Gemstone for your zodiac

Through the history of mankind, people have come to associate particular gemstones with each of the zodiac signs. The vibrations emanated by the different crystals are said to have benefits for people who are associated with the particular zodiac signs. Wearing the appropriate stone will enable the energies of the zodiac sign to focus through the gem, thereby increasing your quality of life. This is through increasing wealth, health and inner beauty.

Therefore, find out your sign and make sure you wear the appropriate gemstone.

Aquarius – Garnet is the zodiac stone for this zodiac associated with water. The amazing ability of the Garnet stone to illuminate is what is known to have allowed Noah to guide his Ark through the darkness. It is also known to have helped protect Noah’s Ark from evil.

Pisces – Amethyst is the stone meant for Pisceans. The Amethyst is a purple stone, strongly favored by the Royal families throughout history. It was used by the Greeks to avoid poisoning and is considered as sacred as the Buddha in Tibet.

Aries – The gemstone for Aries is Bloodstone. Its illuminative red spots were considered by a number of Christians to be the blood of Christ which fell on green jasper at the lower part of the cross.

Taurus – The gemstone for Taurus is Sapphire. It is a royal blue sapphire and is linked with healing, peace and the emanation of helpful psychic powers.

Gemini – The gemstone for Gemini is the Agate. The Agate was considered to enable the people who wear it to become invisible. Other than this mystical ability, it is also known to promote healing, strength and courage in the wearer.

Cancer – Emerald is the gemstone that Cancerians should be looking out for. The emerald’s green fire was considered a holy gemstone by the Incas and the Aztecs. The Indians considered the Emerald as having the ability to increase the well-being and luck of the one who adorns it.

Leo – The onyx is the gemstone for Leo. The black onyx is considered a symbol for the mysteries that life holds. The onyx is said to keep the wearer’s emotions under check. It is also known to curb the ego of the individual.

Virgo – Cornelian is the zodiac stone which should be worn by people who fall under Virgo. The Cornelian is known to promote self – control and creativity. It can also simultaneously provide relief to physical injuries and ailments.

Libra – The Peridot is what Librans should be looking out for. This beautiful gemstone is green in color. It helps to increase growth, prosperity, and is known to give healing powers to the person who wears it.

Scorpio – The aquamarine is the zodiac stone which Scorpio people should wear. The light-blue aquamarine promotes friendship, harmony, sympathy and trust amongst its wearers.

Sagittarius – All ‘Sagittarians’ should try to catch hold of a Topaz stone. While this beautiful yellow stone helps to increase the intellectual well-being of the individual and also the eloquence of the wearer.

Capricorn – The beautiful Ruby is the zodiac gemstone of the Capricorn. The stone aims to promote a variety of positive qualities in the wearer such as courage, strength and passion.

Wearing the right gemstone, which is best suited to your zodiac, can bring about lots of positive changes in your life. Why not find one right away and see your life miraculously change?

Five Loving Friends of Allergies

Many people are often ignorant of the fact that many causes of allergies may be lying within the boundaries of their “safe” home and even right under their noses. Go over this list of some interesting causes of allergies which you probably didn’t even know were the reasons behind your rush for the tissues or your sneezing fit.

Spices

Although they do give you an oriental eastern taste and help exercise your taste buds, spices come from pungent plants. Along with their fantastic taste they can also bring on a variety of reactions ranging from swelling of the nasal passages to even a burning sensation on the lips. The key culprits are coriander, poppy seeds, paprika, cumin, saffron and even pepper.

Christmas Trees

As the Christmas season rolls in, your allergies probably roll in along with it. If you have placed your Christmas tree in a bucket of water or in damp soil, you better check whether there is mold growing; this might be the reason for your allergies! Plenty of people do not get along well with spores of mold. A better option might be to get a fake tree and have pine scented candles to get the “Christmas” smell. On the other hand, if you absolutely have to have a real tree, get one which has been freshly cut so that it doesn’t have plenty of molds on it already. Do not water it too frequently and have it for a few days instead of the entire month.

 

Paints

Paints contain solvents and other synthetic resins which might cause you to react with headaches and itchy eyes. This is applicable to mostly oil based paints which keep releasing these chemicals even if after the pain has dried up. Get fresh air to circulate in the space for at least a month after the paint job has finished.

