Frequently Asked Questions

[mrtourette]

What do we know so far?

Eminem headlining the main stage Saturday Reading/Sunday Leeds (from his site).

Fall Out Boy playing the main stage Friday Leeds/Sunday Reading (from their site).

SOAD playing the main stage Friday Reading/Saturday Leeds (from their site).

Sub Focus headlining the Dance stage Friday Reading/Saturday Leeds (from their site).

Jake Bugg on the NME/Radio One stage Saturday Reading/Sunday Leeds (has another gig on the Friday)

Biffy Clyro (headlining), Foals, Deftones and Bring Me The Horizon on the main stage.

Alt-J (headlining) the NME/Radio One stage.

Boy Better Know (headlining) on the Radio 1Xtra stage.

Circumstantial evidence suggests that Biffy will be headining the Friday Leeds/Sunday Reading as a member of SOAD said in an interview that they're playing below the unknown headliner.

When is the next announcement?

March the 11th, and the announcement will include the final headliner as well as some other bands.

Annie Mac will be doing the announcement while she's standing in for Zane Lowe from 7pm.

So who else will be playing?

Check out the efestvals line-up/rumours page: http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/reading/2013/lineup.shtml for details of who the people who run this site have heard might be appearing.

As well as this you can look at a band's touring schedule and see who has a good chance of appearing - for example Tenacious D and Nine Inch Nails are doing European festival dates around R&L with no UK dates announced so far so it wouldn't take a massive leap of faith to believe that the organisers would try and snaffle them while they're in Europe. Doesn't always work like that but it's a reasonable thing to lok at when trying to predict who'll play.

Others will be around with 'rumours' and predictions no doubt. Most of them will be poorly photoshopped fakes or stories about how "my mate saw the line-up after they put the poster up early by mistake, but it's been taken down now".

For example this 'leak' may look real but it has the dates of the festival wrong, the Leeds site spelled incorrectly, an apostrophe in 'Yeah Yeah Yeahs' where there shouldn't be, Don Broco and Bastille are spelled wrong and Sub Focus down to play different days than they've already announced on their own site:

A general rule is that unless it's on the day of the announcement (or maybe the night before) a photograph of a magazine advert or monitor showing the line-up isn't going to be genuine.

Who isn't playing?

To pre-empt the two most popular questions Mumford & Sons are extremely unlikely as they're playing in Canada on the Saturday and so are Arctic Monkeys as they're probably headlining Glastonbury (R&L headliners won't be headlining other English festivals).

You can also very confidently rule out Kings Of Leon, TDCC, The Vaccines, Of Monsters And Men, The Fratellis, Stereophonics, Beady Eye, The Courteeners, James, Maximo Park and Calvin Harris as they're playing V (and also a load of other guff that wouldn't have been likely for R&L any way).

Why can't a band play V and R&L?

People will write off bands who are rumoured/announced for V because established bands very very rarely play both festivals in the same year due to the fact they are a week apart and in direct competition. Some say there's a clause in contracts preventing bands from playing both, others say they just deliberately book completely different bands. Either way it just doesn't happen.

Will they announce day splits?

R&L always gives some form of day and stage split well in advance, usually with the initial announcement. They've altered the formula this year and haven't confirmed any day splits yet but expect them to when they make the 'main' announcement (see above).

Sometimes initially for lower down the NME/R1 tent or on the smaller stages they just list the bands in alphabetical order, but then they split them up in the 'line-up' section on the official sites.

What about stage times?

These will be released in the week leading up to the festival, last year they cut it fine and they weren't all put on the official site until the Wednesday. You can buy timetables at the festival as well if you don't want to get them off the site.

What are these new stages people are talking about?

There will be a new BBC Radio 1Xtra stage (specialising in hip hop and grime) and a new BBC Radio 1 Dance stage. Both will run for all three days.

As the dance stage was previously on for a day and in the Lock Up tent that leaves a gap there now, but as of yet there's no official word as to whether there will be three days of Lock Up action or whether something else will be going on in there for a day.

