this festival is awful

[benissright]

to be honest, on the whole Glastonbury is a far more contemporary festival than reading ever has been, (since it stopped being a jazz festival)

glastonbury has sometimes has some chart pop acts on the pyramid stage, but readings entire line up is in the commercial rock genre, where glasto has a much more varied line up of far more than just music

[MEGABOWL]

glastonbury is a pop festival

[travelling mr pastry]

?

[eFestivals]

Glasto does have the perfect shell; it's size, all the different areas, things to do, reasonableish prices, friendly atmosphere, nice campfires, etc etc. The music selection is very wide but its achilles heel is naturally it's lack of anything more than medium rock. It seems among some there is almost a phobia of this type of music and the fans it would bring. However I'd put this down to ignorance and the fact that they probably haven't personally met many metalers or alternative types.

It's not a metal festival. Yes, it really is that simple.

And as so many metal fans constantly get to prove, they have little or no interest in anything non-metal - and so Glastonbury would be wasted on them. Glastonbury is about its diversity, so if you're not accepting and embracing of its diversity then it would be somewhat pointless attending.

If you are accepting of musical diversity, then you have no need to be asking for metal.... surely you can manage a weekend without metal? Or will going without kill you?

Edited August 10, 2009 by eFestivals

[eFestivals]

Its about bands that are heavy not being allowed to play the festival of contemporary performing arts.

Does Reading book .... I dunno ..... Westlife?

Why do you think that one festival is allowed to have an VERY limited musical line-up, but another festival with huge musical variety isn't allowed to draw it's own lines?

Glastonbury knows its audience no different to how Reading knows its audience. Both cater for their audience.

It (Reading) also caters for music tastes that are more contemporary than glastonbury

having the latest musically-limited nme-approved acts does not make Reading more contemporary.

.... with a crowd enthusiasm that is significantly more active than glastonbury.

it depends which acts you see.

After all, throwing bottles and chairs and whatever else, and setting fire to anything that'll burn, does not equal crowd entusiasm.

[Duffbox]

that what i found about download, seems some of the people there don't even accept any other genres exist,

the diversity is what i love about WOMAD, and why i will be crossing over to glasto henceforth, as my musical/social tastes have outgrown the current reading trend

[TheSeventhOne]

Download is still a hell of a lot more embracing and friendly that Reading and Leeds are. And I personally prefer the acts at R/L.

[benissright]

Does Reading book .... I dunno ..... Westlife?

Why do you think that one festival is allowed to have an VERY limited musical line-up, but another festival with huge musical variety isn't allowed to draw it's own lines?

Glastonbury knows its audience no different to how Reading knows its audience. Both cater for their audience.

having the latest musically-limited nme-approved acts does not make Reading more contemporary.

it depends which acts you see.

After all, throwing bottles and chairs and whatever else, and setting fire to anything that'll burn, does not equal crowd entusiasm.

[eFestivals]

1) My point about lack of metal originally came about in trying to suggest that glasto isnt to everyones tastes. Glasto does not cater to everyones tastes and people on these forums like to think it is THE festival and make note that its the contemporary peforming arts festival. When in fact, its pretty out of touch in many of its bookings and still clings to this notion that heavy rock is 'dangerous'.

the errors are all your own.

Contemporary means "of the moment". Is, for example, Tom Jones "of the moment"? He very certainly is if he's able to get more people stage front than Reading manages for any act it books (which is the case).

Just because Glastonbury doesn't *ONLY* have the latest nme-approved acts as is the case with Reading/Leeds doesn't make it "out of touch" - the very fact that 80,000 will go and see Tom Jones if the festival presents its audience with Tom Jones shows very definitely that its not out of touch as you like to pretend - in fact, it proves you as the one that's out of touch with your belief that no one is interested in seeing him.

As for your idea that Glastonbury thinks of heavy rock as dangerous, where the f**k did you get that from? It's simply the case that Glastonbury is not a heavy rock festival and so doesn't have lots of heavy rock acts ..... but it has heavy rock acts anyway. In fact, which festival did Foo Fighters play first, Reading or Glastonbury? In fact, which festival did QOTSA play first, Reading or Glastonbury? In both cases the answer is Glastonbury.

All that aside, is rock 'dangerous'? The very facts prove that it is, at least within the context of festivals. Deaths at Donington; deaths at Roskilde; even broken legs at Reading a few years back. If Eavis wants his attendees to go home without such memories - or even those things happening to his punters - then he's free to make choices that lessen the possibility.