Alcohol

If you love drinking, do not worry you don’t have to stop because alcohol allergies are extremely rare. On the other hand the extra stuff such as grains and additives, which are used to make liquor, can trigger allergies. Stuffy noses and rashes pop up because of the wheat content or even sulfur dioxide preservatives. Other extras like corn, barley, rye and other fruit flavorings can create havoc too. Opt for grain-free liquors such as tequila or even potato vodka. Be on the lookout for wines labeled “sulfite-free”!

Buttons

Not all buttons are causes of allergies; it is just the ones which are made of nickel. However, topical creams can be used to cure the itchiness and redness caused by these buttons typically found on blue jeans. Replace your buttons with plastic ones or if you still like these nickel buttons, paint them with clear nail polish! 

Verbatim 1TB USB 2.0 External Desktop Hard Drive

The specialist in the market of storage media, Verbatim continues to approach the market aggressively with up-market quality External Hard Drives. The latest range of drives that Verbatim has launched in the 3.5-inch format this fantastic drive with 1TB capacity and it weighs less than one kilogram! These drives can be a pleasant sight at any work place with their elegant black design and the unusual front panel. The External Hard Drive on offer by Verbatim provides not only high capacity storage back up for a variety of file types but it also offers high performance and is known for its reliability not only for the professional but also for the household user.

These drives in the 3.5 inch format are the optimal choice for users who are looking to store huge volumes of data in a reliable and a “mobile” manner too. The striking front panel is part of the innovative design of the drive which is also just nine hundred and sixty one grams in weight; this is just half of the weight of these drives’ predecessors.

A hi-speed SATA hard drive powers the hard drive which is capable of storing thousands of your favorite photos, music, videos and a variety of other electronic files too. The SATA hard drive offers 7,200 rpm and data transfer rates of up to 480 Mbyte/s making these drives strong performers. Whether it is a simple or a demanding application, this external hard drive will race through all audio and video applications. These drives help make the whole process of backing up data extremely simple for the layman. There is a handy plug and play functionality allowing usage of this drive with no installation hassles.

Also these drives do not need special fans; this is a huge benefit! The lack of the fan is compensated by the adequate cooling that the drives receive from ventilation slits in the casing. In permanent operation, the hard drives can be extremely quiet because of the lack of the fan. A convenient on/off switch on the back side accompanied by LED light is part of these External HD drives which are also space-savers.

The stylish “black steel” design of the hard drive is such that it enables the user to save space and will also snugly fit into the modern desk top.

Data transfer is extremely quick and easy because of the Hi-Speed USB 2.0 interface. The Nero BACKITUP 2 Essentials software helps provide security to the drive. Furthermore, this data back-up software helps deliver professional-standard data back up with plenty of settings which can be customized and is available in twenty six languages! Hence users can keep their mind free from the worries of losing data. Other features which are packed into this great drive are full synchronization and the ability to back from your PC or even your laptop’s internal hard drive.

When using this hard drive, you do not have to worry or panic if you are having any problems as there is a free support hotline. On the whole, the 1TB drive is a product which is exception in terms of quality and is fairly priced!

Toshiba Portégé A600 laptop

The Portégé A600 is truly an ultraportable laptop with a lightweight and sleek design which enables you to keep moving without getting bogged down by this gadget. What more the price tag on it will make keep you smiling always.

The silver glaze of the A600 certainly does look very classy and professional from a distance but a close up view of it might give you a disappointment as the chassis is much more “plastic-like” when up close. The lid is also very prone to small and noticeable scratches; a case for this laptop is a must.

Considering the laptop’s small dimensions, the laptop contains many of the ideal features such as three USB ports, SD card reader, Wi-Fi switch, Gigabit LAN and even a DVD burner; very impressive! All these fantastic features make sure that the best of speed and convenience is just a “plug” away. Even when your laptop is switched off, you can easily use the ports to charge any USB powered portable electronics and even gadgets like your smart phone! Whatever the job that has to be done, ports are available on hand.

The lack of a glossy coating on the 12.1 inch display means no nuisance from reflections when using outdoors. The widescreen format of the display will help you easily tackle a range of documents and files while enjoying image quality which is super sharp. On the other hand, it does not have the brightest display meaning that positioning has to be done carefully. The keys are spongy yet comfortable to use as is the textured track pad.

