How was it for you?

[Song Simon]

HIGHS:

More stuff to do after the bands - Alternative Stage, films, Silent Disco, food stall raves (we totally need more of these). They need to do more with Rivermead at Reading though, Club NME was empty and felt a bit pointless really.

Manics - did exactly what was asked of them and more, lots of classic old stuff and less bland recent stuff. Felt like old masters coming back to give the kids a history lesson.

Metallica - that's how you headline a festival.

Weather - thank god it held up, I got soaked on Saturday night walking back from town and was worried it was going to stay crap for the rest of the weekend.

Can bar - I used to go to the arena bars if I had half an hour to kill, for overpriced weak beer in a paper cup. This year you could just duck out of the arena, buy four cans for a fiver, down them (it's only Carlsberg, no harder to drink than mineral water really), and stumble back in. Probably works best if there's more than one of you.

Better organisation - it did feel a bit more like there was some proper infrastructure this year. They're making an effort to listen to the punters, although it's never going to be perfect.

White Camp - good idea, wouldn't be surprised to see this busier next year.

LOWS:

Sunday night, again. Carnage is to be expected really, there's always some kind of unhinged stuff going on, and Reading wouldn't be the same without that. However, there are too many who take advantage of the lawless thing and cross the line. Mental fun behaviour is fine, criminal behaviour never is. I don't want to give security a slagging as I spoke a lot of them (was volunteering so camped in staff alongside them), but there were loads on Sunday who were blatantly not equipped to deal with that kind of situation. It's unfair on the honest campers who want to have fun without crossing the line and acting like dicks, and who deserve some kind of safety, and it's unfair on the security and CATs who are being left to sort something they can't.

Missing Rage. Meh.

Still too many people who stand moaning about what they're watching instead of moving on. In a few years' time they might look back and think "Hey, my current favourite band were at Reading/Leeds in 2008 and I missed them! What was I doing instead?", and it'll turn out they were too busy slagging off Editors or something.

[johnmcga]

The main thing I saw that pissed me off was blokes pissing wherever they could. There were plenty of urinals in the arena but the sheer laziness of some bloke pissing right where I was stood behind some bins within spitting distance of the urinals was shocking, even after I told him what a twat he was and made sure everyone in the vicinity knew about it.

[ReDeeMeR.]

Still too many people who stand moaning about what they're watching instead of moving on. In a few years' time they might look back and think "Hey, my current favourite band were at Reading/Leeds in 2008 and I missed them! What was I doing instead?", and it'll turn out they were too busy slagging off Editors or something.

[hombrederayo]

I completely agree. I couldn't believe the number of people pissing near the trees and hedge between the main stage and the Festival Republic stage. There were lakes of piss in these areas - I doubt it does the trees and bushes much good, it stunk, and they really need to sort it out for next year.

I can't see a Glastonbury-style green police working at Reading, so how about just sticking a security guard by each of the two 'entrances' to the Festival Republic area? (Either side of the bar.)

Although it got busy at the entrances to the toilets, I never had to wait more than a minute or two to get in - it's just sheer laziness by a minority of w*nkers. Stop it!

As for the riots, well I live in the town so didn't bother camping. So although I didn't experience the mayhem first-hand, I feel for anyone who did. Some of the photos on here and videos on YouTube seem like absolutely unacceptable behaviour, and Festival Republic need to find a way of sorting it out for next year. Had some mates staying in white though - they really liked it over there, so perhaps it's the way forward?

[Frogger_Queen]

Yeah need more security around the "trouble" areas in relation to people pissing wherever they liked. I never had a problem getting to the urinals. the queues were for the cubicles were mental though...I just hope no-one squatted down in the arena, now that would have been really wrong!!!

The sheer number of tossers at reading this year seemed more than in past years...or is it that I am getting older?! I hope not! I had some quality random chats with people, I just hate that the minority spoil the enjoyment for the rest of us.

I live in Reading too, I have camped in the past, just not since Ive lived here, but looking at the youtube videos and the descriptions in this thread, it makes me so glad I dont have to camp. If I had to camp, I wouldnt bother going and just stick to Glastonbury (by far the better festival IMO after this year at both).

