Lineup 2016

[thewayiam]

15 hours ago, Andre91 said:

You're off your head, mate. 

No, I just have a different view to you. Bar one maybe I don't think Neck Deep are very good at all, State Champs have more about them.

14 hours ago, Andre91 said:

After watching Parkway Drive on iPlayer, I get the impression that they just didn't like the festival and decided not to bother with Leeds. Constant comments throughout the set about the rest of the lineup being soft and the crowd lacking in energy, and that they would be the heaviest thing people would see etc. It really disappoints me as everyone knows Leeds' crowds sh*t all over Reading's anyway  

Well it was pretty obvious that it wasn't a good booking for the festival from the start, one that should remain at Download, or Soni if it ever does return.

[Chavmeisterdeluxe]

It was a perfectly fine booking and they went down great, it doesn't need to stay at Download and definitely not at Soni which no longer exists in this country.

[Pop Punk Sucks]

Was no issue with booking Parkway Drive for Reading. Went down fine and a booking like that or Five Finger Death Punch is fine as long as they give them a sensible placing for Reading, which both had.

[callum97]

9 hours ago, Pop Punk Sucks said:

 

People like you are the biggest reason that festivals like Reading are booking fewer and fewer heavy acts each year. You come on here and moan that they don't book heavy acts, yet this year they booked one of the most exciting young heavy bands around in Heck and you didn't watch them. They booked one of the most interesting heavy bands of the last 10 years in Mastodon and you didn't watch them. They booked one of the most exciting live heavy bands of all time in The Dillinger Escape Plan and you didn't watch them. 

I think you are missing the point, I get that there a still heavy bands to go and see (i like a mixture of things so thats why i didn't go and see Mastodon i saw the Chillis instead, Dillinger escape plan are good as well but again i was watching another band. The point i'm trying to get at is like 5 years ago there wasn't as much grime, rap and dance music and personally in my opinion i'm not a lover of that genre live. and that type of music is pulling in a more younger crowd each year, and hence why a lot of people are saying that the crowd for Biffy was better in 13 and it was the case for other bands as well. I was in the crowd for disclosure and have never been in such an irritating crowd, ruined it for me. i'm only 19 and i'm already starting to feel to old for this festival. next year i'm probs gonna do what coreyt409 did and stay off site or maybe stay in white. I get that people love different types of atmospheres i'm just voicving my opinion in that the atmosphere has changed in the last few years imo 

[JSmurphy]

10 hours ago, Pop Punk Sucks said:

Reading are booking fewer and fewer heavy acts each year.

[citation needed]

[PastRecedes]

My top 3 songs of the weekend:

K.O.G. & the Zongo Brigade  - Jabulani

Die Antwoord - I Fink U Freeky

Foals - What Went Down

[Foals/Disclosure]

Top 3 Songs

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Robot Stop

Foals - What Went Down

Maximo Park - Girls Who Play Guitar

[Pop Punk Sucks]

3 hours ago, callum97 said:

I think you are missing the point, I get that there a still heavy bands to go and see (i like a mixture of things so thats why i didn't go and see Mastodon i saw the Chillis instead, Dillinger escape plan are good as well but again i was watching another band. The point i'm trying to get at is like 5 years ago there wasn't as much grime, rap and dance music and personally in my opinion i'm not a lover of that genre live. and that type of music is pulling in a more younger crowd each year, and hence why a lot of people are saying that the crowd for Biffy was better in 13 and it was the case for other bands as well. I was in the crowd for disclosure and have never been in such an irritating crowd, ruined it for me. i'm only 19 and i'm already starting to feel to old for this festival. next year i'm probs gonna do what coreyt409 did and stay off site or maybe stay in white. I get that people love different types of atmospheres i'm just voicving my opinion in that the atmosphere has changed in the last few years imo 

Why do you think they're booking grime, dance and rap music though? Reading has always been a festival that, especially the undercard, changes with the times and goes with what is popular at the time with the 16-20 demographic. Grime and Dance especially are fucking massive in the UK at the moment. They're selling out Reading with ease booking loads of grime and dance acts on the undercard because hey guess what? They're by far the biggest genres for their target demographic. 