The A600 is driven by the Intel’s Core 2 Duo U9300 and the laptop contains 2GB of DDR2 800MHz RAM which is preinstalled. This gadget also supports a mobile broadband-enabled SIM card with the built-in HSDPA model giving roughly 7.2Mbps connection and the HSUPA compatibility gives downloads up to 2Mbps. Other great features include Bluetooth, 802.11n Wi-Fi and a fingerprint reader which is tucked comfortably between the track pad buttons. With all these advanced wireless features it is nearly impossible to be out of touch!

 

Portability, and not power, is the main advantage of the Intel Core 2 Duo SU9300 CPU. Storage on the A600 is provided by a 250GB 5400rpm SATAII drive which is not very massive but is reasonable when considering a system of this size. eSATA’s presence is a consolation for users as they will not have to face any speed issues even if they plug into an external disk. Intel’s GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics processor would be a huge disappointment for gaming fans as it seems best suited only for classics such as Minesweeper.

Hats off to the battery life! If you are a conservative user, you can probably be up and running for approximately seven hours. The battery will be drained of life quite quickly if you use the HSDPA modem.

It is extremely difficult to keep yourself away from being impressed by the Toshiba Portégé A600. Although it may not be the thinnest or lightest of the “light and thin” models which are invading the market, it has to be given credit for being an ultra-portable laptop which is quite decent. Aside from the fact that it can help you tackle a variety of tasks, it also features a built-in optical drive which is lacking in plenty of its rivals. The built-in HSDPA and the reasonable battery life makes the Toshiba Portégé A600 a certainly “value-for-money” gadget.

Skate 2 Xbox 360 - top review for gamers

In the latest version, refinement of the system and a wealth of additions to its 2007 predecessor make Skate 2 seem to have taken a turn towards a fresher and more modern approach. While some challenges seem to be hopelessly frustrating, some weird choices of design bring down Skate 2. On the other hand, Skate 2 is truly lot of fun and is an extremely good kick start for future series.

The story has a close resemblance to the first of the series and soon you realize that the fictional city which had been destroyed while you were in jail has taken a facelift. Straying back to the game, the goal in Skate 2 is to rebuild your career and to once again “rule” New San Vanelona for the benefit of all skaters.

Skate 2 is fantastic when it comes to providing space for players to perform whatever tricks that you want to. While most of the tricks in Skate 2 are easy to perform, the complication lies in the fact that there are so many tricks which are executed in ways which closely resemble each other. Often the analog-stick controls are not really accurate enough for you to nail a trick that you want to, every time. You will probably end up having to retry such challenges mostly because you ended up doing the wrong trick. There is a small bug when it comes to the photo shoots; it may pass you when you have actually just fallen off a rap or it may fail you even if you have fulfilled all the needed criteria! Beware!

Another one of Skate 2’s fantastic features is the ability to move around objects to create your very own skate spots! Although this seems to be a “theoretically great” idea, it really does not add any value to the game since this feature can be used in challenges only very rarely.

Skate 2 is certainly extremely realistic but on some occasions it has not feared to compromise on realism to ensure fantastic game play. However sometimes the realism might interfere with good game play. For instance, having pedestrians crossing right in front of you when you urgently need to cross that line seems somewhat annoying especially if it happens repeatedly. Also sometimes pedestrians seem to litter meaning that you have sweep away stuff before you can continue.

Online options in Skate 2 are inclusive of a variety of competitive modes ranging from races to contests which gauge how far players can hurt themselves when bailing. There are also Burnout Paradise-style co-op challenges which require players to work together towards a common goal. Other challenges include six players having to grind a rail at the same time. Although there is tons of fun and exciting stuff to do when playing online, the only real disadvantage is that you have limit yourself to small areas of the city.

Even if you have played Skate plenty of times, there are plenty of new features and improvements which make Skate 2 reasonably worthwhile. The controls are so fantastic that sometimes you actually fell like you are skateboarding! However, occasionally frustrating and weird challenges may tend to bring down the fun. On the other hand Skate 2 is a fun alternative when compared to hitting the blocks.

Dell Studio 17 laptop - quick review

With the Studio 17 notebook, Dell has clearly made its place in the market of laptops. It is not only unique and stylish, as per the needs of the mobile generation, it is also amazingly attractive popular and highly customizable too!

