Rage Against The Machine News

Political rock band Rage Against The Machine will headline the first day of this summer's Reading music festival, organizers said on Monday.

Festival goers can look forward to Rage's potent mix of heavy guitar-based rock and lyrics addressing human rights, capitalism and globalization, with some of the band's hardest-hitting tracks such as "Killing in the Name" and "Bullet in the Head" expected to have fans on their feet.

Rage's debut album sold more than three million copies in the United States and band members have courted controversy since by attempting to gatecrash the New York Stock Exchange in 2000 and calling for the Bush administration to be tried for war crimes at an American music festival last year.

Rage Against The Machine will kick off the Reading Festival in the south of England on August 22, while indie rockers The Killers, who already boast a reputation as a blistering live act as well as a multimillion-selling band on both sides of the Atlantic with hit singles including "When You Were Young" and "Somebody Told Me," will headline the second day.

Californian heavy metal behemoths Metallica, widely credited with creating ultra-fast, ultra-loud "thrash" metal are scheduled to be the main event on the festival's third day.

Also on the bill are menacing Californian rock band Queens of the Stone Age, British hip-hop star Dizzee Rascal and Welsh polemicists Manic Street Preachers.

Pete Doherty, who is as notorious for his frequent arrests and non-appearances at gigs as he is feted for his musical output, is due to perform with his group Babyshambles on the first day, while his former Libertines band mate Carl Barat's current project Dirty Pretty Things play the following day.

As well as established acts, the three-day festival will feature performances from over 150 bands including newcomers Vampire Weekend, Foals and The Wombats.

(Reporting by Daniel Magnowski, editing by Paul Casciato)