Has the Reading/Leeds crowd become to "cool"...

[swede]

I havent been to Leeds since 2008 and i am returning this year. When I last went I saw The Music and Pendulum in the Radio 1 tent and the crowds in there were amazing, everyone just having a really good time. I also saw Metallica and RATM and they had to be two of the best crowds Ive ever been in at a festival, spec RATM.

My brother has gone every year Ive missed and he said he saw a def change in the crowd last year as for most of the bands he watched at the mainstage the crowd, especially the younger members of the crowd, would just stand about acting as if they didnt care, trying to look "cool", and the bands he saw in the tent, even Mumford and Sons, there was a lot of dickish behavior going on.

Is this really the case nowadays cos if it is its really sad that people have paid £200+ to stand and act like they dont care. This festival is 3 years in the making for me, first time since me and the wife have had kids that both of us can go together, and believe me I will be going absolutely nuts for the bands I want to see.

[jump]

To be honest I think it's just that as people get older they look back at the fest with rose tinted glasses and don't remember the twats from older years as much as the twats from recent years, with that being said it has never prevented me from enjoy the fest but maybe with the slow sales it'll elimante the twat element this year.

[swede]

To be honest I think it's just that as people get older they look back at the fest with rose tinted glasses and don't remember the twats from older years as much as the twats from recent years, with that being said it has never prevented me from enjoy the fest but maybe with the slow sales it'll elimante the twat element this year.

[Spud001]

All the 'dicks' I know who were planning on going to Reading this year just for the hell of it have got tickets for V instead, so as long as I don't see any of them I should be happy

Edited July 1, 2011 by Spud001

[kittycat100]

I think I know what you mean - in the last few years (and yes this might also be associated with me getting older!) there has been alot more 'trendy' types. It has become mroe and more fasionable to go to festivals, and R&L have been among the best for a younger more mainstream crowd as they are in the school/college sumemr holidays.

I think a case in point of this is that all the high street fashion shops now have 'festival' sections/ranges, the mainstream fashion magasines talk about festival fashion.

When I started going in 2001 the only mags that would have mentioned Reading and Leeds and other rock festivals would have been the music mags.

It seems to be for some alot more about a party than the music, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but does mean you don't always get the enthusiatic crowds.

I do hope that the slower sales this year is showing a turning tide in fashion and the music festivals can again be the domain of music fans (of any age) and the twats can stay away and burn shit in a field elsewhere!!

[Dukeeyyy]

Im 17, and have been going since 2003, and recently (last year) a lot of people from my school started going, and the years before, it has only really been me going to Leeds Fest. I think know R&L is the "cool" festival, and a lot of the time these days people don't go to the festival to enjoy the music, they go too get pi$$ed, which is a shame. I understand getting drunk, is a laugh and is what a festival is about, but some only catch 5-6 bands over the weekend. I think people do hold back now, which is a shame, i remember the first years i went, the crowd was mental.

[Jaybles]

No.....

Crowd is the same now as it was when i first started going in 2002. In my opinion.

[VCK]

Funny you mention it because it was the 2008 festival that made me realise that Leeds was "the place to be".

RATM got a good crowd but you have to bear in mind a lot of these people were bandwagon jumpers who were there just because the NME kept hyping up their reunion despite these people only knowing "Killing In The Name Of". And despite Metallica putting on one of the best performances I'd ever seen by any band, I thought the crowd was relatively subdued especially after hearing about their semi-legendary performance in 2003 when, by all accounts, everyone was up for it.

Likewise with the Manics. They were one of the highlights of the weekend and were entertaining as always but the tent was pretty empty for a headliner, especially one that happened to be one of the biggest British bands in the 90s. The crowd reaction for QOTSA was shocking too.

As people have said it's still not sold out so maybe this indicates that the festivals are starting to go out of fashion? Maybe the traditional core crowd will dominate the festival? Despite reports of this year's line-up being weak I can only count two, possibly three landfill Indie acts on the Main Stage placed higher than 7th, whilst between 2006 and 2009, the years that Reading and Leeds were arguably at the peak of their "coolness", there was Indie landfill aplenty.

