2021 Lineup

[JamieB1830]

something to consider

 

the festival was very aggressive and drug-fuelled this year more than most, yes

but everyones been stuck in lockdown for nearly 2 years

i feel like next year will be far better

[TheWaters]

Great weekend but i think it’ll be my last Reading, or at least my last paid Reading i could be open to volunteering. I’m only 19 myself and already feel too old for it and almost out of place wandering round with my over 18’s wristband haha

 

most acts i was very impressed with, stormzy was one of the best headline sets i’ve ever seen, disclosure were amazing, sam fender, tdcc & aj tracey were all absolutely quality too not to mention wolf alice, bob vylan, blossoms, don broco, declan mckenna, catfish, shy fx and crucast. i was quite disappointed by the wombats and nothing but thieves but i’ll put both down to sound issues. bad boy chiller crew were unfortunately underwhelming too. was very excited for them but it was basically over before they really got going 

[nathanh]

Thanks you lot for making my first Reading in here good and fun to speculate, see you over in the 2022 forum

[andywatts1995]

1 hour ago, Ferda said:

Staying in the hotel since 2014, works great for me while in Reading. The Guest gate is open for exit in the evening which makes the walk significantly shorter, it's under 2 km to the city center in the night so you can make it in 20 minutes if you are really fast. Used to camp in white which is pretty much a similar distance, can't complain at all 😉

How does that work out price wise?

[wro_lap]

I wasn’t there this year, but for anyone who was: did Alan make it?

[sacred shape]

Leeds:

Best act of the weekend: Chapter and Verse or Holding Absence

Act that most exceeded expectations: IDK How - love them already but they blew it out of the park - very tight and seemed to have a big crowd for their slot/size

Best new act you discovered: Dead Poet Society, Badflower, STONE, Yard Act (too many to choose from)

Best musical moment (song, crowd, etc): Loathe playing Aggressive Evolution with Kadeem's arm pit in my face

[thewayiam]

On 8/29/2021 at 10:27 AM, efcfanwirral said:

Yep was very similar to that last Manchester gig, though fade away was a nice surprise! 

The girlfriend loved Biffy but I was getting a bit frustrated with all the running around and queues so just went to get a drink and roam, though really that just meant 25 mins in a bar queue... they sounded amazing and I kind of regret that now! 

The festival I just went to was shocking in organisation. Really really bad. No one working there barely knew anything. Acts pulling out, like big acts with no announcement. Acts moving stage with nothing. This year is literally just a we have your money everywhere.

14 hours ago, Rotinajer said:

Second this. 
 

campsites we’re filled with c**ts this year. Launching anything and everything, and jumping into tents

we usually leave Monday morning, but we’ve headed off tonight because of how unsafe the atmosphere feels

Like below. 2012 leeds camp was full of dickheads.

9 hours ago, she bangs the drums said:

Probably looking at 10% of attendees catching it? So 7,500 from Leeds and 8,500 from Reading? 

https://inews.co.uk/news/health/boardmasters-festival-new-delta-strain-cornwall-event-1172393/amp

 

We aren't expecting anything different are we? 

9 hours ago, Gerard the Fab said:

Yh I’ve heard through my mates of 2 deaths. One from ecstasy who died in hospital and my friends said he saw a body bag being carried from the dance stage. At Aitch a girl lost a finger crushed against a barrier. It’s so tragic that people take it to that extent

in other news Gerry Cinnamon yesterday was one of the best things I’ve ever seen. Liam slightly underwhelming and Biffy were class as always. Wolf Alice we’re good the crowd felt tiny tho same with Blossoms

This is why I'm 100% against yhe use of those types of drugs. I mean I'm already aware I'm already 16 years too old on average for it. 2012 was when i decided never camp again.

8 hours ago, Ryan1984 said:

Went for the day yesterday. Wolf Alice were great but seemed to have a very short set, Biffy awesome and Liam good but the sound was all over the place, which I think affected the atmosphere. Lauran Hibberd, Holly Humberstone, Fur all good as well.