The Dell Studio 17 which is part of the new Studio Line is part of the realization by Dell that package matters as much as the contents which are held inside the box. However, upon first look of the Studio 17, you will realize that Dell has added on a few inches when compared to other Dell counter parts and actually gotten rid of the brushed aluminum parts and added on a few means of customization. Although this may not be the most mobile laptop, it certainly compensates in terms of solid design and construction. The chassis is extremely solid and suffers from just about “no flex.” There are also no creaks when squeezed or twisted between the hands.

 

The Studio 17 has a variety of customizable options with a WXGA+ (1440 x 900) glossy display or a WUXGA (1920 x 1200) glossy display or a WXGA+ LED (1440 x 900) glossy display. When coupled with the optional Blu-ray drive, it would be fantastic when watching 1080p HD movies. The Dell Dock is a specialty providing a unique visual interface. The benefit is that it helps to keep the desktop free of clutter and makes usage of Vista a little more user friendly.

The keyboard is actually quite good with its excellent firmness. The keys have excellent travel and the cushioning is great. Truly speaking typing can be a great pleasure with the Studio 17 and the dedicated number pad is a huge plus too. However, long fingernails might be prone to getting caught under the keys. There is also a nice backlight function which can be extremely useful when typing in the dark. The touch pad is quite effective although it is quite small when compared to the rest of the notebook. Although the mouse buttons are as well structured as those of the keyboard, they can be a little noisy. On the other hand the touchpad is quite responsive and the dedicated scroll areas are excellent.

 

The top of the keyboard as a series of touch-sensitive media buttons. These have white LED backlights which stay lit for a fraction of a second after being pressed. Hence, they don’t pose a distraction by staying lit continuously.

The internal components include an Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 process (2.5GHz) which provides room for excellent performance when it comes to video encoding and number crunching. The 3GB of system RAM is adequate to drive Vista and have extra RAM for other needs. If needs be you can always push in a second HDD for added storage and performance in this notebook. These notebooks also come with dedicated graphics card ATI Radeon HD 3650 which provides enough fuel for average gaming or 3D graphics work; additional dedicated graphics options would have certainly been a plus.

For those of you who find digital video output important, the built-in HDMI will be a boon. However, the lack of lugs or screw posts for the VGA cable seemed a little disappointing but it did give a cleaner look. On the other hand, for those who leave their notebook connected to an external monitor, this will certainly is an inconvenience. As far as ports are concerned, you will be fully geared with five USB ports, FireWire, two headphone jacks, ExpressCard slot, Ethernet port, microphone jack and a media card reader. The slot-loading drive seems to be a little noisy when compared to the tray-loading type; however, it is much quieter than other slot-loading drives.

The speaker quality was extremely good in the individual sense but is only “acceptable” when compared to other competitors who have built-in subwoofers. If you are not the “audio loving” freak, you will probably find that the built-in speakers are enough for you. The speakers are location just above the media buttons. Although the sound is not superb, the speakers can get loud enough without much distortion.

Acer Aspire 2930 laptop

With the Intel’s brand new Centrino 2 platform, the Acer Aspire 2930 happens to be one of those laptops which everyone is longing to have a look at.

This beauty is quite compact and is the type of laptop that can hit the roads with you. The spark behind the design has been acknowledged by Acer to have originated from its latest Gemstone range while the stylish interior and glossy lid are close resemblances too.

While the design isn’t the most trendy feature, the latest Centrino 2 platform is certainly an eye-catcher. Centrino has certainly been a huge hit for Intel and has also played an active role in integrating Wi-Fi as an obligatory feature in every laptop that makes its way into the market. Although the Centrino has gone up by a few notches over the past few years, the addition of the lucky number “2” is probably a maiden voyage by Intel. The final version of the 2930 will probably be geared with a T8400 process which will number crunch at 2.64GHz.

Out of the three different chipsets which are part of the Centrino 2 range, Acer has picked the GM45. A new Intel integrated graphics chip is part of this Acer gadget which is not the 640MHz version but is the 533 MHz version.

The 12.1-inch widescreen display is coated with CrystalBrite and when coupled with its sharp 1280 x 800 pixel resolution, pictures and movies look stunningly beautiful on this screen. Although the laptop is quite small, Acer has been extremely wise about the track pad and the key board of course. The layout is quite sensible and the keys are reasonably large: they are certainly comfortable for typing over long periods of time.

