2022 Headliners

[chazwwe]

13 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

 

Yup, fairly agree. I think if Glastonbury nabs Macca, then a 3rd 'smaller' one won't be too much of a shock if you look at other lineups. Reading does the double stage thing, but one of their headliners is Dave. 

[Hugh Jass]

3 minutes ago, sisco said:

Not sure that’s true for U.K. festivals so far.  I’d argue as strong if not stronger here

Indeed, Reading have Dave/Arctics/RATM (at the moment). That's definitely not any weaker.

[sisco]

8 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

Indeed, Reading have Dave/Arctics/RATM (at the moment). That's definitely not any weaker.

And IOW are stronger than most recent years.  Add in all the mid tier festivals with the likes of Kasabian, Sam Fender etc… 

[Hugh Jass]

11 minutes ago, chazwwe said:

Yup, fairly agree. I think if Glastonbury nabs Macca, then a 3rd 'smaller' one won't be too much of a shock if you look at other lineups. Reading does the double stage thing, but one of their headliners is Dave. 

Dave is one of the biggest UK rappers out there at the moment, probably at similar levels to Stormzy when he was getting ready to headline. He'd comfortably be a Glastonbury sub at he moment and exactly the sort of headliner booking R/L have been making in recent years.

Definitely wouldn't suggest he's a weak booking.

[Supernintendo Chalmers]

1 minute ago, Hugh Jass said:

Dave is one of the biggest UK rappers out there at the moment, probably at similar levels to Stormzy when he was getting ready to headline. He'd comfortably be a Glastonbury sub at he moment and exactly the sort of headliner booking R/L have been making in recent years.

Definitely wouldn't suggest he's a weak booking.

And neither would the countless numbers people clamouring for him to headline R&L for the past couple years on social media. Getting him first over Glastonbury was a coup in my opinion, although I would argue that 2023 might have been a better time for him to headline the Pyramid. He still might?

[jump]

 

Nah, loads of acts are back on tour at the same time so it's a generally more choice for fests. However I’ve seen people are still complaining just because they can and try to minimize the acts though, like;

Muse are no longer a stadium act because they are at IOW even though they had a sold out stadium tour a few years ago.

Glasto are desperate as they have Billie Eillish despite being a white hot international acts who sold shit loads of dates.

Rage Against The Machine at Reading only appeals to CEX workers.

Dave isn’t a headliner nor is Stormzy. 

The only exception to putting out a stronger than usual line up is Download who have stuck with almost the same headliners since 2020 despite Metallica, Avenged Sevenfold etc being available now and choosing not to replace the bands that have pulled out so bands like The Distillers have been bumpedup but look out of place headlining the second stage or brining in shit like Steel Panther. Of course Download tries to offer the most boring line ups possible every year so it’s really no change.

[FeverDream]

5 minutes ago, jump said:

 

Nah, loads of acts are back on tour at the same time so it's a generally more choice for fests. However I’ve seen people are still complaining just because they can and try to minimize the acts though, like;

Muse are no longer a stadium act because they are at IOW even though they had a sold out stadium tour a few years ago.

Glasto are desperate as they have Billie Eillish despite being a white hot international acts who sold shit loads of dates.

Rage Against The Machine at Reading only appeals to CEX workers.

Dave isn’t a headliner nor is Stormzy. 

The only exception to putting out a stronger than usual line up is Download who have stuck with almost the same headliners since 2020 despite Metallica, Avenged Sevenfold etc being available now and choosing not to replace the bands that have pulled out so bands like The Distillers have been bumpedup but look out of place headlining the second stage or brining in shit like Steel Panther. Of course Download tries to offer the most boring line ups possible every year so it’s really no change.

Download booking Biffy to headline again (much to the dismay of the gatekeepers) is the only reason worth applauding this years lineup. Even the undercard appears to be the same recycled shite year after year. 

[Hugh Jass]

8 minutes ago, FeverDream said:

Download booking Biffy to headline again (much to the dismay of the gatekeepers) is the only reason worth applauding this years lineup. Even the undercard appears to be the same recycled shite year after year. 

Pretty sure Download have been booking the same undercard since 2007. They only have about five headliners on regular rotation.

[AlexOvd]

When you see Mad Cool or Primavera Sound this year I don't see any weak line up over there if you compare with, let's say, 2019. Glasto is going to have a very competitive line up and there are loads of British acts that can look very nice for the undercard... 

[jump]

18 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

Dave is one of the biggest UK rappers out there at the moment, probably at similar levels to Stormzy when he was getting ready to headline. He'd comfortably be a Glastonbury sub at he moment and exactly the sort of headliner booking R/L have been making in recent years.

Definitely wouldn't suggest he's a weak booking.