2) Reading festival isnt a contemporary performing arts festival. Its a rock festival.

yep, and Glastonbury *IS* a contemporary performing arts festival, whether or not you want to think of it like that.

3) The worst thing about the 50 cent incident is that they didnt knock him out.

but of course, according to you, rock crowds aren't dangerous, they're only nice, eh?

I remember reading this year that Eavis aimed a firework at someone who flew a banner over saying the CND are communists. Well why cant someone who epitomises everything that reading festival is not, such as pop acts or gangster rap acts, receive the same treatment?

and where did you read that? In The Sun perhaps? Nuff said.

You really don't have the first idea what you're talking about.

[travelling mr pastry]

You really don't have the first idea what you're talking about.

[benissright]

the errors are all your own.

Contemporary means "of the moment". Is, for example, Tom Jones "of the moment"? He very certainly is if he's able to get more people stage front than Reading manages for any act it books (which is the case).

Just because Glastonbury doesn't *ONLY* have the latest nme-approved acts as is the case with Reading/Leeds doesn't make it "out of touch" - the very fact that 80,000 will go and see Tom Jones if the festival presents its audience with Tom Jones shows very definitely that its not out of touch as you like to pretend - in fact, it proves you as the one that's out of touch with your belief that no one is interested in seeing him.

As for your idea that Glastonbury thinks of heavy rock as dangerous, where the f**k did you get that from? It's simply the case that Glastonbury is not a heavy rock festival and so doesn't have lots of heavy rock acts ..... but it has heavy rock acts anyway. In fact, which festival did Foo Fighters play first, Reading or Glastonbury? In fact, which festival did QOTSA play first, Reading or Glastonbury? In both cases the answer is Glastonbury.

All that aside, is rock 'dangerous'? The very facts prove that it is, at least within the context of festivals. Deaths at Donington; deaths at Roskilde; even broken legs at Reading a few years back. If Eavis wants his attendees to go home without such memories - or even those things happening to his punters - then he's free to make choices that lessen the possibility.

yep, and Glastonbury *IS* a contemporary performing arts festival, whether or not you want to think of it like that.

but of course, according to you, rock crowds aren't dangerous, they're only nice, eh?

and where did you read that? In The Sun perhaps? Nuff said.

You really don't have the first idea what you're talking about.

[Ashaz42]

----

Reading is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper for me than glasto for a number of reasons. Its also a lot simpler, easier etc than glasto.

[benissright]

... Both cost £175 this year. And the food is the same price as last year's at Reading.

[travelling mr pastry]

Its a personal thing. Travel alcohol and food is cheaper in the way i do it. At reading i only need to buy one meal from the stalls, at glasto, 2-3 a day. Alcohol, i have to take all my alcohol on the first day and properly ration it, reading, i go into town and buy it. Travel, i live near reading and far away from glasto.

[benissright]

so the problem really comes down to your bad planning then

Edited August 11, 2009 by benissright

[travelling mr pastry]

i got 9 crates of fosters and 5 people plus gear into a golf comfortably in 2005, very doable, you could very easily carry 3 crates if you got a quality sack truck (i did this year) and if you absolutely must eat fois gras at a festival rather than settling for something less perishable like pasta or noodles or even just using your loaf and bringing a cool box with ice then i think thats down to your fussiness.

but yeah enjoy how much cheaper readings campsite is for you, sure. ofcourse having to get absolutely smashed at the campsite (which i presume you do, given you like to save money) before you head into the arena and have to ditch all your cheap booze in favour of the bars.

[benissright]

i got 9 crates of fosters and 5 people plus gear into a golf comfortably in 2005, very doable, you could very easily carry 3 crates if you got a quality sack truck (i did this year) and if you absolutely must eat fois gras at a festival rather than settling for something less perishable like pasta or noodles or even just using your loaf and bringing a cool box with ice then i think thats down to your fussiness.

but yeah enjoy how much cheaper readings campsite is for you, sure. ofcourse having to get absolutely smashed at the campsite (which i presume you do, given you like to save money) before you head into the arena and have to ditch all your cheap booze in favour of the bars.