Weak Wi-Fi signals won’t be a problem with the Intel Link 5300 chipset. Bluetooth is also available for moving pictures and files back and forth from other devices like mobile phones. Also the 2930 has an ExpressCard slot, three USB sports and a standard D-Sub VGA connection on top of all these fantastic features.

On the other hand, despite the fact that the new Intel integrated graphics chip is a great improvement, it is still not up to mark when compared to dedicated chips from ATI and Nvidia. While it provides enough speed to play slightly older classics, it is really not the best choice for those gamers who want to play the latest 3D games.

The other major downside of this model is that it is considerably thicker than some of the “light and thin” models which are coming out into the market. Although the 2930 has been branded as possessing Virtual Dolby surround sound, the audio quality is not too great and bass is missing. But, this is quite common in most of the “ultraportable” models!

For those of you who are looking for a powerful portable machine which can assist your vagabond life, the Aspire 2930 is probably your best option. Not only is it stylish, but it is also equipped with the latest technology and has a great screen and keyboard! 

Great Web tool for you!

Here’s a great web tool that I came across recently and which really helped me a lot. CSS Sprite Generator is a tool to better the performance of your website by cutting down on the number of HTTP requests which are needed to render images. However, this requires a real lot of measuring, planning and coding if you are doing it manually. This tool enables you to upload all the images you require in a zip file. It will combine all these images into a one sprite and comes up with the CSS.

Web Developer News - For New Bloggers

If you are maintaining a blog, make sure you have the following:

1. A strategy

2. Posting schedule (post at least 2 times a week)

3. A ‘comments’ policy (if you are moderating comments, how long do you take to approve them)

4. ‘About Us’ section

5. Non – company links

6. RSS Subscriber buttons

7. Photos to increase interest

8. Videos to engage your viewers

9. A ‘personal touch’ so that your blog isn’t just another news blog

10. Links which point back to relevant pages of your site (blog)

11. Custom header graphic

SEO - Quick tip

SEO is one of the best things that you could possibly do to your website or blog. It basically involves optimizing your website in such a way that search engines direct more traffic to your site. SEO isn’t really easy to implement, but the thing to remember is that if you’ve sufficiently optimized your page, your page will get to the front of search results, which will lead to increased traffic for your site.

A great website to find out popular keywords is http://www.keyworddiscovery.com Once the trial period for your account finishes, just get a new account using a different e-mail address!

Internet Marketing - What's New

There are a number of people who are quite at a loss as to the differences between internet marketing and affiliate marketing. Let me sort it out for you.

Internet marketing is a very broad industry, which covers a variety of online income streams. Included in this range are affiliate marketing, burn marketing, viral marketing and list building.

I’m sure that, at this point, you’ll have determined what you want to sell. If you haven’t decided yet, consider using affiliate marketing. With affiliate marketing, you promote someone else’s product and get a commission when the person you promoted it to buys the product.

This can be done quite efficiently by joining affiliate marketing companies like Commission Junction and Click bank. Click bank deals mainly with eBooks and other electronic info while Commission Junctions deals in selling hard goods like toys, vitamin supplements, etc.

Once you’ve decided to start a career in internet marketing, the next thing you should do is decide what you’ll try first. What I would advice is to start on affiliate marketing because it’s the easier thing to do if you can’t devote your full time to it. By attempting to do too much, you’ll just end up disorganized and, eventually, demoralized.

First start with one site, determine what type of products you’d like to market and try to send traffic to that website. It sounds quite easy, but when it comes to sending traffic, it can become a bit difficult and this is the point at which a lot of people just give up

Gadgets - What's New

After a lot of rumors for a long time, the Sony Ericsson Hikaru has finally been leaked. It’s a really sleek and small Walkman phone (slider similar to the W580) and has a whooping 8 megapixel camera and a number of connectivity options.

 

It also accommodates a monstrous 2.6 inch TFT screen. The 8 megapixel camera has auto focus and even has an LED flash. In addition, you’ll also get an 8GB card with the phone itself.

 

As if these weren’t enough, the Hikaru will also have GPS and Wi-Fi onboard. A 3.5mm headset port (finally, I, and I’m sure everyone, have been waiting for this for an excruciatingly long time) is incorporated in the phone.

