Does anyone else feel ripped off?

[The Mean Bean]

Yes MCR are shit, but Beady Eye, Unkle and The Horrors just leave you spoilt for choice, three great acts for you to see there.

For me the festival is all about the line-up, everything else is surplus. And for my money, Leeds has by far and away the best line-up year after year, other festivals just get a few big headliners as the selling point, Leeds has great bands across the board for me. At any given point in the festival I can wander into a tent and see a good band, that's why FR get my hard earned notes.

[redandblack22]

This years line up is a disappointment.

[HOHEY]

You do spew out some incredible shite on here.

I enjoy Reading in a different way to Glasto, I also go with different friends. It's pointless comparing anything to Glasto as it's the best thing the UK does full stop. I wouldn't feel ripped off, but if I was an alien & went to both in a summer having never experienced any kind of music festival before, then there is only one winner.

[mrtourette]

i agree illegal aliens from the eurostar tunnel would love reading

[The Mean Bean]

I don't think illegal aliens are actually from the tunnel, some of them just come through there. I don't think that the tunnel has any indigenous people at all.

[danvb]

i see why you might feel this,ive been to 3 glasto's now,and this will be my 5th leeds,but i think of it as not worth comparing leeds or any fest to glasto,how much it has,what it offers and its vibe and history.

think of it it as glasto is a f*cking bargain,and leeds/reading is okay,5 days camping and normally enough bands who are good enough to justify the ticket. think of how much it costs to see headliners/2nd headliners at thier own gigs alone?.

The feel of each year changes with the line up and the type of people who like the line up coming,the KOL crowd was much different to the 08 metallica and RATM fans.

I think next years will be either cheaper,or a whole lot better for pleasing more people with a reallyy good line up.

LEEDS/READINGS pros over glasto:

Less walking!

less travel time down to the fest!

less on so less to miss and worry about seeing!.

more time with friends at campsite gettin sloshed.

still has silents djs,campsite entertainment,comedy.

Edited July 5, 2011 by danvb

[mrtourette]

It's all down to personal preference, although I had some great times I stopped going to Glasto 12 years ago and now I look at it and think thank f**k I don't go to a festival and have to put up with flags and chairs everywhere and a really limited selection of rock and punk. Plus I got sick of everyone saying how wonderful Glasto was and how much better than everywhere else it is. It's still a great place and should be commended for the attitude the organisers take towards charitable donations and minimising their own personal profit, but for me there's still enough going on at Reading to make it worthwhile.

[The Mean Bean]

Less walking!

less travel time down to the fest!

less on so less to miss and worry about seeing!.

more time with friends at campsite gettin sloshed.

still has silents djs,campsite entertainment,comedy.

[Benj]

Less posh w*nkers making the place an obstacle course with deck chairs.

[rivalschools.price]

Beady Eye

Unkle sounds (Awesome alternative)

The Horrors

Henry Rollins

4 very different alternatives to watching MCR.

[Yellow_Fellow]

Indie, Dance, Shoegaze/Alt Rock, Comedy

if none of those appeal to you, please pull your head out your arse and get out your little genre box.

[rivalschools.price]

Indie, Dance, Shoegaze/Alt Rock, Comedy

if none of those appeal to you, please pull your head out your arse and get out your little genre box.

[jump]

Not really,

Ive been to 5 festivals so far this summer and while Reading obviously isn't as good a value as Camden Crawl I get a lot of band for my buck music wise. I feel I'll attend more at Readinf than at other festivals.

I'd didn't go to Glasto but that is such a special circumstance not only in scale but diversity and the fact they can radical underpay or not pay acts at all in some cases.

I'd like to see £10-20 come off the price but even so I don't feel ripped off.

[Bisque]

I wouldn't feel ripped off if they made a huge (but controlled) bonfire to sit around on Sunday evening. Get an extra nights partying in. Last years Sunday was a bit of a disappointment an effectively lost out on an evening at the festival.

[2rare2die]

I wouldn't feel ripped off if they made a huge (but controlled) bonfire to sit around on Sunday evening. Get an extra nights partying in. Last years Sunday was a bit of a disappointment an effectively lost out on an evening at the festival.