Yeah Dave's tour was an instant sell out which includes two nights at The O2 which is headliner form plus to the kids who go to R&L he's massive, it's a pitch perfect booking for both of them.

 

6 minutes ago, FeverDream said:

Download booking Biffy to headline again (much to the dismay of the gatekeepers) is the only reason worth applauding this years lineup. Even the undercard appears to be the same recycled shite year after year. 

It's like that every year at Download, they haven't got their finger on the pulse at all. It's shocking that Bring Me the biggest UK metal band of the last few years have only ever played Download mainstage once.

[Matt42]

48 minutes ago, sisco said:

Not sure that’s true for U.K. festivals so far.  I’d argue as strong if not stronger here

I agree @chazwwe @Hugh Jass  - festival owl is mostly US centric anyway. But it’s also not quite true.

Despite what grumblings people have if Coachella has bagged Billie Eilish, Ye and someone else “who will do” then that isn’t weak. Billie and Ye are not weak headliners. They may be polarising but you can’t call them weak.

Edit: Everyone seems to forget that in 2019 they had Childish Gambino, Tame Impala, Ariana Grande… which are solid bookings but not guaranteed headliners everywhere they go. Billie, Ye and someone else is way bigger than that even now.

Edited January 12, 2022 by Matt42

[FeverDream]

5 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

Pretty sure Download have been booking the same undercard since 2007. They only have about five headliners on regular rotation.

Yup. And it’s annoying because I’d love to do Download one day but there really isn’t enough that would entice me into a ticket. If 2021 had gone ahead I’d had gone for the Biffy day as it had Deftones, Gojira and The Pretty Reckless underneath which is class but for 2022 they swapped Biffy to the Sunday and put Iron Maiden on the day with the acts I just mentioned.

If they took a more liberal stance to rock music and booked bands some alt rock bands that regularly play R&L (or not so regularly nowadays) it would be a class festival.

[chazwwe]

1 minute ago, Hugh Jass said:

Pretty sure Download have been booking the same undercard since 2007. They only have about five headliners on regular rotation.

Yup and there's not been a lot of bands that have made the jump up to headline status that the regulars seem to 'accept' and the price keeps going up. There's only so many times they can do Maiden, Kiss, Avenged and Slipknot. Every now and then they have an outlier like Rammstein or Tool. This is even Biffy Clyros 2nd time in 4 festivals (if you don't count the pilot) 

[FeverDream]

1 minute ago, chazwwe said:

Yup and there's not been a lot of bands that have made the jump up to headline status that the regulars seem to 'accept' and the price keeps going up. There's only so many times they can do Maiden, Kiss, Avenged and Slipknot. Every now and then they have an outlier like Rammstein or Tool. This is even Biffy Clyros 2nd time in 4 festivals (if you don't count the pilot) 

And when the inevitable happens and you no longer have Kiss, Iron Maiden, G’N’R etc the new rotation of headliners for the next 10-15 years will be their current subs like ADTR, Korn, Alter Bridge etc. I really can’t ever see Download solving their small headliner pool if they don’t book some left field acts like BMTH (can’t believe I’m saying they’re left field!), Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam etc along with bumping up their current subs.

[Hugh Jass]

3 minutes ago, FeverDream said:

And when the inevitable happens and you no longer have Kiss, Iron Maiden, G’N’R etc the new rotation of headliners for the next 10-15 years will be their current subs like ADTR, Korn, Alter Bridge etc. I really can’t ever see Download solving their small headliner pool if they don’t book some left field acts like BMTH (can’t believe I’m saying they’re left field!), Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam etc along with bumping up their current subs.

When Kiss finally retire Download will too.

[chazwwe]

2 minutes ago, FeverDream said:

If they took a more liberal stance to rock music and booked bands some alt rock bands that regularly play R&L (or not so regularly nowadays) it would be a class festival.

Personally I think it needs more alt rock/punk rock bands too. Surprised Idles aren't there, surprised a band like PUP isn't on the list and I'm extremely surprised they didn't jump on Turnstile. I look at the upper line up of 2000 trees and wonder why a lot of those bands don't make appearances and I wonder how many times can regulars go to Download and see almost the exact same acts. I have a work mate whose been every year since 2010 and he pretty much stays in the campsite outside of an act during the day and the sub headliner/headliner, as most the acts he likes he's either seen there within the previous year, or seen them on a tour recently but will still buy tickets for the atmosphere. 

[FeverDream]

1 minute ago, chazwwe said:

Personally I think it needs more alt rock/punk rock bands too. Surprised Idles aren't there, surprised a band like PUP isn't on the list and I'm extremely surprised they didn't jump on Turnstile. I look at the upper line up of 2000 trees and wonder why a lot of those bands don't make appearances and I wonder how many times can regulars go to Download and see almost the exact same acts. I have a work mate whose been every year since 2010 and he pretty much stays in the campsite outside of an act during the day and the sub headliner/headliner, as most the acts he likes he's either seen there within the previous year, or seen them on a tour recently but will still buy tickets for the atmosphere. 