However, readers should take note of the fact that it runs on the normal user – interface which is associated with the normal java Sony Ericsson phones. It is NOT a smartphone.

 

The Hikaru is also armed with the newest Walkman player, version 4.0. It also has stereo (dual) speakers (something which every music-dedicated phone should have, IMO) and also comes with some dedicated music keys.

 

Last, but not least, the Hikaru will come equipped with a kickstand at its back, somewhere around the digital camera (something like you get in the N96, but more cool) which can be really useful when you’re viewing videos in landscape mode  and the phone is on your desk.

 

The Hikaru is slated to be announced on February 15^th, just before MWC 2009 starts in Barcelona.

How to enjoy music festivals

As a music festival approaches, you might find the sudden urge to take a short break and tap into your “musical senses” and go to the upcoming festival. Other than grabbing those priceless tickets, there are plenty of things that you need to keep on mind and plan out to make sure that you have the best time at such a festival.

When buying tickets, buy passes which will give you entrance for the entire festival. Ensure that the pass that you get gives you admission to musical stages and autograph sessions which may be held in nearby places. Buying individual day tickets will get you nowhere as you will probably have to send most of your precious time waiting in long queues and it is much more expensive when compared to a four or seven day pass.

Travel arrangements and any hotel reservations should be made as soon as you decide that you are going to take part in the festival. Hotels which are near to the festival location will get booked quickly so do not wait till the last minute to find lodgings.

Some music festivals provide registration material which has to be read! It is very likely that you will miss out on some very important information if you do not read this material beforehand. The registration material might contain information regarding parking, how to get transport to and from the festival, schedules for transport or other special events and even a list of what you are not allowed to take into the festival premises. Reading this information will help you avoid unnecessary frustration and anxiety.

Having a “poncho” on hand can be extremely useful when participating in music festivals. This Peruvian garment can help keep the body warm or even dry during the rain. Remember that you have to be prepared for the rain as most shows keep going on even if it’s raining as long as there is not thunderstorm and strong winds. Other alternatives might be pitching up a tent for you to get the most shade. A sleeping bag might be useful too especially if you are extremely exhausted and need some rest desperately.

Consider joining the fan clubs of the artistes you love the most. Many famous artistes often do autograph sessions at the Festival only for their fan clubs. These sessions may happen only once during the festival and only fan club members will know the exact details of the time and location. So if you want to meet your favorite stars, join their fan clubs!

Organizers of music festivals will usually put up an updated schedule of the day’s events every morning. Although the major shows are usually schedule well before time, the time and location of smaller events such as autograph sessions may be moved back and forth to different times in the day. The first thing you should do every morning is to catch hold of one of these schedules and plan out your day. Schedules will be available at information booths.

Since music festivals are all about the “wild outdoors,” have a bottle of sunscreen and bottles of water on hand. You do not want to go back home dehydrated and sun burnt.

Enjoy the spirit of the music festival!

Reading Festival compared to other Festivals

Although both these festivals have shockingly similar line-ups and take place with just a week’s gap in between, both the Reading Festival and Pukkelpop are fabulous and loveable in their own sense. Pukkelpop is one of Belgium’s largest music festivals and happens to be younger to the Reading Festival. Although younger, Pukkelpop hosts hundred and thirty thousand people which are about fifty per cent more than the eighty thousand people which attend Reading.

The main site of the Pukkelpop festival is quite huge and there are plenty of sponsors crowding in to put up banners. Many fans give credit to Pukkelpop for the enormity of the tents and the huge stages and the fantastic sound quality which seems to be lacking in Reading. The best part about Pukkelpop is undoubtedly the “Dance Tent” which is actually as big as an actual London club. The attention that is given to the Pukkelpop dance areas shows how popular dance music is and makes Reading’s dance stage look extremely shabby and very unprofessional. If you love to dance, Pukkelpop is the better festival!

Although fans at Pukkelpop are known to be attentive, they are not as reactive as the fans from Reading; most Reading fans claim Pukkelpop fans give “underwhelming reaction.” The joy and the excitement for the bands are undoubtedly unbeatable at Readings. The inability to get within fifty yards of the stage or even getting into a tent or the fear of getting crushed helps contribute to the passion and uniqueness of the Reading Festival. Everyone at the Reading Festival is as fired up and as desperately starved for music as you.