[neatneatneat]

dont really want to get into this argument cos it looks like it may turn violent(and,more importantly,i havent been to glastonbury so i cant compare) but as its been suggested that rage against the machine fans will grow out of them,im intrigued to know who im supposed to listen to when this happens.

im 39 now and rage have been my favorite band for 15 years so im bound to grow out of them soon.i hope that old bastards like me arnt expected to listen to neil young and bruce springstein.

[pedmills]

Glastonbury and Reading have different demographics.

Firstly Glastonbury has a lot wider range of age of the festivalgoers.

Even ignoring this, the type of festivalgoers is different.

If we spilt each festival into five (the proportions won't be anywhere near exact but will be done for convenience's sake)...

Then I think Reading is 3/5 people who mainly listen to indie rock music, 1/5 people who mainly listen to heavy metal and 1/5 people who aren't big fans of music so just watch what they know from the radio etc.

Glastonbury is more like 2/5 people who mainly listen to indie rock music, 1/5 people who mainly listen to dance music, 1/5 people who have quite diverse music tastes and 1/5 people who aren't big fans of music so just watch what they know from the radio etc.

Thus Reading has mainly popular, indie rock and heavy acts to suit its festival goers. And Glastonbury has popular, indie rock and lots of dance tents and world/folk/reggae etc stages to suit its festival goers .

Both festivals book acts which the types of festival goers want. Neither books acts which there is very little demand for.

To change the demographics then it would require changes to the lineups over a number of years. Thus if Glastonbury wanted to attract large numbers of heavy metal fans then it would have to start booking heavy metal bands. And if Reading wanted to attract people with wide-ranging tastes in music then it would need to book acts which were different from the rock/metal norm.

These are the reasons why this hasn't happened:

There has been incidents where people have been killed or injured at festivals, and circle or mosh pits certainly increase this risk. Since moshing is more frequent with heavy bands, this is a potential reason not to start booking heavy acts.

A lot of bottling happens at Download and Reading at acts which aren't the heavy rock norm. This is because generally a lot of metal fans tend to like metal and little else. Thus Reading won't book many non-rock/metal because they know they might be bottled, and Glastonbury may not book hevay metal acts as they may think that metal fans won't appreciate the diverse selection of music at Glastonbury.

Of course you could say that both Reading and Glastonbury are both being too afraid. But if there is no demand for them then why risk it? If Glastonbury was receiving a lot of requests for heavy metal they might think its worth the risk and book a heavy act, but since they aren't, they don't think its worth it.

If Glastonbury put a lot of money and effort into booking Slipknot and then somebody happens to get injured in the crowd, was it worth it when hardly anyone was demanding it? If Reading put a lot of money and effort into booking Leonard Cohen and then he gets bottled off stage early on, was it worth it when hardly anyone was demanding it?

[eFestivals]

And the crowds at glasto would never be intense enough to cause injuries.

what you really mean is that crowds at Glasto aren't so daft as to get their enjoyment via the suffering of others. "Intense" can happen via all sorts of ways - it isn't only thru ramming 10 people into a space only suitable for five.

But anyway, you say "intense" and I say overexcited. The simple fact is that a significant proportion of Reading goers are at their first festival - and for many it's their first time of seeing any band live - while the same doesn't apply to anything like the same extent at Glasto. This is the main factor on how people react to the bands they're presented with.

[Chris12345]

The deaths at Roskilde were during Pearl Jam were they not... hardly a death metal band or something... theres far heavier bands at Glasto! Glasto would be perfect if it had even just a little more heavier stuff! (And if there weren't so many posh old people )

[Chris12345]

Woops, contradicted myself there... meant to say bigger heavier stuff!

[rivalschools.price]

dont really want to get into this argument cos it looks like it may turn violent(and,more importantly,i havent been to glastonbury so i cant compare) but as its been suggested that rage against the machine fans will grow out of them,im intrigued to know who im supposed to listen to when this happens.

im 39 now and rage have been my favorite band for 15 years so im bound to grow out of them soon.i hope that old bastards like me arnt expected to listen to neil young and bruce springstein.

Its not impossible to like all those bands you know? A mind is best when its open!

[travelling mr pastry]

You'd have to be a bit special to not be capable of outsmarting the security at the entrance to the arena.

[benissright]

to what? cart a case and a bottle of vodka and jack in yeah?

nah i'll be happy with just drinking them where i choose at glastonbury. you keep "outsmarting" the security at reading, like you have to.