this festival is awful

[sadwitch]

"Secondly when did the age of the festival really drop down? Maybe its too long ago to remember accuratly but I swear when I first went in 1999 at the age of 18, I couldn't recall too many people our age or younger. "

yeah i agree, i was 18 at Reading 99 i dont really remember many younger kids. Now its full of 16 year olds. Thing is though..... festivals are the "in" thing now so its inevitable

[Flounder]

I've read my way through this thread and am plagued by two thoughts

1 - everyone must by now know what Reading is about and what goes on - so if you aren't up for putting up with kiddies on the rampage, why go? I don't buy the "middle class/badly brought up" bit - its kids being w*nkers. I last went in 1991 when my wife was pregnant with our now 17 year old ( who incidently was making " I want to goto Reading next year" noises this morning) and it was a crock of shite then - horrible vibe.

2 - How on earth do they get their licence each year? All festivals mainly run like clockwork until you add the public - at that point all the plans put in place, esp from lessons learnt in previous years should kick in, but there will always be something that hasn't been planned for, because the public, being a diverse bunch, bring lots of diversities and you have to deal with them there and then. However, for this sort of crap to be going on year after year, those in charge obviously aren't being effective in their dealing with the situation. As Sco77ie said, it appears to be entrenched in the festival now - is naughty behaviour almost expected of them on the last night?

Maybe the whole festival has just got too big and is therefore at an unmanageable size given its clientèle

I don't think an age limit is workable, practically or financially. After hours entertainment may help if there was enough of it ( I do acknowledge LRich's point, but I think given the age of the punters and the amount of them, expecting them to goto bed/entertain themselves in a socially acceptable way after a full on day is probably not going to happen). There are ways and means to help change things ( some of them mentioned on here), but it would take a lot of work and therefore cost to do so.

So in the short term, if you want to go and aren't up for dealing with kiddie wars, then Sco77ie has the answer - B&B all the way

[TalkShow Bob]

Erm yes there was, just cause you never seen it doesn't mean it didn't happen

The official population of Reading campsites is 65,000. Around 50% less than Glastonbury. Not to mention that the police are limited in numbers who work inside the festival.

From all the reports I heard on site and since then, I disagree and it was worse this year.

Plenty happened

[5co77ie]

Scottie, just a quick question to you (and to Paul as well) - you say you've been going to Reading since the late 70's - when did this sunday night tradition start - or at least when did it become a real problem?

Secondly when did the age of the festival really drop down? Maybe its too long ago to remember accuratly but I swear when I first went in 1999 at the age of 18, I couldn't recall too many people our age or younger.

Personally my take on sunday nights carry on from what I saw was it wasn't as bad as in the past, but then I only saw a limited amount of stuff in yellow. I recall in 2000 when loads of people got for the weekend on 3 day tickets that they had to open up one of the car parks (which I now think is the back of orange/brown) as camping fields. They had no watch towers and we were robbed twice and the portaloos were set alight and TVP had to come in with riot shields and all sorts.

[beLIEveR]

The line-up is getting more and more diverse - away from the main stage.

[5co77ie]

Very true.

My big, big fear is that where the main stage leads, other stages will eventually follow. Hence my annual rant about how awful said stage is.

Edited September 3, 2009 by 5co77ie

[wheres the mudfight]

not really read this properly but, with regard to overcrowding, was anyone else at the chase and status set on sunday (i think). It was insane! one of my highlights of the weekend but had to leave early as my friend was feeling really bad cause of the heat/overcrowding/crush. awesome show.

[BANJOBANJOBANJO]

No I wasn't at Chase and Status because Chase and Status are really terrible.

[lahm]

If you go to this festival and your over the age of 21, your probably a nonce.

A festival for over privileged youngens of certain social minorities. Nothing to do if a band you dont want to see is on, nobody smiles, everyone is horrible to each other, loads of sponsorships, separate camping to "arena" area (which is ridiculpuse), only there to make money, food is shit, sound is really low, horrible site (a field just outside of reading town centre), NME have their own stage!, people are anti social for the sake of it.