Saw a few lateral flow tests thrown on the floor but all negative. Thought they did the Covid requirements well (at the day entrance anyway). What was with the queues for food? Seemed crazy busy all day? Does going cashless hold things up?

What was the general view on the two main stages? I liked it.

Negative doesn't mean strictly that though unfortunately.

[Ferda]

54 minutes ago, andywatts1995 said:

How does that work out price wise?

Depends where do you stay and when do you book - you can get a hotel room for a normal Reading price (50-70 per night) if booking early, otherwise you pay festival premium. I stayed at Pink Moon Camping originally as I didn't want to bring my camping gear over on a plane but managed to get a hotel room for the same price so switched to hotel a few years back.  Sometimes it gets more expensive when I am late with booking, etc. but on average it's not that much different from Pink Moon

[gfa]

Got back a bit ago, feeling dreadful still but was a fantastic weekend! Of Latitude, Boardmasters and Reading it was probably my favourite festival this year despite some of the points everyone else mentioned (moshing, early bird queue, campsite fires etc).

Disclosure probably have to be my favourite set of the weekend, really cannot see myself going next year if there isn’t a dance headliner - would love to see maybe Bicep or someone step up to the headline spot, think my taste is just changing a bit. The two main stages had its flaws but having both headliners in the dark is fantastic. Easy Life and Gerry must be up there too for me, worser ones probably Blossoms and Catfish - both good singalongs still but just not fantastic especially Catfish. Bakar was a nice surprise. Did anyone else see Niko B - he couldn’t fill the set so cut his songs half way through on 2 of them and just started again was quite funny.

re bad stuff - was in orange basically where i was in 2018 and i don’t remember fires before but maybe i was asleep. Lots of deodorant fires etc - boardmasters crowd was significantly more calm in the campsites but is maybe a tad older. Security was appalling versus Boardmasters, obviously nice for taking stuff in but not brilliant really. No dogs at arena entrance kind of surprised me and no searches on entry whatsoever unless sniffed by dog from what I saw. Early bird queue was long but it does say 6pm so fair enough I guess. Moshes were so bad as well but what can you do eh, they’ll learn. Friends of mine almost bought those bad blue louis vuittons but the dealer stopped replying so dodged a bullet there as well. Definitely a great weekend and just the right level of chaos/calm for me where we were camped.

[NoBuses]

2 minutes ago, gfa said:

G. Did anyone else see Niko B - he couldn’t fill the set so cut his songs half way through on 2 of them and just started again was quite funny.

 

Just a reload wasn't it?

[gfa]

4 minutes ago, NoBuses said:

Just a reload wasn't it?

Yeah I didn’t really know what to call it, was an interesting choice. Great set 

[NoBuses]

32 minutes ago, gfa said:

Yeah I didn’t really know what to call it, was an interesting choice. Great set 

Very common in grime and garage live sets, he was good but I thought his comments after each song were the best bits

[zahidf]

Sounds like fun!

 

 

 

[gfa]

1 minute ago, NoBuses said:

Very common in grime and garage live sets, he was good but I thought his comments after each song were the best bits

Yeah, was very Niko B bringing his family on at the end too haha. Cheers for clearing that up

[andyrhodes24]

I’ll do my bands etc later but a few thoughts on Leeds as a whole off the back off everyone else’s comments.

Camps: Staying in the campervan bit I can’t comment much on the campsites. Brown looked quiet from where we were but even green looked a livelier than normal. Saw the pit headliners over Stormzy and Post Malone but the walks back to camp we’re quick by trader’s alley/the fairground etc.

Arena: Didn't see much trouble in the arena (besides some lad getting launched off the dodgems by the bloke) but it was insanely busy. We adopted some poor lad off his box after his mates kindly left him so there were definitely some bellends about but no more than usual in our experience. The layout of the two main stages at Leeds with MSW being in the main thoroughfare to MSE was utterly stupid - the crowds for any act on MSW from mid afternoon onwards, plus the queue opposite, meant the entire arena was pretty much gridlocked. It was a waste of time going to the pit/lock up/dance stages for the shorter sets. Aitch at about 5pm was dangerously rammed with people shoving through the paths with no regard for anyone else’s safety.

