Reading Festival sees Marika Hackman at her delicate and destructive best

Been looking for sun scorched guitar melodies to blaze over the heatwave? Felt a craving for a rock and roll attitude to tear through the hot weather? Then Marika Hackman's performance at Reading Festival was the place to be. Delicate and destructive in equal measure, Marika demonstrates a power and a finesse that few can balance. Guitar riffs chime with an enchanting grace, distortion ever building to take the crowd on a whirlwind venture to somewhere thrillingly new. While members of the crowd heckle for a magic trick between songs, the band cast a spell that no one wants to shake. Drawing heavily from latest album 'I'm Not Your Man', Marika and Co inspire a freewheeling sense of glee that brings the festival to new life - no matter how hungover a first night in the fields may have left anyone gathered. Conversation is minimal and energy is high, the music washing through the field and stirring the space into action. It's a bolt of lightning purpose crafted to engage, and there isn't one who's going to stand in the way. / /