Two lucky audience members also get brought onstage to play

Psych-folk figurehead previews new album on sunkissed Thames cruise

It’s probably the hottest day of the year so far. A cool breeze is blowing and the sun is blazing away – what better day to be messing about on the river with the world’s premier psych-folk artiste?

Watching Red Hot Chili Peppers on the Main Stage reminds us of catching Arctic Monkeys last year second on the bill in Leeds. The whole area is as jam packed as then, with drunken punters stretching right up to the food stalls at the side of the arena.

California funk brings a night of epic rock to a close

I'm watching Dinosaur Jnr. for the first time since their dysfunctional, tuneless, late '90s swansong at London's Astoria. The Red Hot Chili Peppers are about to close today's festival and the Pumpkins due tomorrow. It's set me thinking about what's happened to US alternative rock since its '91/'92 annus mirabilis.

They might have played every festival this summer, but surely that means they've had loads of practise...? Arcade Fire tonight showed they had more to give than the average group, putting many of the other acts to shame.

Win and Regine Butler steal festival's Saturday night

Bloc Party have been hanging around all day here, flitting in and out of the press tent, big smiles on their faces. Back in the halcyon/wilderness (delete as appropriate) years of the late 90s, Kele Okereke and Russell Lissack first met at Reading Festival and decided to form a band - tonight, then, is a sort of homecoming.

The original guitar slackers ramp up Reading