| Reading Festival **NON QPR 07:32 - Aug 23 with 5329 views | thame_hoops |
Anyone going?
Just out of interest, I took a look at this years lineup. I know it’s a trope to say every year that the lineup gets worse and worse, but goodness me. Is this the worst lineup ever?
https://www.readingfestival.com/lineup/#poster
They used to always be a headline act that semi interested me. I don’t think I would go to this if I had a free ticket. Yes I’m getting old.
Discuss |  | | |  |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 07:41 - Aug 23 with 4017 views | Watford_Ranger |
Only time I went was the weekend Ray Jones died. He was about my age and I loved him. Downed a bottle of vodka in record time and passed out. Was a great weekend overall and I saw hardly any music. For the price now I think I’d rather nip over to Spain for a few days or just sit in an empty room watching early 90s Premier League Years on a loop.
Billie Eilish should be quite good. Central Cee I’d enjoy but not really a Reading crowd’s music unless it’s changed. Apart from that totally meh. Far rather spunk £100 seeing us lose 6-0 for an hour at Southampton.
£101+booking fee for a day ticket! [Post edited 23 Aug 2023 7:42]
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| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 07:46 - Aug 23 with 3990 views | westberksr |
full of exam result kids these days.
the fact that my GF's 16 year old and his mates are going says all i need to know about it.
also seems to be turning into a Radio 1 roadshow going by what they consider to be headliners. i'll pass thanks |  | | |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 07:57 - Aug 23 with 3965 views | CopenhagenRs |
I prefer going to the Carnival instead this weekend and occasionally shout "URrrrss" to the fellow sufferers that I pass on my way around the noisy streets of Nottin ill. |  | | |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 08:13 - Aug 23 with 3927 views | Landshark |
Wow, I just looked at the lineup. I used to go every year back in the 00's. Now there's 1 bad I would really want to see and 6 I would see if I am in the mood. Yes I am getting old. | | | |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 08:30 - Aug 23 with 3880 views | A40Bosh |
One of my girls has already done 2 days at the site all ready and will be there everyday until next Tuesday - but then again she is being paid to be there otherwise there is hardly anything she would pay to go and listen to 🙄 |  |
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| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 08:44 - Aug 23 with 3828 views | slmrstid |
Isn't this just getting a bit of an LFW tradition now for people to post on here complaining how terrible the Glastonbury and Reading line ups are? Sure I read the same every year! |  | | |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 08:49 - Aug 23 with 3818 views | FDC |
I went in 1996 and 1997 and loved it. Thing is, I was quite young and only really into the rockier stuff at the time. The Friday evening of Offspring - Prodigy - RATM on the main stage was a kind of dream line up for me. But when I look back at who else was playing that I didn't see, it kills me!
Underworld, right after releasing Born Slippy!
Stone Roses when they on the crest of a wave!
https://www.readingfestival.com/history/reading-1996/ |  | | |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 08:51 - Aug 23 with 3813 views | Lblock |
Reading festival?
Now I don't mind the odd book and that but a festival where everyone is sitting there reading all day? Madness |  |
| Cherish and enjoy life.... this ain't no dress rehearsal |
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| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 08:55 - Aug 23 with 3806 views | robith |
Reading was maybe a pure rock festival in teh 80s and 90s but since 1999/2000 it's always actually been a youth focused festival that just follows the trends as they happen. So a bunch of old farts not liking it usually means it's hitting the mark for its target audience.
That said, even for that context, this year's is terrible. A lot of chat they're pretending it's sold out.
Tough year for festivals though. Streaming has eaten into incomes so all the biggest acts are booking mega tours of their own. 2022 was a bit of a weak year for albums so you've not got anyone top notch coming through. Costs are through the roof, and no one has any money.
I'm going to End of the Road in a week and their line up is also pretty weak - currently about 500 tickets up for resale below face value, 3% of the capacity |  | | |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 08:56 - Aug 23 with 3800 views | WokingR |
It depends, are glitter tits still a thing ?
Asking for a friend. |  | | |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 08:59 - Aug 23 with 3794 views | Watford_Ranger |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 08:44 - Aug 23 by slmrstid |
Isn't this just getting a bit of an LFW tradition now for people to post on here complaining how terrible the Glastonbury and Reading line ups are? Sure I read the same every year! |
Nothing is as good as it used to be. Bring back leaded petrol and hanging. | | | |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 08:59 - Aug 23 with 3794 views | robith |
That said there's some interesting stuff lower down - Ethel Cain and Muna were both fantastic supporting boygenius at Gunnersbury Park on Sunday.
And the biggest hype band in the country fourth from bottom on the smallest stage??? That's gonna be chaos | | | |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 09:06 - Aug 23 with 3771 views | MrSheen |
A sign of my age is that I stopped ferrying my kids there five years ago. |  | | |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 09:24 - Aug 23 with 3742 views | CroydonCaptJack |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 08:56 - Aug 23 by WokingR |
It depends, are glitter tits still a thing ?
