Lineup 2020

[foolee]

14 minutes ago, dum surfer said:

As much I can’t stand lewis capaldis music I don’t see his booking as unusual for the festival tbh

He has fans across all genres and he was booked at truck last year which is a predominantly indie rock festival which drew a massive crowd

his recent feud with Noel G also.. 

I don’t think this is any sort of sign the festival going a certain way and its not like he hasn’t played the festival before

Personally disagree and I think this could open the floodgates to acts like Sheeran who would never be on the festivals radar high up on the main which then starts to go on to the V territory. 

[defender4]

Just now, foolee said:

Personally disagree and I think this could open the floodgates to acts like Sheeran who would never be on the festivals radar high up on the main which then starts to go on to the V territory. 

capaldi isn’t quite sheeran my dude, but considering what’s just happened i’m not saying anything’s out of the question 

[Rhcp1]

3 hours ago, TornShaun said:

Yup! This for me personally is the worst Reading Line Up I’ve ever seen! 

Yep i second that its absolutely horrific. Take out rage and its V Festival. Sad times is there any hope in 3rd wave of acts if any? 

[dum surfer]

8 minutes ago, Rhcp1 said:

Yep i second that its absolutely horrific. Take out rage and its V Festival. Sad times is there any hope in 3rd wave of acts if any? 

This is ridiculous, how is this anything like V?

In what world would V ever have booked acts like ho99o9, 100Gecs or run the jewels

if reading ever gets someone like P!nk to headline then I’d happily admit its like V but until then

Edited February 28, 2020 by dum surfer

[Benj]

4 minutes ago, dum surfer said:

This is ridiculous, how is this anything like V?

In what world would V ever have booked acts like ho99o9, 100Gecs or run the jewels

As covered above its not like the last days of V festival but, if you look at the evolution from V Frsetival in 1997 to its last days there was a slow move to poppier acts that resulted in those final years.

Reading looks like its about to open those same floodgates, I don't think Capaldi is all that bad, its more the people saying and happily accepting the likes of Dua Lipa potentially headlining the festival in the next couple of years.

Reading needs to be very careful, as when fashions change (and they will), they may be left holding the mamouth ginger step child, while all the niche festivals fully clean up 

[Dukey]

Would be nice if they adopted a similar thing to TDCC and LC for Rage day  between RTJ and Courteeners.. Architects or Limp Bizkit

 

[metallimuse]

I’m happy enough with the additions but moving a band's schedule is shocking in my opinion. I’m personally buying a day ticket as I want to see a specific band/artist and the thought that I could spend that kind of money and the organisers may just change their day is shocking.

On a separate note though, Capaldi is an INCREDIBLE booking!

You may note like him but subjectively you can’t argue that booking him in a minor (not main) sub slot is fantastic business. He just hit 1 billion streams for ‘Someone You Loved’ the other day. Huge.

[Newjem]

100 gecs > Denzel Curry > Stormzy (half) > JPEGMafia

If the schedule ends up like this, that will be a great evening...

[TheWaters]

39 minutes ago, Newjem said:

100 gecs > Denzel Curry > Stormzy (half) > JPEGMafia

If the schedule ends up like this, that will be a great evening...

Genuinely way too excited at the prospect of this. Insane run, probably the best for my personal taste I've seen while I've been going to Reading.

[Tom Connolly]

this lineup is fucking terrible man. 

[BigBoyBridge]

1 hour ago, Newjem said:

100 gecs > Denzel Curry > Stormzy (half) > JPEGMafia

If the schedule ends up like this, that will be a great evening...

MADE FOR ME!!!!!! But the lack of good rock/other genre acts is super poor for me. 

Edited February 28, 2020 by BigBoyBridge

[gfa]

Fair play to the bookers, TDCC and Lewis Capaldi are massive bookings for 3rd down. The acts are strong they booked this year higher up just don't really work well together or fit the festival I guess

[Rhcp1]

2 hours ago, dum surfer said:

This is ridiculous, how is this anything like V?

In what world would V ever have booked acts like ho99o9, 100Gecs or run the jewels

if reading ever gets someone like P!nk to headline then I’d happily admit its like V but until then

Its not ridiculous. Its not ridiculous at all. if you look at the other comments most people on here feel the same with regards the direction the festival is going. Its slowly turning into V it looks like(I hope not as I have been going to leeds for over 10 years). You only have to look back at the line up over the last 10-20 year's its predominantly been dominated by Rock bands which as always been at the core of Reading and Leeds. The bands you mentioned only 1 of them are up high on the main stage. Take out rage against the machine from the Main Stage and you are mostly left with Indie/pop.

Compare that to even the likes of 2010 or 2014. I know trends change constantly but reading and leeds has always been a special festival because it has retained its policy of not constantly booking Boring, Radio Friendly Trending Chart music. Now look at the Line up so far this year. The Rock bands have been shoved into smaller stages and the main stage is filled with Chart/Grime Pop. Go Back even to 2014 the likes of Lewis Capaldi, Gerry Cinnamon, Mabel, slowthai etc you think they would have been placed all on the main stage!? Nope they wouldn't they would be put in the Radio 1 at best mid after noon at best or festival republic stage not the main. This is the problem. The Main stage is so weak this year in my opinion.