I'm quite glad a festival like this exist because if not they would all come to Glastonbury. Radiohead were really good when I went though.

[5co77ie]

If you go to this festival and your over the age of 21, your probably a nonce.

A festival for over privileged youngens of certain social minorities. Nothing to do if a band you dont want to see is on, nobody smiles, everyone is horrible to each other, loads of sponsorships, separate camping to "arena" area (which is ridiculpuse), only there to make money, food is shit, sound is really low, horrible site (a field just outside of reading town centre), NME have their own stage!, people are anti social for the sake of it.

I'm quite glad a festival like this exist because if not they would all come to Glastonbury. Radiohead were really good when I went though.

[glasto-worker]

The Reading Festival originates from the National Jazz Festival,The festival is run by Festival Republic.ticket are available on ###### on 1st come and 1st get basis.get your ticket

Edited February 12, 2010 by glasto-worker

[Joshuwarr]

If you go to this festival and your over the age of 21, your probably a nonce.

A festival for over privileged youngens of certain social minorities. Nothing to do if a band you dont want to see is on, nobody smiles, everyone is horrible to each other, loads of sponsorships, separate camping to "arena" area (which is ridiculpuse), only there to make money, food is shit, sound is really low, horrible site (a field just outside of reading town centre), NME have their own stage!, people are anti social for the sake of it.

I'm quite glad a festival like this exist because if not they would all come to Glastonbury. Radiohead were really good when I went though.

[agingrocker]

If you go to this festival and your over the age of 21, your probably a nonce.

[DanDan]

If you go to Glastonbury you're probably a drug addled hippy w*nker.

[Talking to Pylons]

Don't ever camp at Reading Festival, buy a weekend ticket and leave the festival site whenever you can. That does mean all night long you should leave the whole of the Richfield Avenue Area, (by God it really is one of the worst parts of Reading, trust me even in the day). Find somewhere else to sleep actually really sleep!

Reading the town is much nicer than the London thug central aka Little John's Farm, full of either mean-spirited young people or members of organized crime gangs. The amount of Londoners who come into Reading to mug people normally is bad enough, but it's to astronomical levels during the festival. Imagine most of 'rude boys' in Brixton in one place, that's Reading Festival for you.

If you are under 20 DO NOT camp also, it is just not safe because someone will try to kill you during the weekend, you can guarantee all the love drug bollocks idiot users (aka Crack Cocaine addicts) will come a knocking and do there spliced up inhuman dance on your tent at some point.

As for the subject of this thread, it's a more a case of 'Some people are awful.' like you the thread maker who only did so to upset people, for your own keyboard warrior enjoyment.

Edited March 9, 2010 by Talking to Pylons

[dakyras]

Don't ever camp at Reading Festival, buy a weekend ticket and leave the festival site whenever you can. That does mean all night long you should leave the whole of the Richfield Avenue Area, (by God it really is one of the worst parts of Reading, trust me even in the day). Find somewhere else to sleep actually really sleep!

Reading the town is much nicer than the London thug central aka Little John's Farm, full of either mean-spirited young people or members of organized crime gangs. The amount of Londoners who come into Reading to mug people normally is bad enough, but it's to astronomical levels during the festival. Imagine most of 'rude boys' in Brixton in one place, that's Reading Festival for you.

If you are under 20 DO NOT camp also, it is just not safe because someone will try to kill you during the weekend, you can guarantee all the love drug bollocks idiot users (aka Crack Cocaine addicts) will come a knocking and do there spliced up inhuman dance on your tent at some point.

As for the subject of this thread, it's a more a case of 'Some people are awful.' like you the thread maker who only did so to upset people, for your own keyboard warrior enjoyment.

[abu hamster]

I last went to Reading in 99. Having been to many other larger and smaller fests since i would not go back!

[Budweiser]

If you go to Glastonbury you're probably a drug addled hippy w*nker.