What I do want to know is why was all the trouble in yellow and why is white more chilled out? Is yellow the one you walk through to get to the exit, next to the fun fair rides?

Edited August 26, 2008 by Frogger_Queen

[SPC89]

Was generally very good, at night our group were banterish chanting songs (If you watched baby shambles your a c**t... after rage being the most fun!) having fun.. but no violence involved!

On the Friday, my mates in the tent next to me someone had taken a shit in their porch, we were in the centre of yellow pretty much and people were catapulting water bombs, piss and even cans all weekend, my mate got hit on the head with a can, albeit the little fat shit that did it apologised.. but he shouldnt have done it anyway, and it didnt stop him doing it again to other people! It was my first reading, I'm 19, and the people I went with are reading vets of 4 or 5 years, they said this year that they felt so old, that the reading fest is getting younger, that when they were there when they were 15 they felt out of place, and now all it is is 15 year olds running around causing mayhem! I think I'll be coming again next year, as despite this I had an amazing time, aside from the bands our chanting, drinking games and the bollocks to poverty tent in the early hours... many happy memories basically!

Favourite performances, Rage, Manic Street Preachers and Pendulum !!!

[mt96djc]

High Points:

The new/larger arena layout particualarly the position of the FR stage and the separate toilet entrances

The bands (in particular: Dizzee, We Are Scientists, RATM, Manics, Feeder, Ten D, Ida Maria and Bloc Party)

The booby flashing on the Main Stage (I know its peurile, but I enjoy it)

The banter with me mates

Low Points:

My mate getting ripped off by a tout (long story involving a very a stupid welshman and a heartless lying tout bastard)

The weird atmosphere in the campsite - I didnt see nearly as much trouble as some evidently did but there didn't see the 'fun' element of previous years. Just a lot of people marching around looking a bit angry and desperate to cause chaos for the sake of it.

My tent that I bought new from Oswald Bailey - it was a useless piece of shit. 4-man tent, my arse.

[Bass Cadet]

I reckon I have to count myself really lucky, reading some of the stories. We were in Green, in the far corner as you look from the end of the red campsite. We were in with a decent bunch of people, all great fun, no badness. The only trouble I saw was the toilet smashers...why they'd want to even go near that shite (literally) is beyond me!

I couldn't believe the mess people left behind them though. Maybe its a maturity thing, maybe its a cultural thing but the sight of people actually burning tents and then throwing gas canisters on the fire made me loose any hope I had for humanity! I didn't see any cops at the festival...something which is unheard of anywhere else I've been to a festival in Europe.

Anyway, back to the music! Thought Foals were outstanding! Was pissed off I missed SantoGold! Rage were awesome as usual! Metallica even moreso, what a set!! Yeasayer were good and really enjoyed the Festival Repuiblic stage...one of my favs from that was In case of Fire...good wee band! Oh and the Dropkick Murphys were excellent! Should have been on later in the evening though, they would have had the whole arena bouncing!

All in all, it was absolutely top class, A1 weekend but as I said we count ourselves lucky that we didn't come across the lunatics that other people had the misfortune to stumble upon!

Oh! One thing that pissed me off was the shite food. A good stall with decent munch was very, very hard to find! Just aswell I was pissed most of the time so didn't mind paying £6 for a soggy, half cooked pizza!!

Can't understand why they can't get good caterers at Reading. If people are gonna pay good money for food they should make it worthwhile and get in decent food and a bit more choice. That said, I still had a cracking time!!

Oh...Pendulum should have been on the main stage!! That was crazy putting them on at that time in the NME stage

Edited August 26, 2008 by Bass Cadet

[Budweiser]

Gotta say that the carnage witnessed on Sunday night in Purple 3 was a disgrace.

Our whole group of 11 (including 2 scared females and 2 scared 16 year olds) had to decamp sharpish whilst dickheads ran amock around us. 2 hours sleep in a car was not ideal prior to a 5 hour journey home. one of the reasons that I tell people that I happily drive past the Leeds site every year to get to Reading seems to be getting challenged. It never used to be like this and I've been going for 15 years.

[BoroPhil]

Were abouts in Purple 3? Did you see the fire in Purple 5? It was massive and they were taking peoples tents just to put it into the fire.