Asking for a friend. |
Great name for a 70's Glam Rock tribute band that. |  | | |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 09:28 - Aug 23 with 3727 views | BostonR |
Saw the fantastic Budgie (headlining) tear up the festival in the very early 80's. Incredible live band and should have been huge! |  | | |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 09:43 - Aug 23 with 3666 views | FDC |
The thing that always strikes me about festival lines up over the past ten years or so is that it's often the same headliners year-on-year. The Killers? Give me strength.
It ties in with the long-90s cultural-political analysis by the likes of Jeremy Gilbert and Mark Fisher. But there's probably also something going on around the death of physical-format music and the era of streaming i.e. you don't have to go out and buy a CD, or go to a particular club or venue to access music, and so you don't end up as committed to a scene or a particular band. Music artists are far more disposable and so you don't get new generations of 'mega' bands coming through.
Incidentally, I live outside the UK but if I were back in Manchester I'd be all over this house / disco / reggae festival in Stockport this weekend.
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| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 10:06 - Aug 23 with 3622 views | robith |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 09:43 - Aug 23 by FDC |
The thing that always strikes me about festival lines up over the past ten years or so is that it's often the same headliners year-on-year. The Killers? Give me strength.
It ties in with the long-90s cultural-political analysis by the likes of Jeremy Gilbert and Mark Fisher. But there's probably also something going on around the death of physical-format music and the era of streaming i.e. you don't have to go out and buy a CD, or go to a particular club or venue to access music, and so you don't end up as committed to a scene or a particular band. Music artists are far more disposable and so you don't get new generations of 'mega' bands coming through.
Incidentally, I live outside the UK but if I were back in Manchester I'd be all over this house / disco / reggae festival in Stockport this weekend.
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Also as live appearance fees have become artists' main income source, the costs of putting a festival on have absolute snowballed and the larger festivals have become risk averse in their headline selection cos they can't afford not to sell out.
Hell, Glastonbury 09 probably the best festival I've ever been to and the whole run up to the festival was people online complaining that Neil Young ---- NEIL F**KING YOUNG wasn't big enough to headline | | | |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 10:55 - Aug 23 with 3525 views | RangersDave |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 08:59 - Aug 23 by Watford_Ranger |
Nothing is as good as it used to be. Bring back leaded petrol and hanging. |
Ah-men brother 👍 |  |
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| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 11:14 - Aug 23 with 3477 views | Landshark |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 08:55 - Aug 23 by robith |
Reading was maybe a pure rock festival in teh 80s and 90s but since 1999/2000 it's always actually been a youth focused festival that just follows the trends as they happen. So a bunch of old farts not liking it usually means it's hitting the mark for its target audience.
That said, even for that context, this year's is terrible. A lot of chat they're pretending it's sold out.
Tough year for festivals though. Streaming has eaten into incomes so all the biggest acts are booking mega tours of their own. 2022 was a bit of a weak year for albums so you've not got anyone top notch coming through. Costs are through the roof, and no one has any money.
I'm going to End of the Road in a week and their line up is also pretty weak - currently about 500 tickets up for resale below face value, 3% of the capacity |
I don't think things are that bad for festivals. Reading sells out pretty much every year. Download Festival completely sold out for the first time in history.
Ticket agencies and promoters are selling more tickets than they had pre-pandemic. Covid made people realise how much they want to experience live events and demand is through the roof. Look at the Taylor Swift tour for example, breaking records, breaking ticketing systems. | | | |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 11:30 - Aug 23 with 3415 views | Sonofpugwash |
Did the 1971 one with a band called Clark Hutchinson.
Al Kooper was a nice dude.
It rained constantly. |  |
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| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 12:23 - Aug 23 with 3305 views | Guppy |
If they haven`t got everyone singing along with Slade(last minute replacements for Ozzy) to "Merry Xmas Everybody" in the August sunshine then its a no from me | | | |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 12:37 - Aug 23 with 3257 views | ngbqpr |
The festival landscape now is crowded to say the least. To survive, you need to find a USP.
Reading / Leeds, as noted above, has (seemingly by their own choice) become the annual post-GCSE results blow out for 16 year olds - including many who only dip a toe into music. All my kids went at that age, all their mates did, all wouldn't even consider it by the time they were seasoned veterans of 18.
That line up is a corker for 16 year olds.
On the upside...there are now festivals out there for every age & taste under the sun. |  |
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| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 12:41 - Aug 23 with 3237 views | Paddyhoops |
Seen Primal scream , Foo fighters and oasis on the same day back in early 2000s.
Won’t get that now. Rock and roll is dead.
Daughter left a day early last year. Got too violent, which is sad. | | | |
| Reading Festival **NON QPR on 12:57 - Aug 23 with 3199 views | Hoopstar |
I went in 2003 post GCSEs, once again in 2004 and that was it for me. Epic lineup looking back at 2003 compared to today. Me and my mates all had girlfriends from a private school so had a free ride on recreational pursuits all weekend.
Fondly remember lots of 'townies' there for the Streets on Sunday having a gentle 'moshpit' before a whole load of Metallica fans piled in.
I'm also getting old as genuinely never heard of 90% of the lineup this year. |  | | |
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