2021 Lineup

[mttJ]

Found the crowd for Biffy a little disappointing with the gated-off front portion, so much space about.

Yungblud and Wolf Alice were both great. Wasn’t a huge fan of Liam.

[NoBuses]

Do remember as well sometimes lateral flows develop a faint positive line if they’ve been left, that’s why you need to read them on the time limit it tells you 

 

 

[foolee]

Just got back from Reading, here’s my take;

- Entry - Never waited so long to get into white entrance before on Wednesday, what a nightmare that was. One small gate with no barriers so was a massive bottleneck. 

- Covid - Lateral flows all on the floor were negative, checks on entry and re entry from white campsite. Reading is my 6th gig/festival since Download Pilot in June and I’ve not had covid yet. Had a terrible cough for the last week or so but it’s not covid.

Crowd - Purple campsite was terrible this year. Haven’t camped since 2014 so not sure if it’s been like this a while but never seen so many dickheads.  Everyone on ket (do what you want but don’t make others feel uncomfortable), people getting robbed, some dealers near us saying they were going to burn our tent down and smashing his head against the wall, our tent got jumped on last night while we were asleep so we had to leave it. Not too sure what’s wrong with people. However everyone I came across watching bands and that I chatted to over the weekend were really lovely. If I ever camp again I’ll be staying in White. 

Food - Burrito near the lock up/pit/fr and the Pizza opposite the usual main stage were banging but everything else I had was either very average or horrible but I feel Reading is always pretty bad when it comes to food especially when compared to other festivals. I don’t usually come back thinking 2 food stalls are good so that’s a win for Reading but still need improving. 

Acts

Friday - Nothing But Thieves, Demob Happy, Inhaler, Don Broco, Sea Girls, Wargasm, Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes, Sam Fender and Ashnikko. Highlights were Don Broco, Sea Girls and Ashnikko. The crowd for both Broco and Ashnikko were very big and great atmospheres.

Saturday - KennyHoopla, Beabadoobee, Bob Vylan, Sigrid, The Kid Laroi, The Wombats, Two Door Cinema Club, Waterparks and Post Malone. KennyHoopla, Bob Vylan and Post Malone killed it. I enjoyed Beabadoobee and Sigrid in the sun was everything I hoped for. Pleasantly surprised by The Kid Laroi who we weren’t planning on seeing and Waterparks are a band I don’t know that I thought were quite good. The Wombats are also good. I do not understand why or how Two Door Cinema Club are so big and why did he have a really strong American accent, cringe. 

Sunday - Baby Queen, Tom Grennan, Blossoms, Yungblud, Gerry Cinnamon, Biffy Clyro and Liam Gallagher. I was a bit disappointed by Baby Queen and I thought Blossoms and Liam G were both a bit boring. Biffy Clyro were incredible and should’ve been the last act of the day and weekend, my only gripe was possibly too many new songs however they smashed the headline set once again. So so good. Yungblud and Gerry were both very good and got the crowds going. Tom Grennan wasn’t too bad either. 

I think the biggest crowd I saw was between Two Door, Post, Gerry, Liam G and The Wombats. Our friends said that Becky Hill had a huge crowd too. In the tents Ashnikko and Don Broco had the biggest in the tents from the acts I saw. 

Overall I had a great weekend with my partner and our friends, saw some amazing bands but I’d probably try to get a day ticket or camp in white if I go again. 

[NoBuses]

For a lot of acts this year people were going only to start mosh’s with no actual knowledge of the band, group of 4 at wombats asked me who wombats were and said they only came to start mosh pits haha 

[Andre91]

On the way back from Leeds right now. I’ll review bands later on but this will certainly be my last weekend at this festival. 
 

There were two stabbing in purple camp last night (security chased two lads through our campsite and warned us about the incidents). A girl was raped in Orange on Saturday and all weekend, w*nkers were lobbing cans of booze across the campsite, bottles of piss, air bed pumps etc. People were jumping onto others tents near us in the night and running off. 
 

This morning was chaos in the campsites; massive fires everywhere, thick black smoke, crowds of kids giving the stewards putting the fires out shit (some even throwing cans etc at them).  

The general atmosphere this year was the worst I’ve known it to be in eleven years. In the arena, so many people I encountered had no courtesy or decency when travelling around, pushing people out of the way, swearing at them to move etc. 
 

I saw lads groping girls in crowds and the amount of drugs at the festival is absolutely unfathomable. I have never seen so many empty baggies on the floor. As said above, enjoy yourself by all means but don’t be a prick to other people and ruin their time (I saw countless ketted up kids being so unpleasant to others walking around). 
 