[Redcanadahat]

high - comedy in the alternative tent

low - 2 female toilet blocks in the entire arena? what a f**king joke.

[Indie_Head]

It was my first Reading Festival and I really loved it. My mates have been going for the last 7ish years so to finally get here was an achievement in itself!

HIGHS...

Thought the music was great all weekend. Caught a few new bands such as Anti-Flag, Random Hands, The Briggs, Flogging Molly who I'll check out further and see if I really did like the music or it was just the mosh-pit which I enjoyed :-)

Best bands for me were;

The Killers

Bloc Party

The Enemy

Anti-Flag

Feeder

Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly

Loved the sheer randomness of the campsite. Free Hugs, "Tunnels", and the "Mobile Rave" where some lad and a few of his mates walked around with a ghetto blaster on Saturday night and it soon turned into a massive long following was cracking and good natured fun.

I've got to make a point about Sunday though. Most of the lads going round were creating good natured humour. Yes there was a little edge to it, but I didn't see anything get really really nasty except for when in Indigo 1 there was a big fire and security became very heavy handed. Yes its dangerous to start huge fires, and security were doing their job but some of them were definitely up for a fight, no question. It's one thing to try and keep people back from a fire, it's another thing to run after some nutter who wants to jump over a fire stark bollock naked and give him a kicking on the floor. That's when the situation got out of hand. A lot of the singing was good natured and quite witty - stuff like "You can't do what you tell me" and the "Hokey Pokey" is just people having a laugh. I do think though that had there been more of a visible police presence there would have been less trouble as people are less likely to kick off when the Police are around than some type of event security force.

LOWS

Waking up to find the sun beating down on your tent making it hotter than a flipping oven!

Toilets overflowing in the Arena

Over-priced burgers (I only ate the one!)

Erm that's it I had a cracking time and I'm gonna be there again next year!

[Bass Cadet]

low - 2 female toilet blocks in the entire arena? what a f**king joke.

[Phil-itfc]

Highs,

Rage! wanted to see them for such a long time never thought it'd happen.

Manics, such a breathe of fresh air (for someone who spends most their time in the Lockup) great atmosphere in the tent enjoyed by young and old cracking set.

the amazing and great people we meet through out the weekend so many funny moments sharred

The silent Disco, decided we'd go there on sunday night, absolutely fantastic atmosphere much better set up than last year and everyone had an amzing time dancing around like loons! and the toilets in their were spottless couldn't fault them.

the weather, pretty much spot on this year.

Lows,

Sunday riots goes without saying really. we got back from silent disco into purple and never expected to see such moronic behaviour.

The toilets were rank! but we made do.

Slipknot pulling out.

Justice/Pendulum circle pits these are dance acts wanna mosh theres plenty of other acts to do so to.

[kerizzle]

dizzie rascle impressed me i didnt no what to think of him live but he was pretty damn good on the friday as were feeder and tenacious D were incredable it was well worth being at the barrier all day just to see them really

flogging molly were pretty immence

rage were another highlight of this year them costumes at the start were amusing

dropkick murphys were pretty good to

i camped in yellow 5 near yellow h and it was fine tbh

one night there was a group of people with a guitar and singing the kooks it sounded pretty good in all honistly

this was my first reading so no doubt i will go next year

met this awsome california guy called jeremy aha he was a ledgend

butt scratcherrrr

[kerizzle]

oh i forgot about this

on the sunday

me and my friend were sitting down outside the arena eating some chips just after matlica had played

some group of guys came over to us and asked for some chips we say no

and this guy wacks out this poll and was like

"i will hit you with this pole if you dont give me any"

that was the only real trouble we had

other then that it was alright

luckily his friends dragged him away to the 24 hour breakfast bar thing

all that fuss over chips =/

[slimmatt]

Not so good stuff:

Some people - a few people have mentioned the chavvy types who seem to be growing in attendance numbers each year. I still don't think there are anywhere near as many of them as at V-fest in Chelmsford, but still too many. I didn't see much trouble, but any amount is too much, and when drunk young lads are pushing people around in tents etc it's a shame.