[Dan R]

I'm sure they did this at Leeds one year to try and curb the trouble on sunday night, can't remember how well received it was though because i think we just stayed back at camp and had a drink. Not a bad idea though

[Swinning]

reading holds a fairly firm place in my heart; it was my first festival and i thought it was the absolute dogs bollocks. several years, a few readings and a few glastonburys later, it just seems hard to look on the event with a huge amount of excitement or affection. i'll be here this year, for the obligatory post gcse result piss up but after experiencing glastonbury and what a festival can really be, reading just doesn't really seem to cut the mustard. a big reason i guess is value for money; reading charges £200 a ticket for only 6 stages, an oppressive campsite arena system, nothing in the way of after hours entertainment, corporate branding everywhere, bad organisation, bad toilets, little atmosphere, no site decoration to spruce things up and a not particularly fantastic lineup (which is, in the end, the festival's only real selling point), whereas at a festival like glastonbury, for the same price (slightly less even, now i think) you get a 1100 acre site, hundreds of stages, much else to do than just watch flavour of the month bands on large stages, better organisation, often better bands, huge areas devoted to after hours partying going on until the early morning and even a free souvenir programme that's actually worth reading, a booklet with a proper wallet with all the stage times and a free bag given to you free as you go in. the same items at reading+leeds cost £8. almost a tenner to know the stage times, that's just taking the piss. plus, people don't feel the need to act like complete twats - there are other things to do at night than burn tents.

as fun as i know the festival can be, it just seems to be in the end, nothing more than a gigantic money spinner for festival republic.

Edited July 6, 2011 by Swinning

[Dan R]

So what did you see and do at Glastonbury that made it so much better an experience than Reading? Which bands did you see on those hundred stages? I'm intrigued... There's no way on earth that at Glastonbury you can see more bands over the weekend than at Reading/Leeds... It's impossible! Therefore surely Reading/Leeds is far better value..

Come on what made Glastonbury such great value...? Beyonce??? The queue to get in? or all the leg work?

Edited July 6, 2011 by Dan R

[Benj]

So what did you see and do at Glastonbury that made it so much better an experience than Reading? Which bands did you see on those hundred stages? I'm intrigued... There's no way on earth that at Glastonbury you can see more bands over the weekend than at Reading/Leeds... It's impossible! Therefore surely Reading/Leeds is far better value..

Come on what made Glastonbury such great value...? Beyonce??? The queue to get in? or all the leg work?

[Benj]

Speaking solely on what you get with the ticket it's much better value. Bands aside, as you could see the same number at each, you get entry to the site on the Wednesday (an extra £15) and a guide with stage times and the booklet to read (about £10 extra at R+L which last year didn't even include a booklet). So that's £25 difference straight away, before you account for the masses of late night entertainment on offer at Glasto. That said, it's not really fair comparing other festivals to Glastonbury.

Then it can be compared to other festivals like TitP. Out of R+L's 4 main stage headliners and 4 2nd stage headliners, T has 3 of each, and none of them headlining a stage, with more big names playing above them, as well as obviously expensive acts throughout the line-up, yet the ticket price is the same.

As much as I love Leeds fest, this year I am struggling to see how they've justified increasing the price, and I reckon that's why the sales have been so poor this year more than anything.

[mrtourette]

IF the line-up is what makes it value for money then it's entirely subjective. Also regarding the bullcrap about where the headliners are playing, if I dislike Plan B, Beyonce and Coldplay but like The Strokes and MCR then surely it's better value for money if I get to see them playing for 90 mins each rather than an hour at T?

Looking at another angle R&L's tickets may be more expensive but is has three full days; V only has two, T has a shorter Friday, Soni has a shorter Friday and doesn't clash it's acts on the main stages so there's less choice at any given time and IOW has fewer stages.

Also to re-iterate the main point that should be the answer to the OP, if you compare ANY festival in the UK to Glastonbury it's going to seem like you've been ripped off.

[evilduck]

I still feel like I get a lot of value for my money at Reading. On an average year I see about 30 bands over the weekend, and quite a few of those are bands that are big draws for me.

The lack of late-night entertainment doesn't bother me as I'm perfectly happy having a few cans back at the tent and then going to sleep. I did an all-nighter this year at Glasto with the Shangri-La and Arcadia areas and felt like death for half of the next day, meaning I missed out on a few choice bands!

I suppose it depends what you are looking for in a festival, but I'm mostly just there to see a large amount of bands in a small space of time.

[saints15]

Personally I want to do Glasto one year but I feel that if I do, I will have to try and do another festival too to try and combat all the clashes. 2013 is looking like it will be an expensive summer

[MEGABOWL]

So what did you see and do at Glastonbury that made it so much better an experience than Reading? Which bands did you see on those hundred stages? I'm intrigued... There's no way on earth that at Glastonbury you can see more bands over the weekend than at Reading/Leeds... It's impossible! Therefore surely Reading/Leeds is far better value..

Come on what made Glastonbury such great value...? Beyonce??? The queue to get in? or all the leg work?

[JC-Mo'Fucka]

So what did you see and do at Glastonbury that made it so much better an experience than Reading? Which bands did you see on those hundred stages? I'm intrigued... There's no way on earth that at Glastonbury you can see more bands over the weekend than at Reading/Leeds... It's impossible! Therefore surely Reading/Leeds is far better value..

Come on what made Glastonbury such great value...? Beyonce??? The queue to get in? or all the leg work?