It was overall a really unpleasant and, at several point, hostile environment at Leeds this weekend. 

[JimMacVeigh]

Wolf Alice…got to say, they were bloody excellent yesterday. Really enjoyed them. 
yungblud…great energy, but not for me. 

[JimMacVeigh]

1 minute ago, Andre91 said:

On the way back from Leeds right now. I’ll review bands later on but this will certainly be my last weekend at this festival. 
 

There were two stabbing in purple camp last night (security chased two lads through our campsite and warned us about the incidents). A girl was raped in Orange on Saturday and all weekend, w*nkers were lobbing cans of booze across the campsite, bottles of piss, air bed pumps etc. People were jumping onto others tents near us in the night and running off. 
 

This morning was chaos in the campsites; massive fires everywhere, thick black smoke, crowds of kids giving the stewards putting the fires out shit (some even throwing cans etc at them).  

The general atmosphere this year was the worst I’ve known it to be in eleven years. In the arena, so many people I encountered had no courtesy or decency when travelling around, pushing people out of the way, swearing at them to move etc. 
 

I saw lads groping girls in crowds and the amount of drugs at the festival is absolutely unfathomable. I have never seen so many empty baggies on the floor. As said above, enjoy yourself by all means but don’t be a prick to other people and ruin their time (I saw countless ketted up kids being so unpleasant to others walking around). 
 

It was overall a really unpleasant and, at several point, hostile environment at Leeds this weekend. 

Bloody hell, I’m sorry to hear that. I only did the day at Reading yesterday (got there around 4pm) and to be honest, I don’t think I could ever do that weekend fully again. 

[efcfanwirral]

2 minutes ago, JimMacVeigh said:

Bloody hell, I’m sorry to hear that. I only did the day at Reading yesterday (got there around 4pm) and to be honest, I don’t think I could ever do that weekend fully again. 

Such a shame because I thought 2019 was really good atmosphere wise at Reading! We were saying after a day at Leeds that we want to go back to Reading next time but maybe will reconsider that 

[JimMacVeigh]

Just now, efcfanwirral said:

Such a shame because I thought 2019 was really good atmosphere wise at Reading! We were saying after a day at Leeds that we want to go back to Reading next time but maybe will reconsider that 

I actually thought the crowd at Reading was fine yesterday, really alright…but obviously that’s one day. I reckon a whole weekend would’ve done me in. 

[mttJ]

10 minutes ago, Andre91 said:

On the way back from Leeds right now. I’ll review bands later on but this will certainly be my last weekend at this festival. 
 

There were two stabbing in purple camp last night (security chased two lads through our campsite and warned us about the incidents). A girl was raped in Orange on Saturday and all weekend, w*nkers were lobbing cans of booze across the campsite, bottles of piss, air bed pumps etc. People were jumping onto others tents near us in the night and running off. 
 

This morning was chaos in the campsites; massive fires everywhere, thick black smoke, crowds of kids giving the stewards putting the fires out shit (some even throwing cans etc at them).  

The general atmosphere this year was the worst I’ve known it to be in eleven years. In the arena, so many people I encountered had no courtesy or decency when travelling around, pushing people out of the way, swearing at them to move etc. 
 

I saw lads groping girls in crowds and the amount of drugs at the festival is absolutely unfathomable. I have never seen so many empty baggies on the floor. As said above, enjoy yourself by all means but don’t be a prick to other people and ruin their time (I saw countless ketted up kids being so unpleasant to others walking around). 
 

It was overall a really unpleasant and, at several point, hostile environment at Leeds this weekend. 

Tough to read that. Definitely felt like the atmosphere has been gradually getting worse but put that down to me getting older more than anything.

Glad you’ve stayed safe at the least.

[steviewevie]

16 minutes ago, Andre91 said:

On the way back from Leeds right now. I’ll review bands later on but this will certainly be my last weekend at this festival. 
 

There were two stabbing in purple camp last night (security chased two lads through our campsite and warned us about the incidents). A girl was raped in Orange on Saturday and all weekend, w*nkers were lobbing cans of booze across the campsite, bottles of piss, air bed pumps etc. People were jumping onto others tents near us in the night and running off. 
 

This morning was chaos in the campsites; massive fires everywhere, thick black smoke, crowds of kids giving the stewards putting the fires out shit (some even throwing cans etc at them).  