[ohnonotnow]

Being a loyal Reading-ger all my life and having gone to the festival for the last 7 years i can honestly say this was the worst one i have been too.

The organisation was ridiculous, they crammed way too many people in this year, the sound on the main stage was dire, as usual they put popular acts in the NME tent at stupid times so the tent packs out and you can't get in.

We camped in Y2 (usually where we camp every year and its fine) and had so much trouble in there it was beyond stupid.

Reading used to be about a chilled out crowd, good rock music and fun.

Now it's turned into fashionfest with too many 16 year olds who can't hold their alcohol running around like idiots. I felt like the crowd this year was unfriendly and full of dickheads to be honest and i'm really sorry to say i won't be going next year when there are much more fun/friendlier festivals around.

[ilch]

2008 was my 3rd reading, and although the line-up was the best it has been, that was about the best thing about it!

Highs:-

- Rage, Metallica, We Are Scientists, Get Cap, Biffy, Fighting With Wire, The Subways, The King Blues.

- Chilled banter within my camp at the campsite.

- Some of our neighbouring camps, really great guys an girls who it was a pleasure to camp near to!

- The bridge from white campsite - saved hours!

- Wristband exchange on the gates.

- Great line-up!

- The arena toilets - luxuary!

Lows:-

- Terrible sound on the mainstage for most the day (I actually left the stage several times as the quality was so bad there was little point in listening to the music as you could not decipher what was going on).

- The utter w*ankers in one of our neighbouring camps, a group of 20ish 16 year olds who all manage to drink to the extent of barely being able to walk all day every day! I woke on friday to see one of them attempting to down a (glass) bottle of neat vodka at 8am, needless today by 9.30 he had fallen on and broken 2 of his fellow groups tents, nearly taken out one of our tents (he was caught by several members of our camp as he fell) and then passed out, what a waste of a day at a festival! They then proceeded to wake their camp up at 6am on saturday by stealing a bin and hitting it with a log while 5 of them screamed "morning campers" for 15 mins, so that was our entire camp up after a stella 2 hours sleep!!! Then after waking us up at about 10 through a gas canister on to the fire, which proceeded to explode. Needless to say security where informed and that was the end of his festival!!

- The rediculous number of fence jumpers (as a camp we managed to grab and forcefully escort 6 to security within the space of a couple of hours)!

- The terrifying riots on sunday, I just held tight in my camp and thankfully out neighbours where ok, but you can never be sure exactly what will happen. I eneded up staying up till about 3.30 and by 5 I had packed up my tent and was driving home, so 1 hour of sleep then driving, I dont think was the safest of options!

- The overcrowding, its just getting rediculous.

Overall however, the festival was awesome and this year just confirmed to me the fact that next year I am driving home sunday night, no questions asked!! I just think its so sad that the stupidity of a few can cause problems for so many and sadly to say the majority of these people or so it seemed, where younger 16 or so year olds who where away from mummy and daddy for the first time and just trying to cause carnage. Which is annoying, as I'm only 17 and feel it gives people like me and my fellow 16 an 17 year olds in my camp (we ranged in age from 15 to 34) a bad name.

All that said, I booked my Reading 2009 ticket earlier, and I hope it will be musically as stronger festival as this year!

[Azzy G]

Highs

- Our campsite, We camped in RED C just off road R6, we were the group of about 10 tents and a LIDL flag on our gazebo, we made friends with all the other camps in our area and had a great time, very peaceful but we partied ourselves, and we didnt have far to travel to party elsewhere if we wanted to

- Seeing Rage, never thought on god green earth that would be possible, but it happened!

- Metallica! Strong performance and pretty good setlist, interacted brilliantly with the crowd and f**kING PYRO easily best of the 3 times ive seen them

- Watching my mate Daniel sniff a condom (unused) through his nose and pulling it out of his mouth, got a big crowd!

- The drinking! of course! Socially drinking and talking to strangers

- Tenacious D, just a great way to relax and have a giggle before metallica, great performance too and backdrop!

