Lineup 2018

[AdamJansson88]

MAIN: QOTSA, BBK or Skepta, Wolf Alice, Slaves
NME: Jamie T, White Lies

MAIN: Drake or Arctic Monkeys, Twenty One Pilots, Tyler the creator, Don Broco
NME: Enter Shikari, The Amazons

MAIN: Royal Blood/Catfish, Courteeners, ADTR, Run The Jewels
NME: The Wombats, Twin Atlantic

[BeddingatReading]

When I saw Fickle Friends at the weekend their singer brought up the heavily debated subject of lack of female fronted bands at the festival came up and she was praising the festival for putting so many on the main stage this year. She did say though that there aren't enough female acts headlining and to be fair looking at these predictions, there aren't many female fronted bands being predicted so I can see where she's coming from but I can't really think of which female bands could headline R&L... I can only think of Florence + The Machine (not even sure what her current status is) and Paramore. Can anyone else think of any who could realistically headline? 

[Steve1000]

35 minutes ago, BeddingatReading said:

When I saw Fickle Friends at the weekend their singer brought up the heavily debated subject of lack of female fronted bands at the festival came up and she was praising the festival for putting so many on the main stage this year. She did say though that there aren't enough female acts headlining and to be fair looking at these predictions, there aren't many female fronted bands being predicted so I can see where she's coming from but I can't really think of which female bands could headline R&L... I can only think of Florence + The Machine (not even sure what her current status is) and Paramore. Can anyone else think of any who could realistically headline? 

Arcade Fire. Dont see why it needs to be female fronted. 

[dentalplan]

43 minutes ago, Steve1000 said:

Arcade Fire. Dont see why it needs to be female fronted. 

My man.

Obviously I'm all for the fact that they're trying to balance the industry but even the initiative FR rolled out the other day stipulated it was for promoting solo female artists and bands with women "at the core" (i.e. songwriters/frontwomen) which is just papering over the cracks as the majority of bandmembers out there aren't songwriters or frontpeople. Should really be building up women who play other instruments and making them into icons (there are obviously tonnes of iconic male musicians who never sung a word) rather than the area where women are already most likely to be.

The singer from Fickle Friends has become somewhat of a spokesperson for this and that's fine but she's in a 20% female band talking about the injustice of a 15% female industry - it just seems odd that that's a projection of a band who's overcoming it.

As for the actual headliner question; barring a miraculous White Stripes reunion, no that's just about it because of the small pool of acts R+L has to choose from. The festival does seem to be taking the appropriate steps now and you'd think it'll get better year on year, so there's more of a brighter future than when this issue first made the press three or four years ago.

[Steve1000]

Agreed

Although you don't need to be part of a minority to speak out for them, just like how a straight person can speak out for gay rights etc - if that's what she believes in then fucking good on her, same goes for members of 100% male bands

Edited August 28, 2017 by Steve1000

[Mash011]

Get Lorde to headline off her next album imo.

[Andre91]

After the ridiculous crowd Giggs pulled and the awesome set he put on, I can definitely see there being even more Grime / Hip-Hop acts on the Main Stage in 2018. 

[dentalplan]

22 minutes ago, Mash011 said:

Get Lorde to headline off her next album imo.

She is shit

[Mash011]

8 minutes ago, dentalplan said:

She is shit

what the fuck delete this post

[Mattymooz]

5 hours ago, dentalplan said:

Fair predictions in here. Grim reading but definitely plausible.

Still looks like people don't see Royal Blood headlining outright. I don't know why the fest would have waited until (presumably) the end of their tour to have them coheadline with seemingly random names or subbing mega acts but this discussion is undoubtedly not gonna end until R+L announces it one way or another.

IMO the fact that they didn't show this year at all gives me doubts that they are in for a shot at headlining. Maybe they will coheadline but then why didnt they do a secret set this year? And why did QOTSA do one if they aren't going to be at Reading? If it wasn't for that I would 100% agree with you but something seems a bit off imo now.

 

47 minutes ago, Mash011 said:

Get Lorde to headline off her next album imo.