You might not like it but that's the reality of it. Why would they scrap the 1Xtra Stage or the Dance Tent when they're rammed all day? If they scrapped those tents they'd alienate their core demographic and the mid 20 year old rock/indie fans who have stopped bothering aren't suddenly going to come crawling back. 

Rock and metal music as the most popular genre is gone man. It's over. Let it go.

[Chinaski_]

And, just like in the early 00s, when grime and urban music are no longer 'cool', who will they need to sell tickets to? Rock and Metal fans.

[KingPin]

1 hour ago, Chinaski_ said:

And, just like in the early 00s, when grime and urban music are no longer 'cool', who will they need to sell tickets to? Rock and Metal fans.

This! They're just damaging the long term health of the festival IMO buy being so grime and dance heavy.

[AndrewSmith]

Friday

Frank Carter 8/10 - Smashed it, everyone that I spoke to who went loved them! Big things ahead for these guys after only 18 months in this band.

Nothing But Thieves 8/10 - One of my hometown bands and they didn't shy away on the main stage. They gave absolutely everything they had and seemed to love every moment of it.

Dinosaur Pile Up 7/10 - Only got in to these recently, decent crowd for an early act in the pit and had some good pits too. I think I was a little to drunk for this one.

Nothing More 6/10 - Same again, I'd not really heard much of there music. They were ok but nothing really memorable for their set.

Crystal Castles 7/10 - I'm a fan of the new album and I like Edith but felt they had the wrong crowd in front of them who were more interested in Twenty One Pilots coming on next.

Disclosure 3/10 - Not my thing at all. Could've just stuck on one of their albums and had two people standing up their and I wouldn't have known any different.

Foals 9/10 - Absolutely mental! Loved the crowd and how into it everyone was, nearly broke my ankle in the pits. Foals smashed it! The best I've seen them!

Saturday

Sundara Karma 7/10 - Watch this guys from quite far back with a beer, great music to chill out to.

Clutch 6/10 - New band for me, not the kind of music that clicks with me but again it was enjoyable enough to sit back with a beer and watch.

Skindred 8/10 - Awesome as always, great crowd pleasers and a high energy performance.

You Me At Six 9/10 - Packed out The Pit which was overflowing, got in nice and early to get in the pits. Josh genuinely looked amazed at the turn out and I kept seeing him say offf the mic "holy fuck"! Can easily see them co-headlining next year with a decent album coming up.

Courteeners 5/10 - Love their music but the crowd they attract is full of idiots waving flares about everywhere. Every single song. It's ridiculous and unnecessary. Stayed well out of the main crowd for this one.

Imagine Dragons 7/10 - Nothing new but still a solid performance. Still covering Song 2 every time I see them.

RHCP 9/10 - I'd set my expectations really low for this after a lot of people on here commented on how poor they had been previously. The set list they played couldn't have been much better for me and they put on a great performance.

Sunday

Basement 8/10 - Great first act for my Sunday with a fairly big crowd for such an early performance. Really glad to see them starting to get a good amount of recognition.

Coheed and Camria 7/10 - Had a good crowd until the rain came then a lot of people flooded over to the Festival Republic, NME etc. Lead singer slipped a couple of times but tried his best to style it out and always with a smile.

Deaf Havana - 7/10 - Couldn't get anywhere near them as the tent was rammed because of the rain so left halfway through the set. Most people at the back weren't really interested and were using it as more of a chance to escape the downpour.

Sleeping With Sirens 4/10 - Whingey lead singer with awful stage presence. Personally I don't understand how they got this slot as they crowd was pretty empty too.

Five Finger Death Punch 7/10 - First time seeing these guys, entertaining bunch and interacted with the crowd well. 

A$AP Rocky 0/10 - Although this kind of music isn't my thing, my friends wanted to go so I gave it a try. Literally spoke more than he performed any of his songs, constantly repeating 'mosh pit', 'hands up' and 'what' while dropping in bomb sounds in between every word he says. How does this music get so much publicity? I understand the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Eminem and Nas are great lyricists but A$AP Rocky getting a slot after 5pm on the main stage.... come on. Worst act I've ever seen live.