- Finding a £10 note on the floor

- The rest of the line up, Dizzee, Biffy, Bullet, Killers, Alexisonfire, Mindless self indulgence to name a few

- Monday morning, my mate David putting a sleeping bag over him then ran and fell completely blind into empty abandoned tents, we made him run into one of those posts as well, and also us tent diving

Lows

- Walking through green on Sunday night and witnessing people f**king up the toilets and setting fire to things

- The amount of disrespect i saw that people had for security! They're there for our own safety! so why pick on them!?

- My mate James getting arrested for lighting a joint right in front of two police officers! Stupid of him so he deserved it, but it was still a low point!

- Slipknot and Avenged pulling out!!!! 2 of the top 5 bands i wanted to see this year

- Stupid drunk kids who have just got their GCSE results! Probably being their first time away from home with alcohol and they act like total dicks! not all of them of course do this, as i went last year as a 16 year old who just received results and acted like an adult, most people around us last year thought i was in my 20s simply because my group behaved so responsibly and mature, so the same thing again this year

- The price of food! Those bloody over-priced burgers!

I think thats about it! SEE YOU IN 2009

And look out for the CAMP LIDL flag in Red!

[kerizzle]

Highs

- Our campsite, We camped in RED C just off road R6, we were the group of about 10 tents and a LIDL flag on our gazebo, we made friends with all the other camps in our area and had a great time, very peaceful but we partied ourselves, and we didnt have far to travel to party elsewhere if we wanted to

- Seeing Rage, never thought on god green earth that would be possible, but it happened!

- Metallica! Strong performance and pretty good setlist, interacted brilliantly with the crowd and f**kING PYRO easily best of the 3 times ive seen them

- Watching my mate Daniel sniff a condom (unused) through his nose and pulling it out of his mouth, got a big crowd!

- The drinking! of course! Socially drinking and talking to strangers

- Tenacious D, just a great way to relax and have a giggle before metallica, great performance too and backdrop!

- Finding a £10 note on the floor

- The rest of the line up, Dizzee, Biffy, Bullet, Killers, Alexisonfire, Mindless self indulgence to name a few

- Monday morning, my mate David putting a sleeping bag over him then ran and fell completely blind into empty abandoned tents, we made him run into one of those posts as well, and also us tent diving

Lows

- Walking through green on Sunday night and witnessing people f**king up the toilets and setting fire to things

- The amount of disrespect i saw that people had for security! They're there for our own safety! so why pick on them!?

- My mate James getting arrested for lighting a joint right in front of two police officers! Stupid of him so he deserved it, but it was still a low point!

- Slipknot and Avenged pulling out!!!! 2 of the top 5 bands i wanted to see this year

- Stupid drunk kids who have just got their GCSE results! Probably being their first time away from home with alcohol and they act like total dicks! not all of them of course do this, as i went last year as a 16 year old who just received results and acted like an adult, most people around us last year thought i was in my 20s simply because my group behaved so responsibly and mature, so the same thing again this year

- The price of food! Those bloody over-priced burgers!

I think thats about it! SEE YOU IN 2009

And look out for the CAMP LIDL flag in Red!

[Cazerelli]

I had an awesome weekend despite the fact i had a really sore foot!

I was really disappointed by the sound quality on the main stage though, I really felt it let the headliners down. Also, i always find it strange how mellow people are once you go from the barrier backwards... i was dancing like a nut case for bloc party and no one was even singing!

My highlights band wise were Vampire Weekend, Jack Penate (don't really like him but the crowd made it a highlight), Does it Offend You, Yeah?, Bloc Party, Hadouken (really got the crowd going and a great prodigy cover) and the band i was most surprised i enjoyed so much was The Last Shadow Puppets. The orchestra were amazing and despite the initial sound problems i thought they were really really good. I was looking forward to MGMT but after firstly being pushed so hard i fell over in a crowd surge, then moving to the barrier being suffocated with red flare smoke i decided to sit outside ha ha. I was also looking forwards to Pendulum, but as someone stamped on my foot whilst watching the killers i was suffering a bit and hung outside...but got a brilliant view and had enough room to dance welliless! And We Are Scientists are always a favourite of mine, they are always really funny. Gutted i had to miss Lethal Bizzle due to a clash though! I did walk out of Crystal Castles though, that douche bag gave me a headache

I always seem to prefer the tents over the main stage, i'm not sure what everyone else thinks. There just seems to be a larger variety, and the atmosphere and sound is always a million times better. I always prefer watching bands in the dark anyway, however nice it is just to sit in the main stage and listen to the bands playing. There also seems to be a bit of an issue moving people out of the tents, it was total gridlock at some points and being 5'1" its not the greatest experience being stuck in the middle of a large group of the great unwashed. I don't know if making that loop one way would make any difference.

