The "Im not going to R+L this year thread"

[she bangs the drums]

Bollocks, there are numerous factors in why it hasn't sold out yet. The festival will eventually sell out so I don't see how you can say it's struggling. It has alot less to do with the line up and more to do with the price. But then that wouldn't suit everyones "shite line-up" agenda.

[Banana Co]

Festival Republic never took over, it's the same company/people as Mean Fiddler but with a new name as they sold all of their venues to another company but kept all of the festivals.

[Banana Co]

What complete bollocks I think you have been listening to Melvin on the NME website

Ok so Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax are playing for the second time in 3 years but thats because the big four has come about and if you actually have a look at the bands that have played twice in three years it will only be a few. I go to both festivals and R & L has far more repeat bookings, it wouldn't surprise me if this years NME special guests were either Bloc Party or the Subways

The reason R & L has not sold out is because the line up has no spine, it is full of bands that people have seen before, it has a lack of legacy acts with to many bands far too high up on the bill.

If R & L had booked some of the bands that have played Sonisphere like Alice Cooper, NIN (ok not possible!) Iggy and the Stooges, Gary Numan, Rammstein, Iron Maiden, Papa Roach, Killing Joke, Alice in Chains, Therapy? plus thrown in a few others such as Rancid, Soundgarden, The Stranglers, Chemical Brothers, House of Pain and Slash then the sold out signs would be up already.

The festival is struggling this year simply because the overal line up is poor.

[jump]

Well that's what I was saying about the alternating. This year is not that year. Reading is not a solid rock festival every year now. You should have expected it. The Strokes are a legacy act for the music they make as are Pulp. We do have repeats but no so obvious.

[Banana Co]

This is just another thing people think happens and then when it doesn't it's quickly forgotten and replace with a new theory like heavy Sunday, there's always a least 1 UK headliner etc. The whole Friday has loads of "heavy" acts despite being "indie" and Sat last year had loads of "indie" acts despite being "heavy", they book whoever they want and sometimes it looks heavier/lighter than it actually is.

[/quote

Well it does happen, it's not just a theory I remember Melvin Benn saying that's what they would do.

Edited March 25, 2011 by ellibob198

[thetime]

was really up for going this year as im on 2 weeks leave from work, but with that lineup not a chance. I usually spend upwards of 500 quid on a festival weekend(ticket, travel, money for weekend), so not worth it with the lineup.

just wish interpol was on strokes/pulp day as I would of got day ticket.

Years ago I used to love the 2 weeks of v one weekend and reading/leeds the next, how times have changed for both lineups.

[jump]

Well it does happen, it's not just a theory I remember Melvin Benn saying that's what they would do.

[Banana Co]

It is not a f**king metal festival, stop expecting the type of music you like every year. Majority of festivals alternate the main genre, unless it is designated for a certain type of music like Sonisphere and Download, Creamfields. Just get over it. If you don't like the line up then stfu. If you lot think that everyone on this forum agrees with each other that the line up is shit then that is only because a lot of people on forums are here to complain. I'm here to complain about people complaining.

[greenarmy101]

The debate about line-ups this year reminds me of a comment Zane Lowe (love him or hate him) said a few years ago when asked about his hopes for the new year (roughly 06/07), he said at that time he hoped somebody would release the next truly seminal rock album.

I understood what he menat then, but I really think we are seeing the truth of the fact now that still nobody has released that sort of record for several years, and now it is feeding into festival line-ups simply becuase bookers are simply having to re-book, or the press is over promoting albums that just dont have the substance (i.e. the new strkes record). It's hurt Download more because nobody in the past 5 years or so has released say a "nevermind," "bloodsexsugarmagic," "siamese dream," or even a "songs for the deaf." A really sweeping, huge rock record with ciritcal and commercial success.Its also hurt reading because the same sort of band would appeal to thier line-up, but equally now I'd say it's been a while since anyone has released a seminal indie album of that nature.

Couple this with the fact the prices have now gone above the £200 mark and you get what you see at reading this year. Slow sales, based on familiarity.

Jimmy eat world, by no means a poor act and with plenty of fans, 4TH on the main stage on saturday. I think that is a sign of stagnance right there.

[addsend]

The debate about line-ups this year reminds me of a comment Zane Lowe (love him or hate him) said a few years ago when asked about his hopes for the new year (roughly 06/07), he said at that time he hoped somebody would release the next truly seminal rock album.

I understood what he menat then, but I really think we are seeing the truth of the fact now that still nobody has released that sort of record for several years, and now it is feeding into festival line-ups simply becuase bookers are simply having to re-book, or the press is over promoting albums that just dont have the substance (i.e. the new strkes record). It's hurt Download more because nobody in the past 5 years or so has released say a "nevermind," "bloodsexsugarmagic," "siamese dream," or even a "songs for the deaf." A really sweeping, huge rock record with ciritcal and commercial success.Its also hurt reading because the same sort of band would appeal to thier line-up, but equally now I'd say it's been a while since anyone has released a seminal indie album of that nature.