[mrtourette]

Society changes, festivals are more accessible nowadays, indie/alternative music doesn't have as much of a stronghold or identity compared to years ago, all festivals want more punters and to reach a bigger market, etc. Of course crowds are going to change.

[rexclark]

Festivals as a whole have became more trendy. Look in Topshop/Topman, any fashion magazine, T4 etc.... they all go on about festival style, festival tips etc.... It used to be that you went to fests for the music not to constantly update your Facebook with pics of you wasted watching Mumford and Sons.

Glastonbury being the size it is still has a good majority of true festival goers but it's also full of your trendy types who spend all their time at the Main Stage getting wasted.

I know I'm probably sounding snobbish towards these people and to an extent I am but alot of the younger people going to fests now will get bored with it in a few years and move onto something else but hopefully there will also be a core of younger fans who do enjoy the whole festival experience and will do so for many years to come.

[Kyelo]

Im 17, and have been going since 2003, and recently (last year) a lot of people from my school started going, and the years before, it has only really been me going to Leeds Fest. I think know R&L is the "cool" festival, and a lot of the time these days people don't go to the festival to enjoy the music, they go too get pi$$ed, which is a shame. I understand getting drunk, is a laugh and is what a festival is about, but some only catch 5-6 bands over the weekend. I think people do hold back now, which is a shame, i remember the first years i went, the crowd was mental.

[The Mean Bean]

Festivals as a whole have became more trendy. Look in Topshop/Topman, any fashion magazine, T4 etc.... they all go on about festival style, festival tips etc.... It used to be that you went to fests for the music not to constantly update your Facebook with pics of you wasted watching Mumford and Sons.

[mrtourette]

I'm sure there are loads of people who go to festivals just to say that they've done one, and while most of them will never go back I'd like to think that a percentage will like it and will return year after year.

Edited July 2, 2011 by mrtourette

[VCK]

This is the sort of thing that pisses me right off, I read something in the paper about festivals being some crazy fad that the kids go to because it's a trend, it claimed that nobody knows who is playing, they just like the scene. That is such bollocks, live music will never die out, people go to see bands play because there are so many people who know there's nothing like seeing a great band live, that's what it's all about.

[allan14]

its crazy that people would spend £200+ on just going to camp, get pissed and not care about the music

[sjp_121]

I went to my first festival last year, Leeds, and I was 16, and had an amazing time. I love live music, and last year was without doubt the best weekend I've ever had in my life.

Festivals are amazing, and I really do go for the music. I had a few ciders last year, but I couldn't see the point getting absolutely wasted on the day bands were playing, and end up missing bands you like cause you're throwing up in a field.

Most of the people I know are "jealous" that I got to go to a festival, and that it is the "cool" thing to do, but I've wanted to go since 2007, and I aim to continue going to at least one major festival every year until I get too old to enjoy it.

R+L has always had the best line up for me, and I think the best size. Glasto seems to big, and every year I think the headliners are rather weak, based on my music taste at least, and Download's headliners are usually amazing, but the undercard isn't want I like in my music.

I got my tickets this year in December, because of how great last year was, and the rumours were looking pretty damn strong for me, and I can't wait to go.

I'm not gonna be a dick hopefully, I'm gonna get too see some of my favourite bands play outside, hopefully in nice weather *touch wood* and have a great time with a few of my friends, appreciating what I think is the pinnacle of live music, and have yet another stormer of a weekend

Sorry if I sound slightly preachy/hipstery, its how I feel about them really

[the_arsonist]

yeah as someone said before i think V is pulling a lot of the dicks away from R&L with it's chavtastic lineup and although im not going to reading this year i almost certainly will be next year and kinda hope that this increasing number of dicks subsides since the festival hasn't sold out yet...

[The Mean Bean]

To an extent this is true. No denying that there is still a lot of people who go for the live music experience, I'm one of them, but towards the late noughties (it's so cool that I can use that term now ) there'd be people from my school going to Leeds who don't even like the sort of music Reading and Leeds put on, but because it's trendy.

I remember speaking to a first timer before 2007 I think it was. I asked them which bands they're looking forward to and they said something like "I've not really checked the line-up but I don't care, I'm just looking forward to getting f**ked every day". Nothing wrong with being drunk at a festival of course, but it's first and foremost about the music.