No word yet on the size of these new stages but looking at the size of the headliners announced so far they aren't going to be much bigger than the current Lock Up tent (if at all).

Any other changes?

FR have announced that to accomodate the two new tents the sites will be completely re-organised. At Reading there will be a second arena entrance and the arena area will be 25% bigger, and there will also be a covered food court area.

Leeds will also have a covered food court area and the re-designed arena/site will mean that the wooded areas will be opened up and will contain some of the late night entertainment.

How much for a ticket?

Weekend Tickets - £202.50 + booking fee

Day tickets - £90.00 + booking fee

Early Entry - £15.00

Lockers - £16.00

Car Parking - £5.00

Campervan - £60

What's an Early Entry ticket?

An Early Entry ticket lets you get into a campsites a day early, on the Wednesday. Otherwise with just a normal weekend ticket you can get into the campsites from Thursday morning. Don't confuse these with earlybird tickets, which is what some people call pre-sale tickets.

What's the installment plan?

If you want to you can spread the cost of the ticket over three installments of £67.50 plus booking fee and postage.

You’ll need to make your first payment before Friday 31st May and the first installment is taken at the time of purchase.

- If you pay your first instalment between 11th March & 31st March your second payment date will be 1st May and your 3rd payment date will be 1st June.

- If you pay your first instalment between 1st April and 30th April your second payment date will be 1st June and their 3rd payment date will be 1st July.

- If you pay your first instalment between 1st May and 31st May your second payment date will be 1st July and your 3rd payment date will be 1st August.

How quickly will tickets sell?

How long's a piece of string? In the few years up to 2010 they sold out in hours but last year and the year before it took months.

Will further batches be released nearer the time?

Not officially, no. There was another batch released for Reading last year due to a capacity increase granted in July but officially all the tickets go on sale at the same time and when they're gone, they're gone.

Tickets will be sold and then become available again as people cancel orders or have payment refused (when you try to purchase online it reserves the tickets for you for a set period of time, even if you then don't go through with the transaction for whatever reason) and the installment plan may else end up causing tickets to go back on sale if people decide half way through paying that they don't want to go.

Where can I get tickets from?

Weekend, Payment Schemes, Early Entry, Coach Packages, Lockers, Car Parks, Campervan Permits and Day Tickets

Official sites

See Tickets

Weekend, Payment Schemes, Early Entry, Car Parks and Day Tickets

Ticketmaster

Ticketline

Weekend and Day Tickets

NME

Gigantic

Weekend Tickets only

Stargreen

Ticketqueen

We Represent

Novo Travel (in France only)

Weekend & Coach Packages

National Express

Ticket and Boutique Camping Package

Pink Moon

Be very very wary of using sites not on that list, here's a selection of sites that FR already warn people not to buy from: http://www.readingfestival.com/sites/readingfestival/files/public/Unauthorised%20Agents_0.pdf

What about buying tickets in person?

For Reading you can buy tickets in person at The Hexagon.

For Leeds you can buy Weekend, Day and Early Entry tickets from Crash Records Leeds, Jumbo Records Leeds, Leeds Visitor Centre and Vinyl Emproium Liverpool, and Weekend tickets are available from Leeds Uni student union, Capital FM Arena Nottingham and Motorpoint Arena Sheffield.

What's this about an over 18's wristband?

It's a wristband that you queue up to get to prove that you're 18, so that you don't need to carry your ID around with you all weekend and need it just the once (to get the wristband).

WARNING - the system isn't foolproof as the ID's are checked and wristbands issued by FR but the bars are run by the Workers Beer Company (WBC). If an FR employee gives out a wristband to someone who isn't 18 and the WBC are caught serving them alcohol it's the WBC who get in trouble not FR, and consequently WBC staff are told to ask for ID if someone looks underage if even if they have a wristband.

And yes the councils do have people at the festivals checking on various terms of the license being agreed, serving alcohol to underage kids being one of them.

What alcohol can I get in the arena?

The lager is Tuborg, the cider is Gaymers (apple and pear, annoying last year only one kind at each bar so if you were stood next to a bar that only served Pear cider and tyou wanted apple you had to go for a walk), the cola is Pepsi and the energy drink is Relentless.