The general atmosphere this year was the worst I’ve known it to be in eleven years. In the arena, so many people I encountered had no courtesy or decency when travelling around, pushing people out of the way, swearing at them to move etc. 
 

I saw lads groping girls in crowds and the amount of drugs at the festival is absolutely unfathomable. I have never seen so many empty baggies on the floor. As said above, enjoy yourself by all means but don’t be a prick to other people and ruin their time (I saw countless ketted up kids being so unpleasant to others walking around). 
 

It was overall a really unpleasant and, at several point, hostile environment at Leeds this weekend. 

Blimey. They need to do something about that. Maybe make age restrictions stricter as it seems to have become a post 16 rite of passage thing where it's more about surviving the weekend. My daughter went but a lot of her friends dropped out because nervous about stuff like this, and so it proved. 

Edited August 30, 2021 by steviewevie

[Jonathan Jonathan]

The mosh pits on the first day were all over the place. Inhaler was the peak of this as early on and not loads of people knew the songs. People were opening up pits in the transition from choruses to verses and other odd moments and a bunch fizzled out.

[Tom Connolly]

20 minutes ago, Andre91 said:

It was overall a really unpleasant and, at several point, hostile environment at Leeds this weekend. 

have to say i agree, i stayed safe myself and stayed well away from the nobheads however the atmosphere was certainly unnerving and as said above, incredibly hostile. got to a point where on sunday night we didn’t feel comfortable as a group going down to piccadilly through fear of our campsite being robbed/trashed/burnt. the crowd were truly unpleasant and there was 0 sense of community or looking out for one another that i’d felt at my previous 2 festivals. 

on the whole i had an excellent weekend, saw some fun bands and will definitely be there next year however it’s so disappointing that the festival togetherness and spirit has just completely dissipated 

[iistroudley]

Just got back from Reading, the crowd this year was absolutely fucking awful. Security came up to us in Saturday to keep an eye out for a bloke who's going around sexually assaulting girls, tents and god knows what being chucked. The queueing for early bird Wednesday was the worst I have ever seen, took nearly six hours to get in.

Music itself was very good highlights we're Biffy Clyro, Don Broco, Holding Absence and Kenny Hoopla. Shame a few sets got cut short (Frank Carter and Boston Manor) but overall the music I saw was pretty decent.

The two main stages is such a terrible idea though, acts like Nothing But Thieves were drowned out due to the sheer size, get the radio one tent back.

Next year think me and my mates are considering going elsewhere, for the first time ever I felt too old to be somewhere (I'm only 21!) think it's very much lineup dependent but wouldn't shock me if I just did day tickets at Reading now.

[efcfanwirral]

18 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

Blimey. They need to do something about that. Maybe make age restrictions stricter as it seems to have become a post 16 rite of passage thing where it's more about surviving the weekend. My daughter went but a lot of her friends dropped out because nervous about stuff like this, and so it proved. 

 

9 minutes ago, Tom Connolly said:

have to say i agree, i stayed safe myself and stayed well away from the nobheads however the atmosphere was certainly unnerving and as said above, incredibly hostile. got to a point where on sunday night we didn’t feel comfortable as a group going down to piccadilly through fear of our campsite being robbed/trashed/burnt. the crowd were truly unpleasant and there was 0 sense of community or looking out for one another that i’d felt at my previous 2 festivals. 

on the whole i had an excellent weekend, saw some fun bands and will definitely be there next year however it’s so disappointing that the festival togetherness and spirit has just completely dissipated 

Sounds like Leeds campsites have regressed to mid 00s levels then. Definitely glad I didn't give in to the temptation to do a full weekend! 

[foolee]

As an extra to my post earlier I could see this going the way of T and V as it’s going that way with it’s booking policy but the only difference is it’s still selling out. I’ve been to both T and V towards the end of those festivals and I’d say Readings campsite crowd was worse than both this year. It sounds like Leeds was even worse. 

[Jack.194]

Yea honestly based on all these posts I can’t see myself doing the full weekend again and camping, just doesn’t seem worth it, plus I’m getting older now (only 24!)

That being said, has anyone who used to camp done the festival while staying in a hotel or something similar? I’m worried that the line-up will warrant a full ticket without me wanting to camp! I’ve stayed in a hotel with a day ticket once before, and it wasn’t too bad, but I really struggled getting a taxi when the day had finished.

