Blossoms prove the audience is always right at Reading 2016

If we wanted to take notes, there's a lesson for us all in Blossoms. On the surface, they're a straight down the line northern indie band. The latest in a templated run, a blast from the past supposedly an irrelevance in 2016. And yet they've achieved a number one album and packed out Reading's second stage. The standards are all there - an assertion of their Stockport roots, a shoutout for each member and their instrument in turn from frontman Tom Ogden between songs. The supposed rule book says this isn't where music is going. An echo of an age cast aside. The rule book, clearly, has been trying on its snooty pants a little too often. The beauty of Reading is its ability to hold a mirror up to what's really connecting with the world. And that's exactly what Blossoms have done. As gatekeepers sit inside their bubbles listening exclusively to other gatekeepers, all the time leading each other further away from their posts, it's bands like Blossoms that are still hoovering up the crowds left behind. And really, with those snobbish tendencies left behind, it's not hard to see why.& Breaking 'My Favourite Room' for a sing-a-long to Oasis' 'Half The World Away', they genuinely are speaking a language much of the music world has cast aside. Every cliche in the book is drawn out, and the crowd lap it up. Rather than blast over their heads, Blossoms talk on their level. They know better. The smart money follows the crowd.