no excuse. arcade fire’s slot above the boys of albion was technically good and ticked all the boxes: great songs, lots of instrument swapping, régine chassagne’s silvery prom dress, but i just didn’t feel it as a headline performance. a lot of the festivalgoers, particularly the kids, seemed to agree, eschewing montreal’s finest to watch the rabble rousing pendulum on the radio one stage instead.

and then there was sunday. the weather didn’t know what to do – heavy rain, sun, wind – and the crowd were a little befuddled by that point too after a 48 hour diet of cider, bad burgers and no sleep. local natives soothed the bruised and the broken with gorgeous harmonies and songs about lost love. without question, one of my highlights. which is more than can be said for the drums. now, obviously, it’s not entirely their fault they were hyped to oblivion at the start of 2010, but really, boys, stop the posturing until you have the songs to match. otherwise, you’ll be just another bravery. and no one wants that.

living up to the promise of their early career, foals delivered a far more engaging performance that managed to be both intimate and huge at the same time. songs such as ‘spanish sahara’ and ‘miami’ from total life forever blended well with their earlier, more frenetic work.

over on the main stage it was left to the more mature artists – weezer, cypress hill and headliners blink 182 to the bring the party to a close in spectacular style. while klaxons’ set headlining the radio 1 stage was patchy – good when playing ‘echoes’ or anything from their first album, boring when attempting anything from their second effort – blink 182’s piece de resistance had the drum riser flipped upside down with the drummer suspended in the air. now that’s how to show the kids how it’s done.