There's a small real ale bar serving two different kinds and wine and spirits/mixers are also available at the main bars.

The bars in the arena are cash rather than tokens. Expect to pay about £4.50 for the lager and cider and about £4.20 for the ale (although one ale will be cheaper than the other).

Can I buy food to cook and provisions for when I'm camping?

Both Reading and Leeds have an on site 'supermarket' where you can get basics like bread, milk, pies/pasties. drinks, toiletries, cheese, eggs, meat and other general groceries. You can pay by card and get cashback.

As Reading is in the town there are two Tesco Extras, a Tesco Express, a Waitrose and various other convenience shops and garages within walking distance. As it's out of the city Leeds doesn't have that but there is a shuttle bus service to the nearest Tesco.

What is there to do after the music?

Reading is notoriously lacking in after-hours entertainment due to the fact that it's in the town and has to deal with local councul noise restrictions after midnight. It has a couple of Silent Discos, a cinema tent and the Action Aid tent with DJ sets, all of which run until about 3am. There's also a funfair in one of the campsites that's open late.

Leeds has more leeway for late night entertainment and as well as the Silent Disco, cinema tent and funfair has campsite DJs and the Picadilly Party until 6am.

Are there site maps available?

They aren't released until much closer to the festival, and expect big changes from previous years due to the increased size of the arenas.

People say that RHCP will never headline again because of 2007. Is this true?

So legend has it, and yes, RHCP really were that bad in 2007. It was well documented at the time that in the following focus group that Melvin Benn said he'd never book them again because of it, although any actual evidence has been lost (or never existed). The actual quote when asked about RHCP is that they "booked the biggest bands available instead of the best bands" and that they wouldn't make the same mistake again, but didn't specifically name RHCP (even though everyone knew that he was talking about them) or say that they wouldn't be back. Nothing to say that RHCP will never headline again, more that they'd be wary of booking based just on their size rather than suitability, but it's the first and only time he's spoken out against one his headliners.

How do they decide who plays where and in what position?

Nobody knows really, but expect it to be a wide range of things such as what type of people follow the band, the size of the venues that they play, how many records they've sold, whether they're making a comeback or not, whether they've released anything recently, whether they're a legendary band or have a lot of history, etc. The extremes are easy to predict - Foo Fighters would only ever headline and Kasabian won't be playing in the FR tent, while some local band who haven't got a proper record deal are likely to be on the BBC Introducing stage in the early afternoon - but other bands can be difficult to pinpoint exactly. Try thinking about how popular they'd be to the people who go to R&L and compare it to bands in those slots in previous years, and then prepare to argue about it forever (even after they're announced).

Edited March 11, 2013 by mrtourette

[jump]

I'm gonna be fussy and say it should be another English festival and not UK headliner they can't play.

[mrtourette]

I thought about that, but since the only contention there was TITP and they've announced their headliners (and there's no chance of them playing R&L) I feel confident that UK applies.

[ivan]

Why can’t a band play V and R&L?

People are writing off bands who have been announced for V because bands very very rarely play both festivals due to the fact they are a week apart and in direct competition. Some say there’s a clause in contracts preventing bands from playing both, others say they just deliberately book completely different bands. Either way it just doesn’t happen.

I have been to both V and Leeds for many years !

Whilst bands will alternate between the two - loads do it , they are very different festivals and

what would be the point of the two having a similar line up.

Have to say does not matter whether you go to Leeds or V Stafford - Lost Prophets were rubbish at

both , and Arctics will be as rubbish at V as they were at Leeds !

[Englishdragon]

Should be pinned

but even if it is the forum will still get 100 topics of the same shit in the next 21 days

[Englishdragon]

and Yes RHCP were THAT bad. I have never been so bored watching a band in my life.

[Bisque]

I am going to print this out to read before each time I come on the R+L forum. There are some real cretins out there.

[jump]

Will Foo Fighters/Kasabian/System Of A Down/Metallica/etc. be headlining?