[R Shah]

Lewis Capaldi is not too different to Dua Lipa's booking in 2018. I'd argue the run of Dua Lipa / NERD / Panic / Kendrick, and then also Travis Scott into FOB would be way more "worrying" that the festival is going a "certain way" than this year's.

And they followed that up with Frank, ADTR, Royal Blood all in big slots. Our festival is safe, nothing to worry about it becoming too poppy in my opinion 

Also, side note - perhaps there was a deal between TRNSMT and Reading for that meant the lineup delay so TRNSMT could actually shift some tickets? I know lots of Scots who go to Leeds fest anyway and why wouldn't you this year? All 3 TRNSMT headliners + The King of Scotland himself Gerry Cinnamon!

Edited February 28, 2020 by R Shah

[TheWaters]

I am truly shocked that a zeitgeist festival such as Reading & Leeds is changing with the trends.

[CG31]

I’m confused, they book Lewis Capaldi who most people I seem to remember predicting originally and now it’s V Fest 2.0

Mabel and Lewis Capaldi are the only mainstream Pop acts, Stormzy is grime as is Aitch

Its a muddled lineup but not a bad one

[rivalschools.price]

The bizarre part about Reading and Leeds turning into V is the fact that when V was still going, R+L was the more successful of the two festivals,so why they are heading in that direction beats me.

[CG31]

Also, everyone’s gone from complaining about the Pit, which idk the artists but I gather the general consensus is one of it’s quite good, to now complaining about the Main Stage. Surely if you want the Pit to contain better artists you’re not thinking about seeing anyone on the main stage

[rivalschools.price]

6 minutes ago, TheWaters said:

I am truly shocked that a zeitgeist festival such as Reading & Leeds is changing with the trends.

But previously they changed with the trends without booking the pop acts

Don’t forget, pop hasn’t suddenly become trendy.

[rivalschools.price]

2 minutes ago, Gerard the Fab said:

Also, everyone’s gone from complaining about the Pit, which idk the artists but I gather the general consensus is one of it’s quite good, to now complaining about the Main Stage. Surely if you want the Pit to contain better artists you’re not thinking about seeing anyone on the main stage

Unless of course you were thinking of not spending the entire day in one tent and wanted to watch some bigger acts on the main stage?

[TheWaters]

1 minute ago, rivalschools.price said:

But previously they changed with the trends without booking the pop acts

Don’t forget, pop hasn’t suddenly become trendy.

While that's true, rock in general was much more popular over the history of the festival too. Now rock isn't particularly too much in the mainstream as it once was, naturally there's less big rock bookings. This is probably the first time period in the history of the fest where Rock isn't one of the most popular current genres so I guess the booking policy has changed to accommodate that somewhat. Pop as always existed but it's absolutely taken over again the last few years, pair that with the gap in the market from the lack of V festival and I can see why R&L is booking acts they previously wouldn't have in high slots. FWIW, I don't think R&L will ever go full on pop festival.

[Steve1000]

The FR and Pit stages are fuckin miles better than last years

[Quorn]

Reading was full of major rock acts when rock was bigger. Rock is far less mainstream now, so it’s no wonder they aren’t given as prominent slots

[dum surfer]

1 hour ago, TheWaters said:

While that's true, rock in general was much more popular over the history of the festival too. Now rock isn't particularly too much in the mainstream as it once was, naturally there's less big rock bookings. This is probably the first time period in the history of the fest where Rock isn't one of the most popular current genres so I guess the booking policy has changed to accommodate that somewhat. Pop as always existed but it's absolutely taken over again the last few years, pair that with the gap in the market from the lack of V festival and I can see why R&L is booking acts they previously wouldn't have in high slots. FWIW, I don't think R&L will ever go full on pop festival.

Exactly this!

The lack of V Fest has left a massive gap in the market and reading is the only major weekend camping festival left to fill some of the gap it left whilst not becoming a full on pop festival. 
 

Rock as a genre is very much on its last legs and until theres a renaissance Reading will continue to book alternative trends such as grime and pop acts that have broad cross genre appeal

The biggest change now is that compared to readings old days people now listen to more than one genre of music due to streaming so more and more people can venture out of their comfort zones without any financial implications 

EDIT: I am aware glastonbury is still around but glastonbury is not a contender as that festival will continue to sell out without the lineup being announced 

Also: Festivals like primavera sound and coachella are proof that mixed lineups that appeal to more than one genre work and can be successful. 

Edited February 28, 2020 by dum surfer

[Andre91]

1 hour ago, Gerard the Fab said:

I’m confused, they book Lewis Capaldi who most people I seem to remember predicting originally and now it’s V Fest 2.0

Mabel and Lewis Capaldi are the only mainstream Pop acts, Stormzy is grime as is Aitch

Its a muddled lineup but not a bad one

Stormzy and Aitch are as pop as Mabel. They’re not grime.