August Bank Holiday weekend should only mean one thing. No, not Notting Hill Carnival but the dirty, slightly deranged rock 'n' roll event of the summer, Reading and Leeds Festival.

The lineup was bountiful with its diversity even if the headliners were all imported from across the Atlantic. From Canada came Arcade Fire whilst from the US were Blink 182 and Guns 'N' Roses. True to form, Guns 'N' Roses had already managed to deny cancellation rumours a full ten days before the festivals began. According to the band's management, lead singer Axl Rose had his Twitter account hacked leading to spurious tweets which were all hastily denied. Yet come Friday and almost inevitably the band arrived over an hour later than scheduled for their Reading set and despite a new curfew being hastily arranged the band still overran and the sound was eventually pulled. Similarly at Leeds on Sunday, a press release was issued which confirmed that the band would indeed play, albeit 25 minutes late, this time to a largely disinterested crowd.

Of the bands that did impress, Arcade Fire justified their headliners tag with their uplifting, gospel-tinged baroque pop. The most entertaining performance came from Weezer with a set that featured a cover of Wheatus' 'Teenage Dirtbag' and Lady Gaga's 'Poker Face', which saw frontman Rivers Coumo donning a blonde wig. Easily the most memorable performance was from The Libertines as the weekend finally provided the hugely anticipated big stage reunion. Of the unexpected hits, Yeasayer proved suitably mindblowing whilst Phoenix came back from the ashes with a gorgeous nostalgia-tinged set. One unforgettable onstage moment was The Joy Formidable's frontwoman Ritzy Bryan smashing her electric guitar after the very first song only to dutifully complete a stirring set.

The weather differed between sites as Reading quickly became a mudbath but Leeds remained relatively dry apart from the odd shower yet temperatures plunged. Thankfully the set-up for both sites was commendable with a short distance between stages and little sound crossover. The same could not be said for the campsites with many complaining of the lack of space and over-zealous pyrotechnic experimentation. Such claustrophobia still struggled to generate a community spirit that has become noted at smaller, more family-orientated festivals. The general atmosphere was considered mixed at best as Lucy Sanderson said of the crowds at Leeds that "some fell unexpectedly flat at sets that didn't deserve such tough crowds and then were overwhelmingly into other sets that, objectively, weren't that great."

After hours entertainment was considered limited with the Silent Disco proving a hit despite the unenviable queues as Rory Cargill commented at Reading that "The two different channels made it all the more surreal to see people dancing really passionately at two different tempos." The few improvements to be made also included a wider range of cheaper food and drink as well as extra toilets as those who braved the Portaloos would often have to wait over ten minutes for the privilege.

With such a strong, varied line-up and a commendable organisation seen across both sites, more of the same for next year please.