The Vaccines 6/10 - Love The Vaccines but didn't love this set. Justin looked off of his face and I think they perform so much better in the tents and in smaller venues like Brixton. 

Fall Out Boy 8/10 - Fully justified their 'co-headline' position. So much effort went in to the overall production and they didn't mess around and just got on with hit after hit.

Biffy Clyro - 10/10 - I'm a massive Biffy fan anyway but didn't expect anything as good as that in terms of stage set up, crowd or sound (although the bass massively drowned the vocals on a lot of the heavier songs). I can't complain as I've felt in other years the sound has been too quiet. Only disappointment is that they didn't play On A Bang but I'd already seen it before.

 

Outside of that, I camped in Purple for the first year ever. Won't be doing that again and will try to get back in to Green for next year. Really enjoyed this year even after all my pessimism about the lineup beforehand. Bring on my 7th year for 2017!!

[Yellow_Fellow]

4 minutes ago, KingPin said:

This! They're just damaging the long term health of the festival IMO buy being so grime and dance heavy.

You are wrong

[Chinaski_]

Grime is only popular because rock is on the wane at the moment. I remember when UK garage was supposed to dominate music for the next decade, but it was only 'cool' at the time because mainstream rock music was either post grunge or MOR shit like Stereophonics, Travis etc. Then along came The Strokes, The White Stripes etc. and rock became popular again, which lead to popularity of The Killers, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys etc. You just need the next big thing to come through and guitars will be cool again and there will be less grime on the bill.

[AndrewSmith]

Just now, Chinaski_ said:

Grime is only popular because rock is on the wane at the moment. I remember when UK garage was supposed to dominate music for the next decade, but it was only 'cool' at the time because mainstream rock music was either post grunge or MOR shit like Stereophonics, Travis etc. Then along came The Strokes, The White Stripes etc. and rock became popular again, which lead to popularity of The Killers, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys etc. You just need the next big thing to come through and guitars will be cool again and there will be less grime on the bill.

And next year is the recovery with the likes of Kasabian, Kings of Leon, Metallica, Green Day, Arcade Fire, Gorillaz, The Killers, The Rolling Stones, The Shins, Vampire Weekend, Pixies, You Me At Six, Slaves, Twin Atlantic, Young Guns, TDCC, Korn etc. all due to release albums.

[callum97]

3 minutes ago, AndrewSmith said:

And next year is the recovery with the likes of Kasabian, Kings of Leon, Metallica, Green Day, Arcade Fire, Gorillaz, The Killers, The Rolling Stones, The Shins, Vampire Weekend, Pixies, You Me At Six, Slaves, Twin Atlantic, Young Guns, TDCC, Korn etc. all due to release albums.

I'm hoping!! I can't see Reading booking Korn but i would love to seem them again their new stuff is sounding just like 90s Korn

[Pop Punk Sucks]

Grime and Dance music isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Reading don't need to worry for now because there will always be tens of thousands of middle class kids that want to go to a summer festival and get off their nut on booze and alcohol away from mum and dad for the weekend. We're surely not that far away from seeing a full on grime headliner. BBK will certainly play a much bigger slot in a few years time, as will Stormzy. 

[Chinaski_]

You can't build an entire festival's fanbase on 16-year-olds with rich mummies and daddies. If they think they can, then the festival will die off. And it hasn't always been that way, yes there were drunk kids when I went too, but they still booked big alternative acts to balance out the Radio 1 shite. The problem is now the line up is littered with only that. 

[KingPin]

1 hour ago, Chinaski_ said:

You can't build an entire festival's fanbase on 16-year-olds with rich mummies and daddies. If they think they can, then the festival will die off. And it hasn't always been that way, yes there were drunk kids when I went too, but they still booked big alternative acts to balance out the Radio 1 shite. The problem is now the line up is littered with only that. 

