British Sea Power Face Treeless Reading Festival Challenge

British Sea Power closed the Festival Republic stage at Reading Festival with something of a celebratory hometown gig.

Frontman Scott Wilkinson and guitarist Martin Noble say "it means a lot."

Wilkinson says, "It was the first ever festival I went to, when I was about 15, 16. And we went to university and formed our band in Reading. We did a battle of the bands here, but we were called British Air Powers, I dunno why the 's' was there."

Noble muses wryly, "we were going [through] very experimental phases really."

However, Wilkinson says there is one major problem with playing the Berkshire bash.

"It's the most treeless festival. In Leeds, we managed to get hold of a load of branches and stuff for the stage. I don't know if there's any around here. We'll have to cover the stage with mud instead. Or we've got a bear in the van."

Later in the night however, it seemed a search party for foliage had been successful, as the band's stage was festooned with branches again, with many fans in the packed tent waving some along when BSP took to the stage.

The Reading/Kendal-born and now Brighton-based band romped through tracks from their last three albums, complete with an appearance from said bear, and hits including 'Waving Flags,' 'No Lucifer' and 'Carrion.'