2023 Festival

[nathanh]

How many main stage slots do we still have to fill?

[Andre91]

6 minutes ago, nathanh said:

How many main stage slots do we still have to fill?

No logo slots. 

[Sam Y]

8 minutes ago, Andre91 said:

No logo slots. 

Apart from maybe a special guest

[VCK]

Predictably underwhelming as always, but who the fuck is Steve Lacy?

Only act on that bill for me are Foals. I'm sure Fender, The Killers and Eilish will all put on cracking performances but I'm not a huge fan of any of them.

[VCK]

1 hour ago, andyrhodes24 said:

In much better news, the boys are back in town under a new name

 

Very punk rock of you lads, changing a name you've used for years to appease a vocal minority of complainers.

[stanh]

6 minutes ago, VCK said:

who the fuck is Steve Lacy?

R&B Singer from the States, had a few songs viral on TikTok this year... Surprise surprise! Honestly baffled at how high his slot is, was expecting him to be special guest sort of size, not a MSE sub!

[VCK]

Just now, stanh said:

R&B Singer from the States, had a few songs viral on TikTok this year... Surprise surprise! Honestly baffled at how high his slot is, was expecting him to be special guest sort of size, not a MSE sub!

Ah another Kid Laroi then.

I feel like I'm showing my age where I have no idea who some of the subs are. Polo G is an example from last year.

[Andre91]

Just now, stanh said:

R&B Singer from the States, had a few songs viral on TikTok this year... Surprise surprise! Honestly baffled at how high his slot is, was expecting him to be special guest sort of size, not a MSE sub!

I imagine it’ll be like Glass Animals this year where the crowd is just there for the big song from TikTok. Absolutely zero atmosphere. 

[andyrhodes24]

9 minutes ago, VCK said:

Very punk rock of you lads, changing a name you've used for years to appease a vocal minority of complainers.

Thing is they’ve been clear about the meaning of the name since day one and listening to any song for 30 seconds explains it. Ah well, just glad they’re back

[stanh]

3 minutes ago, VCK said:

Ah another Kid Laroi then.

I feel like I'm showing my age where I have no idea who some of the subs are. Polo G is an example from last year.

I'm only 21, are really starting to struggle with some of the names... I might be getting old man yells at cloud memes soon enough!😅

4 minutes ago, Andre91 said:

I imagine it’ll be like Glass Animals this year where the crowd is just there for the big song from TikTok. Absolutely zero atmosphere. 

Most certainly, his own headline tour has certainly been that case from the videos I've seen from it, no one has been singing along or getting involved other than to Static and Bad Habit, crowd is mainly gonna be full of people just there to see Bad Habit - will look out for videos from his shows at Roundhouse this weekend.

[rivalschools.price]

1 hour ago, andyrhodes24 said:

In much better news, the boys are back in town under a new name

 

They used to say that Slaves was named after us all being slaves to the grind as opposed to actual real slaves.

Not sure how loud the complaints about the name were as I’d only heard to odd snippet here and there,but I suppose it’s up to them if they want to change it.
 

One things for sure in my opinion, we can talk all day about whether they should have changed their name or not but it won’t take away from the fact that ‘soft play’ is a terrible new name.

[VCK]

8 minutes ago, andyrhodes24 said:

Thing is they’ve been clear about the meaning of the name since day one and listening to any song for 30 seconds explains it. Ah well, just glad they’re back

Plus 'slaving' is a word used to describe overworking. It's like finding 'The Killers' offensive, because genocides and murders have happened in the past.

But I'm willing to bet that it was no more than about ten people on Twitter who took issue with it, if that. Soft Touch is quite a fitting name for them if that's all it takes to change their identity. Or maybe they should have gone with The Pushovers.

Edited December 9, 2022 by VCK

[VCK]

I get that Billie Eilish is pretty much the biggest musical artist in the world right now, but does anyone else think she doesn't feel like a Reading Sunday headliner? Usually that slot goes to the classic headliner. The Killers would have been a better option.

Edited December 9, 2022 by VCK

[wghennessy]

Don Brocos stock has dropped massively for them not to be top 3 on either stage

[mttJ]

3 minutes ago, wghennessy said:

Don Brocos stock has dropped massively for them not to be top 3 on either stage

Does seem a bit surprising given some of the other 3rd's on the lineup.

Always thought the next time they came back would be 3rd down main, or headlining/subbing NME. 