Exactly, the festival has progressively been booking more and more of this shite, since 2010, and since then, bar this single solitary year, the festival has been selling worse and worse and worse year on year. I really do think that the perceived rarity of RHCP at festivals and in the UK in general massively helped out ticket sales combined with the 5 headliner gimmick they pulled, I fully expect another shitly sold year next if as similar style of line up is booked, especially with the headliners currently being talked about. 

The festival is fucked if it keeps booking rap and dance shit whilst banking on the 16-18 years olds, and for this reason alone the best placed major festivals are Glastonbury (duh) and Download in terms of them actually surviving. The biggest issue download faces is that it's a massive fucking treck, and they get so unlucky with the weather, which is not good for all the older folk who go there, but it's the older folk who will keep the festival going past the likes of Leeds (Reading won't die IMO), Creamfields, Boomtown etc. of which I expect a lot to be RIP in 10 years or so.

[JSmurphy]

6 minutes ago, KingPin said:

since then, bar this single solitary year, the festival has been selling worse and worse and worse year on year.

Have you got a source for this? I'm not calling BS I'm just genuinely interested. Also Boomtown is pretty much hottest festival the UK has for offer right now so I can't see it dying off any time soon.

Edited August 31, 2016 by JSmurphy

[KingPin]

14 minutes ago, JSmurphy said:

Have you got a source for this? I'm not calling BS I'm just genuinely interested. Also Boomtown is pretty much hottest festival the UK has for offer right now so I can't see it dying off any time soon.

Whilst Reading pretty much has stayed unchanged year on year, in terms of campers it's been decreasing pretty consistently for Leeds since 2010, with notable exceptions being 2013 and this year, with 2015 maybe having 50k tops people in it?

Also how much longer are you expecting the fad that Boomtown is riding off of to continue? especially when MD, which has been a BIG part in the huge surge of electronic music since 2010 (with the main reason being the easy to create the stuff) will inevitably fall away in quality again in the future and people fry their brains so bad they can't roll on it anymore? (for this reason alone I'm expecting Meth to boom in Europe).

[JSmurphy]

26 minutes ago, KingPin said:

Whilst Reading pretty much has stayed unchanged year on year, in terms of campers it's been decreasing pretty consistently for Leeds since 2010, with notable exceptions being 2013 and this year, with 2015 maybe having 50k tops people in it?

Also how much longer are you expecting the fad that Boomtown is riding off of to continue? especially when MD, which has been a BIG part in the huge surge of electronic music since 2010 (with the main reason being the easy to create the stuff) will inevitably fall away in quality again in the future and people fry their brains so bad they can't roll on it anymore? (for this reason alone I'm expecting Meth to boom in Europe).

Never touched the stuff but I really don't think the success of Boomtown hinges on the quality of MDMA..

[KingPin]

2 minutes ago, JSmurphy said:

Never touched the stuff but I really don't think the success of Boomtown hinges on the quality of MDMA..

I'd bet more than half the crowd at places like Cream and Boomtown is on at least a bit of MD.

[Yellow_Fellow]

2 hours ago, Chinaski_ said:

You can't build an entire festival's fanbase on 16-year-olds with rich mummies and daddies. If they think they can, then the festival will die off.

you are wrong

[Matt42]

1 hour ago, KingPin said:

Whilst Reading pretty much has stayed unchanged year on year, in terms of campers it's been decreasing pretty consistently for Leeds since 2010, with notable exceptions being 2013 and this year, with 2015 maybe having 50k tops people in it?

Also how much longer are you expecting the fad that Boomtown is riding off of to continue? especially when MD, which has been a BIG part in the huge surge of electronic music since 2010 (with the main reason being the easy to create the stuff) will inevitably fall away in quality again in the future and people fry their brains so bad they can't roll on it anymore? (for this reason alone I'm expecting Meth to boom in Europe).

 

There are people on drugs at every festival

Boomtown is growing in popularity because people are bored of going to gigs in fields - they want to go to an event, A FESTIVAL

[Chinaski_]

31 minutes ago, Yellow_Fellow said:

you are wrong

How so? I'm interested to hear how a 80000 dual site festival can survive based only on a small target audience.