Couple this with the fact the prices have now gone above the £200 mark and you get what you see at reading this year. Slow sales, based on familiarity.

Jimmy eat world, by no means a poor act and with plenty of fans, 4TH on the main stage on saturday. I think that is a sign of stagnance right there.

[jisaacs]

The debate about line-ups this year reminds me of a comment Zane Lowe (love him or hate him) said a few years ago when asked about his hopes for the new year (roughly 06/07), he said at that time he hoped somebody would release the next truly seminal rock album.

I understood what he menat then, but I really think we are seeing the truth of the fact now that still nobody has released that sort of record for several years, and now it is feeding into festival line-ups simply becuase bookers are simply having to re-book, or the press is over promoting albums that just dont have the substance (i.e. the new strkes record). It's hurt Download more because nobody in the past 5 years or so has released say a "nevermind," "bloodsexsugarmagic," "siamese dream," or even a "songs for the deaf." A really sweeping, huge rock record with ciritcal and commercial success.Its also hurt reading because the same sort of band would appeal to thier line-up, but equally now I'd say it's been a while since anyone has released a seminal indie album of that nature.

Couple this with the fact the prices have now gone above the £200 mark and you get what you see at reading this year. Slow sales, based on familiarity.

Jimmy eat world, by no means a poor act and with plenty of fans, 4TH on the main stage on saturday. I think that is a sign of stagnance right there.

[Hota]

Amen to the Arcade Fire shout out, they have had 3 good albums out

although cant think of many others with the same status

[jisaacs]

Amen to the Arcade Fire shout out, they have had 3 good albums out

although cant think of many others with the same status

[chappiepunk]

I'm here to complain about people complaining.

[greenarmy101]

Agreed, arcade fire - the suburbs, as soon as i posted I realised I had missed that one. Other than that tho I struggle...

[Clemo]

Kings of Leon - Only By The Night is up there, even if its mainstream success killed it with their original fans. The best advice I could give to Kings of Leon right now would simply be to f**k off for a few years (like the Killers are doing) so they could regain some of that wow factor.

I think another reason we are lacking new MASSIVE bands is because bands genuinely want to play gigs & festivals whereas your massive bands have a certain rarity to them. I think this is what's holding back Biffy, KoL, Arcade Fire & Muse, they just enjoy touring too much to disappear and only make 1 festival appearance every 2/3 years.

Edited March 26, 2011 by Clemo

[jump]

It is not a f**king metal festival, stop expecting the type of music you like every year. Majority of festivals alternate the main genre, unless it is designated for a certain type of music like Sonisphere and Download, Creamfields. Just get over it. If you don't like the line up then stfu. If you lot think that everyone on this forum agrees with each other that the line up is shit then that is only because a lot of people on forums are here to complain. I'm here to complain about people complaining.

[jump]

The debate about line-ups this year reminds me of a comment Zane Lowe (love him or hate him) said a few years ago when asked about his hopes for the new year (roughly 06/07), he said at that time he hoped somebody would release the next truly seminal rock album.

I understood what he menat then, but I really think we are seeing the truth of the fact now that still nobody has released that sort of record for several years, and now it is feeding into festival line-ups simply becuase bookers are simply having to re-book, or the press is over promoting albums that just dont have the substance (i.e. the new strkes record). It's hurt Download more because nobody in the past 5 years or so has released say a "nevermind," "bloodsexsugarmagic," "siamese dream," or even a "songs for the deaf." A really sweeping, huge rock record with ciritcal and commercial success.Its also hurt reading because the same sort of band would appeal to thier line-up, but equally now I'd say it's been a while since anyone has released a seminal indie album of that nature.

Couple this with the fact the prices have now gone above the £200 mark and you get what you see at reading this year. Slow sales, based on familiarity.

Jimmy eat world, by no means a poor act and with plenty of fans, 4TH on the main stage on saturday. I think that is a sign of stagnance right there.

[mrtourette]

It's a very good point by greenarmy101. I don't think we're talking about about massive selling albums , more a band or an album that will appeal to all types of genres that R&L tries to cover (metal, punk, rock, indie) and would be a universally popular choice across all types of people who attend R&L. Of course that popularity goes hand in hand with record sales but a big-selling album isn't the only requisite, the appearance of that band would have to be able to unite the R&L crowd to give the festival a massive shot in the arm. Green Day in 2004 and Foos in 2005 sort of thing, even though those two bands had realised massively commercially successful albums rather than seminal albums they still had the back catalogue and history to appeal to everyone.

Depends on how you want to look at it, Nevermind for it's glory is still Nirvana's one album that sold really well, their 3rd album did poorly.

[thetime]

I don't think we're talking about about massive selling albums