Food/bars/cashless: The food and bars were shocking as well. The bars ran out of red bull for my smuggled spirits and big wines on day one. No signal for a lot of the food even before it got busy, but the bars did contactless all day. We also managed to stream part of the Leeds match so it didn’t make much sense.

Overall: Overall another belting weekend as usual but not without its problems. Also a sad state of affairs with the pit/lock up being dead all weekend, obviously the demographic has changed but no one is going to fight past the MSW crowd to see a small band do a six-song set. It won’t put me off going, tempted to buy my 2022 ticket this week!

[andyrhodes24]

40 minutes ago, zahidf said:

Sounds like fun!

 

 

 

“Bare positive covid tests” - I don’t doubt there was but no one talks to their dad like that.

CC: Didn’t Happen of the Year Awards

[iistroudley]

Be intrigued to the level of positive tests, a few of my mates were concerned about the amount of coughing come Sunday, that's just the ten tonne of dust in everyone's lungs!

[TownNation]

What a weekend, I hope you all enjoyed!

 

as for COVID etc. Thankfully don’t have it, but I’m coughing A LOT today. Think it’s when you’ve consumed too much alcohol though - it’s happened before 😂 day or 2 to recover then ready to go again.

 

Hope you all enjoyed. See you all in the 2022 forum!

[__Phoenix]

As an 18 year old I can assure you that no one says 'bangin' anymore either

[__Phoenix]

I'm sure the two stages will be the main talking point this year so i'll just touch on it. I think it could work and obviously it's their first year doing it so they should learn from the issues. There definitely needs to be larger gaps (around 15 minutes instead of 5) to get from MSW to MSE. The organisation of set times were poor as well. Everyone at The Wombats dangerously sprinted to TDCC which was expected, I think if they do it again they should ensure that similar bands/artists play on the same main stage to avoid a scene like the charge of the light brigade. Other than that though it was great going to sleep knowing i've seen 10+ high level acts in the day through the idea of two main stages.

[incident]

1 hour ago, andyrhodes24 said:

“Bare positive covid tests” - I don’t doubt there was but no one talks to their dad like that.

I definitely do doubt that the handful of anecdotal reports that there was loads of positive tests left lying around.

While I can certainly believe that there are people (and amongst the R+L audience, probably a fair few) who'd knowingly ignore being positive and go about their weekend regardless - if they're of that mindset, then why would they bother taking the test in the first place? They could just get the ID number and simply register it as negative on the NHS web site without faffing around sticking things up their nose or down their throat. I'd believe it a lot more if the claims were of discarded unused tests.

[andyrhodes24]

18 minutes ago, incident said:

I definitely do doubt that the handful of anecdotal reports that there was loads of positive tests left lying around.

While I can certainly believe that there are people (and amongst the R+L audience, probably a fair few) who'd knowingly ignore being positive and go about their weekend regardless - if they're of that mindset, then why would they bother taking the test in the first place? They could just get the ID number and simply register it as negative on the NHS web site without faffing around sticking things up their nose or down their throat. I'd believe it a lot more if the claims were of discarded unused tests.

I only saw two tests on the floor all weekend, both negative. I did see a photo of a positive result from Reading either on Twitter or here. Did a test last night at camp and one at home today, both negative - I was convinced going into the weekend that I’d catch it.

Being honest, covid barely crossed my mind to say it was a 80,000 strong crowd, it was the most normal thing of the last 18 months and it was great to experience. 

[andyrhodes24]

To avoid straying into pessimism, some questions for you all:

Best act of the weekend: Liam Gallagher

Act that most exceeded expectations: Blossoms, TDCC, The Kid Laroi

Best new act you discovered: Waterparks

Best musical moment (song, crowd, etc): LG starting his set with an incredible run of songs (Hello>Rock N Roll Star>Columbia>Morning Glory> Wall of Glass). BBCC’s secret set was belting too, and the dark fruits vibe at Blossoms was excellent, they were better than usual. 