[CG31]

Last night was quite scary actually I’ll admit. The crowds are all about pits now and it’s no longer about music, went to AJ Tracey and had to hold my friends hand and let her on my back for the whole set purely due to her being pretty small and being dragged here and there by random people. They also told me Aitch was scary and another mate was luckily saved from an awful experience by some people who saw someone trying to grope her. 
In terms of drugs, a lot of weed was smelt but that’s natural I think, I saw a couple of people doing some coke etc, but on the whole I didn’t see loads. I camped in yellow and the atmosphere up until last night felt good, but then a group behind us had a huge fire and started chucking camping chairs and tents on it which really shook me as I had to stay the night on my own. 
On the other hand, even though I went with a group of about 10 me and my best mate were most of the time the only 2 at sets. The rest spent a lot of time further forward or at 1xtra and Dance while we went to the main stage stuff and pretty much everyone we stood around were lovely. A few we’ve tried to keep in contact with because they were class company, but all in all in the arena apart from AJ Tracey everything seemed great 

[OliverC]

19 minutes ago, foolee said:

As an extra to my post earlier I could see this going the way of T and V as it’s going that way with it’s booking policy but the only difference is it’s still selling out. I’ve been to both T and V towards the end of those festivals and I’d say Readings campsite crowd was worse than both this year. It sounds like Leeds was even worse. 

If Reading went the way of T in the Park then there would be practically no big festivals left in the UK besides Glasto, but if Primavera end up bringing their festival to the UK like they planned to about a year back then that would be brilliant, so many great acts on their Barcelona lineup next year.

[Jack.194]

1 minute ago, OliverC said:

If Reading went the way of T in the Park then there would be practically no big festivals left in the UK besides Glasto, but if Primavera end up bringing their festival to the UK like they planned to about a year back then that would be brilliant, so many great acts on their Barcelona lineup next year.

Didn’t even know this was a plan, I would absolutely love that, do you know when it’d be - I’m a teacher, so constantly looking for festivals that line up with the summer holidays!

[foolee]

1 minute ago, OliverC said:

If Reading went the way of T in the Park then there would be practically no big festivals left in the UK besides Glasto, but if Primavera end up bringing their festival to the UK like they planned to about a year back then that would be brilliant, so many great acts on their Barcelona lineup next year.

I feel like APE are trying to do what Primavera are doing but with not as good acts. That being said I’m thinking APE will get some good acts next year unless Primavera do try and bring their brand to the UK. 

[efcfanwirral]

14 minutes ago, Jack.194 said:

Yea honestly based on all these posts I can’t see myself doing the full weekend again and camping, just doesn’t seem worth it, plus I’m getting older now (only 24!)

That being said, has anyone who used to camp done the festival while staying in a hotel or something similar? I’m worried that the line-up will warrant a full ticket without me wanting to camp! I’ve stayed in a hotel with a day ticket once before, and it wasn’t too bad, but I really struggled getting a taxi when the day had finished.

Is that reading or Leeds? We did a hotel for the one night this year and its pretty seamless with the shuttle bus, though a big queue in the mornings.

I remember Reading being much closer to the centre and we've considered that because it looks like its walkable? 

[OliverC]

6 minutes ago, Jack.194 said:

Didn’t even know this was a plan, I would absolutely love that, do you know when it’d be - I’m a teacher, so constantly looking for festivals that line up with the summer holidays!

Don't know when they were planning it for, I just remember them having blurred out pictures of London and LA on their site. 

They've confirmed they're bringing it to LA, but I believe they scrapped the plans for a festival in London.

Such a shame as if it was in the UK with a lineup like what they have scheduled for next year I would have probably went.

Edited August 30, 2021 by OliverC

[OliverC]

1 minute ago, foolee said:

I feel like APE are trying to do what Primavera are doing but with not as good acts. That being said I’m thinking APE will get some good acts next year unless Primavera do try and bring their brand to the UK. 

APE should grow with time.
They booked Tame Impala for last year and got Foals this year, it definitely seems like it's on an upward trajectory.

[Jack.194]

6 minutes ago, efcfanwirral said:

Is that reading or Leeds? We did a hotel for the one night this year and its pretty seamless with the shuttle bus, though a big queue in the mornings.

I remember Reading being much closer to the centre and we've considered that because it looks like its walkable? 

Reading, have looked at hotels in the city centre, but I’m not actually sure how far of a walk it would be.

Edit: Just as a side though, does anyone know if car parking passes can be used by people who aren’t camping? E.g. could I book a hotel and use the car park pass to park there each day?

Edited August 30, 2021 by Jack.194