Mad isn’t it. It’s amazing how Download stays relevant to the punters that go. If R&L made the same dry bookings they’d find themselves in a financial crisis.

[Matt42]

1 minute ago, FeverDream said:

Mad isn’t it. It’s amazing how Download stays relevant to the punters that go. If R&L made the same dry bookings they’d find themselves in a financial crisis.

Because a lot of metal fans like the classics and shit on new bands because they aren’t the classics. It isn’t exactly an inclusive scene.

[Hugh Jass]

2 minutes ago, FeverDream said:

Mad isn’t it. It’s amazing how Download stays relevant to the punters that go. If R&L made the same dry bookings they’d find themselves in a financial crisis.

Because Download is a niche genre festival it's naturally going to have a limited pool of acts to choose from.

I've never been but I suspect that festival caters to a slightly older crowd who go year on year and are largely happy to see the same thing every year.

[dentalplan]

1 minute ago, Matt42 said:

Because a lot of metal fans like the classics and shit on new bands because they aren’t the classics. It isn’t exactly an inclusive scene.

Not this shit again. Download doesn’t represent the metal scene as a whole.

[chazwwe]

Just now, FeverDream said:

Mad isn’t it. It’s amazing how Download stays relevant to the punters that go. If R&L made the same dry bookings they’d find themselves in a financial crisis.

Reading slowly started putting changes into their line up around 2012/2013, adding a dance stage and then slowly moving dance acts onto the main areas, then adding a hip hop artist on the dance stage and doing the same with them the following years. Its still very directed towards 16-21 year olds and what is currently 'in' but because its done these things it can have an act like Dave headline (I made a mistake earlier in saying he wasn't strong, didn't even realise he had released a 2nd album/O2 sell out so thats bad on my part) while also having Arctic Monkeys and Rage Against the Machine. While still having dance acts throughout the line up.

Download just seems to refuse to want to change, its wild to me to think that Biffy Cyro isn't a safe option for them because the backlash they get when they book those acts online.

[chazwwe]

1 minute ago, dentalplan said:

Not this shit again. Download doesn’t represent the metal scene as a whole.

Yup, lets stop this straight away. 

[jump]

21 minutes ago, chazwwe said:

Yup and there's not been a lot of bands that have made the jump up to headline status that the regulars seem to 'accept' and the price keeps going up. There's only so many times they can do Maiden, Kiss, Avenged and Slipknot. Every now and then they have an outlier like Rammstein or Tool. This is even Biffy Clyros 2nd time in 4 festivals (if you don't count the pilot) 

There's a handful of bands that can make a fresh jump to headliner for them. Ghost are on headliner form and should be a contender, Bring Me should heave headlined already and KoRn already pull headliner sized crowds.

The biggest challenge for them is trying to convince bands to play as The Who, Green Day, Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, Blink 182, Bon Jovi,Nickelback etc could help ease their headliner troubles but they don't seem to want to play or Copping is just shit at persuading them.

But the annoying part is the undercard. It seems younger bands like Architects have lost interesting playing at Download and there's acts like Code Orange, Ghost, Greta Van Fleet, Slaves, IDLES, Royal Blood, Nothing But Thieves etc have never played the fest or never played the mainstage despite some of the most talked about rock/punk/metal etcs in the UK for last few years.

Edited January 12, 2022 by jump

[Hugh Jass]

5 minutes ago, jump said:

There's a handful of bands that can make a fresh jump to headliner for them. Ghost are on headliner form and should be a contender, Bring Me should heave headlined already and KoRn already pull headliner sized crowds.

The biggest challenge for them is trying to convince bands to play as The Who, Green Day, Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, Blink 182, Bon Jovi,Nickelback etc could help ease their headliner troubles but they don't seem to want to play or Copping is just shit at persuading them.

 

Acts like this are where they should probably be going, massive rock bands who 10-15 years ago would have played Reading but are now no longer really that festival's audience.

[Matt42]

7 minutes ago, dentalplan said:

Not this shit again. Download doesn’t represent the metal scene as a whole.

Ok il change it. How about tweaking it to say that download is stuck in a position where certain bands in the metal scene sell the most tickets and some are harder to push into that headline position? I’m not attributing blame but it’s easier for R&L to propose new headliners than Download.

Plus I think people buy tickets to download because it’s a guaranteed annual Maiden, Metallica, Def Leppard et al gig. At least one will show up each year and these fans are pretty loyal.