Reading is a final blow out to the summer season

Reading Festival 2022

Friday 26th to Sunday 28th August 2022
Little Johns Farm, Richfield Avenue, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 8EQ, England MAP
£257.20 each weekend and early entry incl fees

Daily capacity: 105,000

Arriving Wednesday afternoon, I walked past the line for Early Bird ticket holders as it spilled down the path alongside Thames Down Drive. With an estimated 40,000 people in the queue in the hot sun, it was sure to be a weekend to remember. I was lucky enough to get a guest ticket. This meant getting my wristband from another tent with no lines.

As usual Reading has an array of different camp sites all with different coloured flags. Ranging from Orange and Green right by the arena to White and Brown which is over a mile walk. Whilst walking to the arena on Thursday, I overheard someone comparing the campsites to Calais refugee camp. I cannot unhear/see this.
Wednesday and Thursday were spent mainly around white camp. Played card games, listened to music, explored what’s new with the site and did the obligatory Tesco run and had a few of DrewDogs finest. Again, i was lucky enough to get my camper in. There was supposed to be a silent Disco, but had been cancelled last minute.

Friday – With an almighty hangover already kicking in, the group and I went see Britain based American comedian Reginald D Hunter kicked off the day for us. My highlight was him referring to Pablo Escobar as the Martin Luther King of cocaine. He’s a great comedian and definitely worth a see.
Kid Kapichi – The fast-raising underdogs, kicked off Reading Festival 2022 with a Bang! Following their 2019 appearance on the Introducing stage, this wild foursome put on in my opinion, the best performance of the weekend by far. Give it a year or two and I'll be in the crowd amongst thousands watching as they rock the main stage.
The Interrupters - A surprise act, flown from America to play their set. I’ve listened to them for a few years and ashamedly never noticed it was a female on lead vocals. The pop punk sounds these guys make got all the past grungers of Reading moving.
We also saw All Time Low (Ed Sheeran came out), Glass Animals, Frank Carter and a few others.

Bumhole Surprise! Yeah, I was surprised too! On Saturday morning we headed down to the Alternative tent for The Comedy Store. These were the opening words as we walked into the tent. This was when a female comedian was telling the story of how she flashes her partner.
It wouldn’t' be Reading Festival without at least one set from local band Enter Shikari. Playing on Main Stage West, Enter Shikari performed most of their well known songs which is always a great atmosphere. The best part has to be when front man Rou Reynalds tried to get a mosh pit going and three lines of revellers got to the floor and pretended to row boats. I was in the middle.
Pendulum were another surprise act, eager to be able to get into the tent friends and I got straight to the front about 20 minutes before their set. Honestly, it was great seeing them and an extra surprise that Enter Shikari’s Reynolds got on stage with them as the rest of the band enjoyed from the pits.
We also saw AJ Tracey, Wilkinson, Russell Howard, and Arctic Monkeys and spent until early hours in the Silent Disco.

On Sunday due to a weaker than previous years line up, there was only one act I was bothered about seeing. Bad Boy Chiller Crew who posted Saturday night that they had been cancelled after an on stage altercation at Leeds (Google it).
I ended up going to see Willow perform for the first time at Reading. They were good but it’s a shame they’re rebranding/too cool to play Whip My Hair. That would have made the journey down worth it. We also went to see Gayle, Bastille, Stone (worth checking out), Halsey, and The 1975 throughout the day.
Carnage unveiled Sunday evening through to the early hours of Monday. With little to no security presence, fires were being lit left right and centre, tents, gazebos, chairs and anything these people could get their hands on all being dragged in. Wars started between different camps which turned into chaos. Whilst heading back to my van in white, we could see the smoke in the fields behind.
This will likely bring back the Sunday night riot police of which stamped out the old Sunday Reading Riots back in 2012.

On a brighter note: Thank you everyone that made not only Reading Festival what it was, but thanks to all those I've met throughout the summer at the different festivals that made this season what it was!

See you on the next adventure!