2012 Lineup

[GRichards23]

Couldn't see them doing it at R+L.

[AcademicPistol]

Begs the question doesnt it?

Reason is, none of my mates wanted to go Download, i aint being no loner...

Aha i have a couple of plans up my sleeve...

[chriseede]

Wow you bothered to tell him, the fantasy line-up had way to many unrealistic bands in it for me to even go into.

[AcademicPistol]

Also GRichards23 did your mates not know that A7X were subbing System Of Down....... it's not to late to start making new friends...........lol

[GRichards23]

Thanks for putting me out of my misery mate yeah that makes sense now lol and when you say "plans up your sleeve" are you hinting some sort music based tattoo sleeve?

Edited November 14, 2011 by GRichards23

[AcademicPistol]

Like I said it would be way too expensive to book making it fairly unrealistic, but realistic on some levels. I think Daft Punk need to realise subbing slots are the only ones they are going to get outside of dance/smaller festivals like Bestival and Rock Ness. If they wanted to play T, V, R&L or Glasto, this is the kind of slot they'd get surely.

[AcademicPistol]

Aha, it's alright.

If i'm honest... not really no but the thought crossed my mind, far to diverse a music taste to make it look like sense.

Probably just individual tats dedicated to my favourite artists...

You have no idea how much i was p**sed off with them, most of em actually like SOAD which is even more annoying.

[chriseede]

You're right you did say that mate and i personally think Daft Punk are good enough to headline any festival but weather the organisers think they can sell them enough tickets is a different matter.

[luckysalt]

No i know, more suited to headline Soni or Download 2013 i think.

But who wouldve thought Biffy Clyro would headline so quickly? I certainly didnt.

[GRichards23]

I can imagine them now: You: "OMFG! System & A7X it has to be done guys" Them: "let's go leeds Pulp are playing" You: ......................wah? *vomits*.

[luckysalt]

Oh no i went to Leeds with a few mates from my hometown, going further than london and the islanders would get nosebleeds.

But yes, it was something like that.

I guess that is just how much i'd heard of em, only last couple of years when they have really shot up the table... *note to self* read up on bands to make sure you get the points right. Gosh i'm making myself look a right t*t tonight.

[adustlandfairytale]

Sorry to call you up on this, but what do you mean Biffy Clyro headline so quickly? You do know they formed in 1995, have had 5 albums out, played V twice, Download four times, T in The Park seven times and Reading/Leeds seven times. Gradually working their way up line ups for a very long time. Not sure if you knew, or you just thought they'd been out a couple of years.

[eFestivals]

I'm 17 and i have seen a love all 3 of those bands, and i know a lot of people of my age that also like these bands, i know they are older than a lot of the crowd, but a lot of the crowd like them.

In 2010 i was asked who bands like Arcade Fire are and they are a fairly recent band, whereas i highly doubt that there will be many people who attend the festival that haven't heard of those three bands.

I've not said that youngsters don't or won't like those bands.

But if they're the bands that R/L has booked, it's a fest with no future. I'll be amazed if they turn out to be the headliners.

We'll get to find out over the coming months.

[Hart Attack]

I don't understand the logic behind that... just because they could potentially have three older headliners one year, doesn't mean they won't have modern bands headlining in the future, or playing lower down the same bill as the oldies. Don't see how that adds up to the festival having 'no future'.

[eFestivals]

I don't understand the logic behind that... just because they could potentially have three older headliners one year, doesn't mean they won't have modern bands headlining in the future, or playing lower down the same bill as the oldies. Don't see how that adds up to the festival having 'no future'.

I've pretty much already explained what I'm meaning in earlier posts.

Reading isn't a 'classic rock' fest, or an 'ageing bands' fest, it's a fest where its strong point is 'new music'. That doesn't mean that it can't have old bands, but it needs to at least make a nod towards that IMO with its headliners.

If it doesn't then it ceases to distinguish itself from other festivals, and via that will lose the thing which drives its audience to attend. After all, it hasn't been selling itself on its line-up for the last decade or so (and quite possibly far longer), but on it's reputation as the place for youngsters to be to let off steam after finishing school.

That's not me saying that the line-up is irrelevant BTW - but until this year it was sort-of secondary. Young people knew that what it had would suit a wide section of them and their mates, and so they didn't really need to see the line-up to know they wanted to go.

By presenting three acts of that age - particularly at a time where it's starting to struggle in comparison to how it went previously - then it would start to become a different beast, where people decide to go only on the basis of its line-up. And when the line-up doesn't differentiate itself very much from what other fests offer (for example, those three acts could also headline V, or Download, or Soni), that starts to become a hard sell.

Reading currently has a unique place in the UK festie scene via the youth it attracts. It loses its uniqueness by having three headliners like that,.

Melvin is well aware how important it is for R/L to have a unique angle - it's why he's so keen to always try and have exclusive headliners. But my belief is that its uniqueness comes from more than just by having exclusive acts, and that Melvin knows that too - that it needs to have stuff that's of great enough relevance to the kids it attracts to keep those kids coming. I don't think that those three headliners would achieve that part of things.