Many of the attendees at Reading are varied yet hard core music fans. There are plenty of members of the pre-university set attending the festival too.

While bands seem to perform only moderately at Pukkelpop, they seem to somehow devise a magic spell and blow away the mind at Reading. Nine Inch Nails were fantastic and the set and light show of the Pumpkins was truly astounding. The artistes actually live off the energy of the crowd which is the main reason for the success behind the show.

Plenty of bands from the label and great accompaniments from the audio visual world help to give the modest but eager Reading crowd a feast for all the senses. Also the new stage which featured at Reading, the Alternative Stage helped make a big step forward for Reading. This stage also replaced the infamous 7 pm Comedy Tent.

The Reading Festival has been known to take away the “festival virginity” of hoards of rock and punk fans who gather from all over the world. It has given plenty of the most rocking moments in band loving and the gig watching for the numerous fans who gather at Reading for this crowded weekend of music. Although Pukkelpop, as with many other music festivals, gives fantastic sound and clean camping, the dirt and the grim and the raw rock and roll is what gives Reading the ultimate essence of a “rocking music festival.”

Memories of Reading Festival

The Reading festival is one of the oldest and most popular music festivals which are still alive and thriving. This annual music festival takes place in Reading during the August bank holiday weekend and feature a variety of genres of music with rock, alternative, indie, punk and metal having a tendency to dominate the entire festival.

The 1970s contained some great memories of change with the line-up of the festival’s acts inclining towards the pattern of progressive rock, heavy metal and the blues. In 1978, the festival did have a brief affair with punk rock as well when bands such as The Jam, Penetration and Sham 69 played. The clashes between fans of traditional rock acts and those of new punk bands would be quite unforgettable.

A decade later, Reading fans were caught off guard when Starship, Bonnie Tyler, Squeeze and Meat Loaf played and were later bottled off stage. Fans certainly weren’t pleased in 1988 when the festival organizers tried to take the festival in a mainstream commercial pop direction.

1991 was a fantastic year for rock fans as the Reading festival started to pick up after the slump of the late 80s. Reading was the location of one of the two maiden performances of Nirvana. It was also the year of entrance for the first Britpop bands such as Suede and Blur.

The year 1992 was one of the most infamous years in the history of the Reading Festival. Nirvana played their ever-famous and last UK concert in this year. Kurt Cobain appeared on stage in a wheelchair as a mocking reply to the rumors about his mental condition. However, he later continued with a variety of old and new numbers. During the show, Cobain told the crowd about the recent birth of his daughter and soon the crowd was chanting “Courtney, we love you!” in unison; a truly memorable year!

The Stone Roses played for the final time at the festival in 1996 and 1998 saw the infamous clash between The Beastie Boys and The Prodigy regarding the song “Smack my Bitch Up.”

The Reading Festival last year gave up some unexpected disappointments. Slipknot pulled out of the festival because of Joey Jordison’s broken ankle. Avenged Sevenfold pulled out of Reading irrespective of the signing event which fans were greatly looking forward to. Unexpectedly The Pigeon Detectives played on the BBC Introducing Stage on the first night!

The event of forcing bands off stage with a barrage of plastic bottles and cans thrown by the audience has been a famous tradition in Reading. Although it has somewhat subsided since the 1970s and 1980s, Steel Pulse probably suffered from the worst of this tradition in 1983. The reggae act disappeared off stage within moments of their appearance! However, in 1988 Bonnie Tyler finished her entire set despite the rain of bottles, litter and turf which came at her. Shockingly 50 Cent was pelted with bottles too in 2004, after which he threw the microphone into the crowd and went off stage.

It’s not only incidents which make it to the newspapers that are the most memorable; attending the festival is a fantastic memory in itself!

Bands I would like to see at a Reading Festival

While 2006 was the year of Emo and MCR Bottling and Panic!, the hype of 2007 was mostly New Rave along with Klaxons and of course memorable loud vibrant outfits. However, since then, the Festival is moving towards a mixture of different genres all crushed into one smashing weekend.

Anti-Flag is one of those bands which should not be missed out on. This Pennsylvanian punk band which started out with street punk and anarchist lyrics gave one of the best opening acts at the 2008 festival. There was an amazing response to sing along and circle pits at startlingly early time slots.