No way she will be big enough. Maybe she can sub but tbh her recent album didn't expand her fanbase at all. TBH the only bands with females in who are getting there that I can think of are Wolf Alice, CHVRCHES and I guess Haim (though off their recent album idek anymore)?

[dentalplan]

5 minutes ago, Mattymooz said:

IMO the fact that they didn't show this year at all gives me doubts that they are in for a shot at headlining. Maybe they will coheadline but then why didnt they do a secret set this year? And why did QOTSA do one if they aren't going to be at Reading? If it wasn't for that I would 100% agree with you but something seems a bit off imo now.

You don't think they're headlining cos they didn't do a secret set? That's crazy - only a couple of bands have done that.

I'd be fairly inclined to believe Queens were headlining next year if the Live Nation geezer didn't say they were doing "their own open air shows" next year, which to me seems pretty cut and dried. They will have played on Friday because they were doing promo for their new album that came out that day and they're friends of the festival.

[Mattymooz]

7 minutes ago, dentalplan said:

You don't think they're headlining cos they didn't do a secret set? That's crazy - only a couple of bands have done that.

I'd be fairly inclined to believe Queens were headlining next year if the Live Nation geezer didn't say they were doing "their own open air shows" next year, which to me seems pretty cut and dried. They will have played on Friday because they were doing promo for their new album that came out that day and they're friends of the festival.

Well no but the fact that Royal Blood is such a staple band for R+L makes it seem weird to me that they wouldn't play a secret set and makes me wonder if maybe something has happened behind the scenes that we don't know about? Just seemed very odd to me.

And imo QOTSA probably would be a pretty lackluster booking. They're big enough that they would headline outright but I'm not sure they're much of a ticket-shifter in the way that Muse or Eminem are. Maybe thats just me tho..... They also don't seem that Reading anymore imo, though I'm not sure what other fest they would play

Edited August 28, 2017 by Mattymooz

[kingcrawler]

21 minutes ago, Mattymooz said:

IMO the fact that they didn't show this year at all gives me doubts that they are in for a shot at headlining. Maybe they will coheadline but then why didnt they do a secret set this year? And why did QOTSA do one if they aren't going to be at Reading? If it wasn't for that I would 100% agree with you but something seems a bit off imo now.

 

No way she will be big enough. Maybe she can sub but tbh her recent album didn't expand her fanbase at all. TBH the only bands with females in who are getting there that I can think of are Wolf Alice, CHVRCHES and I guess Haim (though off their recent album idek anymore)?

I don't see Haim getting any bigger now, they left it too long between albums and that second album is so forgettable. They're a really fun live band so I hope they're still around for a bit but I can see their popularity dropping over the next few years.

[Mash011]

14 minutes ago, Mattymooz said:

 

No way she will be big enough. Maybe she can sub but tbh her recent album didn't expand her fanbase at all. TBH the only bands with females in who are getting there that I can think of are Wolf Alice, CHVRCHES and I guess Haim (though off their recent album idek anymore)?

She's massively more popular as a live act off the second album my dude. She's sold out her tour including Ally Pally which is double the size of her previous biggest UK gig at Brixton academy. Didn't do UK festivals before this year but she subbed at Coachella which is bloody huge.

[Mattymooz]

Just now, Mash011 said:

She's massively more popular as a live act off the second album my dude. She's sold out her tour including Ally Pally which is double the size of her previous biggest UK gig at Brixton academy. Didn't do UK festivals before this year but she subbed at Coachella which is bloody huge.

Yeah but she is way bigger in America than she is here. Royal Blood was the same release week and they reached #1 on the charts where as she debuted at #5. First week sales for RB were 40k whereas Lorde's was 17k. If people are doubtful that Royal Blood can headline then she isn't close to headlining Reading. Heck even Pure Heroine outsold in the first week with 19k sales and #4 on the charts (though albums were selling better back then).

IMO she is currently 3rd down or NME headline material (would prefer to see her on the NME tbh though her staging may not fit).

[Mattymooz]

13 minutes ago, kingcrawler said:

I don't see Haim getting any bigger now, they left it too long between albums and that second album is so forgettable. They're a really fun live band so I hope they're still around for a bit but I can see their popularity dropping over the next few years.