[VCK]

I still remember when this line-up dropped 15+ years ago and, despite the Pumpkins playing who of course I was excited to be finally seeing, feeling very underwhelmed, and thinking it was the weakest line-up the festival ever had.

We are light years away from anything even on this level.

[LazyDavid]

Razorlight - Kings of Leon - Interpol....yikes!

[thewayiam]

17 minutes ago, VCK said:

I still remember when this line-up dropped 15+ years ago and, despite the Pumpkins playing who of course I was excited to be finally seeing, feeling very underwhelmed, and thinking it was the weakest line-up the festival ever had.

We are light years away from anything even on this level.

You were right at the time to think that. My headliners were Razorlight, RHCP and Klaxons. I would still choose Razorlight over the majority of Reading headliners these days as I like them more. Even more so now the original lineup is back. 

The View, WAS and Biffy Crlyro is one of the fest top 3 NMEs I have seen mind, I saw Biffy but missed the top 2. Paramore, The Young Knives and Pigeon Detectives. 

Except for The Enemy and Ash though the rest of the NME was wants.

[VCK]

14 minutes ago, LazyDavid said:

Razorlight - Kings of Leon - Interpol....yikes!

This was pre-stadium rock bores KoL when they were still putting out superb music, and Interpol always had some great stuff. That Razorlight booking has not aged well at all though.

1 minute ago, thewayiam said:

You were right at the time to think that. My headliners were Razorlight, RHCP and Klaxons. I would still choose Razorlight over the majority of Reading headliners these days as I like them more. Even more so now the original lineup is back. 

The View, WAS and Biffy Crlyro is one of the fest top 3 NMEs I have seen mind, I saw Biffy but missed the top 2. Paramore, The Young Knives and Pigeon Detectives. 

Except for The Enemy and Ash though the rest of the NME was wants.

I just went on the Pumpkins and Chilis day. Pumpkins were good, not mindblowing but it was a solid set with a decent balance of classics and more obscure stuff. Way better than at Download the other year.

Chilis, on the other hand, were infamously dogshit.

I don't think I set foot in the NME stage at all. I wanted to see Dinosaur Jr but just went with my mates and watched Bloc Party and Arcade Fire, both of whom were superb.

[TKOCF]

Still don’t get why people are clamouring for a Chilis return. They were rubbish in 2016 and even worse earlier this year.

[nathanh]

Started doing a deep dive into the lineup, its very mainstream but i dont think its as bad as it looked but i am a poppier person 

[charlierc]

Feels like a missed opportunity to me. A run of Killers > Foals > NBT > Wet Leg plus one of Don Broco or You Me At Six would've got me to book this but scattered around the 3 days amidst a lot of acts that aren't of interest to me, it feels like a harder sell.

Just feels like all a bit meh, even in comparison to the 2022 edition.

[rivalschools.price]

1 hour ago, VCK said:

I still remember when this line-up dropped 15+ years ago and, despite the Pumpkins playing who of course I was excited to be finally seeing, feeling very underwhelmed, and thinking it was the weakest line-up the festival ever had.

We are light years away from anything even on this level.

Yeah I remember this well.

Ash had a huge crowd but I think a lot were only there because they weren’t Razorlight, haha.

The first time I saw Enter Shikari

Jummy Eat World in their traditional 5th on the main stage slot and Kings of Leon back when they were good.

Biffy in the tent, Chilis infamous ‘jam’ in their headline slot.

Stayed on the main stage all day on Sunday, something I probably haven’t done at Reading ever since haha.

[charlierc]

One thing I found odd was a few weeks ago at a house party when I saw Lewis Capaldi branded "Big Sexy Meat One" and "Big Sexy Cheesy One" pizzas. Might well have been the first time I'd heard about him since ignoring his set at Truck 2019.

Maybe I've not got track of how popular he is but he's R&L headline worthy now? Even in this odd split-main stage thing they do? I mean, it's their festival bill and I'm not gonna be a gatekeeper to say he never should be there or considered a headliner, just feels like a surprise to me.

[charlierc]

1 hour ago, LazyDavid said:

Razorlight - Kings of Leon - Interpol....yikes!

I forgot Razorlight headlining Reading 2007 was a thing in fairness. Them headlining above Kings of Leon, who arguably were headline level already, seemed to approach it as such judging by YouTube footage, and were still in their pre-Sex on Fire days when they didn't play to crowds only there for that is quite the unusual one.