Reading Festival articles

I do love Reading Festival.

I'm not normally a festival-going man but what gentleman doesn't like to spend a few days in an environment where it's okay to look shabby, throw away the razor, and just regress a little for 72 hours of the best music the world can offer.

That programme cost them £8. They're NOT happy.

My fledgling beard will be by no means alone as it enjoys its annual outing over the next 72 hours.

For a start it's joined by a few manes - I met a couple of girls dressed as tigers who insist they'll stay in costume throughout the entire festival. One had persuaded her mum to produce a home-made tiger outfit. That's dedication.

Festival sun

Elsewhere I met a young man incredibly keen to tell the world he'd just had a haircut. "Why go to Leeds?" He told me. "In Leeds you get your head smashed in, cos they're," and here he puts on his best hard-man impersonation and grunts, "from LEEDS."

Tiger outfits. The one on the left is home-made.

I'm not sure the good people of Leeds would concur but his Gravesend massive, alongside festival troopers I spoke to from Lincoln, Staines and nearby Maidenhead, have all nailed their colours to the Reading mast.

The great news is it looks like the weather will be spectacular, and on this Thursday afternoon, as the calm before the storm slowly dissipated, we're all set for a fantastic festival.

Watch the video to check out the early arrivals and join us at the BBC's very own Reading and Leeds festival website for the best photos, audio, video and more, supply by yours truly (among others) throughout the weekend.

We're the official online partners, don't you know, so we'll be pumping out the very best online coverage from our cabin hidden away behind some very big lorries.

Text your friends and tell them that if they spot us roaming the festival with the camera, come up and say 'Hi'.