I can't decide if having the wristband exchange on the front desk was a good idea or not... getting there at 2pm on Wednesday meant we were there at quite a good time so it worked well for us. However, some of my friends arriving on thursday queued for hours just to get it with all their stuff. Also, it seemed everyone was walking up the path along the river and heading straight for Red, without realising that a few hundred yards further up there was the Green entrance that wasn't half as busy.

As for the weather, lucky escapes as usual! I was however desperate for the toilet when it was pouring down on Saturday night but managed to hold it in!

I was in Yellow, in the filed next to what used to be Yellow D which is a new edition. We set up really easily and didn't have that much trouble...i think we were on a corner where people didn't tend to come through unless they needed too which was nice, and we were quite far back from the path which is always a bonus. I don't like the exploding canisters thing, i think its so dangerous and pretty stupid. i do however like the drummers on the bins! but not at 5am in the morning. I also love lying in my tent and listening to the random conversations of everyone around and the passers by. It was carnage when we walked through green in he morning though and i felt a bit sorry for the people who had had to sleep anywhere near those toilets!

[Jaybles]

Highs - I had a great f**king time

Lows - Man it was freezing at night time. friday night i had to adopt the fetal position covered in all my clothes to stay warm lol

Edited August 26, 2008 by Jaybles

[Cazerelli]

oh and did anyone else see that person who had zipped themselves up in their green tent and was just rolling down the path? It really made me laugh as i was leaving.

[firefly1201]

It is interesting, however vaguely unsuprising that "16-18 year old posh c*nts" are being blamed for the campsite agression - being a 17 year old at his second Reading Festival, I can honestly say I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment. The core problem I think (having only been the last couple of years) is the music the audience is aimed at. Take a quick flick through earlier line-ups - mostly alternative bands with genuinely inspiring choices of bands, especially for the smaller tents. Now, I have found myself disappointed not only for the lack of truly great bands and not ones that have popped up the the last year or so, with most of the line up having recieved some form of championing by the NME or similar (the dance tent especially being appauling - Holy f**k for me being the only true highlight, and CSS headlining? Really? UNKLE last year were fantastic). Of course, with mainstream attention comes the attention of the mainstream public and the edging out of "true" music fans (I say 'true' with a slightly prentious edge, but I'm sure most of you get what I mean).

And of course, this mixed with alcohol and Reading being the final shazam of the summer before the masses go back to their A-Levels causes the experience to be ever so slightly marred for the people who are there not primarily for the "festival atmosphere" but for the music - granted, atmosphere certainly helps, and I'm not going to be the one frowning at a bin rave, a BOLLOCKS (or buttscrather) or general japery, but when walking down the main paths mostly finds people my own age wearing near enough identical clothes (those thin head bands girls were wearing and the kayne glasses were everywhere), off their face thinking it's funny to show off to their mates by sheer rudeness and the truest form of c*ntery, it all seems like a bit of a shit drunken parade to get as many Facebook photo opportunities as possible (this goes for people taking pictures of themselves during bands as well - why? why? why?)

While I am probably going back to Reading next year, I truly hope that Reading sorts it act out - this require not only effort from the organisers (who, by this point, understandably probably care less about pleasing the minority of 'true' (sorry) music fans and rolling in the dirty fat cash), but also from the people. Which, lets face it guys, isn't really going to happen. I'm off to ATP this Chrismas, hoping that the line up choice is enough to deter away people who are there simply to blow shit up. I wish the audience of Reading was as mature as festivals such as Lovebox, but I'm finding the trend is that the younger the audience, the worse the crowd. Yep... sorry about that guys, most of us don't really have much taste.

OH, and also, next time someone jeers at me for being young at Reading, they'll get this same long, dreary speech. Take that(!).