The English artist Sam Duckwork and his band “Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly” is one of the few bands which provide the right “musical element” to a hot summer day. Their performance was absolutely amazing at the last festival with the playing of the first verse of the “War of the Worlds.”

The London musician Dizzee Rascal can rap his way into your mind with his blend of conventional rap, grime and the fantastic electric mixtures of beats of garage and hip hop. The fantastic variety that he has on offer can (literally) tap into every sense of the body. At every Reading Music Festival, Dizzee Rascal pulls the largest crowds which are known to take over twenty minutes to clear the field!

If any music festival-goers miss Bloc Party, they certainly have missed out on a huge chunk of music! The British Indie rock band was actually formed at the Reading Festival a decade ago and went through a number of names before they decided on their current name. With a hit debut album in February 2005, the band has been extremely understanding and loving about their fans at Reading. They are known to praise their fans as intelligent and have always met up to the expectations of their fans with their “grime kid from the ghetto” acts.

Goldfinger is known to be the best band invented especially for the Punk Stage. As much as fans know that this Los Angeles band will open with their hit “Spokesman,” they never get tired of this evergreen pop-punk song. The crowds which are rocked by their music are later transformed into bouncing waves of bodies.

Any punk or pop music lover, who does not know Late of the Pier, is not a music lover at all! Many fans give them the credit of being the most unique and catch band which plays at any music festival. The slight variation in their arrangements with new break downs or even dance elements seems common and makes their act extremely palatable. Watching this band live can give you an out-of-the-world-experience and the best bit is that they are never boring!

 The Rage Against the Machine made a fantastic open (as usual) the last festival with orange jumpsuits with black bags over their heads. Looking like Guantanamo inmates, as the roadies surrounded them and gave them sticks, guitars and microphones, fans were becoming tense with excitement. As with every festival they rocked the crowd right into the next millennium. This is just one of the bands that everyone knew would make it to the festival even before bands were signed up for the festival!

A Brief Introduction to the Reading Festival

The Reading Festival is one of the world’s oldest and most popular music festivals which have survived the tests of time. The festival gathers its name from the location of the gala that is Reading in the United Kingdom. The hosts of the festival are the Festival Republic. The festival usually makes it appearance during the August bank holiday weekend of Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

This music festival which has a global following has gone through a variety of music phases with different genres dominating the festivals. However, the festival typically provides the stages given below:

·         NME/Radio 1 stage – Acts which are not so well known but are trying to make the headlines are staged here.

·         Main stage – Rock and indie can be seen at its best; other alternative acts may take place.

·         Alternative tent – DJs are accompanied by comedy and interesting cabaret acts.

·         Festival Republic stage – Those acts with less appeal can be seen here along with others which are trying to breakthrough.

·         Radio 1 Lock Up Stage – This stage has taken up two days of recent times, due to high demand. If you love underground punk and hardcore acts, this is the right place for you!

·         Dance Tent – Dance music acts take place here on days when the above stage is not in action.

·         BBC Introducing Stage – Unsigned impromptu acts take place here.

The Reading site can hold up to eighty thousand people at a time. The music flows from the festival which is held at Little John’s Farm on Richfield Avenue. The location is right at the centre of Reading in the vicinity of the Caversham Bridge. Both day tickets and weekend tickets are available. Since campsites are available, the weekend tickets include camping absolutely free of charge!

The 1970s saw the festival take a pattern of blues, heavy metal and progressive rock. On the other hand, punk rock made an appearance at the festival when Sham 69, Penetration and The Jam played. Since the festival tried to balance new punk bands and traditional rock acts, the attempt was unsuccessful as clashes broke out between the two sets of followers. Eventually the focus shifted back to rock and heavy metal acts. 

In the mid 1980s, the festival was banned by the Conservative Party-led council. The site was reclaimed for ‘development’ and grant licenses were refused for alternative locations for the festival within the Reading Area. However once the Labor had taken over the council in 1986, permission was granted for the festival to take place in the fields next to the original site. The following year saw broken attendance record at what has always been thought of as the last of the “classic” rock years. Prime highlight acts of the year were Alice Cooper, The Mission and Status Quo.

Although there was a slight slump in 1988 when an attempt was made to get the festival going in the direction of mainstream commercial pop, the festival’s future brightened up from 1992. The festival has broadened its musical policy ever since and now enjoys a healthy and growing attendance.

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