If a band is headlining another UK festival, they won’t be headlining R&L. Headlining means headlining not sub-headlining or headlining the second stage (so yes MCR can still headline R&L even though they’re playing TITP, Pulp can still have a non-headlining slot at R&L if they’re headlining Wireless).

[mrtourette]

May also be worth explaining to people Oxygen is in Ireland which isn't apart of the UK and Isle Of Wright is consider a part of the England, I know it sounds stupid but I remember last year someone kept banging on about Arcade Fire was at Oxygen.

[mrtourette]

Whilst bands will alternate between the two - loads do it , they are very different festivals and

what would be the point of the two having a similar line up.

[cheeseisamazing]

Can you inset something along the lines of why bands are billed where they are? i mean obvisouly it vaires from festival to festival but theres quite a fee arguments regulary about people suggesting bands should be really high up when it seems so unlikly, for example this fake poster'http://media.photobucket.com/image/reading%202011/thehartattack/reading2011.jpg' suggest the futureheads could play 2nd to top on the NME stage...

but also it would be good to give a clearish baises for why bands are billed where they are..

[mrtourette]

Christ if I knew the answer to that I'd stop 90% of the arguments here! I'll try and cobble something together though. Perfect example of the problem though - I think Futureheads would be great subbing the tent!

Edited March 1, 2011 by mrtourette

[Dermot]

I'm still very sceptical about mcr headlining now they're doing T. Melvin's just going to sound stupid if he makes a cocky statement about how the headliners are great because they're not headlining any other UK festivals when, while that is true, they are playing others. I think people are placing too much emphasis on his choice of wording 'headlining'.

P.s. Hey, I'm Dermot, I don't post here very often but I read the posts quite a lot.

[mrtourette]

Well I guess that's why he said 'not headlining anywhere else' rather than not playing anywhere else'. Technically he'd be correct, although the impact wouldn't as great as if they weren't playing anywhere else.

Basically he can't guarantee that his headliners won't be playing anywhere alse but he can guarantee that they won't be headlining anywhere else, so he's played that up as a big thing.

[Bisque]

theres quite a fee arguments regulary about people suggesting bands should be really high up when it seems so unlikly, for example this fake poster'http://media.photobucket.com/image/reading%202011/thehartattack/reading2011.jpg' suggest the futureheads could play 2nd to top on the NME stage...

[mrtourette]

Arguments about placings on the line-up are hereby banned from this thread.

[PurpleFire]

Great Thread, should be pinned for this year and stuff added to it as news comes in.

My question is, is the comment by Melvin Benn about RHCP 100% or was it a comment written in the press.

[mrtourette]

My question is, is the comment by Melvin Benn about RHCP 100% or was it a comment written in the press.

[cheeseisamazing]

I'm still very sceptical about mcr headlining now they're doing T. Melvin's just going to sound stupid if he makes a cocky statement about how the headliners are great because they're not headlining any other UK festivals when, while that is true, they are playing others. I think people are placing too much emphasis on his choice of wording 'headlining'.

P.s. Hey, I'm Dermot, I don't post here very often but I read the posts quite a lot.

[Englishdragon]

Great Thread, should be pinned for this year and stuff added to it as news comes in.

My question is, is the comment by Melvin Benn about RHCP 100% or was it a comment written in the press.

[mrtourette]

If I can't find it I'll take it out, it's only in there as a joke really.

[Dermot]

dude. if MCR are headlining the contracts and bookings would have been sorted out ages ago, he can't really change his mind now...

[mrtourette]

Heard back from FR, what nice people. Unfortunately only offered information on online minutes and apparently only last year's are available as the forums were changed just before that. I found a discussion thread on the Leeds forums about the 2008 focus group meeting but no reference to the situation. I'll edit the Q&A to make is clear that there's no proof but leave it so that people know what others are talking about when they make reference to it.

[RichieParf]

You forgot: Who is this 'OKB' fellow and why won't he go away?

[Dave The Hedgehog]

You forgot: Who is this 'OKB' fellow and why won't he go away?