Foo Fighters and Kasabian close Reading and Leeds 2012 - Radio 1

By Del Crookes at Reading and Steve Holden at Leeds
Newsbeat reporters Kasabian repeated their headline performance at Reading to bring Sunday night to a close at Leeds.

Reading and Leeds organiser Melvin Benn told Newsbeat the Leicester band were a "commanding headliner".

Meanwhile, Foo Fighters headlined Reading Festival for the first time since 2005.

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I would say this year's Reading and Leeds have been the calmest and easiest we've produced in a long long time

Melvin Benn Reading and Leeds organiser

The US band played for more than two-and-a-half hours and dedicated These Days to former Nirvana band mates Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic.

Front man Dave Grohl also revealed the 26-song set would be the final gig in support of their seventh studio album Wasting Light.

Speaking on stage he said it would be "the last show of the tour and the last show for a long time".

During a busy set, Grohl got the crowd to sing happy birthday to his mother and dedicated one track each to his daughters Violet and Harper.

He also dedicated the entire set to retiring BBC sound engineer Miti Adhikari, who has recorded shows including Nirvana's appearance at Reading Festival in 1992.

Watch bands from this year's Reading Festival

'Extremely smoothly'

Meanwhile before Kasabian at Leeds Festival, Florence + The Machine played a set on the main stage which included Dog Days Are Over, her recent number one single, Spectrum (Say My Name), and Shake It Out.

The weather, which was dry as the sun set opposite the stage, was in stark contrast to the downpour which accompanied her performance in Reading.

The Foo Fighters closed out the main stage at Reading

With the festival coming to a close Florence cheekily told the crowd: "It's your last chance to do something you regret."

At the Drive-In headlined the NME/Radio 1 Stage.

Other acts who played across Sunday at Leeds included Odd Future, Metronomy and Azealia Banks, who delivered a short 20-minute set.

The US star, who came third in the Sound of 2012 poll, ended her performance with a raucous version of her hit 212.

Assessing 2012's festival, Melvin Benn said events had gone "extremely smoothly".

"I would say this year's Reading and Leeds have been the calmest and easiest we've produced in a long long time," he said.

Speaking about Sunday's acts, Melvin Benn said Florence + the Machine was "clearly going to be a headliner in the future".

'Anything possible'

Another band tipped by Benn were The Black Keys, who played before Foo Fighters on the main stage at Reading.

Front man Dan Auerbach told Newsbeat he could see his band topping the bill one day.

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With everything that's happened to us in the last couple of years, anything seems possible. We're amazed every other day by something. Who knows?

Dan Auerbach The Black Keys

He said: "With everything that's happened to us in the last couple of years, anything seems possible.

"We're amazed every other day by something. Who knows?"

Elsewhere at Reading, Two Door Cinema Club played the Radio 1/NME tent.

They performed three tracks from their new album Beacon, which is released next week.

Front man Alex Trimble said the crowds have been great at both sites this year.

He said: "Before we've played Reading first then Leeds. We've always played Leeds on the Sunday when everyone was really tired.

"We saw Leeds as being this very subdued and relaxed crowd but we played there on Friday and it was totally crazy."

There were also performances at Reading from Kaiser Chiefs, The Horrors, SBTRKT, Of Monsters and Men and All Time Low.

Thames Valley Police said crime was well down on last year, up until 5pm on Sunday.

There had been 53 crimes compared with 141 this time last year.