Yeah they kind of shot themselves in the foot with that one.

Also thought of both Clean Bandit and London Grammar who both have women in and would be high up on the bill

[thelemon]

Haven't been round here in time so some of these could've already been written off but I'm thinking something like:

Foo Fighters - Catfish And The Bottlemen - Wolf Alice

Arctic Monkeys - alt-J - London Grammar

Queens Of The Stone Age - Royal Blood - Skepta

Chase And Status NME headline.

There's often a Glasto headliner in the following year so Foos are a great shout, plus a new album coming out and a favourite of the festival, and they haven't played in 5 years.

Secret set also normally means a big slot the next year. I think QOTSA are definitely able to do it on their own now, and also Wolf Alice getting a big main stage slot looks likely.

Arctic Monkeys is a bit of a wild card but possibly a new album by then. If not 2018 then 2019. Swap for Royal Blood potentially?

Edited August 29, 2017 by thelemon

[dentalplan]

Heh. Forgot Chase and Status existed. They fell off pretty hard - would perhaps be lucky to get an NME headline slot.

Seems a fair prediction, if a little bit plain - the headline variety seems fairly nonexistent and two of the headliners played the same event only four years ago. I have my doubts that Skepta would play as low as third nowadays tho, and they'd have to think twice about having alt-J sub again too, but either is ultimately possible.

[dentalplan]

I'm, I'm doing it again...

[Mattymooz]

6 hours ago, thelemon said:

Haven't been round here in time so some of these could've already been written off but I'm thinking something like:

Foo Fighters - Catfish And The Bottlemen - Wolf Alice

Arctic Monkeys - alt-J - London Grammar

Queens Of The Stone Age - Royal Blood - Skepta

Chase And Status NME headline.

There's often a Glasto headliner in the following year so Foos are a great shout, plus a new album coming out and a favourite of the festival, and they haven't played in 5 years.

Secret set also normally means a big slot the next year. I think QOTSA are definitely able to do it on their own now, and also Wolf Alice getting a big main stage slot looks likely.

Arctic Monkeys is a bit of a wild card but possibly a new album by then. If not 2018 then 2019. Swap for Royal Blood potentially?

Arctics said recently that new music should be out by the end of the year so there should be an album by then.

One of the NME headliners next year has to be dnb at this point, just depends whether it will be Pendulum or Chase & Status.

[Mattymooz]

Just now, dentalplan said:

I'm, I'm doing it again...

Wow that Friday lineup looks weak. Are Jungle or Example really that big? I mean I would probably go see Royal Blood anyways but even so. Saturday looks pretty bleak too, 2 of the 3 acts I would wanna see clash (NBT & Tame Impala). At least the Sunday looks better lol

[dentalplan]

16 minutes ago, Mattymooz said:

Wow that Friday lineup looks weak. Are Jungle or Example really that big?

I would say so, yea. I actually thought Friday was the strongest undercard day which was the point cos of a new main stage headliner. If Twenty One Pilots, J Hus and Stormzy are weak in 2018 then I guess there'd be a problem...

[Mattymooz]

Just now, dentalplan said:

I would say so, yea. I actually thought Friday was the strongest undercard day which was the point cos of a new main stage headliner. If Twenty One Pilots, J Hus and Stormzy are weak in 2018 then I guess there'd be a problem...

21P and Stormzy are probably fine just not my cup of tea. Probs would have played J Hus as 3rd down on the NME but not on the same day as Stormzy imo. Was more looking at stuff like Amazons on 5th. That's gotta be the bigger leap than Blossoms did last year when they had a lot more mainstream success...

[Steve1000]

Does that Drake day have enough Drake appeal?

[Odessa]

7 minutes ago, Steve1000 said:

Does that Drake day have enough Drake appeal?

I reckon as it has Drake, yeah. So many people will have gone just for Eminem this year, anything they like on the undercard is just a bonus. Day tickets will be less expensive than a Drake gig so it's not really necessary to book anyone else along the same lines.