[foolee]

A lot saying about coughing and I’m the same but I think not sleeping much for 5 nights in a tent while consuming a lot of alcohol surrounded by smoke will be a contributing factor and not down to covid. 

[rivalschools.price]

Despite having more bad luck than most on the bands dropping out, I ended up having a great time.

I rolled my ticket over from 2020 but lost the main 5 bands I wanted to see when they announced the new 2021 line up. On the new line up I only had 9 band so wanted to see and a further 7 of those dropped out so was not looking forward to it as much as a normal year.

Creeper and Fever333 dropping out seemed to be the final straw for me but it the fact that it so late on Thursday meant that,luckily for me as it turned out, it was more or less too late to not go myself.

So glad I did go as it was a great weekend.

6 of us went and we stayed with friends who live in Reading so luckily missed all of the things that people have been talking about in the camp site and, speak as you find, it was a positive experience all round, everyone seemed to be having a fantastic time and I seem to have avoided all the idiots described on here.

As I said, band wise was a bit dire for me and I only ‘properly’ watched 7 bands all weekend but sort of half watched a few more from the back or outside the tents as I was chatting.

Friday- massive bonus for me with Frank Carter secret set. Frank was as amazing as always and this was a huge plus for the day for me. Loved Dinosaur Pile up too. I’ve seen them 6 or 7 times now without really trying between them playing Reading, Download and supporting other bands I’ve watched and they have been great every time.

Saturday- this was the day with the only two remaining bands from my original list playing with Bob Vylan and Badflower. First time I’ve seen both and loved buth sets. Bob Vylan was excellent and was as fantastic as expected. He’s put out two great albums and released a new track over the weekend so I think we’ll be hearing more about him in the coming year. I’m seeing him again next month and this has whetted my appetite for that big time.

Badflower were great and were miles better live than on record. Very impressed and a few people I talked to were converted.

Watched half of Loathe from the side of the tent and they seemed ok and came back later for Waterparks but they just aren’t my sort of thing.
The day was supposed to be one of my best days ever at Reading with two Fever333 sets, Bob Vylan, Badflower, Cleopatrick, Spiritbox,Ho99o9 and Creeper but it was not to be and unfortunately couldn’t be avoided.

Affer Waterparks I headed into town to the Purple Turtle as the only option was Post Malone and I’m not a fan at all. Felt a bit wrong to be leaving the festival early but was surprised how many were in the Purple Turtle with festival wristbands on so we weren’t alone.Had a great night, was a good atmosphere and didn’t leave til gone 3.30am.

Sunday- With my head banging from Saturday’s excesses and no bands on early that I wanted to see, I went into the arena a little later than normal. Had a few pints and a wander around before going to the BBC introducing stage to watch the excellent Stone and Yard Act. Both went down well with the crowd and I loved them. Had only heard the Yard Act songs on their EP but they played a few more and I suspect they’ll be playing bigger stages very soon.

Then time for Biffy,the main act of the weekend for me. I was gutted with QOTSA dropping out but delighted with Biffy as a replacement as they are one of my favourite bands. They didn’t disappoint, they never do, and were absolutely brilliant. Already looking forward to seeing them at Download next year.

Had another couple of pints in the covered bar with the beer garden tables (spent a lot of time there over the weekend, the place had a great atmosphere) before wandering over to catch the end of Liam Gallagher. Not a big fan but enjoyed the half a dozen or so Oasis songs which will always go down well with a belly full of beer and was a great end to the festival.

Not sure what I’ll do next year, normally get the next years ticket straight away but may wait until the line up is announced and get a few day tickets. Have been every year since 2003 but can’t have another year without many bands to watch.This year was different as I was just happy to be out after lockdown but that novelty will (hopefully) be gone by next year and watching 7 bands all weekend obviously isn’t really viable.

Either way, despite my frustration and disappointment at the band withdrawals (apologies for any whinging I’ve done on here)this year was a great weekend and I’ve nothing but positive things to say about it. I’m now totally broken on my sofa and can’t even be arsed to walk up the stairs to bed haha.