There absolutely zilch about those three bands as headliners that says "this is 2012". They could have been the headliners at any point of the last 10 years (and perhaps a bit more). There's nothing there that's new for the kids, and so the kids will start to drift away elsewhere.

[thetime]

Where though Efests?

Where can they go for new headliners at a major fest?

Download - tallica and sabbath

V - stone roses

T - stone roses

Iow - mostly older headliners

So where do the kids go for the new headliners at major fests.

[jump]

Where though Efests?

Where can they go for new headliners at a major fest?

Download - tallica and sabbath

V - stone roses

T - stone roses

Iow - mostly older headliners

So where do the kids go for the new headliners at major fests.

[zahidf]

In attracting the 'youngsters', i think the undercard would be more important than the headliners. In the sense that there aren't any youngster bands i can think of who are big enough to headline!

[eFestivals]

There's a definite shortage of new bands, I know. I'm not trying to pretend that there isn't.

I've no idea what newer band R/L might find to be a headliner (tho I could make some guesses), but I'm confident they'll find someone to fit the bill who's newer than the 18 years (as it'll be next summer) that the youngest of those three is.

BTW, I'd class Jay-Z as 'younger' even tho he probably isn't. Being of a 'younger fashion' as he is would cover the sort of thing I'm meaning when I say they need something younger.

[eFestivals]

In attracting the 'youngsters', i think the undercard would be more important than the headliners.

For people who are buying on the line-up in any year that might well be right.

But for the sort of wider impression of the fest which causes young people to think of it as the place they need to be, they're of far less relevance. It's the headliners who set the lasting impression.

[JakeH91StueyG]

R&L need to stick to what they are good at... Which is taking a risk on a new headliner. Which is why i see Biffy Clyro/Bloc Party possibly doing a coheadline. This then bloods new acts into being festival headliners.

Biffy Clyro have been climbing the ladder for 16 years now, and they are fully deserving of a headline slot.

Bloc Party, despite being a largely unpopular choice with this forum, are massive and everytime they have played there crowd has been ridiculously big.

Bloc Party on top of the bill would do very well with those people leaving college and wanting to do one last big weekend before their mates get split up by going to different uni's. Bloc Party would have been a big indie part of their lives throughout the teenage years, so IMO MB doesn't need to fear not selling tickets with bloc party as a headliner.

Let's be honest 90% of us in this forum are die hard R&L fans and I personally never want to see it die. However, that 'lineup' spells the death of R&L in its currant format. As a new music festival. Thats not to say it will perish it will just never be the same, however, as I don't believe MB would do this to his festival. I am with eFestivals in saying Gigwise and their supposed lineup can suck my dick.

[jump]

^It wont be a co-headline. It has only happened the once in the entire history of the fest as FR wanted Pulp and they insisted on being headliners/co-headliners at all the fest thay played. Both those bands aren't big enough to make such demands. Libertines despite being arguebly the bigger act were booked as subs to Arcade Fire and that is how it will most likely play out if Biffy & Bloc are both booked on the same day.

[zahidf]

There's a definite shortage of new bands, I know. I'm not trying to pretend that there isn't.

I've no idea what newer band R/L might find to be a headliner (tho I could make some guesses), but I'm confident they'll find someone to fit the bill who's newer than the 18 years (as it'll be next summer) that the youngest of those three is.

BTW, I'd class Jay-Z as 'younger' even tho he probably isn't. Being of a 'younger fashion' as he is would cover the sort of thing I'm meaning when I say they need something younger.

[mrtourette]

I can understand why they might want to go for a guaranteed sell out after pushing bands like Arcade Fire and MCR up to headline status and getting grief and poor ticket sales for it.

However while Foos & Green Day would sell out a festival one year they have to consider the effect on future years, if R&L gets a rep as a festival for ageing bands then while those bands have helped them sell out one year the image of the festival that they contribute towards might also cause damage to ticket sales one or two years down the line. Of course the opposite is also true, while pushing bands up to headline status is noble and generally helpful for the music/feestival scene if R&L is going to get a bad rep for having weak headliners (and I'd be surpised if they would want to do that for long while taking hits for the festival scene as a whole) then it's understandable that they slip in some bankable names.

I guess that's why they have three headliners and multiple stages, that they should be able to find a mix for everyone that still helps them maintain an image as a home for up and coming bands but that can also attract big names. If Green Day were willing to play I don't think it would be an issue, both them and Foo Fighters are still relevant and interesting to the younger audience (it's not as if we're talking Def Leppard and iron maiden here) and as long as they were put with a younger band (ie not The Prodigy).

[eFestivals]

After this years ticket sales though, Melvin might want to consolidate first.

Yup, he might - that possibility had occurred to me too.

But I sided with Melvin being a braver than that. He's always struck me as an extremely smart guy, who considers any thing from all of the possible angles before committing himself, and I reckon the long-term view would trump a short-term view around ensuring they sold tickets in just one year.